What PS2 Shmup Do I Want?

[fatnoze]

Going to be getting my hands on a (US) PS2 soon. The shmup library is impressive, and expansive, but I only want one (because it's borrowed -- so I can play Rock band -- so I don't want to spend a bunch of money on games that will be useless to me once I give it back). Which one do I want?

DoDonPachi is the shmup I've put the most hours into by far, and the Caves I've played are certainly my favourite, but I don't want a shmup I can just emulate through MAME for free. DOJ is almost certainly too hard for me, so that's out. Espgaluda looks interesting; I'm absolutely terrible at ESP Ra.de, but I do like it. Is Espgaluda likely to frustrate me? How's the difficulty compare to Ra.de? Mushihime-sama is one I see talked about often, but I know nothing about it. What's it like? Ibara's the other, and I know nothing about that either, so same question. Difficulty isn't a huge concern -- I'm still plugging away at DDP and having fun, despite not being able to reliably pass the 4th stage, and I don't care about 1CCs -- but too difficult tends to frustrate me more than anything.

I know nothing about non-Cave shooters on the PS2, so if you think I should look at something there, educate me! I definitely like Cave's style though: it's gotta be vertical, and the colours appeal to me: I seem to have trouble with Raizing titles, because I always get hit by bullets I don't see.

The titles need to have a US release, and not so rare that I'm going to spend too much on it.

[ROBOTRON]

GV

[professor ganson]

castle of shikigami 2
gradius v

You can't go wrong with either.

[Damocles]

Silpheed. It's mediocre, but only a couple of bucks. Mobile Light Force 2 (Shiki 1) and Shiki 2 are actually good...and cheap.

[kengou]

Since you don't want to play imports, all Cave games are out, none of them had a U.S. release. I would suggest any of them (probably Galuda or Mushi for you in particular), but if it has to be a US shmup then so be it:

Gradius V definitely, if you like side-scrollers, Gradius, or Treasure even a little bit, it's a masterpiece.

Raiden III is great if you don't mind fast bullets and slower ship movement.

Finally, the closest to Cave's style is probably Castle Shikigami II. It's excellent! Vert, slower and bright-colored bullets, a fun and challenging scoring system, and some interesting and unique bullet patterns.

[brokenhalo]

if you are looking for another cave shooter, i'd recommend grabbing espgaluda. it's the cheapest of the ps2 cave games, and the scoring system is really fun and rewarding. it doesn't really have much in common with esprade. im kinda meh towards esprade and it's sticky shot system, but i love galuda and it's slow-mo bullet canceling system. also, galuda's a lot easier. i can get to the final boss' final pattern in galuda, but i havent seen past stage 4 in rade.

you did mention you're getting a us system though, so you'll need some way to play imports if you're going to get any cave shooters.

[HeWhoGoverns]

Galuda is off the hook. The scoring system is the most satisfying I've ever played. It's a beautiful game, and it is much easier to approach than Ra De, because of the Kakusei mode. Even though you won't be able to play galuda on the US PS2 you'll be getting a hold of temporarily, you should definitely look into getting a permanent JP PS2 or modded PS2 to play the Cave shmups on. None of them are emulatable in MAME.

As for what you can play, I'd go with Shikigami 2. That game is very cheap, very fun, and the dialogue is hilarious to boot. Even without the "story" though, Shiki 2 is a good maniac vert.

Gradius V is also a great choice if you're into horis. It is a very beautiful game, but it gets rather difficult later on. I personally never made it past stage 6 in one credit. Maybe that shows how bad I am at shmups.

Also, remember that the PS2 can play PS1 games, and there is a treasure trove of good shmups (Raiden Project, Einhander, Thunder Force V, among others) on the PS1 as well. I don't know if you could find them easily and cheap though.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Gradius V
Einhänder
R-Type Delta
- these are THE shooters to play on a US PS2, really.
Raiden games (up to III, except for DX) have rather good PC ports (III is arcade-perfect). Shikigami no Shiro 1&2 got ported to the PC as well. I'd recommend Taito Legends 2, but about all of those games can be played on MAME without unorthodox interlacing and nasty scaling (with that said, the PC version of TL2 should be dirt-cheap).
P.S. I guess you can't go terribly wrong with Thunder Force V, but not being a fan of the series, I can't wholeheartedly recommend it yet. You could try Einhänder, R-Type Delta and TFV on ePSXe or some other emulator before you buy any of them. As far as genuine PS2 exclusives released in the US are concerned, it all boils down to Gradius V (which is pure 2D shooty gold, mind you).

[ncp]

Gradius V, no contest.

[DC906270]

Musihimesama or Espgaluda depending on your taste (mushi has a nice simple original mode, if complicated scoring is not your bag), or secondly Raiden III , but go with the cave games first

[Kyle]

Most of the recommendations you are receiving are for horizontal shmups. Honestly you have too many factors working against you.

Most vertical PS2 shmups are imports (Cave).
Most of the US releases are horizontal.

If you refuse to import (and only want verts) you are going to be stuck playing something like Raiden.

Do yourself a favor and get the import situation figured out. Once's that's done pick up one of the more affordable titles like Espgaluda.