Commodore 64, Atari, Amiga, or X6800 exclusive games

[Jeffrey]

What shmups for these systems are worth playing (not including games ported to later systems)? The Xenocide files are thin with actual reviews of these.

[Ed Oscuro]

Off the top of my head, on X68000 I can think of ports (like Gradius II, Cotton - distributed by EA - Salamander, Syvallion, and Gemini Wing), and only two original games of note (not really including the doujin Darius games) - Cho Ren Sha 68K and Nemesis '90 Kai. Nemesis is a remake of an MSX2 game, but we can't worry about that.

These aren't terribly hard systems to emulate (I have done them all at one time or another with ease). Since there is only so much time left in your life, it would be best to just start trying games, discarding what you don't like ;) I would say that X68000 is the hardest system to get started with, so if you need help I will gladly assist you. All you need to do is get an X68000 emulator (WinX68kHighSpeed is currently the best), the necessary system files, and then disk images - the best place I know of is pleasuredome.org.uk, which has a nice Sharp X68000 torrent going, as well as torrents for the other systems you mentioned.

To answer the other part of the question, the reason that the files on the X68000 are pretty thin is probably because many of the titles either suck or are close enough ports that most shooter fans in the MAME age will ignore them. I collect games for the system because I really am interested in having ports from the time (as long as they are somewhat passable).

Emulating has saved me from spending lots of money on some really not so excellent X68000 games, while getting me interested in others. What's best is that it only took me about three minutes on games like Knight Arms or Neural Gear to see that they weren't really what I was looking for. Honestly, I think it takes longer to make topics like this than it does to investigate things for yourself (of course, some people have limited hard drive space, and games aren't labeled right in a torrent).

[Thunder Force]

Off the top of my head, on X68000 I can think of ports (like Gradius II, Cotton - distributed by EA - Salamander, Syvallion, and Gemini Wing), and only two original games of note (not really including the doujin Darius games) - Cho Ren Sha 68K and Nemesis '90 Kai. Nemesis is a remake of an MSX2 game, but we can't worry about that.

Also the special X68000 version of Thunder Force II is noteworthy.

[dave4shmups]

Here's a great site of C64 longplays:

http://www.abyss-online.de/c64longplays/?N=A (click at the bottom for more)

There are some C64 shmups on there.

For Amiga footage, go to http://recordedamigagames.ath.cx/ There are movies of Amiga shmups on that site.

[MJR]

Shmups worth trying on C64 are: dropzone, uridium, uridium plus, hades nebula, parallax and wizball, katakis, armalyte, sanxion, delta and x-out.
And seuck of course.
dragon breed port by ash and dave is quite interesting achievement considering c64's limits. it's not a great game, but it's ported probably as close as possible.

Shmups worth trying on amiga are: sidewinder, xenon, xenon II, starray, hybris, battle squadron, silkworm, blood money, stardust, super stardust, menace, galactic, Swiv, apidya, x-out, z-out. Saint dragon port is well done also. Some people mention projext-x but playability on that game is not good. [EDIT: I almost forgot: DATASTORM!!!]

Try getting joystick and original amiga if you can.

[Herr Schatten]

What MJR said.

Add Nemesis (Gradius), Io, Catalypse and probably Enforcer and Scorpius to the list of worthwhile C64 shmups. Cybernoid, Cybernoid II and Zynaps are also fine, although I actually prefer the Spectrum versions of those. (Strangely enough, I also prefer their Amstrad CPC versions.) Unlike the 16-bit original, Blood Money on the C64 is actually fun to play, so you might want to check out that one, too.

Add Uridium II, Deluxe Galaga, Wings of Death, Disposable Hero and maybe Banshee to the Amiga list. The graphics of Katakis for the Amiga have aged really badly, but the playability is pretty good, so add that one, too.

Now you've got pretty much all the quality stuff covered, I think. Shatterhand?

[Neon]

X68k has the only Mahou Daisakusen port.

[dave4shmups]

The Amiga also has Uridium 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjoxY7PrfEs

Looks pretty stinkin' amazing! The X68000 also has, reportedly, the most accurate port of Flying Shark, though I've yet to see any footage of it.

[Ed Oscuro]

X68k has the only Mahou Daisakusen port.

Then how did I see a copy of the game on FM Towns for sale? My eyes must be playing tricks on me again...

@ Thunder Force: Oops, how did I forget? I've got too many games to keep track of for this thing. There are of course lots of shooters I didn't mention (Undead Line and Mid-Garts come to mind) but it's just to get steered in the right direction.

Edit: I also read that thread (again?) - the information about Flying Shark X68000 is interesting, with the bunkers. You can crack them open in the FM Towns version, but the screen being shorter really screws me up.

[welcometoyourdoom]

X68k has the only Mahou Daisakusen port.

Which it struggles mightily to run, I might add. I think that with careful programming this could have been a much better port in the twilight years of this wonderful computer.

[auryn]

don't forget to play Agony on the amiga - if just for the unique atmosphere!