Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to week 1 of Shmupfight...
We will try in the next few weeks to find which games are considered the best by fellow forum members. Week 1 : Battle of the classic Horis. R-Type the arcade game. versus Gradius. May the best shmup win.
Not a fair fight really: The original R-Type has a good two years' hardware and genre development on Gradius, so the original Gradius ain't looking too good by comparison. That said I think the original R-Type beats Salamander or even Gradius II with no trouble.
Ed Oscuro wrote:Not a fair fight really: The original R-Type has a good two years' hardware and genre development on Gradius
Indeed, but does newer always mean better? :wink:
I said "genre development" for a reason.
Unquestionably, yes.
Salamander is pretty fun though (just broke 300K, lol). Gradius too, but neither is R-Type. R-Type's "high speed" section is better than a real high-speed stage.
I'm going with R-Type for being a much more polished game in general. Now, if it was R-Type II vs. Gradius II, that would be something else entirely (a much more interesting contest IMO.)
I went with Gradius. I personally find that the ambiance of Gradius (mostly due to the music) combines with the faster, more simple gameplay to provide me with a greater overall sense of having fun. R-type feels plodding and oppressive by comparison (which I realize is part of the point...but that just doesn't do it for me)
Every R-Type game is so friggin boring. Memorize this enemy popping at you from behind or you die! Memorize where to go or the environment will crush you!
Gradius on the other hand has one of the best powerup systems in any video game ever, and offers consistently creative and well-designed bosses and stages.
Basically I really don't like R-Type while Gradius kicks ass. I'm surprised so many people like R-Type.
"I think Ikaruga is pretty tough. It is like a modern version of Galaga that some Japanese company made."
Honestly, I don't think it's even close. The original R-Type is one of the greatest videogames of all time-- easily in the top 50. Does Gradius even make it into the top 100? Part of the problem for the original Gradius is that later games in the series (Gradius V in particular) make it feel a bit thin. By contrast, later installments in the R-Type series do an outstanding job of paying hommage to the original masterpiece without really surpassing it.
professor ganson wrote:Honestly, I don't think it's even close. The original R-Type is one of the greatest videogames of all time-- easily in the top 50. Does Gradius even make it into the top 100?
This.
R-Type II vs. Gradius II (aka "more of the same" vs. "quantum leap for the series") would be a whole different fight, though.
I just played some Salamander, and while I really like what the game's attempting, it's not pulling it off well. Lol fireball stage - just a few runs and I had the whole thing memorized; the stage will never bother me again. Was dreading attempting it and it turns out it didn't even warrant the attention. More bonuses: Totally random hit detection on walls, dead-ends in vertical stage 1-4, slowdown when you fire a lot at bosses. You get somewhere around 100K points that stage, whereas the first stage was 200K.
Now, Gradius...
The enemy rushes before a boss are cool, even if they don't take any skill to complete. The idea of selectable weapons is cool. Pity that the first two bosses are exactly the same (except for speed I guess), and that there's really only two choices for a weapon. Having to select when to drop your bombs brings excitement to Scramble, but is a pain in this game (of course, as I mapped it to the same button as fire, I'm doing badly on that front), and the bomb recharge time is a killer. Being at the first speed is no fun. There really could've (should've) been speedup levels between the first and second, and the second and third, speedup levels.
I feel myself getting older as I sit through the stupid as hell introduction music and the following fight (congratulations on your first powerup waste it in getting to the speed you should've been at anyway) to finish.
There really are only two choices to make with the powerup system: diagonal or be annihilated by ceilings and ceiling mounted enemies.
The shot speed of the diagonal is bad, but the bomb's delay is really something.
If comparing the whole series' though, I'd vote the other way. Gradius was definitely improved upon through it's sequels, whereas R-Type just kinda stagnated with none of the follow-ups feeling as special.
I voted R-type because I used to play the original in the arcade in my youth- I've 1cc'd it so many times.
Gradius for me was a bit of a slow burner, now i've got these games at home i can practice gradius a lot more and consequently i probably get more out of Gradius and the updates since then.
In truth now though I probably play more gradius games than R-type games, so, yeah, its a tough choice for me.
confused
I think I should choice R-Type (the original version's more decent in almost every aspect than the original Gradius), beating the Bydo isn't as boring as taking down those cores, but latter sequels of Gradius are fun (especially Gaiden) (because maybe of the R-Type's terrifrying atmosphere?)
I vote for Gradius, though
The whole atmosphere, great skill and memorisation requirements and the force makes R-Type my cup of tea. I've only played it through emulation countless times and I've loved every single boss, death and powerup. Gradius on the other hand isn't very friendly for beginners, losing all your power-ups renders your ship almost useless unless you're very skilled to get them back. I have the PSP collection and experienced the series progression quite nicely. Still my vote goes to R-Type.
Played far more R-Type than Gradius, yet my vote goes to the latter simply because it's a fairer game. Even though I much prefer the looks, sound, weapons and enemies in R-Type.
Gradius without powerups is very tough but still playable. R-Type without powerups is impossible.
^Yes but thinking about it again, R-Type 1 would still get my vote as opposed to Darius 1 - even if the bosses in Darius are plenty more memorable - there's just more intricate gameplay sections in R-Type.
Darius Gaiden & G Darius on the other hand, beat all later R-Types into a pulp.
