The "darkest" shmup?

Afterbirth · Post by **Afterbirth** » Sun May 31, 2009 6:16 pm

I mentioned it

j^aws · Post by **j^aws** » Sun May 31, 2009 6:20 pm

doctorx0079 wrote:
j^aws wrote:Stargate (1981):

It has suicide, homicide and genocide; humanoid abduction, with copious transgenic mutations...
What's actually going on in that game is kind of nasty, but you have to have a lot of imagination to really notice.

Yep, there is only so much you can do with 16 colours and no music...

Having said that: The sound effects have gameplay cues to events in the playfield, and this comes across as some kind of digital 'chatter' in the form of various "blips" and "bleeps". This suits the design of the sprites and the theme (some kind of binary language)...

There is no music to accompany the game, but this amplifies the aforementioned "chatter". Moreover, this suits the bleakness of your predicament, and focuses your hearing on these gameplay "cues". And of course, there's nothing really stopping anyone blasting out a suitably apocalyptic anthem, with a custom soundtrack and whatnot, but this can drown out this "chatter"...

Graphics/ artstyle-wise: Fast, smoothly animated sprites and their behaviours (AI), gives them 'personalities' (firing rate, enemy formations, aggression etc.). And Immersion from constantly observing the game "scanner" and watching this behaviour, I can easily forget the need for realism with more than 16 colours; or any 'narrative' for that matter: Too busy trying to stay one step ahead of the game; with no particular affinity to humanoids, nor alien scumbags...

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Sun May 31, 2009 6:23 pm

Afterbirth wrote:I mentioned it

It's an awesome post from 2005.

Afterbirth · Post by **Afterbirth** » Sun May 31, 2009 7:49 pm

Oh erm...ah. I wondered why i couldn't see it.
I didn't think of that.

Daika110 · Post by **Daika110** » Sun May 31, 2009 10:12 pm

Metal Black - if by name only.

Chacranajxy · Post by **Chacranajxy** » Sun May 31, 2009 10:22 pm

CIT wrote:Battle Garegga
Guwange
Soukyugurentai
Dodonpachi Daioujou
Esprade
Rayforce
R-Type
R-Type II
R-Type Delta
X Multiply
Homura

Now that you mention Daioujou, I kinda agree... I remember the music in the ending being like... kinda depressing. I have no idea why.

Been playing Soukyugurentai lately, and I kinda agree with that one, too. Again, it's really the music that sells it.

NAVVARR · Post by **NAVVARR** » Sun May 31, 2009 10:31 pm

I'd add the original Project X for the Amiga to the list of darker shoot-em-ups.
Level 3 and expecially 4 are pretty dark and claustrophobic.

I've always found X-multiply level 6 to start off nice and bright before descending vertically down to the end of level boss at the bottom -its a real favourite moment for me- coupled with the music at that point in the game its really atmospheric.

Enhasa · Post by **Enhasa** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:18 am

Great choices in this thread, almost everything I would have mentioned has already been said, even the ones I figure would be overlooked. Also if you dig the vibe of Baroque Shooting, try out the game it was a tie-in for: Baroque (not a shmup). I can't speak for the PS2/Wii remake, but the Saturn/PS1 original was hella dark.

Gotta add:

- Imperishable Night (lol, had to be said)
- Psyvariar Revision (not sure why everyone seems to favor 2's graphics/music, this is a lot more raw and sinister)
- Iwanaga (not a traditional shmup, more like an autoscrolling danmaku Alien Soldier)

Iwanaga is extremely underappreciated, even more than the guy's other game, Vacant Ark. In terms of atmosphere, it's like Guwange but eats it for lunch. Strangely enough, it has a gauge you have to balance like in IN. Iwanaga is really too awesome, I wish I would have thought to include it in my top 25.

nash87 · Post by **nash87** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:15 am

Bill wrote:
circuitface wrote:Isn't R-Type just awesomely disgusting? I love it!

Anyway - many of you probably haven't played Gynoug on the Mega Drive because otherwise it would have been mentioned already. Somewhere near the end of the game you have to fight a giant dick-brandishing monster man. He grits and cringes and strains as you fight him and the viens on his monster cock pulsate in agony.

After this fight i had to go take a shower - that's just nasty.

Awesome post from circuitface re: Gynoug. Here's a boss run featuring Penisman and colleagues. I love the classical-sounding boss themes, quite eerie. Recalls Castlevania IV's brooding OST. And the backdrop during the last boss is exceptional.

Penisman is more penis than man.

gekioh shooting king goth mode was dark, but too silly to be taken seriously.

I'm suprised Night Raid hasn't been mentioned yet...

+1 to Guwange

toaplan_shmupfan · Post by **toaplan_shmupfan** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 4:41 am

While it may not be the darkest shmup, I'd say that the overall storyline of Robo Aleste seems rather dark, plus the soundtrack has many of its songs in a minor key.

gameoverDude · Post by **gameoverDude** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 4:56 am

I'll pick Thunder Force IV. TFIV takes on a darker style compared to the previous ones. The soundtrack contributes a lot to the atmosphere (especially the sinister sounding stage 8 bug boss track, and the frantically jackhammering rhythm guitar in the Daser boss theme). There are several BGM changes within many of the stages.

