Cave Games Ranked by Aesthetic Merit

[jehu]

Hi all. Thought it might be interesting to have a debate over the relative aesthetic merits of Cave's library of STGs. I did a little searching and couldn't find a topic match, so hopefully this will lead to a few novel conversations. But if this is a repeat, and people are sick of this conversation - I'll lead the topic behind the shed and...

Let's get the question of definitions out of the way: what is meant by aesthetic merits? The focus, I think, should be on the visual and aural elements of the games and their cohesion. Reflect on design of ships, characters, enemies, backgrounds, menus, the quality of the music and SFX, how well the visual and aural elements cohere and create a sense of aesthetic cohesiveness etc. It may be difficult to separate perception of the aesthetic elements of these games from the overall 'game feel' - but a little seepage here is fine. If you'd like to make amendments for soundtrack arranges, be my guest. And elaborate on your choices as much as you'd like.

My list [from best to worst]:

Mushihimesama Futari [all around delight]
Ketsui [everything near perfection except the character art - like the visual commitment to militarism]
Dodonpachi Daioujou
ESP Ra.De. [extremely strong visuals, not-top-tier-but-still-good music]
Guwange [the visuals and enemy design really do it for me]
Progear [perhaps my favorite stage designs visually, but audio unremarkable]
Espgaluda II [visual feast, strong music overall]
Mushihimesama [not as strong as Futari, but still firing on all cylinders]
Dodonpachi Saidaioujou
Deathsmiles
Ibara
Dangun Feveron [strange audio-visual dissonances, idiosyncratic in a way I generally enjoy]
Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu
Pink Sweets [if you like the retro robots, check out the art of Eric Joyner - music a bit much]
Dodonpachi [visually strong, love the pixel art, but the audio is just...]
Muchi Muchi Pork [pleasing in-game visuals, but the thicc chicks are frankly embarrassing]
Espgaluda [still good, but never did much for me - outdone by II]
Donpachi [retro charm carries it a little, but audio compression really takes a toll]
Akai Katana [take w/ grain of salt, have precious little experience with the game]
Deathsmiles II [dirty polygons captures camp of Christmas, entertaining OST - but still...]
Dodonpachi Maximum [obligatory low-bar?]

[SuperPang]

1. Espgaluda 2
2. Everything else

[el_rika]

Everything else

....


Deathsmiles 2

[Lethe]

1. Every game that's full of multicolored vomit
2. Every game that's full of red and blue vomit
3. Every game that's full of pink vomit

Why only Cave games, though?

[Rastan78]

Deathsmiles 2 is #1

[jandrogo]

Progear no Arashi is not a Cave game?

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

1. - Esp. Ra. De.
1. - Guwange
1. - Ketsui
2. - Progear
2. - Mushi
3. - Dangun Feveron
4. - DP
5. - DDP

999999. - Everything else

-∞. - animu waifu get out

[kid aphex]

Akai Katana Shin.

[jehu]

Why only Cave games, though?

"All Arcade Games Ranked by Aesthetic Merit" - I'll get right on that as soon as my schedule permits.

Progear no Arashi is not a Cave game?

It's a Capcom game. (I had this one between Guwange and Galuda 2, but I guess I accidentally deleted it while revising.)

Deathsmiles 2 is #1

In our hearts... in our hearts...

Akai Katana Shin.

Akai Katana Knee.

[BIL]

ESPRade's explosion SFX (and shot SFX, for Yusuke) have a guttural aspect I've never found anywhere else. Ketsui's Vinogradov and other large targets explode with tangibly satisfying violence. Guwange's "Underworld Cherry Blossoms" and its stage are from the seinen Kiki Kaikai of my dreams. Dangun's emcee is an all-time great on par with Batwider's and Thunder Dragon 2's. ESPG2's "Hatred / I've Waited A Long Time For This Day" is a notably lyrical trackname.

My mom threw out the others and grounded me when she saw an ad for Extremely Dark Urine 3;

[Lethe]

"All Arcade Games Ranked by Aesthetic Merit" - I'll get right on that as soon as my schedule permits.

