New SHMUP Player

[Anesthetize]

Hey all,

I'm pretty much brand new to the genre, and have been enjoying browsing these boards the last couple of days since I found them. I'm hoping you guys could give me some suggestions as to which shmups to get started with.

I bought Geometry Wars 2 (not sure yet if most people even consider this a shmup) last year on xbox live and really enjoyed playing through it and competing for high scores with friends. For some reason, though, over the last week or two I've really been wanting to explore the genre more, since I've mostly ignored it or been unaware of it throughout my gaming life.

In the last few days I've bought Ikaruga, Gradius V, and Gradius Rebirth (although I doubt I'll spend a lot more time with this one since I just got V on PS2). I'm thoroughly enjoying Ikaruga on xbox live, and am looking forward to spending a lot more time with Gradius V, even though I'm not too great at either one yet.

What can y'all suggest I play next? I'm looking for some important games in the genre, or any shmup that you all think is fun to play. My only limitations are that I don't have a way to play console games from other regions, and I can't spend a fortune on new games right now, either.

Some games I've been considering are:

Omega V and Triggerheart Exc on xbox live
Castle of Shikigami 2 for PS2
Any of the R-Type games, most likely Final for PS2

What else could I get my hands on fairly easily? A lot of games that look incredible seem to be tough to get a hold of (Cave games, Touhou project, etc.).

Thanks for any help!

[Voxbox]

Welcome!

Most games released pre-2000 can be emulated by Mame, and that's how most people enjoy them.

For starters, just get to know the game catalouge of the most famous companies, such as Cave, Raizing, Psikyo, Toaplan...

http://www.world-of-arcades.net/index.htm should be bookmarked.

[honorless]

What else could I get my hands on fairly easily?

Assuming you're in the USA, Raiden IV and Raiden Fighters Aces.
RFA retails for $20, and if you can find RIV at Gamestop it's $20 there too. (Still close to $40 on Amazon.)

...I'd probably buy R-Type Dimensions on XBLA before hazarding R-Type Final, based how negatively the latter was received around here.

[kengou]

Castle of Shikigami II is a great choice, grab that one!

Also don't neglect Gradius Rebirth just because it doesn't have the fancy graphics of V. Rebirth and V are by different companies (Konami and Treasure respectively) and play very differently. I love both of them but V can be very tough and has some obnoxious stages, particularly that poison gas stage.

I also recommend looking into the catalog of Cave, Psikyo, Raizing and Toaplan games, because these companies all make shmups with different feels to them. Dodonpachi by Cave, Gunbird 2 or Strikers 1945 II by Psikyo, and Battle Garegga by Raizing are great starting points for games indicative of these companies. I'm not familiar enough with Toaplan to suggest their stuff.

The Raiden series is also great, I hear very good things about Raiden Fighters Aces although I haven't played that specific one. You can't go wrong with Raiden III or IV though.

[Anesthetize]

Great, thanks for the replies.

I downloaded MAME and got a ROM for DoDonpachi, but I'm getting an error (missing rom file) when I try to run it. Where do you normally get your ROMs?

Also, what type of input/controller do most people use for PC shmups?


Thanks again.

[Anesthetize]

Getting the same error with a couple of other roms I've downloaded as well. I was under the impression that I just drop the rom files into the MAME 'roms' directory.

[Mortificator]

I'll PM you a link. One thing to remember about MAME is that the ROM sets change on occasion, so a newer ROM might not work with an older version (and vice versa).

Dodonpachi by Cave, Gunbird 2 or Strikers 1945 II by Psikyo, and Battle Garegga by Raizing are great starting points for games indicative of these companies. I'm not familiar enough with Toaplan to suggest their stuff.

Yeah, those are probably the signature games of those companies. I'd also go with Twin Cobra for Toaplan, Giga Wing for Takumi, and Darius Gaiden for Taito. The major arcade shooter developers remaining would be Irem and Konami, but you have them covered with R-Type and Gradius.

I quite like R-Type Final, but Dimensions is probably the better deal, unless you want to use MAME for the 2D versions of R-Type and R-Type II.

You sometimes have to jump through a couple of hoops to install a Japanese PC game, but you don't need any special hardware, so you could play Touhou and other doujin games.

If you have a wired 360 controller, it can plug right into your PC and be used with whatever game you want. It's not ideal, but probably better than using the keyboard.

[2dvertical]

Get the demo of omega 5. If you like that buy the game. I know some on here view it as alright but I think its well worth the money.

Also, get swap magic discs and the 4 cave ports on ps2.

[apple arcade]

yea, get swap magic (40$) and download all the games you want. then decide wich ones you really and enjoy and purchase them.

i would suggest espgaluda or if you have a 360 mushihimesama futari is well worth the 80$ it will cost you to import it.

stay away from omega 5 and castle shikigami ii

[agustusx]

Definitely get RFA for the 360. Its a great compilation that is hard to beat.

[njiska]

Omega V and Triggerheart Exc on xbox live

What else could I get my hands on fairly easily? A lot of games that look incredible seem to be tough to get a hold of (Cave games, Touhou project, etc.).

Thanks for any help!

Omega V is fun, but way too easy. Triggerheart is incredibly fun because of it's anchor mechanic. Definitely pick it up.

As for TouHou, hard to get legit outside of Japan, but full collections with english patches are floating around if you know where to look. If you're looking to try PC games I suggest you look into Soldner-X. I just picked up the really, really nice LE from Playasia for about $8. While you're there pick up Mushihime-Sama Futari. It's probably more than you'll want to pay, but it's well worth the money. Offers a lot of varied play styles so it serves as an easy introduction to the world of CAVE.

