Slow and easy shmups?

grovsnus · Post by **grovsnus** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:43 am

"There are no angels in the sky. There's only enemies, and we have to shoot them down to save the world!"

Yeah, my little sister is seriously hooked on the shooter games. I am trying to decide which console to get her. She is retarded, so I'm wondering if there are any slow and easy shooters out there that would give her time to see what's happening and let her practice using the controller in a calm way. Any console will do, but cartridge-based would be better I guess.

In the mean time, we'll be playing MAME, so tips for easier shooters on there would be great as well. Is it possible to slow down games in MAME?

Thanks.

Jockel · Post by **Jockel** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:47 am

Harmful Park.

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:57 am

Kamui (PC) is pretty forgiving on defaults. Slow, easily cancelled bullets, tiny hitbox, and a generous life point system. At the same time it's a brilliantly-designed shooter that shows off the genre's potential. I've had a few newbies really enjoy it and move on to other shooters. Hard is a great introduction to more challenging (but still friendly) shooters!

Never tried Easy, but I imagine it'd be even more player-friendly (and if not for some reason, Normal is fine). Here's a menu translation if you try it (thanks to Kiken).

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 10:33 am

Seconding Harmful Park.

Dodonpachi for PS1 has a slowdown option, which might be good for her. There's a lot of PS1 shmups which are fairly easy but none seem to come to mind. If she has the attention span of a rabbit, I'd recommend Shooting Love 200X for the 360. Lots of variety in there.

As for MAME, I guess you can slow games down but I don't know how. Most of the vertical shmups there are fairly difficult and I wouldn't recommend them to her. Shienryu Explosion is ridiculously easy though, so if you have a PS2, try hunting that down. I think I 1cc'd that on my second try.

Pixel_Outlaw · Post by **Pixel_Outlaw** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 4:11 pm

Monkey King

doctorx0079 · Post by **doctorx0079** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 4:24 pm

Lifeforce for NES is actually pretty easy, as is NES Gradius. Vulgus also comes to mind, and Gun-Nac if you can get it. I always thought Raiden Trad on SNES was easy but some disagree with me. UN Squadron starts out pretty easy. And there's also Thunder Force III on Genesis.

Zweihander · Post by **Zweihander** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:32 pm

R-Type Final.

freddiebamboo · Post by **freddiebamboo** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:21 pm

Hyper Duel

KindGrind · Post by **KindGrind** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:18 pm

Jockel wrote:Harmful Park.

Elixir wrote:Seconding Harmful Park.

+1

Exe · Post by **Exe** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:29 pm

MUSHA Aleste is quite easy

kengou · Post by **kengou** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:33 pm

when I think slow shmup I think immediately of the R-Type series.

Zweihander · Post by **Zweihander** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:34 pm

kengou wrote:when I think slow shmup I think immediately of the R-Type series.

Yeah, but it was never really easy until Final reared its easy head.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 8:51 pm

Another cool but beautiful classic 2-D hand-drawn sprites is none other than Capcom's CPS-1 powered Three Wonders Roosters/Chariots arcade shmup portion. It starts off nice and easy but then picks up the pace towards the end. Is regarded as one of those yen/quarter munchers. It even allows to continue with your score intact if you do decide to continue, this particular buy-in with score intact feature is present on the USA/World version of Three Wonders. Some of the sprites shown in Chariots/Roosters seemed to have influnenced the PC Enigne shmup of Magical Chase btw (considering that both came out back in 1991). ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

SuperGrafx · Post by **SuperGrafx** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:07 pm

The SNES version of Gradius III is a good choice (due to its pacing and added slowdown) as far as hori shooters are concerned.

I used to play this one to clear my mind and zone out, if you will. A pretty relaxing experience where you can just sort of let your instincts take over whilst playing.

GrimoreLibrarian · Post by **GrimoreLibrarian** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:19 pm

TouHou?

Zweihander · Post by **Zweihander** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:31 pm

GrimoreLibrarian wrote:TouHou?

/thread.

XERO · Post by **XERO** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:34 pm

have you considered a controller with slo-mo?

nimitz · Post by **nimitz** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 8:22 pm

Dangun Feveron.

But seriously, it doesn't matter if it's easy or hard, you would be amazed how "bad" players are able to get good scores only by sticking to a game. The real answer is; the games she likes the most.

I would show her stuff like the Parodius series or Psikyo games....Games that can interest kids for other reasons than the complex scoring system.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 12:28 am

Pop'n Twinbee

mainpatr1 · Post by **mainpatr1** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 1:08 am

Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth.

1CC on first try.

Enhasa · Post by **Enhasa** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 5:21 am

Rob wrote:Pop'n Twinbee

Once again, Rob has the most thoughtful choice. I literally fell asleep playing this game.

I'm sure there are some PC shooters for kids that are designed to be way easy though.

Out of curiosity, is your sister actually retarded, or just "retarded"? I assume you mean the latter, but you never know. This actually changes what a good answer would be too.

grovsnus · Post by **grovsnus** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:13 am

Thanks for the suggestions. You guys are excellent as ever. I'm leaning towards a Nes or a Snes for her.

I'll try and determine what she likes most in mame and make her stick to a couple of games resembling that on a console. So far it's R-type Leo, but I haven't exposed her to cute 'em ups yet.

I am one of those guys who wouldn't call his sister retarded if she wasn't actually retarded.

cools · Post by **cools** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 11:11 am

Leo's a great game but it does get pretty tough on level 4 and beyond.

Fantasy Zone's pretty easy if you've got rapid/autofire.

Zweihander · Post by **Zweihander** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 11:28 am

Maybe some Cotton?

kozo · Post by **kozo** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 2:07 pm

You're a nice brother.

MagicEngine lets you halve the framerate without doing any skipping of frames, bringing shmups to a nice relaxed tempo. And there are lots of shmups for the PCE it can play. Worth checking out, try it!

XERO · Post by **XERO** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 2:48 pm

agree with kozo...if you want to use an emulator.....

NAVVARR · Post by **NAVVARR** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 2:58 pm

I'd recommend 'Parodius' for the SNES and NES--might be better trying it through an emulator - the music is fun, the graphics are a laugh and there's a lot of humour onscreen.
Its available on Japanese systems- not sure about PAL or NTSC. -worth checking out tho.

StoofooEsq · Post by **StoofooEsq** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 3:35 pm

Would Super Aleste/Space Megaforce fit the profile? Length aside (though, there is the Short Game), the simple weapons system and steady pacing make the game easy to pick up and play.

Kollision · Post by **Kollision** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 5:07 pm

All on the easiest settings:

Shienryu Explosion
Battlemania (MD)
Darius II
Harmful Park

Nate · Post by **Nate** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 5:18 pm

Kollision:

Darius II

Mega Drive version, yes (Sagaia); Pretty easy and the music is addictive and makes it fun!
Saturn version...eh, still a testy little motherfucker - complete w/ rear-screen ambushes and "power-up" traps! Same as in MD ver. but nowhere near as forgiving.

...I've been trying to complete a run through it for 3 days now; it's a hairy bitch.