An ode to SHMUPS

[DrMatta]

What's up guys

I know folks around here are not so easily impressed with Shmup articles or reviews, being such hardcore fans and all (and just about everything has been covered here already)
However, if you'd still like to read something different about Shmups, I hope you find my article "An ode to SHMUPS" interesting.

It's all from memory, off the cuff; a retelling of my Shmup journey, starting 30 years ago. How I got into them, some mini reviews of the few that had an impact on me and a long rant about a certain game that didn't release in Europe. I try my best to convey how I experienced it all.

https://drmatta.nl/shmups

Now, there might be some errors here and there - however - I didn't want this to turn into some kinda research project.
If you're interested and have 30 min to spare, give it a read. And if you did, please let me know what you think (be kind )

EDIT: Fixed the link. (Stupid)

[PC Engine Fan X!]

For DrMatta,

I read your cool Shmups article in it's entirety and it's written quite well for someone whom would like an introductory glimpse into the world of Shmups (or as the Japanese refer to as "STGs"). In your informative shmups article, there's no mention of the classic PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 gaming console and it"s vast collection of 113 different & unique STG titles including Gunhed/Blazing Lazers, Super Star Soldier, Soldier Blade, Gate of Thunder, Winds of Thunder/Lords of Thunder, Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire, Magical Chase, etc. that are worthy of the shmupper's time and devotion to them. A KriKzz produced Turbo Everdrive Pro flashcart setup is the "master golden key" to gain & unlock access to the huge vault of all the various STG titles for the PCE/TG-16 gaming platform in their Hu-Card/Turbo Chip, CD-Rom2, Super CD-Rom2 & Arcade CD-Rom2 formats nowadays.

There's a whole another world/universe of getting ahold of an Japanese candy cab or a supergun setup (the Japanese manufactured Sigma produced superguns are ace) and delving into the world of arcade jamma pcbs like buying an Seibu Kaihatsu SPI arcade motherboard with the said SPI carts of Raiden Fighters, Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Diver and lastly, Raiden Fighters Jet -- those particular three SPI game carts are worth the time to source them out and play them as they were originally intended to be played.

The Seibu SPI carts of Viper Phase 1, Viper Phase 1 New Version and Viper Phase 1 U.S.A. are all worth your time to track them down and play them as originally intended as well. It's well-known that the Seibu SPI cart of Viper Phase 1 U.S.A. is the only one to have two loops from the "get-go" (the original Japan region SPI carts of Viper Phase 1 & Viper Phase 1 New Version only have just a single loop and that's it, period). Not to mention the fact that, sadly, Viper Phase 1 U.S.A. still hasn't gotten a proper home gaming console release ever since it's grand debut in the American arcades back in September of 1995.

There's something awesome and inherently cool about playing your favorite STG in it's original arcade pcb format/iteration whether it's the classic Cave Co. Ltd. release of DoDonpachi pcb circa 1997 or even the slick Cave SH3 powered DoDonpachi Sai-Dai-Ou-Jou pcb circa 2012 indeed (or even the ExaArcadia DoDonpachi SDOJ variant release to consider as well).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~