PS2 Shmups...Recommendations

Harlequin · Post by **Harlequin** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:08 pm

Hi

There are so many cool looking Shmups for the PS2
now that i need some help on which i should buy first off.

Cheers
Harlequin

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:20 pm

Welcome!

Harlequin wrote:I have checked the review site, but not all the Ps2 shmups have been
covered.

Yeah, the owner of shmups.com (malc) who in the past did a great job hasn't updated the site in years and apparently refuses to let anyone else do it. He pops up every once in a while and promises to update "soon" and then disappears again. And since he owns the domain, there is nothing anyone can do about it.

In the meantime people have collected missing shmups here:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=6571

And there is also a reviews section

http://shmups.system11.org/viewforum.php?f=10

Harlequin · Post by **Harlequin** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:38 pm

Ceph wrote:In the meantime people have collected missing shmups here:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=6571

How did i miss this post, THANKS!

Ceph wrote: And there is also a reviews section
http://shmups.system11.org/viewforum.php?f=10

I have already looked at this page and saved all the links for future
reading

Thanks for the link, I am off to do some more investigating

Harlequin

Plasmo · Post by **Plasmo** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:42 pm

must haves!
Dodonpachi Dai-Oujou
Ibara
Mushihimesama
Shikigami No Shiro II

great games!
Dragon Blaze
Espgaluda
Giga Wing Generations
Gunbird 1&2
Homura

good games!
Chaos Field
Psyvariar II
Psyvarier Complete Edition
Raiden III
Shienryu Explosion
Shikigami No Shiro
Trizeal
XII Stag

Dandy J · Post by **Dandy J** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:50 pm

If you are relatively new to shmups, I cannot recommend ESPGaluda enough. It's a really good shmup for beginners, and just gets more fun as you get better and exploit the scoring system.

Shikigami no Shiro 2 is also a good game to start with.

sffan · Post by **sffan** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:59 pm

Harlequin wrote:Hi

I just found this wonderful site a week ago, and after reading through
so many good posts and information on Shmups, i have decided
to finally buy a PS2 (becuase they are so cheap now)

Make sure your PS2 is either modded or japanese if you want to play the shmups on your list.

fl0w · Post by **fl0w** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 1:02 pm

sffan wrote:Make sure your PS2 is either modded or japanese if you want to play the shmups on your list.

or get the Swap Magic bootdisks

Harlequin · Post by **Harlequin** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 1:56 pm

Thanks for the replies!

fl0w wrote:
sffan wrote:Make sure your PS2 is either modded or japanese if you want to play the shmups on your list.
or get the Swap Magic bootdisks

I am going to get the PS2 modded same time i pick it up

What is a Swap Magic bootdisk ?

Would this let me play Japanese imports without modding my PS2?

Cheers
Harlequin

jpolz · Post by **jpolz** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 2:10 pm

Forget modchips & swap disks....just install a HDD in your PS2 and keep all of your games internally and never have to touch your discs again. Load times are also cut down too.

I own quite a few import SHMUPS and they all work flawlessly off the HDD.

Harlequin · Post by **Harlequin** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 2:31 pm

jpolz wrote:Forget modchips & swap disks....just install a HDD in your PS2 and keep all of your games internally and never have to touch your discs again. Load times are also cut down too.

I own quite a few import SHMUPS and they all work flawlessly off the HDD.

Ooooh, this sounds exactly what i need

So are you saying with a HDD i can dump all games on it and
play directly off it without a mod chip needed? How cool!

I am off to search about this feature

Thanks!

Harlequin

fl0w · Post by **fl0w** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 2:42 pm

Harlequin wrote:What is a Swap Magic bootdisk ?

Would this let me play Japanese imports without modding my PS2

Exactly !

If you want to use a HDD, you will need to buy an used "big" (not slim) PS2 with network adapter and, of course, a compatible HDD. This IS a good choice if you don't mind buying a used console.

Harlequin · Post by **Harlequin** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 2:48 pm

fl0w wrote:
Harlequin wrote:What is a Swap Magic bootdisk ?

Would this let me play Japanese imports without modding my PS2
Exactly !

If you want to use a HDD, you will need to buy an used "big" (not slim) PS2 with network adapter and, of course, a compatible HDD. This IS a good choice if you don't mind buying a used console.

Argh! I just read up on this and im not too happy about not being
about to do it properly with a slim PS2

I really want to buy a new slim PS2, i might have to make a decision
between chipping it or using a HDD with it (which you still can do)
but unfortuanlty i need to find someone to do it for me, i already
have a spare 80 GIG HDD doing nothing!

Cheers
Harlequin

fl0w · Post by **fl0w** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 4:02 pm

you can plug an USB HDD to a slim pstwo, but it sucks.
Modchips are known to put extra strain on the optical block, esp. on pstwos. If you're lucky it'll be OK!
If you feel unlucky, get the swap magic

Gorecki · Post by **Gorecki** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 4:04 pm

You should also check out Gradius V. It's a hori, and it's the official 2nd best shmup in the world! Watch out for the level 5 boss though, he's a right evil git.

Harlequin · Post by **Harlequin** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 4:13 pm

fl0w wrote:you can plug an USB HDD to a slim pstwo, but it sucks.
Modchips are known to put extra strain on the optical block, esp. on pstwos. If you're lucky it'll be OK!
If you feel unlucky, get the swap magic

Flow, can i have some more info on the above?

