Boss Alley Shmups

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Master O
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Boss Alley Shmups

Post by Master O »

Unofficial Shmup Glossary wrote:
2) A rare type of shmup composed entirely of boss fights, with few or no "minor" enemies or other sections of consequence in between successive bosses. When the term is used in this context (to describe an entire shmup, instead of just one section of it), it usually indicates that the game goes a step beyond what is usually defined as a Boss Fest.
Just out of curiousity, what arcade games fit the bolded description?
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SFKhoa
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Post by SFKhoa »

A certain stage in some Gradius games.
Last edited by SFKhoa on Sun Sep 23, 2007 2:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Zebra Airforce
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Re: Boss Alley Shmups

Post by Zebra Airforce »

Master O wrote:
Unofficial Shmup Glossary wrote:
2) A rare type of shmup composed entirely of boss fights, with few or no "minor" enemies or other sections of consequence in between successive bosses. When the term is used in this context (to describe an entire shmup, instead of just one section of it), it usually indicates that the game goes a step beyond what is usually defined as a Boss Fest.
Just out of curiousity, what arcade games fit the bolded description?
Darius Alpha, I think??
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mainpatr1
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Post by mainpatr1 »

Chaos Field
Darius Alpha
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shoe-sama
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Post by shoe-sama »

Quite a few shmups have bossonly modes.
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Post by Pixel_Outlaw »

-rRootage
-Warning Forever
-Touhou Project (borderline)
-Gun Ranger X (heh)


These are my favorite types of danmaku games. It's not a commonly used term. There are plenty independent programmers making them. Chaos Field is a commercial example.
Some of the best shmups don't actually end in a vowel.
No, this game is not Space Invaders.
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Post by tada »

DoDonPachi DOJ Death Label.
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Damocles
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Post by Damocles »

Change Air Blade

...well...there _are_ some popcorn enemies that come in during the fight...
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sikraiken
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Re: Boss Alley Shmups

Post by sikraiken »

Master O wrote: Just out of curiousity, what arcade games fit the bolded description?
The only person who has said one is Damocles. ARCADE GAMES.
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Twiddle
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Post by Twiddle »

unfortunately change air blade is shit
so long and tanks for all the spacefish
unban shw
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Post by Macaw »

Twiddle wrote:unfortunately change air blade is shit
No its not, it has the Event Horizon ship in it.

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Post by j^aws »

Bee Storm: DoDonPachi II is kinda like a boss-rush type arcade game...
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Post by ROBOTRON »

Radiant Silvergun consist mainly of Bosses. You fight very few minions.
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Post by Skyline »

sikraiken wrote:The only person who has said one is Damocles. ARCADE GAMES.
mainpatr1 wrote:Chaos Field
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Post by undamned »

j^aws wrote:Bee Storm: DoDonPachi II is kinda like a boss-rush type arcade game...
Uh, have you actually played the game?
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Post by j^aws »

undamned wrote:
j^aws wrote:Bee Storm: DoDonPachi II is kinda like a boss-rush type arcade game...
Uh, have you actually played the game?
-ud
Yeah, the first few stages; which mainly had boss-type enemies... like I said; "kinda" like one...
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Post by sikraiken »

Skyline wrote:
sikraiken wrote:The only person who has said one is Damocles. ARCADE GAMES.
mainpatr1 wrote:Chaos Field
I'm sorry, I missed that one. He also listed Darius Alpha, however. ; )
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Post by landshark »

Armed Police Batrider
Battle Bakraid (or was it Garegga?)
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Post by Shatterhand »

both Batrider and Bakraid are not like this, they have proper stages.

Radiant Silvergun nearly fits it IMO. The first level is layed out like a proper shmup, but later at the game it feels like you are fighting boss after boss after boss after boss, with just a few pop-corn enemies between layed out in way to make chaining difficulty.

I remember there were spots where the enemies wouldn't even shoot at you, they would just stay there in some kind of weird pattern for the player to chain them.
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Post by Acid King »

Shatterhand wrote:both Batrider and Bakraid are not like this, they have proper stages.
They both have special courses where you only play bosses though.
Feedback will set you free.
captpain wrote:Basically, the reason people don't like Bakraid is because they are fat and dumb
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Post by JoshF »

Sonic Wings Special has a boss rush mode.
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Post by Twiddle »

RF2 and RFJ have boss rush modes -- however half the time in the Special mode in RFJ you're facing them in minimum rank, which makes it poor practice.
so long and tanks for all the spacefish
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<Megalixir> now that i know garegga is faggot central i can disregard it entirely
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Post by Shatterhand »

Acid King wrote:
Shatterhand wrote:both Batrider and Bakraid are not like this, they have proper stages.
They both have special courses where you only play bosses though.
Yes, you are right, obviously.
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Post by landshark »

Twiddle wrote:RF2 and RFJ have boss rush modes -- however half the time in the Special mode in RFJ you're facing them in minimum rank, which makes it poor practice.
Wait WHAT!? How?

Can't wait to try this if it exists in the mame variants.
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Post by Twiddle »

f2
game settings
special mode on
so long and tanks for all the spacefish
unban shw
<Megalixir> now that i know garegga is faggot central i can disregard it entirely
<Megalixir> i'm stuck in a hobby with gays
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Master O
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Post by Master O »

So, so far, the following are arcade Boss alley shmups:

Darius
Change Air Blade
Radiant Silvergun
Chaos Field
Vasara 2

(This excludes games with boss rush stages or boss rush modes enabled in the service menu)
Last edited by Master O on Wed Oct 03, 2007 2:58 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Zebra Airforce
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Post by Zebra Airforce »

You forgot chaos field :!:
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mainpatr1
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Post by mainpatr1 »

I got another one to add.

Vasara 2.

Defintely a boss alley shmup.
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Post by Reverie Planetarian »

Could some of the Touhou games count? I've seen boss battles go on for more than 5 minutes with little actual regular enemy killing in between.

...OK, OK, not exactly a boss alley shmup, but very close to me. There's precious little in enemy swarming.
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