Okay, I'll put it like this: How do these rankings compare against the aesthetics of e.g. RayForce, Dimahoo and Einhänder? Some of the Cave games aren't your favorites, so what are?

[jehu]

ESPRade's explosion SFX (and shot SFX, for Yusuke) have a guttural aspect I've never found anywhere else. Ketsui's Vinogradov and other large targets explode with tangibly satisfying violence. Guwange's "Underworld Cherry Blossoms" and its stage are from the seinen Kiki Kaikai of my dreams. Dangun's emcee is an all-time great on par with Batwider's and Thunder Dragon 2's. ESPG2's "Hatred / I've Waited A Long Time For This Day" is a notably lyrical trackname.

My mom threw out the others and grounded me when she saw an ad for Extremely Dark Urine 3;

If we're talking specific elements these games do aesthetically well, I'll add the superb implementation of what you might call 'takeoff tunes' - the music that accompanies the first 30 seconds or so of Stage 1. If done right, the music just puts wings on you and helps you get into that initial flow state. Ketsui's opening atmosphere is just magical, and I'm irrationally fond of SDOJ's light, thumpy, dance-y launch. I'm sure I'm not the only one with sentimental attachments to a few of the Cave openers.

Okay, I'll put it like this: How do these rankings compare against the aesthetics of e.g. RayForce, Dimahoo and Einhänder? Some of the Cave games aren't your favorites, so what are?

Yeah, apologies for being a bit of a ween about the comment - I think I basically understood what you meant from the get-go. I wanted to circumscribe the question within these bounds to limit comparisons to other games with a meaningful level of likeness. Open the gates of possibility and it quickly becomes too much. I could go on about how I love the distinct 8-bit art direction of Uchuu Keibitai SDF on the Famicom, the dramatic plunkiness of Kamui's SC-88 tracks, or the subtle mise en scene of a few of Toaplan's arcade verts - but they're on aesthetically different planets and I can imagine the topic getting too diffuse.

[To Far Away Times]

Futari was the first game I ever imported. There's something about the way it looks and sounds. It's like you just have to play it. Perfection.

I also really like the way DOJ looks and sounds.

Deathsmiles II, Muchi Muchi Pork, and Pink Sweets are flat out ugly.

Akai Katana Shin is visually stunning when you use the Katana attack but it's a bit inconsistent looking in other aspects.

[BIL]

Oh also! Umemoto (rest in peace) and Hosoe are game music royalty, and their respective Akai Katana and Ibara OSTs bang hard, in fact I'm perilously tempted to do a cringey AMV set to "Tsubazeriai." However I throttle my VGM cockerel quite aptly over here so will not rabbit on.

[jehu]

Deathsmiles II, Muchi Muchi Pork, and Pink Sweets are flat out ugly.

Pink Sweets feels like an invocation of the weird saccharine robo-world of Eric Joyner. I can dig it.

[BIL]

^ Ha, that first image is great... I love the contrast of the robos and their pre-packaged sugary treats with the earthy, grassy landscape and clear blue sky. I gravitate towards earth n' gunmetal STGs myself, ala Kyuukyoku Tiger, Trigon and Raiden.

EDIT: Blimey, missed your earlier post while digging up me ol' VGM one.

If we're talking specific elements these games do aesthetically well, I'll add the superb implementation of what you might call 'takeoff tunes' - the music that accompanies the first 30 seconds or so of Stage 1. If done right, the music just puts wings on you and helps you get into that initial flow state. Ketsui's opening atmosphere is just magical, and I'm irrationally fond of SDOJ's light, thumpy, dance-y launch. I'm sure I'm not the only one with sentimental attachments to a few of the Cave openers.

Yes! The takeoff sequence is an underrated little artform of the genre - Progear's is particularly excellent, and in-tune with its plaintively fiery war-child premise. While Daisenpu's classically granite-jawed army STG is deliberately less expressive, I get a similar vibe from its sombre takeoff, with your support dudes sortieing alongside you before scattering as the militant BGM stomps in.

