Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

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agent4125
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Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by agent4125 »

Hi guys

I grew up in the 80s playing Flying Shark (my favourite). I managed to loop it 3 times in my local sports centre when I was about 14. Loved the music, level design, weapon upgrades etc. I'm looking for some more good vertical shooters along those lines. I'd like to get them as jamma boards if possible, else on MAME is ok as I have a JPAC. These'll be going in a Jamma cab so arcade/mame are what I'm looking for.

I'm not really into bullet hell games, I prefer the older mid-late 80s ones like Toaplan used to do.

Other vertical games I like are: -

Raiden
Fire Shark
Twin Cobra
Truxton

Can someone recommend me some good ones along these lines that I might have missed along the way?

Thanks!
Johnpv
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by Johnpv »

If you like Raiden, you'll love Viper Phase 1!
Lord British
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by Lord British »

Dogyuun
Formation Armed F
Dangerous Seed
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FRO
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by FRO »

Johnpv wrote:If you like Raiden, you'll love Viper Phase 1!
Seconded! I would also say, check out the rest of the Raiden series. Raiden II only got a port on the PlayStation, but it's a good one. Raiden DX was a Japan-only release on PlayStation, but can be had for a reasonable price. Raiden III is on both PS2 and PC, Raiden IV on 360, Raiden IV Overkill on PS3 and PC, and Raiden V on all the current consoles and PC. The Raiden Fighters series got a release on 360, though it's a touch more expensive these days. Also, there are some good vertical shooters from Taito. Check out Grid Seeker, Gun Frontier, and the Ray trilogy: RayForce, RayStorm, and RayCrisis. RayForce is 2D graphics, and classic gameplay, adding in a Xevious style secondary weapon. RayStorm and RayCrisis are both 3D graphics, 2.5D gameplay, and build on RayForce a bit. Also, check out Shienryu. It came out on both Saturn and PlayStation from the arcade, and in North America, got a budget title release as Gekioh: The Shooting King. Well worth tracking down in any form.
agent4125
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by agent4125 »

Thanks all,

Viper Phase 1 looks awesome! How come I never heard of that before!? :)

I'll check the others out too. Any more suggestions? If I can play it on MAME it's a goer.

Cheers!
Johnpv
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by Johnpv »

I don't know why Viper Phase 1 isn't more talked about, maybe cause it never got a home port? I'm guessing it wasn't particularly popular in the arcades, but I have no idea.

Ohh I'll also recommend Shienryu in the same vein.
Wittischism
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by Wittischism »

+1 for the following:

Viper Phase 1
Raiden Fighter Aces ( worth it's price, imo) / numbered Raiden series

Gunbird 2 is one of my other favorite non-bullet hell stgs. Nothing wrong with the first Gunbird, either. I just prefer the second more.

Obligatory Treasure mention, for Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun. These days, I enjoy Radiant Silvergun more. Has more of an old school feel and the weapon variety keeps it fresh, but neither have powerups.
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by Sturmvogel Prime »

Raiden DX
Gridseeker: Project Storm Hammer
RayStorm
RayForce
Vapor Trail: Hyper Offence Formation / Kuhga: Operation Code "Vapor Trail"
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endali
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by endali »

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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by Lags »

Raiden DX.
Batsugun.
Thunder Dragon 2.
agent4125
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by agent4125 »

Thanks again guys, will be checking all these out!
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OmegaFlareX
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by OmegaFlareX »

Air Gallet. Made by former Toaplan employees, I consider it the last AC shmup of its type (pre-danmaku, non-manic). "Manic" shmups just referring to the high-energy non-Cave stuff going on in the mid-90s, such as Raizing (YGW), Psikyo, and Seibu's Raiden Fighters. As was said, Viper Phase 1 might be more along the lines of what you're looking for.

Check out NMK's games. The aforementioned Thunder Dragon 2 probably being the best one, but they have others that are good.

Mahou Daisakusen was Raizing's first game, made by former Compile employees, on Toaplan's hardware, and with what one could assume, their consultation. It's very good.

Shienryu is basically Raiden 2/DX on STV hardware. Also check out that team's previous shmup, Daioh. Many similarities.
agent4125
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by agent4125 »

Thanks again, some really nice games there. After checking them all out, youtube recommended me a video of Varth: Operation Thunderstorm. This really looks like the kind of thing I'd like too. Has anyone played that?
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by trap15 »

Varth is an incredibly good game.
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copy-paster
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by copy-paster »

Varth is kinda odd to my taste, not much fan of the game after I tried it out.

Since OP has taste with Toaplan games, I'd recommend Same! Same! Same! / Fire Shark. It's a sequel to Flying Shark and even better playing them with autofire, the game has 10 different stages as well.
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scrilla4rella
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by scrilla4rella »

Oh man, if you dig Flying Shark then you gotta check out Same! Same! Same! (pronounced 'saw-may') aka Fire Shark. PCB prices are nuts so emulation is probably the way to go but I'm partial to the Genesis port.