As was suggested by honorless Raiden IV and Raiden Fighters Aces are both worth picking up on the cheap.

[RoninBuddha]

dont buy euroshmups

[Reaper gI]

As for TouHou, hard to get legit outside of Japan, but full collections with english patches are floating around if you know where to look.

Touhou wiki lists where to buy them demos here; also show up at anime cons, doujin games have the advantage of being cheap compared to console releases.

Decent Cave-esq free ones here http://www004.upp.so-net.ne.jp/x_xgameroom/
Some well know doujin-soft
http://www.rockinandroid.com/ localised and available ddl.

[ROBOTRON]

dont buy euroshmups

ah, euroshmups are ok...it just depends on your taste. I agree that researching them or looking at gameplay on YouTube is a smart thing to do before buying any shmup...euro or otherwise. Over the years I've bought crap from all over the world.

[captpain]

Make an effort to get DoDonPachi working, because in my opinion, that's the best jumping-off point for an introduction into the genre.

[Exarion]

If you liked Ikaruga, treasure's previous game, radiant silvergun, would also be worth looking at, if you can find it. Blue Wish Resurrection Plus would also be good, as it's rather easy, but still one of the more fun games in the genre.

[t0yrobo]

Definitely get mame working and mess around till you happen on something you really love, then go from there. Finding a fullset torrent is a easy way to make sure you get all the roms for the proper version of mame.

[Anesthetize]

Thanks again for all the replies! Lots of good suggestions.

I downloaded Blue Wish Resurrection Plus, and got through it on 'original' using a few continues (using the keyboard). Pretty fun, though. I also got the newer one on there, Eden's Aegis, I think it's called. Seems pretty similar.

I got the demos for Omega V and Triggerheart. Omega V seems..ok..but I doubt I'll get the full thing any time soon, since there are apparently many better games I can access pretty easily. Haven't tried the Triggerheart one yet.

Castle Shikigami should get here by the end of the week, just ordered it today.

This is nice, though...I guess I'll keep trying as many games as I can, then pick my favorites to work on scores, 1ccs, etc. on.

Oh yeah, Raiden IV looks pretty awesome, I might have to order that one soon. I'll probably see if I can find a cheap used copy.

Keep 'em coming! This is like stumbling upon a music genre I'd never listened to and now listening to all the bands I've been missing out on.

[toaplan_shmupfan]

For Toaplan shmups, I recommend the following progression to start with:

1. Flying Shark/Sky Shark
2. Kyukyoku Tiger/Twin Cobra
3. Same! Same! Same!/Fire Shark
4. Outzone
5. Truxton

(Truxton is the most punishing when speed powerups and firepower have been lost due to losing a turn, so that's why I recommend that one last.)

[robthebanks]

Mame is a good place to start. Castle Shiki is also great.

[emphatic]

Twin Hawk. Just be prepared to rub your hurting fire-arm after a few credits.

[Ebbo]

From freeware titles, I highly recommend Cho Ren Sha 68K. You can download it from here:
http://www2.tky.3web.ne.jp/~yosshin/my_ ... nload.html

[2dvertical]

[quote="Anesthetize"]

What else could I get my hands on fairly easily? A lot of games that look incredible seem to be tough to get a hold of (Cave games, Touhou project, etc.).

[quote]


Someone just posted 3 cave titles for the ps2 for sale in the trading station forum. You could probably get them cheaper here than ebay etc.

[monkeyman]

Since you've apparently got an xbox, make sure to pick up R Type Dimensions, it's a great little package.

As for Mame, you seem to have all the main games ticked off, remember not to go mad downloading everything, as it makes the games seem more disposable, download a few at a time and spend some time with each one. You may find some games suddenly grow in you after a few tries, but if you've got a queue of a dozen more titles lined up then you're more likely to move on and forget about it after a single go.

[Pirate1019]

As for Mame, you seem to have all the main games ticked off, remember not to go mad downloading everything, as it makes the games seem more disposable, download a few at a time and spend some time with each one. You may find some games suddenly grow in you after a few tries, but if you've got a queue of a dozen more titles lined up then you're more likely to move on and forget about it after a single go.

QFT. I'd go as far as to say go one at a time, and give each one at least an hour. I have massive commitment issues with games, and having so many at my fingertips doesn't help.

Once you find something you enjoy, I highly encourage you to visit the high scores board and get involved. I should probably be hanging out there more.

[ncp]

people actually buy the touhou games?

oh what the

[speedlolita]

I was considering Perfect Cherry Blossom - just because.

Nice to own the real thing sometimes eh?

[Reaper gI]

The box art's realy nice on them.
Good to pay the guy for at least one or two of the 16 games sitting on your HDD.

[Pirate1019]

Except it's not paying him if the game is acquired used or second-hand, like I'm sure it is.

He probably sells every god damned molecule of whatever he brings to Comiket anyway. I'm certainly not weeping over his losses.

And yes, ChoRenSha68k is awesome.

[Avatar Ignis]

I definitely want to thank everyone who has contributed to this topic, as i'm a new player and i'm most certainly gaining from the wealth of knowledge given here.

A freeware title i really like is Warning Forever
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/f ... ption.html

Any recommendations on an emulator? The one i currently have is only able to run dodonpachi and guwange, and i'm really curious to try Dragon blaze and Dimahoo