Shmups with complex storylines

[EinhanderZwei]

Here's what I found plain randomly on 1UP: http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=6504285
(Warning! I use MSIE6 at home, and this page crashed the browser)

I like the author's serious attitude, because there aren't many shmups with well-developed stories. Instead, the developers mainly concentrate and succeed in creating the general atmosphere - we all know, remember and love the gross intestine-fest of X-Multiply and Lifeforce, the creepy horror of Philosoma, the biopunk of Bio-Hazard Battle, the epic feel of Spriggan, etc. But what about the actual stories? Here are three shmups and one run-n-gun off the top of my head:

Tyrian - aside from being the best DOS shmup I've ever played it has very interesting and complex plot remotely reminiscent of Star Trek Insurrection

Gaiares - yeah, Telenet Japan once again brings their magic of creating 90s style anime cutscenes that sometimes even make me shed a nostalgic tear

DonPachi series - why not, actually? Their story is kind of creepy too, because I think the fictional world should be really fucked up to allow the rookie soldiers to slaughter their comrades without remorse in training purposes

Midnight Resistance - this one relies more on OTT somewhat campy stuff. The image of two soldiers fighting off the jet fighter squadron with their machineguns makes this game beg for a movie adaptation

Hopefully someone can name other shooters with well-developed stories beyond 'blast off and destroy the evil [insert name here]?'

[linko9]

DonPachi series - why not, actually? Their story is kind of creepy too, because I think the fictional world should be really fucked up to allow the rookie soldiers to slaughter their comrades without remorse in training purposes

Yeah, but the story becomes a bit suspicious when the commaner happens to have an identical fleet to the one you just destroyed. Also, the second loop ending makes no sense; what war are they talking about? Was a war ever mentioned? And Hibachi planned this "war" to help solve the problem of overpopulation? It always seemed to me that the plot was put in as an afterthought.

I haven't played Radiant Silvergun much, but didn't it have a somewhat complicated plot involving time travel?

[MathU]

R-Type's story is certainly well-developed in R-Type Final.

[Lok]

Einhander doesn't have the most complex of stories but it's interesting from what we know of it. Ending up having to "die" to your own allies as a final test for the unmanned aircraft you unwittingly helped program was certainly a nice little twist.

[GrimoreLibrarian]

Einhander doesn't have the most complex of stories but it's interesting from what we know of it. Ending up having to "die" to your own allies as a final test for the unmanned aircraft you unwittingly helped program was certainly a nice little twist.

It also offered some grim knowledge into the mysterious pilots love live if you read the instruction booklet and the true purpose of the Einhander ships.

[Voxbox]

I'm sure Gaia Seed got an awesome story, can't understand a thing though

[cj iwakura]

If you can figure out any of the Castle Shikigami storylines on a first playthrough, you're a better scholar than I. Doesn't help that the dialogue makes so little sense.


R-TYPE's have always been pretty thorough. Lots going on behind the scenes.

And Touhou... sheesh. But there's a can of worms not worth opening.

[toaplan_shmupfan]

Robo Aleste for the Sega CD seemed to have multiple story lines: feudalism, brother vs. brother, good vs. evil.

[TMR]

Hang on... you're saying these things are supposed to have stories behind them?! Bugger, i was too busy shooting at stuff to notice! =-)

[EinhanderZwei]

Guys, please let's not clone the 'old school Castlevania VS post-SOTN' holywar... Every game deserves a well-developed story, even Tetris!

[Rob]

Thunder Force V - pages and pages of shit I didn't read.

[Zweihander]

Einhander doesn't have the most complex of stories but it's interesting from what we know of it. Ending up having to "die" to your own allies as a final test for the unmanned aircraft you unwittingly helped program was certainly a nice little twist.

Incredibly nice little twist. Einhander and Radiant Silvergun will always have my vote for best storytelling in a shmup.

[ZacharyB]

There was a guy who posted about RefleX's story a while back. The first bunch of replies looked down on his offering, but then others started to agree that something big was going on within its game world.

It's true that shmups are one of the few surviving genres in which only score truly matters, but I like how developers add complex plots and themes to their games to complement our information age's hunger for depth.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Even Success' Psyvariar Medium Unit has a very detailed glossary for the technology and terms used in the world that is Psyvariar. The pilot awoken from cryogenic deep sleep is the Medium Unit, with special psyonic powers is what the player controls throughout the storylines presented in both Psy-MU & Psyvariar Revision shmup titles.

Even Success' other arena shooter game known as Savein, uses names taken from Psyvariar as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_～

[Gespenst]

There was a guy who posted about RefleX's story a while back. The first bunch of replies looked down on his offering, but then others started to agree that something big was going on within its game world.

Here you go
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 13#p509013
And I'm not surprised that Alltynex 2nd and Kamui's storyline both are tied in with RefleX story.

[EinhanderZwei]

Shame on me, how could I forget The Guardian Legend and Sigma Star Saga

[Mortificator]

Castlevania obviously isn't a shooter and you just mentioned it off-hand, but it's actually a good example of a short story enhancing the experience. Even if the game itself wasn't changed, I don't think it would have been as iconic if there was just a random vampire at the end and not Dracula.