I've come to associate Raizing/Yagawa most closely with them, right back from Recca's inexhaustibly charming blastoff (just wish they'd locked the controls until you were off the runway). Ketsui's is indeed similarly fatigue-proof, no matter how many times I've restarted that day, the audiovisual confluence of clouds and murmuring bassline is immortally crisp.

R-Type Delta has another of my favourites, giving you a quick, brutal, street-level recon before your fighter rockets onscreen as the BG barrel-rolls. I never really "see" the latter effect, getting straight to equipping Force and building Dose - but it's "felt" all the same, as the classically laser-precise XY-axis battle erupts.

Respect also to a couple of more avowedly filmic efforts - Ikaruga's is a good one, your fighter exploding into the fray like a slug out of a railgun; a suitable 2D forerunner in Gun Frontier:

*BOOM*

Spoiler

And back to IREM, there's R-Type III's classy, eerie glimpse of unhallowed future-tech:

"The Bydo are a man-made nightmare..."

Spoiler

[trap15]

DDP
DP
Dangun

[long stretch]

Akai Katana
Espgaluda II

[long stretch]

[everything else in a sad pile]

[long stretch]

deathsmiles
daioujou
deathsmiles II

[thegreathopper]

I always thought the 1st Mushi looked beautiful, was a bit disappointed when I got Futari didn’t look so nice to my eyes.

[Samildanach]

I really like this topic idea, but since I haven't yet played enough Cave games I am going to derail things (hopefully only for a moment) by giving my thoughts on a favourite dev of mine: Tec(h)nosoft. Apologies for my thread derailment! So from best to worst:

Thunder Force IV
The brief intro is unparalleled in shmups in my opinion, it shows all you really need to know and gets the blood pumping in a way no long drawn out exposition would never do. The music and visuals throughout blend perfectly, changing with each other on the fly. The worlds and enemy design are top tier and iconic and in my humble opinion have rarely been replicated so well; the gigantic final boss looks wonderful with the use of red light to highlight the curve of its edges - and that music! Near perfect.

Thunder Force III
This has a very tight and consistent look and sound that works very well. Again, the music and visuals combine to make a fantastic experience. Perhaps the big battleship of stage 6 looks a little... toy-like, and the icy world Ellis has a flat background that doesn't quite work (are we flying over the planet surface looking down from above?). The wondrous stages 2 and 4 elevate this to near the top.

Hyper Duel
This has a great continuous feel as the transition between levels feels seemless for several (but not all) levels. The music is not quite as good as the two above and some of the enemy boss sprites disappoint compared to other Tecnosoft shooters (too spindly and unintersting), but otherwise this is a very solid effort.

Thunder Force AC
There is more differences to this game compared to III than first meets the eye. The obvious changes are the two replacement levels. The asteroid/space ruin level looks great and would happily sit in III no problem. The Temple level looks fine from a background & foreground point of view (the ruins have a sort of green growth on them which wasn't present in the blander TFII original) but the enemies of the level look ugly. Stage 1's background also is changed and in my view for the worse. III's trees looked more interesting and alien but AC's version is much more uninteresting. Almost all popcorn enemy sprites have changed, quite a few for the better such as the lame mines in stage 3 of III changing to nicer looking shells. So still good, but I prefer the original.

Thunder Spirits
Mostly the same as AC, we just have the replaced 6th and last stages as well as the different sound to the music. While the original battleship looked bold and colourful, this one looks dark and muted and aesthetically unsimilar to the original's levels. The swirling white atmosphere is a very nice touch though. The final stage has more background variation but again looks like it came from a different game, the final boss is much more generic looking compared to the awesome mega computer in the original. The new music sounds mostly much worse, especially the awful stage 6 boss music, however the stage 6 music is great so not a complete loss

Thunder Force II X68000
This would have wowed people in 1988 with it's fantastic parallax. Also the fantastic idea of each stage being a deeper layer to the same planet is awesome, especially as you reach the final boss over the bubbling planet's core. The main weak point are the very generic boss and puny enemy sprites, especially compared to the rest of the series. Some of the enemies, such as the eyeballs in stage 3-1 look very poor. The music is a bit high pitched sometimes but nonetheless gets the job done.

