Favourite Amiga shmup?

mcgeezer · Post by **mcgeezer** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 5:49 pm

Hello everyone, this is my post here. I read about the forum in the latest issue of Retrogamer here in the UK.

Anyway I really l like this site, I've already found alot of shmups I did'nt know existed, so I thought I'd introduce myself. By the way, my favourite system of all time is the Amiga 500. I read a review on here saying that Apidya was the best shmup for the Amiga - I have to disagree as I think Hybris and then Battle squadron come before Apidya.

Is there anyone else here keen Amiga fans with a favourite shmup?

McGeezer

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 5:59 pm

This thread should interest you:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=16743

Welcome to the forum!

Fenrir · Post by **Fenrir** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 7:22 pm

Oh boy this is going to be really cool

It's really difficult to choose my fave Amiga shmup, there are so many and I've had the Amiga as my main home computer for nearly seven years (1988, when I bought it, up to 1995) and had a lot of time to focus on many shmups. I'd have to shrink my selection to the "holy triad" that came out in the same month of the same year (!) and it's probably the three biggest Amiga shmup achievements: Project X, Agony and Apidya.
I'd go for Apidya, just because. Great playability, wonderful settings, celestial soundtrack and really interesting enemy/bullet patterns, expecially in the latter cyberpunk stages where it owes somewhat to king R-Type itself.
Don't mind my avatar, it's just a cohincidence

(is it??)

yojo! · Post by **yojo!** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 7:30 pm

How may times do we have to talk about Hybirs ?

Fenrir · Post by **Fenrir** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 7:32 pm

yojo! wrote:How may times do we have to talk about Hybirs ?

You don't have to talk about it. If you don't want, simply skip the thread

or talk about another amiga shmup.

Michaelm · Post by **Michaelm** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 7:44 pm

yojo! wrote:How may times do we have to talk about Hybirs ?

Never ever.
We usually talk about Hybris

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 8:20 pm

There is always time to talk about hybris

D · Post by D » Sun Oct 14, 2007 9:50 pm

another vote for hybris and talking about it all the time

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 10:02 pm

D wrote:another vote for hybris and talking about it all the time

voted and seconded, best soundtrack ever?

Fenrir · Post by **Fenrir** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 10:08 pm

mm it depends

You know, Chris Huelsbeck and stuff...

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 10:14 pm

Z-Out is not on the list.

That sort of disqualifies it.

And if you take away those rose-tinted childhood-memories, there certainly isn't enough "greatness" left for Hybris to qualify as one of the best Amiga shooters.

yojo! · Post by **yojo!** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 10:17 pm

1943 is a close second.

Shocky · Post by **Shocky** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 10:43 pm

Better Dead Than Alien, of course. Or maybe Return To Genesis. There, I just wanted to mention those because nobody ever does.

And for those who like the music in Hybris (and Battle Squadron), try to find a compression utility called Imploder. The background music is by the same guy, Paul Van Der Valk, and I'm damn tempted to say that it exceeds the game tracks.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 11:38 pm

Ceph wrote:Z-Out is not on the list.

That sort of disqualifies it.

And if you take away those rose-tinted childhood-memories, there certainly isn't enough "greatness" left for Hybris to qualify as one of the best Amiga shooters.

Hey, I love my childhood memories. Don´t want to take them away and even if I would want that, I´d still dig Hybris.

There are more shmups I really like on Amiga though...

Battle Squadron has some awesome music, is way too easy even for me, but is about as fun of a shooter as it could be.

And what about the excellent Atomic Robokid port? No Amiga exclusive of course, but fantastically fun to play.

Realistically though, even if it´s not MY fave, Apidya should take the crown. Exclusive and does most everything right.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 11:56 pm

Shocky wrote: And for those who like the music in Hybris (and Battle Squadron), try to find a compression utility called Imploder. The background music is by the same guy, Paul Van Der Valk, and I'm damn tempted to say that it exceeds the game tracks.

Thanks for the tip!

A disk image containing Imploder 1 and 4 (both have different background music) can be found here:
http://cyberpingui.free.fr/dl.php?id=11

You'll need an Amiga emulator like WinUAE to boot it.

However, having listened to it I think that Hybris and Battle Squadron sound better.

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 12:33 am

If I had to remove *my* nostalgia goggles, I would probably nominate datastorm alone. You just can't beat that gameplay, it's so over the top. Even though the framerate is shitty.

Shocky · Post by **Shocky** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 2:31 am

Ceph wrote:
A disk image containing Imploder 1 and 4 (both have different background music) can be found here:
http://cyberpingui.free.fr/dl.php?id=11

You'll need an Amiga emulator like WinUAE to boot it.

However, having listened to it I think that Hybris and Battle Squadron sound better.

Thanks for the url =) I didn't know Imploder 4 had a different music, I meant Imploder 1. Anyway, now after having heard all of them in sequence I can finally decide on a definite Paul van der Valk top-4:

1. Battle Squadron
2. Hybris (especially title and player death/re-deploy)
3. Imploder 1
4. Imploder 4

The user interface of WinUAE makes Baby Jesus cry.

Top-10 Amiga shmup music (only Amiga originals)

1. Apidya
2. Xenon II
3. Battle Squadron
4. Agony
5. Menace
6. Hybris
7 Awesome
8. X-Out
9. Sidewinder (re-creation of the music in a c64 game, Panther, I think)
10. Whirligig
11. Return To Genesis
12. Xenon
13. Z-Out
14. Blood Money
15. Disposable Hero

If borderliners would count, then I'd be talking about Bad Company, Paradroid '90, (Super) Stardust...

Edit: Yeah, I noticed, Awesome would be a borderliner, but I don't have the energy to re-think the list. Sorry.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 4:05 am

MJR wrote:There is always time to talk about hybris ;-)

No, it's not the 90s anymore. There's no more time for Klax.