[EinhanderZwei]

Castlevania obviously isn't a shooter and you just mentioned it off-hand, but it's actually a good example of a short story enhancing the experience. Even if the game itself wasn't changed, I don't think it would have been as iconic if there was just a random vampire at the end and not Dracula.

I agree. AVGN has critisized SOTN and post-SOTN games for having 'too much text', which is ridiculous IMHO. I don't think that fans are so stupid to accept 20+ games that have the same plot as the 1st one

[Raizen1984]

But they are apparently stupid enough to accept 5 games with the same plot.

[EinhanderZwei]

But they are apparently stupid enough to accept 5 games with the same plot.

I've accepted 5 and more Gradii (Gradiuses?)... I guess you're right then

[AraraSPAMWitch]

I don't think that fans are so stupid to accept 20+ games that have the same plot as the 1st one

Yeah, but after SotN the fans were stupid enough to accept 20+ games with the exact same mechanics and sprites...

On topic, Divine Sealing is part shooter, part contemplative and stirring human drama about what it means to take responsibility for one's actions. If DonPachi is Goodnight Moon, Divine Sealing is To the Lighthouse, a glowing argument for feminism and a philosophical exploration of the degradation of modern man.

[EinhanderZwei]

I don't think that fans are so stupid to accept 20+ games that have the same plot as the 1st one

Yeah, but after SotN the fans were stupid enough to accept 20+ games with the exact same mechanics and sprites...

Yeah, but the sprite problem didn't plague Aria Of Sorrow, so I'm okay with that As for mechanics, I'll prefer recycling a good system than castrating it like it was done in LoI

On topic, Divine Sealing is part shooter, part contemplative and stirring human drama about what it means to take responsibility for one's actions. If DonPachi is Goodnight Moon, Divine Sealing is To the Lighthouse, a glowing argument for feminism and a philosophical exploration of the degradation of modern man.

Then Teh Guardian Legend is the piece of exploitation art focused on 'girls with guns' stereotype mixing it with scrolling and shooting overtones

The girls in Divine Sealing are drawn pretty cool for the time, though

[spadgy]

Er... Steam Hearts?

It has a bit more going on in the cutscenes that your average shooter doesn't it? In fact, doesn't also have more of a narrative than your average porn film too? I've never played the thing, as Hentai creeps me out a bit.

[Zweihander]

Sigma Star Saga

Wait, so... I'm not the only person who enjoyed Sigma Star Saga...?

I loved the story, honestly. Gameplay got way too easy later on, unless I purposely avoided the EXP drops, but goddamn, the story was outstanding, especially for a wannabe-Japanese RPG. ...hell, it had a better story than most ACTUAL Japanese RPGs made nowadays, IMO... :/

[doctorx0079]

Sigma Star Saga

Wait, so... I'm not the only person who enjoyed Sigma Star Saga...?

I loved the story, honestly. Gameplay got way too easy later on, unless I purposely avoided the EXP drops, but goddamn, the story was outstanding, especially for a wannabe-Japanese RPG. ...hell, it had a better story than most ACTUAL Japanese RPGs made nowadays, IMO... :/

Okay, that makes two of you. The only really good thing about that game was the character designs. The story was decent but not too original. And I don't even count that as a shmup. The shmup part sucks. They should have just made it a Zelda clone.

[Zweihander]

Sigma Star Saga

Wait, so... I'm not the only person who enjoyed Sigma Star Saga...?

I loved the story, honestly. Gameplay got way too easy later on, unless I purposely avoided the EXP drops, but goddamn, the story was outstanding, especially for a wannabe-Japanese RPG. ...hell, it had a better story than most ACTUAL Japanese RPGs made nowadays, IMO... :/

Okay, that makes two of you. The only really good thing about that game was the character designs. The story was decent but not too original. And I don't even count that as a shmup. The shmup part sucks. They should have just made it a Zelda clone.

I would have been happy if it had a "TGL mode" where it just pitted you against the shmup stages one after another, with no opportunity to level up in-between. But NOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

EDIT: Also, I thought the story, while not terribly original, was great, well-told with decent dialog, even if the endgame shit with the Overlord absorbing the power of the world-eating behemoths was cliched as fuck. OH. And the music was fuckwin. Then again, this was GBA Shin'en we're talking about, where even if they made a BAD game (Iridion 3D) it still had a fuckwin soundtrack. Why did their music get so forgettable in the Nanostray games? But still, it was awesome of Namco/WayForward to get Shin'en to do the soundtrack for SSS.

[lgb]

if Spadgy says Steam Hearts I'm throwing down Night Slave and Assault Suits, at least Cybernator and Gun Hazard, anyway (yes I know none of those count)

anyway does Touhou count? it's a freaking mess and there's probably more retcon than a Capcom series, and then you have fanon (oh god) which was actually explained perfectly by a certain person

also do certain Psikyo games count lol

[Estebang]

Metal Black's plot isn't really complex, but the game's chock full of ominous themes and symbolic imagery. G-Darius has something of a political space-opera backstory, most of it only mentioned in the manual.

Thunder Force V - pages and pages of shit I didn't read.

I read all of that. It's actually very interesting and well written!

[ColonelFatso]

Gun Hazard's plot isn't all that complex anyway. Half of it is Albert saying "WHAT!"

[Makoto Sei]

Thunder Force V - pages and pages of shit I didn't read.

+1