Cannot find a particular Shmup! Please help!!!

[Turrican]

I immediately thought to Kuuga (Vapor Trail), but you don't get to select your weapons in the beginning. Too bad, it really sounded like it.

[doctorx0079]

Do you remember part of the name, say like the first letter of something?

No, unfortunately I don't remember any of the words or even letters that were in the title... It was one of those games that I played every weekend when I was younger. I only remember the gameplay but I can't describe any of the levels nor the enemies. The big thing that I can remember was the fact that the player had a fantastic selection of weapons and that the special effects of these weapons looked pretty darn good for the time. The closest I've come is Sky Soldier and Strike Gunner STG but Strike Gunner doesn't have quite the same weapons (although there are a couple that are very similar... but the weapon effects looked even better in the game that I'm thinking of) and as for Sky Soldier there aren't as many secondary weapons to choose from in it but the layout of the weapon selection screen is very similar as are the amount of munitions left (which shows in the bottom corner of the screen but I don't remember where the amount of special weapons left are shown in the game that I'm thinking of... a very similar look to Sky Soldier though). Because of the similarities that Sky Soldier had I thought perhaps the game could have been made by SNK / Romstar but I couldn't find anything else by them that was similar... Sky Adventure does have a unique secondary weapon set as well but it's easy to distinguish that it's not the game that I'm looking for because of the planes and enemy types.

I don't know why it's been so impossible to find this one measly but highly enjoyable game...

Thanks for all the help though guys, please let me know if you think of anything else.

- Reynor

Hey, maybe someone else on the board played the same game at the same place you did! Where did you play it???

[pixelcorps]

couldnt you go through the mame screenshot dump packs that are available to try and eyeball it?

[ARCADIA]

maybe Axelay.

[reynor]

Is it possible that you are mixing up multiple games in your memory? The thing is that there aren't that many arcade shooters where you are offered a large selection of weapons before each level. Did you always play it alone? Maybe a friend/relative remembers the name? And excuse me for asking, but if you've really been playing the game every weekend, why didn't you ever bother to look at the name?! I mean, how is that even possible?

Other than that I suppose you'll have to check out all vertical shooters from the years in question on that list
http://www.mameworld.net/maws/srch.php? ... 04&by=year

Well if you played a game approximately 20-some odd years ago it's very possible. You have to remember it wasn't exactly a game that I had in my home and $2 dollars back then went a long way. I do know that I'm not mixing games up in my head though and that the game I'm thinking of did have a healthy selection of secondary weapons and from what I remember it was unique in that way.

But as for my memory of the game it took me about a year to find another old arcade classic that I used to play called Kiki Kaikai... Now with a name like that you'd think I would remember it, but no. At the time of it's release it wasn't the name but the gameplay that I was fond of. It's probably a trivial platformer now but back then it was a lot of fun because it involved a lot of bullet and enemy dodging kinda like a shmup and it definitely had some unique boss battles.

So I know it's a single title that I'm looking for and I've searched high and low for it (even went so far as to check KLOV - "Killer List of Video Games" - and almost every letter of the alphabet, but still couldn't find it).

It's not something I dreamt up though. It's just hard as hell to remember because it was so long ago. The title didn't really matter much at the time since back then people rarely gave a crap about the actual titles until games like Street Fighter II came out (around the same time that shmups started to die in arcades).

This is why I've turned to the general public because I'm hoping somebody somewhere has perhaps played this game as well and remembers the either the name or the company, and even better, may have a link or screenshots of it.

Thanks again.

- Reynor

[reynor]

Do you remember part of the name, say like the first letter of something?

No, unfortunately I don't remember any of the words or even letters that were in the title... It was one of those games that I played every weekend when I was younger. I only remember the gameplay but I can't describe any of the levels nor the enemies. The big thing that I can remember was the fact that the player had a fantastic selection of weapons and that the special effects of these weapons looked pretty darn good for the time. The closest I've come is Sky Soldier and Strike Gunner STG but Strike Gunner doesn't have quite the same weapons (although there are a couple that are very similar... but the weapon effects looked even better in the game that I'm thinking of) and as for Sky Soldier there aren't as many secondary weapons to choose from in it but the layout of the weapon selection screen is very similar as are the amount of munitions left (which shows in the bottom corner of the screen but I don't remember where the amount of special weapons left are shown in the game that I'm thinking of... a very similar look to Sky Soldier though). Because of the similarities that Sky Soldier had I thought perhaps the game could have been made by SNK / Romstar but I couldn't find anything else by them that was similar... Sky Adventure does have a unique secondary weapon set as well but it's easy to distinguish that it's not the game that I'm looking for because of the planes and enemy types.

I don't know why it's been so impossible to find this one measly but highly enjoyable game...