Thunder Force II MD
Loses quite a few points without the wonderful parallax and moving backgrounds, as well as missing out two (albeit the two least visually interesting) stages. What it does better than its X68K counterpart is its bigger nicer enemy sprites. Almost all of them have been redone and while they aren't as good as later games, they are better than in the other version. Also, the new music for the devilish temple stage is banging!

Blast Wind
I have not played this one and one can't get the same 'feel' of the game from mere YouTube videos so this one perhaps should be higher, but as it stands it feels rather average for Tecnosoft.

Elemental Master
Maybe I am being a bit unfair to this one, especially as the music is superb and it does have a consistent vision and aesthetic unlike some of the others above it on the list. Unfortunately it consistently looks rather dull and flat unlike the wonderful depth of field implemented into Technosoft's hori shooters.

Thunder Force V Saturn
If we just go by the music then this would be right up the top, but this is an example of early polygon graphics implemented poorly. The first boss is especially a bad one and looks far worse than those in far older games. The likes of Einhander, G Darius and R-Type Delta show what can be done with the same era of technology so this is a disappointing. It does have highlights such as the stage 4 which is varied and very fine looking. Great gameplay though.

Thunder Force V Playstation
Very similar to the above but with the damning removal of the underlayer to the city in stage 3. Now it looks truly awful for large stretches, like those Doom maps I used to make with no skill or talent. The enemy visuals are marginally better I guess.

Thunder Force VI
Much better graphically than V of course, so why worse? Firstly there is so little originality here. Stage 4 is once again the best, but the others are copies of earlier Thunder Force levels with the final stage being much less interesting than its inspiration (stage 4 of TFV no less). The biggest issue is the music; other than the bosses, this is just not Thunder Force. A harder game, consistent rocking music and a better stage 6 would have made it a hell of a lot better in my opinion.

Thunder Force
Very very archaic looking and visually unremarkable compared to its contemporary games too. The over world look is bland, the underneath Dyradeizer also bland (although it is a nicely shocking transition), only its infrequent space station level looks good (stage 4 being the first time it appears). Definitely the weakest game visually and aurally and really now just a curiosity rather than something worth spending any time over

[Lethe]

I wanted to circumscribe the question within these bounds to limit comparisons to other games with a meaningful level of likeness.

I get that, which is why I tried to use some fairly contemporary games as examples.

Serious answer to the topic: Many Cave games after Mushi have a themepark-y quality which I don't appreciate, like they're concerned with providing an "experience" rather than genuinely expressing anything, and are simultaneously too self-conscious about communicating that experience to be totally unpretentious videogames like DonPachi or DDP. I feel like the way the Yagawa games are a bit of an exception supports this because his style of direction has always been very, uh, genuine, and it's easy to believe that trickled through the rest of the process. Although the actual results are hit-and-miss: Ibara has high quality assets* with poor art direction, Pink Sweets is charismatically idiosyncratic nonsense, and then there's MMP which I never know what the fuck to make of. But at least they're all very distinctive and not "Hey do you remember THIS boss from DDP? What about THIS one? There's twice the pink shit this time!"

Conversely the 90s single-loopers - and Progear, and DonPachi - all have a fantastic sense of "self". They look, sound, feel totally different to each other and still would even if they didn't control so differently. They paint self-contained worlds, providing a precisely desirable amount of information to the player and no more than that. Especially with an arcade game this kind of thing should be the first step and if you can't get it right then I'll never care how much production quality is involved or how much effort you put into the backstory. With enough skill you could apply this shit with general MIDI and stick figures and I'd find it more appealing than half of these games.

* not necessarily talking about the Roses

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

The first Donpachi sure is something. I'd argue it had more character than Dodonpachi at the cost of, naturally, worse and less polished gameplay. It's nonetheless interesting to take a look at it and compare it with newer titles. Gameplay sure is something, but the aesthetics? Where did it all go wrong? These are the mysteries...

