What are the best shmups?

[MOTHERfan42]

Recently, I discovered a TG-16 emulator and along with it an ocean of amazing shmups I've never experienced before, most notably the Star Soldier games. I've never been much of a shmupper; I've played games like 1943 and Raiden before and even managed to beat Air Zonk on the Wii VC once before if that means anything, but I've never really found them really compelling until now. I want to know what the best shmups are so I can try to play them.

[Zweihander]

inb4 CAVE circlejerk.

(Yeah, I love CAVE too, but goddamn, guys...)

[BIL]

Check the Annual Top 25 result threads. Here's the latest one. Pay attention to the honourable mentions as well - lots of good stuff in there. The top 25 is admittedly Cave-heavy, but there are several other big names represented as well.

Investigating the work of Cave, Raizing, Psikyo, Seibu Kaihatsu, Takumi and Treasure will expose you to a pretty good range of shooters right off the bat. They're by no means the only luminaries of the genre, but they're a good collective representation of modern shooters. Capcom, Konami, Taito, Irem and Toaplan have a lot of earlier classics between them, and Skonec, Alfa System and G-Rev have done some good stuff in more recent years. Give these devs a look.

Good site for Cave/Raizing/Psikyo: http://www.world-of-arcades.net/

I just realised everything I'm mentioning is arcade stuff... Compile, Tecno Soft and Red are the best console-centric shooter devs I can think of. You already know about Hudson from Star Soldier, and maybe Compile if you've played Blazing Lazers / Gunhed.

[MathU]

Silver Surfer is the single greatest 2D shooter ever made. Nothing else even comes close to its brilliance.

[Klatrymadon]

Bollocks, lad. Clearly, you are unacquainted with the effortless majesty of Magic Dragon.

Hallo, new chappy! Play lots of Darius Gaiden.

[BulletMagnet]

This sort of topic is expressly listed on the "to avoid" list on the Board FAQ, so I'll lock this. Look around a little and I'm sure there are plenty of recommendations floating around for you to take advantage of.