Favorite Shmup things

[Nuke]

Lolis. I only play shmups for the lolis.....

[popawell]

Explosions.

Epic explosions are even better. Nothing is more enjoyable than rattling the windows and my parents eardrums at night.

[eight]

I love when the boss explodes and the game begins to lower the framerate on purpose to make it even more epic.

[P_HAT]

Lolis. I only play shmups for the lolis.....

i cannot disagree...

and helicopters...

[sfried]

Lolis. I only play shmups for the lolis.....

i cannot disagree...

and helicopters...

lolicopters?
I only like lolis...when they blow up!

But yes, I'm a bit of a pyromaniac. Explosions for me.

[Pirate1019]

For those who don't like to be penalized for such things as bombing, there's games like Gunbird 2 (which gives you points for dangerous bombing)

Really?

[-Bridget-]

Stuff I like:

Absurd difficulty; I like bullet-hell types for that reason. I love a challenge.

Collection based scoring systems.

Games with a "true" final boss hidden at the end if you do good enough.

Retro titles like Galaga, that sort of style

Games with large numbers of ships and weapons to choose from

Shmups that are a bit complex (Progear and ESPGaluda for example)

And sometimes ones that are a bit simpler and more traditional (Strikers!)

Crazy demented bosses with multiple forms that spray pain everywhere

and good battle music to go along with the epic combat.



And some hidden secrets are nice too!

[JBC]

deserts with lightning (like R-Type Leo)
cities in ruin (like Darius Gaiden)
pulsating biological caverns (like X-Multiply or Salamander)
rotating mazes of dangerous liquids (like Gradius V)
being attacked by giant heads (like Legendary Wings)
beautiful electronic voices (like RayStorm)
strong theme music (like Raiden II or Gunbird)
otherworldly aesthetic (like Storm Blade or Sengoku)
satisfying projectile effect (like Viper: Phase 1)
that one awesome character or ship you'll always prefer (like ESP.Ra.De.)
awesome continue? screens (like Pulstar)
really cool parallax and transparency effects (like Shienryu)
attract modes with relaxing sound effects that you can leave on to help you sleep (like Battle Garegga)
giant mandarin dragons (like Xexex)
strange enemy themes (like Darius or Dead Moon)

[moonblood]

'walker' enemies and bosses (axelay, disposable hero)

[D]

-Explosions. Like See this Battle Garegga vid and carefully notice how every ship explodes in a different pattern! brilliant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE95_sZetwA
-power ups system
-weapons, new more firepower
-Huge bosses
-sprite rotation
-Sprite scaling (like Souky)
-perfect playability 100%, no lag or stuff like that
-easy to play difficult to master aspect
-100% action 100% of the time, no boring bits in shmups.
-Huge smart bombs
-Multiple ships to select from like the 26 in Sonic Wings Special (PS)
-The entire screen is always full of sprites, explosions, etc
-arcade aspect of them which are basically all of the above elements
EDIT:
-making your friends go on a laughter spree after they see your tv tated. They will joke about it for years to come. During any random conversation they might say: "D, would put it sideways....."

And alot of things from other shmembers that might be worded differently but come down to the same thing!

[Imhotep]

good music, the second most important aspect of a shooting game

and I like being encouraged to use my bombs

[Iaspis]

-Frantic action
-Eye candy
-nice sounds and music
-medium to high ship speed
-medium to small ship hitbox
-normal difficulty
-vertical aspect (of course!)
-high scoring for daring (scratch etc..)
-no bullet-blocking options, bullet deflecting gadgets etc.. just dodging!

[Arvandor]

For those who don't like to be penalized for such things as bombing, there's games like Gunbird 2 (which gives you points for dangerous bombing)

Really?

Really and truly. You get a "Nice Bomb +X" depending on how many bullets are extremely close to you when you bomb. I don't know exactly how it affects your score, but it does applaud you for nice bombing =)

[Pirate1019]

For those who don't like to be penalized for such things as bombing, there's games like Gunbird 2 (which gives you points for dangerous bombing)

Really?

Really and truly. You get a "Nice Bomb +X" depending on how many bullets are extremely close to you when you bomb. I don't know exactly how it affects your score, but it does applaud you for nice bombing =)

Neato! I'll have to give it a shot. Maybe it can help me get over my chronic lack of bomb use by making me feel good when I use them. Like drugs.

[Rob]

I forgot to include that in my list of bizarre things Psikyo did for no apparent reason. Better than that useless "bomb multiplier" are the bullets transforming into point items (for only two characters, that is really fair! and strange). Actual points.

[TKGB_Mental_Gear]

Good story, good characters, good cutscenes.

[sfried]

Good story, good characters, good cutscenes.

Might as well play an RPG...but then again, RPG-like story is what made Radiant Silvergun and Einhänder so popular.

[Turrican]

Might as well play an RPG...but then again, RPG-like story is what made Radiant Silvergun and Einhänder so popular.

You'd be mistaken if you think you can find better stories in RPGs. On an average, they are mostly on par. "Earth federation vs. evil alien Menace" is as complex and involving roughly as "Four warriors of Light defeat evil Wizard".

I'm not sure why people think to RPG first when they hear someone saying "story". I would advise graphic adventures (Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Broken Sword), or stuff like Silent Hill 2. Heck, it's probably true that most of Infocom or Sierra production has more narrative that your average RPG.

[roker]

-Frantic action

2nd stage Ketsui has this part down pat

as does a certain part of Galuda in the 3rd stage

[elfhentaifan]

I´d like to have bitmap-look in every single shmup!!!!

[Zeether]

Voices. Like an announcer or whatever.
Also cool warning alarm sounds.

[dolph]

Big Explosions
a mass of bullets on my screen
nice patterns
big powerups
nice OST
high scores (like in mushihime arrange)
i also kinda like those slowdowns like in mushihime :>

[shoe-sama]

high scores (like in mushihime arrange)

Sounds like it's time for you to go play some Takumi games.

[Kaiser]

high scores (like in mushihime arrange)

Sounds like it's time for you to go play some Takumi games.

Especially mars matrix!

[sfried]

- Hitbox variety enemy-wise (Suck it again, ZUN!)

(Edited for clarity)

[Twiddle]

- Hitbox variety

How the fuck do you think this is a good idea in any game?

[sfried]

- Hitbox variety

How the fuck do you think this is a good idea in any game?

I meant enemy-wise.

[Twiddle]

Oh, that's cool then.

Player hitbox variance is really awful, as it encourages a lack of balance.

[dolph]

high scores (like in mushihime arrange)

Sounds like it's time for you to go play some Takumi games.

I just played Giga Wing, that's way too much, when I takes me so much time to see what score I have.

[stanski]

Big numbers
Big bombs
Big explosions
Big multipliers
Big weapons
Big bosses


Round here, we do it big.