In some ways Ketsui feels like a slightly less futuristic take on the original Donpachi aesthetic - gritty and millitairy but without the futurism (Donpachi itself was also less futuristic than DDP and later titles), and while there's no DP narrator, you do get the pilots.

[jehu]

I really like this topic idea, but since I haven't yet played enough Cave games I am going to derail things (hopefully only for a moment) by giving my thoughts on a favourite dev of mine: Tec(h)nosoft. Apologies for my thread derailment!

You bastard, I'll never get my thread back. (This was a lovely writeup, thank you.)

I agree with the majority of your slots, except the essential #1 slot. It was only recently that I developed a preference for TF3 over TF4. There's something slightly belabored about TF4's overall design and 'gamefeel' that holds it back slightly for me. It's still a masterstroke of genius, don't get me wrong, but TF3... TF3 is lighter, shorter, more manageable - it feels eminently containable in its capsule of a cartridge. This is going to sound over-the-top: it draws out my object fetishization like no other game except maybe Gimmick with its Sunsoft 5B. TF3 has one of the first OSTs, if not the first OST, I truly fell in love with. A ton of tracks that feel like they shouldn't work, like they're going to careen into unlistenability, but just manage to hang on and hit all the right notes: His Behavior Inspired Us with Distrust (a classic, the AC version is beefy too), Final Take a Chance, The Grubby Dark Blue, and the playful, tumbling Back to the Fire.

TF4 has it's share of CLASSICS, too, though - how can you not give credit where it's due? Don't Go Off is my favorite course select track of all time. Metal Squad. The absolute banger Omake #2 making its way into the soundtrack of AC - deservedly. The beautiful parallax of those Stage #1 mountains will never get old either.

I always thought the 1st Mushi looked beautiful, was a bit disappointed when I got Futari didn’t look so nice to my eyes.

Ah, this almost hurts to hear. Could you articulate what feels off to you?

DDP DP Dangun [long stretch] [long stretch] [everything else in a sad pile] [long stretch] daioujou

I saw DDP, DP, and Dangun up front and thought I pinned your taste, but then I saw DOJ buried under a miserable pile of who knows what games and lost the thread. It's bleak, not ugly - right? There's a certain early-arcade light-hearted camp it loses in relation to DP, DDP and Dangun to be sure. Is that it? I can't imagine not being charmed by the muted technocratic wasteland and the mutant tunes like 'Colorful Rainbow' and 'Strange Dance.'

I gravitate towards earth n' gunmetal STGs myself, ala Kyuukyoku Tiger, Trigon and Raiden.

These are a bit of a lost art. They're easy to do poorly. You need to pass a threshold of visual detail - an Irem-like grit - or it all washes out and starts to look cheap. And can these even be done in 3D? The 2D visual design language of the late-80s / early 90s ostensibly lends itself uniquely well to this style, and I'd be all for a revival.

I've come to associate Raizing/Yagawa most closely with them, right back from Recca's inexhaustibly charming blastoff (just wish they'd locked the controls until you were off the runway). Ketsui's is indeed similarly fatigue-proof, no matter how many times I've restarted that day, the audiovisual confluence of clouds and murmuring bassline is immortally crisp.

I'd never thought to associate the launch sequence with Raizing and Yagawa, but I see it. Even early on with Mahou Daisakusen, they added the cute sequences of the pilots climbing into their ships before launch. Adds a lot of personality.

And the aesthetics of Recca is another whole topic in itself - one of my favorite aesthetic packages in all of gaming. Soon as you're off that launchpad, the Fami starts pulsing out that 4/4 slammer that feels like it was designed to maliciously kick out the built-in speakers of a little 12" CRT. Hostile, messy, aggressive - love it.

[SuperPang]

I always thought the 1st Mushi looked beautiful, was a bit disappointed when I got Futari didn’t look so nice to my eyes.