A. Why does the USB HDD suck for the PS2? I really dont want to
mod my PS2 if i can get away with it

B. What exactly is the Swap Magic Disk and how does it work?

Cheers
Harlequin

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 4:39 pm

I am a former user of Swap Magic, and a current user of a modchip.

Suffice to say, the modchip is much more convenient and it also allows me to play import PS1 games. You will need a separate set of boot discs for PS1 imports since Swap Magic specifically boots PS2 games.

Anyway, to answer your question:
Swap Magic is a boot disc for PS2 games. It actually comes in a set of 2; One CD used for booting CD-based PS2 games, and one DVD for booting DVD-based PS2 games.
The procedure for use involves booting up your PS2 with the Swap Magic disc and then waiting for swap instructions to appear on your television screen.
Next, you must open the disc drive while forcing the system to believe that the drive is always closed; in your case with the PSTwo, this means you first have to use some way to forcibly hold down a number of lid sensor buttons - this can be done with folded bits of paper and sticky tape.
After that you just put in your game disc, close the drive, and press a button to boot your game.

It's alright, but just annoying compared to a mod chip, where all you have to do is just put in your game and boot up normally.

fl0w · Post by **fl0w** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 4:44 pm

A. the USBXTREME sucks because many games are incomptible with it. Moreover, USB 1.1 is SLOW and expect some glitches...

B. the Swap Magic is a collection of two bootdisks (one for CD games, one for DVD games). You insert the Swap Magic disk, turn on the pstwo, wait for the disk to start and stop, remove the disk, insert the import game, press X and you're done.

The problem is that the console must be unaware the disk has changed. As you will get a recent pstwo, you will need a little (and shitty) tool called Magic Key 2 (usually sold together with the Swap Magic) that will fool the pstwo by pressing a switch *inside* the console

Google is your friend.

Harlequin · Post by **Harlequin** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 5:00 pm

Thanks for the info Flow and iatneH

Ok, look like the Swap Disk would be something to look into.

I did try and search about it and found some info, but was confused
how it worked and what i needed, thanks again, I will do
some more investigating and let you all know how i go

Cheers
Harlequin

neojma · Post by **neojma** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 9:10 pm

If you're considering a PS2 primarily for shooters, you may want to think about just getting a Japanese/Asian system. I got tired of my finicky modded PS2 last year and took the plunge to get a Japanese slim PS2. Couldn't be happier with that decision. You will never have to worry about booting anything and it's really not that expensive. You can probably get a new Japanese system for less than the cost of a modded US system.

Of course, you won't be able to play US games on it... but if all you care about is shooters you won't be missing anything except possibly being able to find Graidus V and R-Type Final a little cheaper in their US versions.

tekneekz · Post by **tekneekz** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:03 pm

dont miss out on gradius V, its very fun for single player or two player.

Bkeela · Post by **Bkeela** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 3:06 am

I'm still hoping the PS3's region free ability will make all the import games I own but have never played viable.

I'm not in any great hurry to play games such as Mushihimesama, DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou, and ESPGaluda, for I expect DoDonPachi will keep my occupied for the next couple of years at least. If I ever ICC a double loop, I've always got ESP Ra De, and countless other emulated games to fall back on. I've only mastered the first stage of Ikaruga too - hell, by the time I'm ready for current games, they will all be emulated through Mame...

Daigohji · Post by **Daigohji** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 9:44 pm

You're better off with the larger PS2 (v1-v11) if you're going to be playing a lot of shmups. The Slimline PS2 sounds like a hairdryer when its playing CD based games (Gradius V, etc). My old v4 was nowhere near as noisy as my v12 when playing them.

If you're going with a mod chip, make sure you get it installed by someone you either know or can track down and brain with a baseball bat later on. There are a lot of fake Chinese knockoffs of the best known modchips out there. I got burned on that count, as when I tried to update the firmware, the chip stopped working. Now I use the SM discs. They're fine for most games. The only ones they won't play are games on DVD9 (dual layer) discs like Xenosaga: Episode 1, but they're hardly ever used.

Harlequin · Post by **Harlequin** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 2:51 pm

tekneekz wrote:dont miss out on gradius V, its very fun for single player or two player.

I am not a big fan of Horizontal Shmups, but i will check out some
reviews on it.

Cheers
Harlequin

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 6:07 pm

Besides also recommending Gradius V, I'd also recommend the Gradius III & IV pack, R-Type Final and Silpheed: The Lost Planet. The first two games got a number of good reviews, and while S:TLP got a few lumps on the head by reviewers, I personally found it to be a straight forward, but fun shmup. It has simple play mechanics in much the same way the first one for the Sega CD (and PC) did, but obviously it looks much better and adds a few new things into the mix over its predecessor. It's also pretty cheap these days, so chances are you could find it new for about $10.

freddiebamboo · Post by **freddiebamboo** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 6:45 pm

Harlequin wrote:
Do Don Pachi Daioujou, Espgaluda, Homura, Ibara, Mushihimesama and Raiden III

I would say Shikigama 2 is a better and cheaper option than either Homura or Raiden 3, but it's a good list.

You'll be busy for a while with all of them, have fun

tekneekz · Post by **tekneekz** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 9:19 pm

wait for the US release of raiden 3 it should be a budget price under 20 bucks hopefully

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PS2 Shmups...Recommendations

PS2 Shmups...Recommendations

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