most anticipated shmup games of 2023

[dmk1198]

Drainius and ray'z arcade chronology for me
What else is getting released?
Or hoped for?

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[Redfox]

Whatever M2 releases for me.

[pablumatic]

Hoping that the homebrew "ZPF" makes its way to the Mega Drive/Genesis this year. Also looking forward to that Mega Drive shooter by Yuzo Koshiro's company. Whenever that will get published. Maybe an M2 Aleste game will come out, or one of the ShotTriggers games like Aleste Collection making its way to the states (pretty unlikely at this point).

Waiting on Ray'z Arcade Chronology to ship. Also the western release of Gleylancer for Genesis by Retro-bit. Will be grabbing the Toaplan releases on Steam as they come out.

I'm less enthused for R-Type Final 3, whatever that winds up being, but I will still pick it up.

[Steven]

The only things that I can remember that have release dates are Ray'z and Daioujou, although the latter doesn't have an exact release date yet other than sometime this year. I just remembered that Ray'z will be released in only a few months and I am really looking forward to that one.

[xxx1993]

Aleste Branch, Ubusuna, Radirgy 2, Visegunne, CYGNI: All Guns Blazing, Stellanova for me. I just hope the former four are released this year at least. Ex-Zodiac as well, but that one is more of a rail shooter. I also hope Visegunne gets a PS4 or Switch release sometime in the year too.

[kid aphex]

- ZPF
- VISEGUNNE
- Danmaku Unlimited: Wyver Ultra

[BIL]

Of stuff confirmed? RAY'Z for goddamn sure. Gon be some damn good grillin' with Ray's BBQ sauce and ten trillon gigavolts of searing lockon voltage! I'm so happy to see this trilogy given proper archival treatment; in Taito canon, it's always felt like the stoical yet no less quintessential companion to Darius's headlining act.

Generally speaking, anything M2 or Hamster. They've been consistently invaluable for going on a decade now, and they only continue to improve. I hope we'll see ACG Tatsujin+Ou and ACA Fighter/Attacker and NebulasRay this year.

[jehu]

It's Ray'z for me, too. Each side of the Taito x M2 collaboration seem intent on making this a quality package. In all of 2022, I don't think we got anything this nice. I hope, and expect, it'll be the backbone of 2023 STG-play for me.

Other picks:

Raiden III x Mikado. The OST teasers are great so far, and I'm too big a fan of the series to justify having overlooked it in the PS2 days.

Aleste Branch. If it's a more sophisticated, deeper version of GG Aleste 3's solid, but limited foundation - I'll be in heaven.

Dodonpachi Daioujou Shottriggers. A no brainer. Hope it's a return to pre-Toaplan form with included OST arranges and a solid non-'Super Easy' gameplay arrange.

The Known Unknowns:

Hamster Arcade Archives. For the past few, ACA has really been the star of the year for me. Arcade Archives, as a project, is my most anticipated even if I don't quite know what I'm anticipating. The weekly releases are a big part of my constant engagement with gaming, and I couldn't be more appreciative that the show continues into the new year.

Konami. Cautiously optimistic for Konami's 'new developments for familiar series' announcement. What I mean is, I hope it's Gradius.

[BIL]

Blimey, forgot DOJBL was confirmed for '23! Another beyond-day-1 pickup.

Arcade Archives, as a project, is my most anticipated even if I don't quite know what I'm anticipating. The weekly releases are a big part of my constant engagement with gaming, and I couldn't be more appreciative that the show continues into the new year.

Ha, same. There's an Advent calendar sort of pleasure in having reliably enthusiast-calibre home releases pop up every week. Some of meteoric import, some more quaint, some between, but always to the same crisp standard.

I did like the increasingly-rare times they'd announce a nice big slate, though the waits did tend to enrage people. Ganbare Ginkun phone home! Yo, I feel vindicated is all I'm sayin - XEXEX and Gunnail and TD2 (and Qix and Raimais) all dropped within a quarter of being announced. Just how much cheeks-obliterating firepower do these cats need in their backlogs, anyway? I'm just a man, dog! Same3 and ImageFight and Gradius III will wait obligingly atop their thrones of bones.

(also saying this as a diehard Obada fan who saw blah Datsugoku and shitty Ikari III announced alongside the man's final opus Guevara, both beating it to release by a whole goddamn year )

(pace Ikari III fans, I know there must be at least one, I'm trying bro 3;)

[DMC]

Aleste Branch definitely!

As for other genres, I'm still keeping my hopes up for icycalm's game.