Thanks for all the help though guys, please let me know if you think of anything else.

- Reynor

Hey, maybe someone else on the board played the same game at the same place you did! Where did you play it???

The only places I played it were Downtown Toronto at one of the smaller arcades (before the large drug infested one near Young & Dundas became the "Big" one - and now it's all but dead). But the other place was that I mainly played (on Saturdays between my lunch breaks and after work) it was at more of a corner shop / convenience store / coffee shop, with multiple arcade machines (everything from Pinball to Shmups to Platformers). It was located in the Bloor West Village area (West end Toronto). Unfortunately that's vague for most people and you would have had to have been playing the arcade games in there at around the same time, not to mention I believe the store was torn down (including some of the neighboring stores) in order to make room for a bigger plaza / super-market.

This is a tough one to find and it's also the reason why I'm stumped but I haven't given up completely... not quite and so this is sort of my last ditch effort to ask others who are fans of shmups in general and hopefully some of the crowd is old enough to remember some of the arcade shmups from the late 80's early 90's.

This has become one of those things where I don't think about it on a day to day basis but every once in a while (especially when playing other shmups) I think back to how great that game was (in my mind anyway) and that it would be great to try and remember what it was and find it if possible... unfortunately most of the query has led to frustration rather than results. However I appreciate any and all help, perhaps something will spark sometime soon. Who knows I may even find it by accident but I doubt it very much.

Thanks again guys.

- Reynor

[reynor]

couldnt you go through the mame screenshot dump packs that are available to try and eyeball it?

Tried, but no luck. I really don't know how obscure this game is but it's frustrating not being able to even see a screen shot of it after browsing around for a couple of hours.

[doctorx0079]

The only places I played it were Downtown Toronto at one of the smaller arcades (before the large drug infested one near Young & Dundas became the "Big" one - and now it's all but dead). But the other place was that I mainly played (on Saturdays between my lunch breaks and after work) it was at more of a corner shop / convenience store / coffee shop, with multiple arcade machines (everything from Pinball to Shmups to Platformers). It was located in the Bloor West Village area (West end Toronto). Unfortunately that's vague for most people and you would have had to have been playing the arcade games in there at around the same time, not to mention I believe the store was torn down (including some of the neighboring stores) in order to make room for a bigger plaza / super-market.

This is a tough one to find and it's also the reason why I'm stumped but I haven't given up completely... not quite and so this is sort of my last ditch effort to ask others who are fans of shmups in general and hopefully some of the crowd is old enough to remember some of the arcade shmups from the late 80's early 90's.

This has become one of those things where I don't think about it on a day to day basis but every once in a while (especially when playing other shmups) I think back to how great that game was (in my mind anyway) and that it would be great to try and remember what it was and find it if possible... unfortunately most of the query has led to frustration rather than results. However I appreciate any and all help, perhaps something will spark sometime soon. Who knows I may even find it by accident but I doubt it very much.

Thanks again guys.

- Reynor

Okay, now we need some of our Toronto members in this thread . .

[Specineff]

I saw Tempest more than 20 years ago and I still remember it...

[Randorama]

Area 88 or Carrier Airwing?

[spadgy]

Maybe you need to start a new thread with Toronto in the thread title, just to draw in the right crowd. I wish I had more to offer, as this thread has entranced me. I really want to know now and I don't even have a clue about the game.

I can't think of many jet based vert games not yet mentioned...

1945 III
One of the Sonic Wings/Air Aces titles?

[iatneH]

I'm going to be amused when we finally find out it's a mediocre game that everybody else hates... and then we can start pissing all over reynor's childhood.

Still, good luck on the search!

[Ceph]

@Reynor

You'll have to take this list and check out the games one by one.
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 97&start=0

[ROBOTRON]

Hmmmm...The folks around here are pretty knowledgeable about their shmups....

Maybe the game you're looking for was one of those pirate hacks of an existing game like the old "arab Pacman" and "Crazy Kong" ripoffs that were prolific in arcades throughout the 80's and early 90's. I'm sure there were probably some shmups that were pirated during that time and renamed. Otherwise, someone here would've recognized it by now.

[drboom]

Hmmmm...The folks around here are pretty knowledgeable about their shmups....

Maybe the game you're looking for was one of those pirate hacks of an existing game like the old "arab Pacman" and "Crazy Kong" ripoffs that were prolific in arcades throughout the 80's and early 90's. I'm sure there were probably some shmups that were pirated during that time and renamed. Otherwise, someone here would've recognized it by now.

As I'm reading the thread, I keep comming back to this same thought.

[SFKhoa]

Despite me being from Toronto, I don't visit the downtown district enough to know. Sorry.
I have to assume like the others that it was a hack of another existing game.

[unsane]

My guess is it's a very bad, obscure title seen through rose-tinted glasses.