I completely agree. Mushi was my first CV1000 game and I remember thinking it was one of the nicest looking 2D games I'd seen. The pre-rendered graphics seem more obvious in Futari and the colour pallet isn't as subtle.

[davyK]

As much as I love Futari I think original Mushi looks nicer.

Mushi, Deathsmiles(360-HD), DoDonPachi and DDP-SDOJ would be my favourites but it's hard to rank them.

[trap15]

It's bleak, not ugly - right?

It's hideously ugly and the nonstop grey-brown backgrounds makes it boring on top. At least Ketsui tries to cover up its horrendous graphics quality with some interesting design work rather than "it's awful except also we copy-pasted DDP designs into it but made it all uglier and less interesting".

[Samildanach]

I really like this topic idea, but since I haven't yet played enough Cave games I am going to derail things (hopefully only for a moment) by giving my thoughts on a favourite dev of mine: Tec(h)nosoft. Apologies for my thread derailment!

You bastard, I'll never get my thread back. (This was a lovely writeup, thank you.)

I agree with the majority of your slots, except the essential #1 slot. It was only recently that I developed a preference for TF3 over TF4. There's something slightly belabored about TF4's overall design and 'gamefeel' that holds it back slightly for me. It's still a masterstroke of genius, don't get me wrong, but TF3... TF3 is lighter, shorter, more manageable - it feels eminently containable in its capsule of a cartridge. This is going to sound over-the-top: it draws out my object fetishization like no other game except maybe Gimmick with its Sunsoft 5B. TF3 has one of the first OSTs, if not the first OST, I truly fell in love with. A ton of tracks that feel like they shouldn't work, like they're going to careen into unlistenability, but just manage to hang on and hit all the right notes: His Behavior Inspired Us with Distrust (a classic, the AC version is beefy too), Final Take a Chance, The Grubby Dark Blue, and the playful, tumbling Back to the Fire.

TF4 has it's share of CLASSICS, too, though - how can you not give credit where it's due? Don't Go Off is my favorite course select track of all time. Metal Squad. The absolute banger Omake #2 making its way into the soundtrack of AC - deservedly. The beautiful parallax of those Stage #1 mountains will never get old either.

Ha ha. At the risk of further derailment... yes, I see what you are saying. My heart prefers TFIV but my head knows TFIII is the more tight and fun game to play. As far as the aesthetics go, I have to disagree, this is TFIV's greatest strength. Gameplay wise, it has too many 'wide' levels so it loses the focus and intensity that TFIII has. The first part of stage 1 is beautiful but tedious to play, often dangers coming unfairly from off screen. Had that section been linear (perhaps horizontal then diagonally down) as well as the lava filled Stage 7, then at least less than half of the game would be the wide levels. Right. I'll stop it now.

Recca - only recently discovered this and sat open mouthed like a village idiot. Unbelievable game for the hardware.

Finally on topic, Ketsui and Deathsmiles are the only two I have spent time with. Both excellent and memorable aesthetics and blooming hard to compare. I look forward to getting to the rest of the Cave games but it might be a while, since I am having a few goes at each shmup I have in release order. I've only just done the 1989 ones and the number of releases in the next 3 years are insane.

[jehu]

It's hideously ugly and the nonstop grey-brown backgrounds makes it boring on top.

Well alright, trap, I feel like we're looking at different games. I love the understated design.

I am having a few goes at each shmup I have in release order. I've only just done the 1989 ones and the number of releases in the next 3 years are insane.

I'll be expecting a check-in around 2025. I take your point re: TF4 - wonder what others think.

I always thought the 1st Mushi looked beautiful, was a bit disappointed when I got Futari didn’t look so nice to my eyes.

I completely agree. Mushi was my first CV1000 game and I remember thinking it was one of the nicest looking 2D games I'd seen. The pre-rendered graphics seem more obvious in Futari and the colour pallet isn't as subtle.