[kid aphex]

As for other genres, I'm still keeping my hopes up for icycalm's game.

Too funny.

[dmk1198]

Oh sweet didn't realize so many games due
Yeah mystery of what hamster gonna release nxt is fun
Aleste branch? I got the jap gg3 release
Will this be UK release with space Megaforce etc?

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[Warp_Rattler]

As for other genres, I'm still keeping my hopes up for icycalm's game.

Oh shit, is that coming out this decade? I didn't realize it was already so far along in development!

[hamfighterx]

Toaplan Arcade Garage vol.3 is far and away my most anticipated (the first two volumes were my most played STG releases of 2021 and 2022), and I do still think it will show up in 2023 after M2 gets DOJ out. Like many of us, I'm hoping for a Tatsujin/Ou pack... but I'd absolutely settle for any other M2 Toaplan goodness.

Speaking of DDP Daioujou: that's one of my favorite games of all time, I will definitely pick the ShotTriggers release up on day 1 and I'm sure I will love it... but I've played so much of the game that I just don't have the same kind of excitement that I do for other games. I was never hardcore into Toaplan, so rediscovering their catalog is more exciting to me, or discovering an Arcade Archives release of a game I overlooked (my life was incomplete before I got into Baraduke in 2022).

Interested to see what else from Cave's 360 catalog gets rereleased by Live Wire or City Connection (say what you will about them, but their Deathsmiles and Akai Katana releases were both very good). I'd be a little surprised if we don't see Mushihimesama Futari released by one of them this year. A little odd that Live Wire released three Cave games in 2021 and was then quiet in 2022 though.

I'm also all in on Hamster's AA releases, and expect to see lots of fun STG stuff from that series in 2023.

[DMC]

As for other genres, I'm still keeping my hopes up for icycalm's game.

Oh shit, is that coming out this decade? I didn't realize it was already so far along in development!

Yeah, he is not rushing, is he? Which is understandable as all members of the development team had to subscribe to his forum (i.e., pay) to be part of the team.
(come to think of it, he is the video game equivalent to Andrew Tate, I believe)

Anyway, besides Aleste Branch I want original games that do not have pale or sterile background. Is that too much to ask for?
More like Gunbird 2-esque visuals with quirky little things going on in the background. Or Einhänder background. Stuff going on. Themes.

And I'm also eager to hearing more news about Ubusana, but this one I don't mind they take their time.

[Siontis]

Dodonpachi DOJ.

[dmk1198]

R type final 3 lol jeez full price to
Final 2 never really been cheap in sales either surprisingly

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[To Far Away Times]

R-Type Final 3 and hopefully a new Touhou (there's usually a new mainline one every year or two so we're due for Touhou 19 this year).

DOJ is great, one of the best shmups of all time, and I'll pick it up just to have a nice copy of it, but it's 20 years old and I'm sure most of us have played it to death already.

[EmperorIng]

As for new games, the ones that I am looking forward to the most are Elemental Elexfalter (by the Rolling Gunner devs) and Aleste Branch. The former looks to be aiming to be the "first actually good 16:9 vert" which is no small accomplishment, if the preview videos are anything to go by. The latter looks to be aiming for "the second good Aleste game"* which is no small accomplishment, if the preview videos are anything to go by.

*(after senxin aleste)

[To Far Away Times]

The latter looks to be aiming for "the second good Aleste game"* which is no small accomplishment, if the preview videos are anything to go by.

*(after senxin aleste)

No love for GG Aleste 3, MUSHA, Spriggan (does this count?), or Super Aleste?

[EmperorIng]

No.

[xxx1993]

The latter looks to be aiming for "the second good Aleste game"* which is no small accomplishment, if the preview videos are anything to go by.

*(after senxin aleste)

No love for GG Aleste 3, MUSHA, Spriggan (does this count?), or Super Aleste?

Those were good. But I don’t think Spriggan is an Aleste title.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

No.

Yikes.

[Strikers1945guy]

DOJ, aleste branch, Gunvein if the console port launches in 2023…

[Eyvah_Ehyeh]

Would be cool if Danmaku Unlimited: Wyver Ultra was released this year. Also Hello Lucia, made by the developer of LinearShooter Remixed. Right up my alley, so let's see if I'll enjoy it. From steam description:

"Bullet Hell x Rogue-like! "Hello, Lucia" is a game that mixes bullet hell shooter with rogue-like elements. Collect relics to strengthen your ship, mow down hordes of enemies, and break through randomly generated stages!"

Awesome sauce.