aesthetically superior shmups

RoninBuddha · Post by **RoninBuddha** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 5:43 pm

hehe, can i add in Radilgy, for being the only (AFAIK) cel-shaded shmup..

(well, i like cel-shaded stuff)

MadSteelDarkness · Post by **MadSteelDarkness** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 8:12 pm

*skims through thread twice*

Lots of purty ones mentioned so far, but no love for Gradius Gaiden? Some really gorgeous graphics and nifty music in that one, in my ever humble opinion.

Also, Game Tengoku is pure eye candy to me.

GateofThunderforceIII · Sun Mar 26, 2006 8:35 pm

Must agree with Under Defeat 100%. Fiendishly detailed and realistic and those explosions/smoke/debris is unbelievable. The perfect compliment to Zero Gunner 2 (which is ever so slightly hokey with the transforming robot bosses). It's like the Metal Slug of polygon based vertical shooters...

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 2:41 am

Far as handheld shmups go, I think both Gradius Galaxies and especially Steel Empire (much more artistic and vibrant than the Genesis; love the box art) are very pleasing to the eyes.

Raiden 2 is gorgeous; I'm amazed by how well it holds up. The attention-to-detail is astounding, I mean the way the first level bosses move and look, those mini-tanks in the second stage that retreat to the beach...really beautiful stuff.

Darius Gaiden and G. Darius are both very well-done games, mostly due to the bosses (Gaiden especially). I was playing Gaiden just a few nights ago and, despite him being easy compared to most of the others, the Neon Light Illusion is easily my favorite. Just the way the fins come up, the screen grows dark and you see it light up is just satisfying to my eyeballs.

Twinbee Yahho! is also so vibrant and colorful, I have to include it. Very beautiful game.

X-Multiply is simply stunning, for a few months I considered the game to be art. I love how the ship's tentacles move, like it seems to be alive. God I don't know what gets me so hot and bothered for X-Multiply, but those tentacles are beautiful.

Strikers 1945, like the Darius games, should also be noted, if only for the bosses. I will say that the opener to the winter stage (with that great music playing, not sure what instrument it was -- sounds like a maraca or something) is one of the greatest openers to any level, ever. Sets a great mood.

Also, despite my playing it only once (and in 2-player no less -- yeah Neon ;D), I think Ibara deserves a nod. It's an incredibly unique style, with a dominant theme of roses. The bullet hell made it a little hard to discern power-ups with shots of death, but damn, did it look purty.

Eight One · Post by **Eight One** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 7:46 pm

In no particular order:

In The Hunt - The port town stage is just awesome. Fallying skyscraper debris, shattering windows, sinking ships, all that. Definitely a game that identifies the Irem look.

Mazinger Z - The most rockin' anime-based shmup ever IMO. Really colorful and captures the essence of the grandfather of badass mecha.

Guwange - Kumoneko's intro and the snake thing that bites the cow in half! Very lovely "people" shmup.

Sky Soldiers - Maybe it's just me, but I really liked SNK/Alpha's games from that era (Time Soldiers, Sky Adventure). They just seem a bit ahead or their time.

I know there's more, but I can't think of 'em right now...

ED-057 · Post by **ED-057** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:32 am

What system has a Mazinger Z shmup? All I remember seeing was a sucky platform game for super famicom.

RoninBuddha · Post by **RoninBuddha** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 1:11 am

Eight One wrote:In no particular order:

In The Hunt - The port town stage is just awesome. Fallying skyscraper debris, shattering windows, sinking ships, all that. Definitely a game that identifies the Irem look.

rivals MetalSLug Details.. really great as well.

Mazinger Z - The most rockin' anime-based shmup ever IMO. Really colorful and captures the essence of the grandfather of badass mecha.

the cave pcb? or the famicom game?

Guwange - Kumoneko's intro and the snake thing that bites the cow in half! Very lovely "people" shmup.
.

totally agree

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 1:19 am

LoneSage wrote:Far as handheld shmups go, I think both Gradius Galaxies and especially Steel Empire (much more artistic and vibrant than the Genesis; love the box art) are very pleasing to the eyes.

Cotton for the NGPC is another nice looking handheld. I suppose Nanostray looks good as well, but the game isn't a lot of fun imo.

LoneSage wrote:Raiden 2 is gorgeous; I'm amazed by how well it holds up. The attention-to-detail is astounding, I mean the way the first level bosses move and look, those mini-tanks in the second stage that retreat to the beach...really beautiful stuff.

Ha, I got to play this on an original cab this weekend for the first time. It does have a nice look, though the gameplay is what draws me in more. Too bad I couldn't get beyond 1-2.

Another vote for Radilgy, Gradius Gaiden, and Game Tengoku.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 5:05 am

ED-057 wrote:What system has a Mazinger Z shmup? All I remember seeing was a sucky platform game for super famicom.

To the best of my knowledge the game he's referring to (if we're thinking of the same game) is arcade-only. It is playable in MAME though, and not half bad in my opinion, though not top 25 material for me either.