One of the interesting consensuses to emerge from this thread so far - didn't expect this level of agreement on the Mushi > Futari comparison. I love the look of OG Mushi, the soundtrack is superb (esp. stage 4), and the arrange OST is a delight. Futari is a splendor for the eyes, but I can understand the flamboyancy of its visual language getting in the way of your aesthetic enjoyment. After all, here I am arguing that DOJ is the most aesthetically pleasing Donpachi game because it's understated and consistent in its vision.

[Udderdude]

1. Games with waifus
2. Everything else

[jehu]

1. Games with waifus
2. Everything else

Why look at what you can't fuck, eh?

Nearly all the Cave broads are either robots, dolls, or underage - so I'm forced to assume by the law of minimum degeneracy that Mrs. Garra is your fantasy mommy-domme.

[BulletMagnet]

Hmmm...an interesting topic. I won't comment on every game, but I'll offer a few thoughts on those which stood out to me one way or another:

- Personally, I put ESP Ra.de and Guwange at the top of my list of Cave's most striking presentations; part of it is the simple fact that they're "people shooters" and thus stand out from most of the rest of the catalogue for that alone, but beyond that their application of a similar, and still eye-catching, "technical" graphical style in service of two very different and unusual themes, both executed very capably in my view, still stand out to me above the rest after all these years.

- I mentioned this in the old Hardcore Gamer writeup, but while the first Espgaluda never caught my attention surface-wise the sequel really turned up the heat on both the visual and aural fronts; some of that can probably be laid at the feet of the hardware upgrade, but moreover the latent potential of the protagonists' powers to truly be put on display in the face of overwhelming odds just comes through so much better there, at least in my head anyways.

- This is very much nostalgia talking since it's perhaps more responsible than any other game for getting me into shmups proper, but DoDonPachi is still my favorite of its series when it comes to presentation; the spritework set the standard for Cave's output for years to come, the well-placed 3D touches still look good two-plus decades later, and the combination of no-nonsense military hardware with over-the-top hijinks (the flowers that spring up in stage 2, blowing up random traffic in stage 4, the cheese rock soundtrack, limited as it is) just plain hits a real sweet spot for me, more than any of the other DonPachi entries.

- I like both of the Mushihime-sama titles for the eyes and ears alike, but I'm tempted to give the first one a slight edge simply because it's more thematically consistent; I can understand if someone prefers the more varied enemies in the sequel, and they do look pretty cool, but at the same time I can't help but feel like they sort of threw together a bunch of leftover stage/enemy ideas they had laying around (dinosaurs! sea critters! dragons!...and back to giant bugs for awhile!) and called it a day. Though the sequel earns itself a point or two just for its slightly less ear-piercing death screams.

- Dangun Feveron nailed it on the musical and vocal end, but largely dropped the ball on the visual side IMO - if you replace the bomb with a generic explosion and exchange the disco men for standard-issue medals, mute the sound and nobody would ever know the game even had much of a theme at all.

- Progear is a game I should count among my favorites, since I can see what they were going for with the cartoonish steampunk vibe which has a touch of Metal Slug DNA in it, but somehow I just don't think it works out particularly well in the end...it's kind of hard to put my finger on specifically why, though the decidedly lackluster soundtrack certainly doesn't help.

- Though I rate Battle Garegga as one of the best-presented shooters ever made, Ibara never did a whole lot for me, for some reason...maybe all the crazy flower-shaped blades and ridiculous enemy costumes didn't quite jell with the rest in my mind, at least not as well as DDP's more disparate touches did. Pink Sweets (and Muchi Muchi Pork), on the other hand, went all-in on completely bonkers nonsense (and visible bullets ), and IMO hold up better, though again that's probably due in part to my shameless cute-em-up leanings.

- While the first Deathsmiles is easily the superior game in terms of visuals, I do get the appeal of the sequel both in terms of sheer novelty (albeit in a "can't look away from the train wreck" kind of way) and a dose of the aforementioned leaning even deeper into gonzo territory (which is admittedly a feat when you're following up a game that featured a giant cow as a boss for no discernible reason). In that sense I still kind of like it, even though purely on the merits it's just kind of MMMMEEEEEHHHHHHH

Why look at what you can't fuck, eh?

Obligatory.