Wait, I guess that means we do have time for Hybris.

...Proceed.

ED-057 · Post by **ED-057** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 6:00 am

yojo! wrote:1943 is a close second.

You look lost. Perhaps you were heading for this topic http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... sc&start=0

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 6:58 am

Ceph wrote:Z-Out is not on the list.

That sort of disqualifies it.

And if you take away those rose-tinted childhood-memories, there certainly isn't enough "greatness" left for Hybris to qualify as one of the best Amiga shooters.

I agree.

If one wants to have no more than 3 games on the poll, they should be Apidya, Z-Out, and Battle Squadron.

Post by **system11** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 8:01 am

I really liked X-Out actually, that ship building thing was pretty cool. I voted for Apidya though from the available options.

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 9:27 am

I missed Apidya when it came out, I bought it last year but wasn't really excited about it, difficulty felt too punishing even in easiest setting.

even though I used to think Z-out, hybris, battlesquadron and xenon 2 as best amiga shmups, they have one problem: once you beat them there's not much left in them to come back for.
Datastorm on the other hand has huge replayablility value; I'm not sure if you can't beat it, and somehow it nails the challenge factor in same way as defender stargate does. That is a rare accomplishment.

bcass · Post by **bcass** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:51 am

No Uridium 2??? FAIL!

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 11:43 am

People will say Uridium 2 is a borderline.

But yeah, Apidya. Uridium 2 and Battle Squadron for runner-ups.

Battle Squadron is EASY? I always found it very hard....

And I hope no one here will say Xenon 2 or Project X. On Amiga circles, people will always say those are the best shmups on the system, which is just buying on the hype. Xenon 2 is crap and Project X is average at best.

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 11:52 am

Shatterhand wrote:Xenon 2 is crap and Project X is average at best.

But... but... the graphics are so SHINY.

Just kidding, of course. They both suck.

D · Post by D » Mon Oct 15, 2007 12:06 pm

Herr Schatten wrote:
Shatterhand wrote:Xenon 2 is crap and Project X is average at best.
But... but... the graphics are so SHINY.

Just kidding, of course. They both suck.

Xenon 2 sucks
As for Project X. I either never played/seen/heard about it.....or.....played it for 2 minutes and condemned it!

bcass · Post by **bcass** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 12:08 pm

Shatterhand wrote:People will say Uridium 2 is a borderline.

To my mind, Uridium 2 is absolutely, 100% shmup. Regardless, just as a game, it is as good as, if not better, than any shmup that ever came out of Japan.

Xenon 2 was pretty good I think, back when it was first released, but it has aged very badly.

Fenrir · Post by **Fenrir** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 12:39 pm

I think Xenon 2 and Project X are both good games.
I have to admit, though, that Project X has many "problems" that can be VERY discouraging for many people. It's pretty unforgiving. One small mistake and you're kinda screwed up. Some would say that it's very difficult, and the fact that you don't get infinite continues can be a letdown*, and its approach is very european - those who were used to console jap shmups find it very frustrating.
But the enemy patterns are really intriguing, expecially those in the first level (the fishy wave is awesome) and in the third level. Fact is that once you die the game increases in difficulty. Losing an entire power level of whatever weapon you're using (I'm thinking about Plasma - probably the only weapon worth building up) can be devastating from the third level on. The last (quick) ship is almost useless since it hasn't enough firepower to get you though all the stages.
I find the game challenging at its best. Looking at it with a distant eye, it's got great graphics and soundtrack. The digi voices were a welcome change at the time (remember, it came on only 2 disks). The enemy waves were absolutely well thought, albeit somewhat random, and that was the main reason one could NEVER rest throughout the admittedly loooooooooooooooooooooooong levels.
The bullet patterns were kind of meh - because the main obstacles were the spaceships themselves, not the bullets.
As I said, there's nothing really wrong with PX if you judge it with a neutral eye. Unforgivingness + european-ish gameplay was something good for some and not so good for others.

As far as Xenon II is concerned - I must go back to work

later.

*for "wave pattern testing purposes" of course

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 12:43 pm

Uridium 2 for me.

Overkill was great too, even if it did blatantly rip off Strike Force.

Never played hybris.. what's all the fuss about then?

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 12:59 pm

Overkill was an AGA game, and I never had an AGA machine. Never played it, and never played Banshee either, which supposedly is very good.

I got Xenon 2 back at the time, and I still found it crap at that time. The first Xenon was a much better game (And still is amazing flawed, with its stupid hitbox - the 8bits versions are a lot better). It's completely uninspired, bland, boring. Like Herr Schatten pointed out, it only has good graphics and excellent music.

The Bitmap Brothers made some amazing games (The Chaos Engine and Speedball 2, both are utterlly, UTTERLY awesome games that deserve to be more known), but Xenon 2 is really dissapointing.

And I think I alread talked too much about how Project X isn't good on this forum. Throwing endless enemies at time-based waves that don't have more than one single type of enemy can't be defined as "Good design". Again it's the case of good graphics over good gameplay. Both Apidya and Agony, released nearly at the same time, are much better games (And Agony isn't even all that hot).

And as we are discussing Amiga shmups and the Euroshmups thread is very recent, Disposable Hero is an example of an Euroshmup done right. It has all the quirks that usually defines an euroshmup (Energy bar, shops, too many weapons, european art direction, etc etc), but the developers also cared enough to make some proper enemy/level desing, ending up with a very enjoyable game that also has amazing graphics and excellent music.

BTW, welcome to the forum mcgeezer. It's always good to have people around who were around at the Amiga days

Favourite Amiga shmup?

What's your favourite Amiga shmup?

Favourite Amiga shmup?