TFIV does look a bit R-Type influenced in some of the later stages (esp. 8 and 9). The way the stage 7 boss goes down is something you'd never have imagined in TF2/TF3- the air bubbles it breathes out become bloody before it falls over and croaks.

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:25 am

Thunder Force wrote:For some reason Bio-hazard Battle and Metal Black also come to mind, although I can't put my finger on why exactly, maybe it's the music.

In MB's case I'd say it's almost a feeling of ennui. Everywhere you go looks parched and dead, the attract cinema describes humanity's total defeat, and the pilot isn't even supposed to be out there. It aims for a doldrums "why bother..." effect where most shooters want to fire you up. I find the music is often the only counterpoint (outside of the malevolent boss themes). "Waste Days" (ST4) is like a wavering sunbeam.

DJ Incompetent · Post by **DJ Incompetent** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:23 pm

dpful · Post by **dpful** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:27 pm

+1 for night raid

Super creepy, you go inside some kind of haunted alien monster hole in the middle of the city?

Jockel · Post by **Jockel** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:31 pm

Last Hope.
Please don't hit me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEhZyZRo_BQ

however the soundeffects and explosions are terrible imo.
PAUER AHPP!

Seeing this video reminds me, i've never managed to kill the stage 4 boss :/

jonny5 · Post by **jonny5** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:47 pm

Zaarock wrote:I dont think you can get any further than Psyche Metal

first thing that came to mind for me also

Leandro · Post by **Leandro** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 5:47 am

The most somber shooter I've played was one called Last Resort for the Neo Geo, I'm surprised no one mentioned it.

evil_ash_xero · Post by **evil_ash_xero** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 6:02 am

I thought Guwange had some of the most disturbing imagery I have seen in a shmup.

Orochi.Kyo · Post by **Orochi.Kyo** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 6:55 am

+ 1 for Galshell and Metal Black.

ZOM · Post by **ZOM** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 3:43 pm

Orochi.Kyo wrote:+ 1 for Galshell and Metal Black.

Yes I think Galshell wins this round.

Also +1 for Night Raid, creepy indeed and the whole "fucked up" atmosphere the game has going contributes greatly to it.

Edge · Post by **Edge** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 5:20 pm

Einhänder
R-Type (series)
X-Multiply
Galshell
Psychosis
Last Resort
Gynoug
Guwange

escadrille · Post by **escadrille** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 4:39 am

evil_ash_xero wrote:I thought Guwange had some of the most disturbing imagery I have seen in a shmup.

Agreed. Art, storyline. Guwange is extremely dark. Even if cat spider causes a few lols.

Momijitsuki · Post by **Momijitsuki** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 5:43 am

I'd have to go with X-Multiply right now. I've been playing it off and on all day (playing it for the first time), and I have to say it's by far the creepiest shmup I've ever played.

elvis · Post by **elvis** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:39 am

Afterbirth wrote:Gynoug.

My first thought when I saw the thread title.

Gespenst · Post by **Gespenst** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 4:41 am

In The Hunt (especially stage 3... living statue chasing you :3)
TwinkleSoft's Barrage Tribe
Soldner X
Steel Saviour
and Cho Ren Sha... anyone?
Battle Garrega for me looks like Einhander using WW2 and propeller-based machines & without that totally techno music

redeyeguy_KIO · Post by **redeyeguy_KIO** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 7:55 pm

^I don't know how Cho Ren Sha appears dark.. maybe the music is just waaaay too cheerful for me.

Gespenst · Post by **Gespenst** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 3:16 am

I mean the background

Yeah, the music really cheerful, though

redeyeguy_KIO · Post by **redeyeguy_KIO** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 3:59 am

Gespenst wrote:I mean the background
Yeah, the music really cheerful, though

The background is too monotonous to make out anything from it, at least for me. The cheery music just kills it for me, though. Still a great game, however.

escadrille · Post by **escadrille** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 6:22 am

redeyeguy_KIO wrote:
Gespenst wrote:I mean the background
Yeah, the music really cheerful, though
The background is too monotonous to make out anything from it, at least for me. The cheery music just kills it for me, though. Still a great game, however.

Actually I can see how the monotony of it adds a dark element. I always thought Berzerk was dark as hell, with the endless maze rendered in the most minimalist way.

The cheery tunes are a problem though.

LtC · Post by **LtC** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:57 am

escadrille wrote:
redeyeguy_KIO wrote:
Gespenst wrote:I mean the background
Yeah, the music really cheerful, though
The background is too monotonous to make out anything from it, at least for me. The cheery music just kills it for me, though. Still a great game, however.
Actually I can see how the monotony of it adds a dark element. I always thought Berzerk was dark as hell, with the endless maze rendered in the most minimalist way.

The cheery tunes are a problem though.

Well at least the cho ren sha TLB fight seems kind of 'dark'. Or maybe it's just me.