Shooters with weird atmospheres

[BrianC]

Twinbee 3 for Famicom has a wierd atmosphere, much stranger than the other twinbee games. The bosses in it are very wacked out.

[Acid King]

Though it probably doesn't count as a "shmup", N20, Nitrous Oxide is probably the most insane, tripped out game i've ever played.

[BrianC]

Legendary Wings is very wacked out. It's the only shmup where you can get sucked into a creature into a wierd underground world.

[fl0w]

*Revenge of the mutant camels* !!! (C=64, Amiga... Llamasoft)

Also :
Bokandesuyo (PS1, Banpresto)
Space Bomber (arcade, Psikyo)

[Palmer Eldritch]

*Revenge of the mutant camels* !!! (C=64, Amiga... Llamasoft)

Any Llamasoft game actually Have you tried Iridis Alpha or Batalyx?
Great shmups, but seriously, what the hell is happening?

Gridrunner ++ is an amazing PC only update of the old classic.

--Michael

[sffan]

Shikigami no Shiro I-- both the sound and the look-- seems to me drug induced.

Yes. That's what I was gonna say. Giant teddy bears!

[Kiken]

R-Type Final is probably going to be one of the first ones popping into everyone's head, but I've been playing some Paranoia (aka Psychosis) on the PCE lately, and I swear the developers must have been hopped up on SOMETHING when they made it, it's pure acid trip. Hard to believe it came from the same makers of Coryoon....

Your mind is not spared, already in the first stage. So there's a beach an ocean in the background, nothing special, right? But when the powerups warp in from another dimension, and as the stage scrolls by, the beach cracks and breaks up into oblivion... and even the ocean melts over the edge.. it creeps me out!! I don't know what's "real" anymore!. Weird eyeball things spawn out of a gigantic rotting apple. The whole package is downright disturbing....

Supposedly, the story of Paranoia revolves around the fact that you are trying to save a patient who is slowly going insane. In order to do so, you enter into their mind in an effort to manually destroy the surreality seeping into their consciousness.

It's a rather intriguing twist on the "fighting inside another being's body" concept that has been done quite a number of times before.

[iatneH]

Thanks for the info, Kiken. My copy of the game was a HuCARD-only so I was curious about the background story as well.

[ROBOTRON]

R-Type Final is probably going to be one of the first ones popping into everyone's head, but I've been playing some Paranoia (aka Psychosis) on the PCE lately, and I swear the developers must have been hopped up on SOMETHING when they made it, it's pure acid trip. Hard to believe it came from the same makers of Coryoon....

Your mind is not spared, already in the first stage. So there's a beach an ocean in the background, nothing special, right? But when the powerups warp in from another dimension, and as the stage scrolls by, the beach cracks and breaks up into oblivion... and even the ocean melts over the edge.. it creeps me out!! I don't know what's "real" anymore!. Weird eyeball things spawn out of a gigantic rotting apple. The whole package is downright disturbing....

Psychosis is a perfect example (btw I love that game) Here are a few of my favs:

R-Type Final - "Dimension Jump" my all time fav backround, that warped space is too cool.

Blazing Lazers - Stage 4 - Sorta looks like your in the human body fighting blood cells, its been done a lot in Gradius and a couple other shooters, but this one came to mind.

Thunderforce 5 - I forget the name of the satge, but its like your inside a computer being attacked by computer viruses...weird.

Viewpoint - Stage 2 was weird, I think its a water stage because bosses were Crab, Fish and sea dragon...theres a part where your fightin mid level fish boss and the floor is going up and down trying to crush you...groovy.

[The Bullet Dodger]

Thunderforce 5 - I forget the name of the satge, but its like your inside a computer being attacked by computer viruses...weird.

One of my favorite Thunder Force levels. It does have that weird computer'ish atmosphere to it. And the enemies in it are really bizzare. It's a very unique level that I haven't been able to beat yet. I'm pretty sure it's the last level in the game....I think.

[Edge]

Einhänder (PSX) has a very unusual atmosphere.

I really enjoyed the atmospere in this game, in my opinion it's the most atmospheric shmup. (From what I ve played ofcourse)

Also the Final Stage of R-Type Delta (PSX) is pretty weird.
The music alone is pretty awesome, but the background and the whole level design is really freaky... not to mention the boss.

[The Bullet Dodger]

Also the Final Stage of R-Type Delta (PSX) is pretty weird.
The music alone is pretty awesome, but the background and the whole level design is really freaky... not to mention the boss.

I agree. What's up with those giant sperms, and shooting those crystals with babies inside them? ......fuggin' weird

[gs68]

Space Megaforce (more liek Super Aleste am i rite) - On Area 12, what the hell are those red tentacle-like things well below your ship's plane of movement, as well as that membrane over those tentacles?

Giga Wing - So where's the ground in stage 5? Also stage 6's background was really cool.

Darius Gaiden - Ah, the 4th stage, which is a dimension warp no matter which zone you select. And the boss. Too bad the game's excessive difficulty ruins it all.

[Blade]

I honestly think that Bio-Levels aren't exactly 'psychadelic' so I'm not sure they should count.

Metal Black with it's Cat Background comes to mind, and Apedya is generally like that all over.

[jp]

The end of Metal Black comes to my mind...

[K-J N.]

Zombie Nation (NES), big floating samurai head vs staue of liberty.

[Andi]

Zombie Nation (NES), big floating samurai head vs staue of liberty.

Thank you for mentioning that game. I forgot to and it's really the only shooter with a truly "weird atmosphere" I can think of.

[dai jou bu]

The first time I played Raycrisis. I kind of figured that you were in some sort of mainframe computer, but every enemy you destroy explodes as though they exist in the real world.

Oh yeah, and the extra mode for the PSX version was also freaky since the music was really mellow, all of it barring the fight with the final boss. Makes me wonder if I am actually racing against time to shut down the evil supercomputer.