What great PS1 shmups am I missing?

[sumdumgoy]

x

[BIL]

Harmful Park is excellent, definitely give that a look. Cute but hardcore. For PS1-original STGs, I'd put it on par with Gradius Gaiden, R-Type Delta, Einhander and Zanac Neo, easily.

Amongst ports, I think Raiden Project is worth having around even with DX; Raiden II can be a nice break from DX's more involved scoring, with similarly cathartic destruction, and a tougher early game than Raiden 1. The PS1 rev is also noticeably easier than the arcade board, though by no means a pushover. Not the worst thing, as far as alt. versions go, with the board being rock-hard.

Salamander Deluxe Pack Plus has a neat slowdown-free mode for Salamander and Life Force, which (as you'd expect) rather dramatically changes things up. I never get rid of older ports, regardless, but that's a definite USP when comparing to the otherwise-definitive ACA pack.

[To Far Away Times]

Thunderforce V

[davyK]

Raiden Project and Raiden DX

There's a nice Xevious game - Xevious 3D-G+. It's a very old school clean poly based game with an isometric view but plays like a 2D game. The bonus is that it has original Xevious, Super Xevious and Xevious Arrangement on the same disc.

In The Hunt

PS1 got the Konami game packs that the Saturn got like Gradius, Parodius and Lifeforce that are worth getting too if you don't have the Saturn versions.

[sumdumgoy]

x

[BulletMagnet]

Harmful Park is excellent, definitely give that a look.

Seconding this one, though be warned that copies are stupid expensive, even by modern retro price standards.

[Bassa-Bassa]

To pick nits, Sonic Wings Special is not a port, as we mentioned here recently.

There's the wonderful Oshaberi Parodius, which is more a remake than a port. I don't remember Gaia Seed and Kyuiin being too bad, the latter getting pretty hardcore if you're willing to. The Time Bokan games worth mentioning as well. And the Gatchaman one, not sure about this one, these use to be too kind for their own good, if I recall. There's Finger Flashing as well, for a twist.

[sumdumgoy]

x

[Bassa-Bassa]

Only Japanese PS1, yeah. Some with anime licensing, so they hardly will appear on modern platforms.

[Klatrymadon]

Sanvein! Frenetic, chaotic arena-based shooting with ~5-second stages, andd incredible no-budget punky visuals and sound.

And obviously, that we've since been graced with the best port ever is no excuse not to play G-Darius wherever it appears.

[SuperDeadite]

Geppy-X is a crazy 4 disc 70's super robot themed shootie. It goes all out on presentation including fake commercials. As a shootie, it's clunky and not great, but it's so insane you won't really care.

[sumdumgoy]

x

[To Far Away Times]

To pick nits, Sonic Wings Special is not a port, as we mentioned here recently.

Posted your correction in the OP. Thanks.

There's the wonderful Oshaberi Parodius, which is more a remake than a port. I don't remember Gaia Seed and Kyuiin being too bad, the latter getting pretty hardcore if you're willing to. The Time Bokan games worth mentioning as well. And the Gatchaman one, not sure about this one, these use to be too kind for their own good, if I recall. There's Finger Flashing as well, for a twist.

Aside from the super expensive Gaia Seed (thanks, CGR), I've never heard of any of those! I take it they're all Japanese releases?

Gaia Seed… exists. It’s not terrible but you’ll 1CC it in a couple tries and forget all about it five minutes after you stop playing it. It’s the gaming equivalent of one of those random $5 DVDs at the gas station staring some guy who had landed a speaking role on a midseason episode of NCIS 12 years ago. You may or may not be mildly entertained for a couple hours and that’s about it.

[sumdumgoy]

x

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Another awesome exclusive Japan-only released PSX shooter in the same vein as Atari's 1981 Tempest is Squaresoft/Positron's polygonal-based "iS - internal section" circa 1999 (that never did get a proper NTSC U/C PSX release back in 2000-2001) with it's highly innovative vibrational effects afforded with the original Dual Shock controller (the only other PSX stg to truly take advantage of the Dual Shock's rumble effects is Irem's R-Type Delta) and presented in glorious 640 x 480 interlaced format running at a silky-smooth 60fps framerate overall presentation. The guy whom created "iS" also created the slick polygonal based verizontal stg by the name of "Prismatic Solid" circa 2010 that runs at a sliky-smooth 60fps framerate overall presentation for both the Xbox 360 & Sony PS4 consoles is worthy of your time as well -- PS's opening main title screen is truly incredible to watch/take in as it's rendered all in real time (a cool GC tech demo of sorts).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[MrSpock]

[/quote]

It’s the gaming equivalent of one of those random $5 DVDs at the gas station staring some guy who had landed a speaking role on a midseason episode of NCIS 12 years ago.
[/quote]

made my day . Thank you for this !

[Austin]

Internal Section is annoying as hell. Cool concept, great visuals (high-res anyway), but the gameplay is pretty lame (says someone that has finished it many times).

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Thunder Force V: Perfect System
Raiden DX
Gradius Gaiden
G-Darius
RayStorm
RayCrisis
Einhander

Those are among the top list of PS1 shmups.

[neorichieb1971]

Not sure if Parodious games are considered ports, but they are all awesome (Saturn versions are a tad better).

Kyuuin is ok but plays more like a megadrive game.

N2O is a pretty good tunnel shooter.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Kyuuin is ok but plays more like a megadrive game.

And that means...? Kyuiin as per default settings has a bit too long stages with many filler moments and not too complex bosses, and a control system designed to be pad-friendly, but that's usual on console-only STGs. It fills the screen with sprites like you could not see even on the Neo, and invites you to try a hardcore approach involving not shooting at all. It's quite unique and gets pretty hectic on hardest difficulty. The only reason it's not become more popular in the West is aesthetics, quite sure of that.

Gaia Seed, on the other hand, may just be average indeed. Too low difficulty was the issue of the aforementioned Time Bokan and Gatchaman games as well, as it was of lesser stuff like Air Grave or Stahlfeder. Paradoxically, by people with arcade development experience, most of those.

Oshaberi Parodius is the same on PS1 and SAT, unlike the other Parodius. Gokujou, particulary, is not a good port on the PS1.

[Koa Zo]

Dezaemon Kids is worth a look.
Like all the other Dezaemon games from Athena this is a shoot 'em up creation toolkit.
This "Kids" version has a 2nd disc with 100 games that were submitted by users during a "Dezaemon Plus Game Contest".
Wouldn't be considered great, but still fun and interesting.

[Kiken]

X2: No Relief is a very pretty, rather lengthy, and not terribly difficult 2D exclusive shmup on the PS1. The JP release was rebalanced by Capcom.

In the "off the wall" category, you have Takumi's Night Raid. Probably their most esoteric shmup, it doesn't quite live up to the pedigree of Giga Wing or Mars Matrix though.

And then if you're ready to head into pure mediocrity, there's always Stahlfeder and TwoTenKaku.

[cj iwakura]

If you don't mind lightgun games, Elemental Gearbolt is effectively a light gun shmup, made by Alfa System no less.

It also has fantastic presentation and vibes.

[Klatrymadon]

Stahlfeder looks like must-play stuff. Like a keen Video System/Psikyo fan tried their hand at doing a similar thing but forgot to put the bullets in.