Best shmup that you DIDN'T like/enjoy

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:36 pm

I would probably have to say Battle Garegga (which I've only played on the Saturn) because I find it so hard to see enemy fire. I can see, however, that the game is something very special.

EDIT (02/09): WTF? Did I say I don't enjoy Garegga. I love this game. It's all I'm playing right now. Well, that and MUSHA.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:46 pm

I will probably get beaten up for saying this but Zanac/ZanacXZanac weren't everything I was expecting. I realize that Zanac is clearly old-school and Zanac Neo is more an homage to that design, but still. Some great fun to be had, but not the end all/be all some made it out to be. Sorry BIG.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:48 pm

Actually, I just got Pro Gear not too long ago, and while I like it, I have to say I was a little disappointed in it. I am not a huge fan of horizontals in the first place, but I thought this one would be different and it was not for me.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:53 pm

Heh, well, I do tend to "enjoy" most games which I can see are well made in a lot of ways, though not on the level that others do. As you mentioned, I can't get into Garegga as much as a lot of others, though in my case it's mainly because of the extreme rank system...in the same manner, I like Battle Bakraid a lot, though the idea of killing myself 50+ times to get a high score somehow doesn't sit right with me. Just playing "normally" I enjoy it though. Batrider strikes me as weaker than either of the aforementioned, though, due largely to the numerous "blind spots" it hits you with throughout the game...I love the plethora of secrets and modes though, I wish more shmups had stuff like that.

I would also mention the R-Type series (because I don't like heavy memorization) and Gradius series (mainly because of being "stranded" after dying once, and the trademark slow fire rate). Blasphemy, I know, but hey...I also like Ikaruga, but I'll never be very good at chaining, which takes a large part of the "experience" out of my reach at the get-go. Perhaps the biggest, though, is Thunder Force III...perhaps it's just because I've played the "Thunder Spirits" port, which is supposed to be somewhat weak, but I found it to be hard to see what was going on, hard to recover after dying, and generally unattractive.

Time to board up my house before they send the n00b hunters after me...

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:56 pm

agreed on R-type. and well, Gradius... yeah that is blasphemy. I'll see you soon

Post by **Dave_K.** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:57 pm

DDPDOJ. Already discussed here-> http://forum.shmups.com/forum/viewtopic ... ike+ddpdoj

(edit 8/17/2015: 10 years later I've grown to really like DOJ, but don't really like SDOJ...maybe in another 10 years.)

black mariah · Post by **black mariah** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:02 pm

Third on R-Type. I can see where people would like it, but it just isn't my kind of shmup.

Kiel · Post by **Kiel** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:03 pm

Dave_K. wrote:DDPDOJ. Already discussed here-> http://forum.shmups.com/forum/viewtopic ... ike+ddpdoj

Same here.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:09 pm

Mars Matrix and Sengoku Blade. Just didn't click with them the way I did with Einhander and the Oh-so-loved Thunder Force 5.

tehkao · Post by **tehkao** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:09 pm

I feel that my tastes are different from a lot of the people here.

I didn't really like Axelay.

I don't see what is the big fuss over Battle Garegga. Or Gunbird 2 for that matter.

I downright hated Gigawing 2.

I never really got into Ikaruga or Radiant Silvergun, although I can recognize their technical excellence.

Ord · Post by **Ord** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:12 pm

Soukyugurentai & Layer Section, for me, weren't "all that". In fact i'm not really a fan of shooters that have lock-on lasers.

Nuke · Post by **Nuke** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:22 pm

DoDonpachi. And yes, I'm going to hell.....

Tony Gradius · Post by **Tony Gradius** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:29 pm

Ord wrote:... Layer Section, for me, weren't "all that". In fact i'm not really a fan of shooters that have lock-on lasers.

Agreed. Strangely enough I quite like Soukyugurentai.

And, oh Ikaruga. As for myself I don`t own a DC, a friend lent me his completely with Iky and a bunch ofother games for some months. I felt I have the duty to play this gem, clearly seing the marvelous black/white design idea. But I didn`t. Switched on the playstation for Raiden 2 instead.

ED-057 · Post by **ED-057** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:56 pm

I thought about this and realized I should probably revisit some shmups that I only ever played once or twice, in an emulator, with the keyboard, on a slow computer.

But I guess I'm not really a fan of the lock-on lasers either, since I have Layer Section and Macross and didn't have as much fun with those as I had hoped for.

alpha5099 · Post by **alpha5099** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:58 pm

I really admire the designs of Raizing games, they are clearly major labors of love. No one could just slap together Garegga, stuff like that takes major dedication.

