Your first shooter?

Cyarc · Post by **Cyarc** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:07 pm

I didn't own any systems untill I was about 13 years old when I bought the N64. As a real small kid though I rember playing Dragon Spirit for NES with my cousins and brother. What a tough game it was back then and still is, but fun none the less. We use to pretend that we were the dragons, I was the green one, my cousin was the 2 headed one, haha it was good times. We beat the game only to find out it was all a dream! Maybe there was alternateive endings who knows. Speaking of, I have a sudden urge to go play it right now...

I got back into my roots of the shooting game because of Ikaruga and the dreamcast actually and I havn't turned back since. Curious to what everyone else has to say about their first shooter.

Limbrooke · Post by **Limbrooke** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:22 pm

1943 on NES. Good times.

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:24 pm

First shooter that made drew me into shmups: Ikaruga. (I was on the search for hard 2D games, Metal Slug and Contra Shattered Soldier came before Ikaruga)
First shooter ever played: Solar Striker

Actually, the first time I felt "in the zone" shmup-wise was against the last boss in Super Mario Land. Today I think his patterns are very predictable, but back then it scared the shit out of me.

ave · Post by **ave** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:37 pm

Raptor for PC. I played the shareware version in 1996 or so, I was still a kid that didn't know about dodonpachi, layer section or any other great game of that time

Then there was a looooong break. Sometime, I watched a video of Ikaruga and after I bought it quite some time after that (more than 1yr I think), I fell in love with shoot em ups.

lynchesque · Post by **lynchesque** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 10:13 pm

Truxton took my shmup virginity.

alysa · Post by **alysa** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 10:21 pm

Galaga, Defender and Robotron where all at the same arcade I use to go to all the time. Not sure which one I actually played first. another one was on my friends Turbo-Duo but I cannot remember the name of it.

bay · Post by **bay** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 10:27 pm

Limbrooke wrote:1943 on NES. Good times.

this could very well be my first too. *swoon*

EDIT:

ok well.. maybe not. but that was definately overplayed on my NES.

i think the first real shooter i really got into would have been river raid for my atari 400/800/800xl..

there might of been others but hey.. i remember that one dominating my childhood. i didn't even have a color tv for it, we used a small black and white for the atari...

i dont recall any shmups on the tape drive, and river raid was definately on a 5 1/4 floppy

glitch · Post by **glitch** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 10:47 pm

Parodius for snes! yeah, i played that LOOOONG before i ever touched a Gradius or any other shmup for that matter, so all the references were lost on me. later when i did play the other Konami shmups, my Parodius memories started making more and more sense. history in reverse there.

it didn't get me into shmups though. i really just bought it because it seemed funny, and was cheap, and i enjoyed it more for it's style and humour than for it's gameplay.

the game that actually kindled my love for shmups was Mushihimesama.

mirkvid · Post by **mirkvid** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 11:45 pm

space invaders for the c64. mirkvid == old!

theevilfunkster · Post by **theevilfunkster** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 11:52 pm

Zaxxon for C64, although I could never get very far into the first level (I would have been around 5 or 6 years old back then). After that, Nes Lifeforce

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 12:19 am

I got into gaming with Windows 95 during 1996. My first shooters were horrid shareware affairs. I saw Raptor: Call of the Shadows, by Apogee, as well but didn't play it much. I liked Commander Stryker though :D

Should take a look at playing that again, indeed.

Kaede · Post by **Kaede** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 12:20 am

Gemini Wing on the C64. Looking back...what a crap game but I loved it at the time.

astrix · Post by **astrix** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 12:44 am

The gridrunner games on the C=64 where what drew me away from the simple Space Invader style. Now the more manical the better.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:34 am

Centipede, Atari XL.

sjewkestheloon · Post by **sjewkestheloon** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:43 am

I think mine was gynoug for a scroller or a galaxians clone on the amiga 600 or atari st (not sure which)

doctorx0079 · Post by **doctorx0079** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:10 am

CENTIPEDE, arcade, which was also the first video game I remember playing. I used to play that whenever I got the chance. Thanks to my dad I got good enough that I could get all the way through level 12, where the centipede is all separate heads. First scrolling shooter was probably Sky Shark. We used to play that waiting for our pizza at Little Caesar's, back when they had GOOD pizza and a restaurant area you could sit down in. There was this one kid who could get to level 4 on one quarter, I thought he was awesome. At the time I would always die in level 2. Nowadays I can sometimes loop the game, but to me back then, level 4 was a big deal.

