Vertical Shmup search?

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VZander
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Joined: Wed May 01, 2024 2:42 pm

Vertical Shmup search?

Post by VZander »

Hey. I don't know where to ask. But I've been looking for a vertical shmup I used to play back in 2010-2014 on my Windows XP PC.
I don't know what I should specify about it but I'll just say everything I remember about it.

Theme: Space.
Art style: Retro, 8/16bit
Offline game.
From what I recall it was single player.
Multiple stages and maybe a boss rush/ free run(?)
Avatar/ Ship: Multiple ships available through shop(?) out of which some are locked behind beating stages
Shop: Allowed player to place weapons on the ship's "weapon slots" as well as upgrade those weapons/ boosters/gadgets
Start of 1st level: Ship appears to leave Earth's orbit
End of 1st level: Ship arrives at a space station
Start of 2nd (and so on) level: Ship leaves a space station
Power ups: Yes, bombs, ammo boost, weapon switch, screen nuke, mini allies
Start up Screen had an option for music(Gallery?), High Scores
BGM: I distinctively remember the first 8-10 seconds of Corneria (Star Fox), it probably was a remix. And the gallery having about 8 or more other songs. (They were all cool to be honest)
Bosses: I remember there were about 4 or 6 out of which all of them were "mother ships" Large, with turrets. After destroying all turrets you could deal damage to main body and thus beat the boss. Each boss had distinct movement and attack patterns. 1 of them was red or orange and yellow colour coded and another one was green and blue.
Background: Dark, with small stars and (occasional?) galaxy dust
Meteorites sometimes appeared and you could destroy them.

That's about all I can remember about it. I know I had it downloaded from somewhere on google, but I couldn't find it since. The PC is most likely no longer operable and formatted since then. I appreciate any leads.
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BareKnuckleRoo
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Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:01 am
Location: Southern Ontario

Re: Vertical Shmup search?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

How colourful are the graphics? Was it more of a bullet hell, one hit kill kind of game, or did you have a healthbar with shields like Tyrian 2000?

Some of the cinematic elements that fit suggest it could be something like Major Stryker but that's a fairly low colour EGA game from the MS-DOS days and it doesn't feature a shop system.

Is it actually a PC game or is it possible is web-based like a flash game like the Frantic series?

Does anything in this thread of games with shopping systems jog your memory? viewtopic.php?t=57770
VZander
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Joined: Wed May 01, 2024 2:42 pm

Re: Vertical Shmup search?

Post by VZander »

BareKnuckleRoo wrote: Wed May 01, 2024 9:07 pm How colourful are the graphics? Was it more of a bullet hell, one hit kill kind of game, or did you have a healthbar with shields like Tyrian 2000?

Some of the cinematic elements that fit suggest it could be something like Major Stryker but that's a fairly low colour EGA game from the MS-DOS days and it doesn't feature a shop system.

Is it actually a PC game or is it possible is web-based like a flash game like the Frantic series?

Does anything in this thread of games with shopping systems jog your memory? viewtopic.php?t=57770
The colours were quite vibrant but not neon vibrant or enough to strain your eyes. I don't recall seeing a health bar although it might have had a screen on bottom left with damage taken on each part/ whole ship.
It's not Major Stryker. It was "pixel art" but the corners/lines didn't look sharp. I'm thinking that this game would've been released in 2009 but that's just a guess.
From what I remember I downloaded it from the Internet and I did have an icon available on my desktop. So I highly doubt it was browser based. Controls were either "wasd" "space" and/or arrow keys.

I'll be checking that thread.... I checked most (almost all) of those games. The most similar I've seen is Ganablade but it has a different art style.

Menu and setting text had a green lime-ish colour. Words related to the title might be: Earth, guardian, war, galaxy.
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BareKnuckleRoo
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Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:01 am
Location: Southern Ontario

Re: Vertical Shmup search?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Would the name be enough to jog your memory? There's a few google drive folders here with repositories of Windows XP era shmups: viewtopic.php?p=1365638#p136563
VZander
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed May 01, 2024 2:42 pm

Re: Vertical Shmup search?

Post by VZander »

BareKnuckleRoo wrote: Thu May 02, 2024 2:19 pm Would the name be enough to jog your memory? There's a few google drive folders here with repositories of Windows XP era shmups: viewtopic.php?p=1365638#p136563
I'm still going through this, it's taking a while :? . Nearest similar game/series in my opinion would be "NEXZR", although it's resolution is higher and it seems to have a plot/story (don't know how Nexzr's gameplay feels, but the one I'm looking for was very responsive and has quite smooth gameplay).
Unrelated but during that time I also used to play Alice:Greenfinger, Bookworm and other games I can't find or remember anymore. Should I maybe use some search engine other than Google?
EngineerSTG
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Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2023 7:24 pm

Re: Vertical Shmup search?

Post by EngineerSTG »

Was it a Doujin game? Kamui or RefleX?
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