That being said, I've never been able to get that into Battle Garegga or Soukyugurentai. Both are fantastic games, and I recognize that, but the rank systems seem to be such a nuisance. It's almost impossible for me to stick with a single game for a week, the dedication that would be needed to master Garegga is unthinkable.

I do, however, love Shippu Mahou Daisakusen. I'm sure there's rank, but it's far more subtle, and doesn't seem to do anything to take away from the fairly old-school gameplay of the game.

Similarly, I can never play Ikaruga again, I just got too frustrated with chaining.

Darkcomet72 · Post by **Darkcomet72** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 10:18 pm

ESPrade.

The Scoring system is good, but the Level and Boss design was for the birds. Actually the level design wasn't as bad as ...Progear, but the Bosses were just dumb, except for the final boss.

Still, It's fun to play, I just think it's Cave's weakest game.

Edit: Might as well add Warning Forever, Torus Trooper, Every extend, and all Shangai alice games.

Post by **system11** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 10:24 pm

Ikaruga.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 10:26 pm

Dangun Feveron
Mars Matrix

Jon · Post by **Jon** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 10:30 pm

I would say the DDP series hands down (DDPDOJ especially.)
A close second for me would be Mars Matrix.

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 10:45 pm

I like Axelay, but find it just a wee bit overrated. Haven't played it in awhile, maybe I'll check it out sometime soon and maybe my opinion will change.

Oh yea, I guess another shmup others like that I don't is Donpachi...only played Saturn ver, but still, I doubt I'd like it anyways at the arcade too much.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 11:22 pm

When I first played Alcon/Slap Fight I didn't care for it much becuase I thought the ship was too slow without power ups. However, after trying the game again, I like it quite a bit now.

jp · Post by jp » Tue Mar 08, 2005 11:37 pm

DonPachi and that other game made by Cave that somehow got a bunch of different titles.

Though I liked Pro Gear aight.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 11:59 pm

Radiant Silvergun
Dodonpachi

I don't hate any of those games. In fact, I even like Dodonpachi...

But everytime I play DDP I feel like never playing it again. I am no fan of most Cave stuff.

WIth Radiant Silvergun... it's gathering dust here, I never play it at all.... I find it to be too demanding.

benstylus · Post by **benstylus** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 1:48 am

everyone else seems to like Soukyugurentai, but I found it to be quite poor.

dboeren · Post by **dboeren** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:12 am

Like a number of people have said, I don't really get into most of the Raizing stuff. Battle Garegga, Battle Bakraid, and Batrider, to be specific, which make up the main Raizing series. I really like Mahou Daisakusen and Dimahoo though.

I think the Raizing thing is partly poor ability to see what's going on, partly the rank system, and partly because the game freaking SHOWERS you with bajillions of powerups and then punishes you for picking up any of them. It just feels so unshmuppish.

That said, I like Batrider more than the other two, though I wish its pacing was closer to Garegga.

WarpZone · Post by **WarpZone** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:55 am

I've never really enjoyed any of the Psikyo games that I've played. They strike me as fairly well-made shmups, in terms of some of their balance and level design. However, I've never really liked their presentation or aesthetics, and they seem to lack the soul I've found in, say, Cave and Treasure efforts. Psikyo also seems to just apply a specific "template" to their games- far more than Cave does. And overall it just comes off as rather generic, and makes it hard for me to get into enjoying the patterns (although I have some issues with those as well).

BUHA · Post by **BUHA** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 3:22 am

I also don't care for Axelay. The graphics are bland and I find the game to just be kinda boring

I also don't care for compile shmups. Yeah, I'm one of THEM. I really didn't like super aleste.

I also HATED Giga Wing 2. Not only was I unimpressed with the gameplay, the graphics and sound were also dissapointing.

TF III: I honestly can't see why you'd want to play it after playing IV or V.

I think that Layer Section IS good, but way over rated.

I also despise Border Down. Can't stand it. Same goes for Psyvariar 2.

I hate that fucking game.

Post by **Ghegs** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 6:51 am

Ikaruga. Psyvariar 2 didn't really strike a chord with me either.

tehkao · Post by **tehkao** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 7:06 am

Put me in as someone else who hated Super Aleste. I can't believe that the Aleste name got attached to something that mediocre and uninspired.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 7:12 am

Batrider for me.

All I hear is praise, it maybe a good shooter but the presentation is all wrong for me. When I approach a big boss I want to hear a "dum d dum dum dum" type threatening approach, not that screeching techno stuff. I Also thought the graphics were a little bland with very bold colours. Technically good, but not my type of game.

Raizing stuff is 50/50 for me, didnt like Garegga much hence my sale of it, but I do like souky.

I didnt like the 3D low res graphics of Ray crisis either.