Also, dare I say it... Battle Garegga
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versionfiv
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by versionfiv »

Zanac X Zanac (Zanac Neo)
Space Megaforce
Strikers 1945
Strikers 1945 2 (on easy mode maybe)
+1 Layer Section/Galactic Attack (second and third games in the series are RayForce and Ray Crisis, i'm partial to Ray Crisis)
+1 Shienryu
Gekirindan
Gun Frontier
Raiden Fighters series


-1 Dogyuun
-1 Battle Garegga (don't troll the poor boy)

if you have a dreamcast, try Under Attack

you may learn to enjoy the bullet hell shooters if you proceed from the early days and slowly move forward. it could happen :)

i really recommend trying all the shmups from Toaplan and all the companies they splintered into, and Psikyo, Compile, Taito, and Atlas. and you'll find some you like although it seems like you've done that already.
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by emphatic »

The closest (in gameplay) you can get to Flying Shark is Daisenpu / Twin Hawk. I can also recommend Halley's Comet.
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XoPachi
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by XoPachi »

I would look into the Soldier games on TurboGraphx 16.
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Arcatech
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by Arcatech »

You might enjoy trying Slap Fight by Toaplan. It's got a gradius style power up system that is pretty fun imo. The hitbox in this one is fairly large though since it came out in 1986.
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by Gilmourdj »

Shinryu is great. It is acailable on the Playstation 1 and Mame.
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AZA
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by AZA »

Sonic Wings 3! :mrgreen:
agent4125
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by agent4125 »

Thanks again

Fire Shark I've played - very good game! :) Last time I tried it though, MAME didn't have any music. I wonder if that's been fixed now. Gotta have the music.

Some more suggestions that all look good, thank you. Strikers 1945 looks interesting, and Twin Hawk looks just like Flying Shark but without any planes! Looks a bit easy, but I'll hold judgement until I play it. :)

I'm not sure I will learn to love bullet hells.... but maybe. They just seem like they are all about memorising sections rather than just having good reactions. Maybe I'm wrong but those bullet hells just seem impossible unless you either use mandatory bombs or learn exactly where to be through repetition and memory. Just doesn't seem as fun - I don't have a bazillion hours to go over the same sections over and over again. Maybe it's just me :)

Halley's Comet looks good too. Aah yes, Slap Fight! Haven't played that in years... good music too iirc.

Cheers
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by OmegaFlareX »

agent4125 wrote:Fire Shark I've played - very good game! :) Last time I tried it though, MAME didn't have any music. I wonder if that's been fixed now. Gotta have the music.
Yes, that has been fixed. Pretty interesting how they did it - the encrypted Z180 had to be decapped and put under a microscope, and a computer program "read" the output images of the transistors to put all the 1s and 0s where they should be. Not sure it was exactly that, but something similar. As of 2018(?) all the Toaplan arcade game have sound! Try Vimana too, that one has sound now as well.

ALL shmups require memorization to a degree. In fact, I'd say the older style that you prefer is more likely to lean heavily on that aspect.
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To Far Away Times
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by To Far Away Times »

Either of the Mushihimesama games on original mode. Don't be scared off by the bullet hell modes, the original modes are closer to manic than bullet hell. Mushihimesama on original mode and Mushihimesama Futari Black Label on original mode are fairly easy 1CC's as far as shmups go. Very satisfying though.

Also, they have some of the best stage design ever in a shmup and tremendous production values.
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by endali »

agent4125 wrote:I'm not sure I will learn to love bullet hells.... but maybe. They just seem like they are all about memorising sections rather than just having good reactions.

i think you're misunderstanding, i like cave and raizing and bullet hells specifically because they are not about memorization, as opposed to classic shmups. gradius and r-type are all about memorization, reaction time won't save you in many situations, and that's why i don't like them. sure, memorization can help, but it's not necessary to be a moderately decent player and make progress. gradius and r-type though, you need to straight up memorize this shit or oyu have no chance.
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by cocoron »

The Tatsujin/ Truxton games. Very easy to get in first, but hard as hell as soon you make your progress...
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chempop
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by chempop »

Raiden
Strikers 1945
Varth
19XX War Against Destiny
Dogyuun
Cyvern

Some of my favorite non-bullet-hell verts.
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by o.pwuaioc »

I also don't care for bullet hells (though I have a few of the classics). But you have plenty to choose from. I mean, over half of shooters from 1979 to 1996 were non-bullet hell vertical shmups. The list is endless.

Already mentioned:

+1 Raiden series, Varth, Shienryu, Sonic Wings, Strikers,

PCE:
1943 Kai
Cyber Core
Dragon Spirit & Saber
Soldier Blade/Star Soldier/Final Soldier
Gunhed
Twin Cobra

NES:
Gun*Nac
King's Knight
Star Force

Genesis (some of these I haven't played in a while, so I'm not sure how well Vapor Trail or Crossfire hold up these days, but they might appeal to you):
Crossfire
Elemental Master
Phelios
Truxton/Tatsujin
Twin Hawk
Vapor Trail
Verytex
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Re: Can someone recommend me some good vertical shooters?

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

Seibu Kaihatsu's Viper Phase 1 running Seibu SP1 arcade hardware came in two different flavors for both the Japanese and American arcade markets under the names of Viper Phase 1/Viper Phase 1 "New Version" and Viper Phase 1 U.S.A. respectively. Viper Phase 1 U.S.A. (was distributed by Seibu licensee American arcade distributor, Fabtek, for sale/distribution stateside back in 1995) is identical in terms of overall gameplay & mechanics as it's JPN counterpart of Viper Phase 1 "New Version".

I came across an eBay auction back in 2003 that featured a barebones SP1 cart of Viper Phase 1 U.S.A. for sale and ended winning it for a mere $20 USD. Best eighty quarters I spent on getting it, indeed. I used to play Viper Phase 1 U.S.A. at a local arcade joint that took nothing but nickels to credit up a game and it was a mere four nickels per credit to play a single session of VP1-USA back in 1995 until 1998.

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