There was also a bowling alley with Vs. Super Mario Bros. Good times.

sideshow · Post by **sideshow** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 5:11 am

Its hard to say but I'll probably go with Asteroids for the Atari 2600. When Gradius and Lifeforce came out for the NES I really became hooked on shooters. TurboGrafx came next and I went insane with Blazing Lazers, Super Star Soldier, Gate of Thunder, Lords of Thunder, Sapphire, etc.

shinsage · Post by **shinsage** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 5:28 am

FrederikJurk wrote:Today I think his patterns are very predictable, but back then it scared the shit out of me.

Haha, man, tell me about it. When I was a kid I was sweating bullets.
Last I played him, I smiled a bit at how easy he was...great game.

Anyways, not counting ancient stuff like Galaga or Gyruss, my answer would be Raiden II. Those two bosses on level 1 still mesmerize me.

Nuke · Post by **Nuke** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 5:31 am

1943 on nes, allthough that was mere foreplay.
Truxton took my virginity on the mega drive, and Nemesis tought me the ropes on a friend's MSX system.

CFO · Post by **CFO** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 5:59 am

I played some on the NES when I was young I'm sure, but can't recall any titles. The first shooter I really put some time into was R-Type 3 for SNES.

Pixel_Outlaw · Post by **Pixel_Outlaw** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 6:28 am

Kaede wrote:Gemini Wing on the C64. Looking back...what a crap game but I loved it at the time.

Ahhh I really enjoyed Star Soldier Vanishing Earth.

Gaiares, it was something I just happened to pick up. I loved that game to death. I had played them before that but never realized them as a whole genre.

Pirate1019 · Post by **Pirate1019** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 6:37 am

My story is a bit of an odd one. I actually found out about Kenta Cho's Gunroar from Attack of the Show on G4. I got that and everything else he made. Then I ordered Ikaruga off of eBay. So, my first shmup that I played with any sort of goals or motivation was a freeware game

. Guess that's why I love freeware so much.

Alec · Post by **Alec** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 6:38 am

Hmm....hard to remember. I think it was 1942 on NES, or maybe Galaga, possibly Defender. I have some very fond memories of playing UN Squadron on SNES, but that came later.

What rebirthed my interest in shmups was Truxton on Genesis back in 2001. I found it digging through the bin at Funcoland. It was $2 and had the best looking label on all the genesis carts. Then I got Donpachi with my 1st saturn, I couldn't believe how great it was. After that I was pretty into it and even preordered Ikaruga, that really set it off. Since then its been ON.

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 6:38 am

Demons aka Phoenix bootleg on Atari 2600

Varuga · Post by **Varuga** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 7:51 am

I used to play Tokio religiously at this corner store near my great grandmothers house. I then discovered Sky Shark on the way home from middle school at a run down pizza place..and Sidearms after that at a run down taco place.

To this day, I think those three shooters remain my favorites(Sidearms especially..).

PFG 9000 · Post by **PFG 9000** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 8:03 am

The first shooter, even the first game, that I remember playing is Space Invaders on the Atari 2600, circa 1984. I played Vanguard, Defender, and River Raid a few years after this, as well as Gates of Zendocon on the Atari Lynx and Trevor McFur and Raiden on the Jaguar around 1996.

The game that got me hooked on the genre was Gradius III (SNES), which I played in, err, 2001.

Kaiser · Post by **Kaiser** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 8:08 am

First shmup i've ever played was star force on nes (JP version) but real shmup that got me into genre was armed police batrider ^_^

1up · Post by **1up** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 10:34 am

I remember the first shooter I ever played was when I was 7 or 8 years old and my friend had rented what I think was a commedore 16 with cartridges.
Game he rented with it was Space Invaders

But what really drew me in was 1942 for C64. Played that forever

Bloodreign · Post by **Bloodreign** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 11:13 am

Galaga, Space Invaders, and Time Pilot way back in the day. Also played a lot of 2600 River Raid and Megamania back then too.

MA7 · Post by **MA7** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 11:30 am

My first was an Asteroids clone on the Spectrum.

Then some years later I bought Thunderforce IV on the Megadrive.

But the game which kickstarted my real interest in the genre was Ikaruga (like a few other people on this forum). Bought it on release - and still level 4 melts my mind...

There were a few others, but it's those three that really stand out for me.

Currently on Espgaluda and the Raizing stuff, but level 3 bosses seem to be my 'skill level plateau' (lets include that in the glossary!

)