New to the Genre

[FoodsAreBombs]

Hi! I've been a pretty avid gamer for a very long time now. My favorite aspects of video games are the challenge and the necessity for manual dexterity, which is why my favorite genre has traditionally been platformers; for some reason the entire genre of shoot 'em ups had never struck me as one that I would be particularly interested in (which is obviously absurd).

However, I recently started collecting the Sega systems I never played when I was younger and realized that both the Saturn and the Dreamcast had a large library of shmups. Upon discovering this I decided to familiarize myself with these types of games but didn't know where to start: I was torn between playing through them chronologically or by their popularity (I had planned on using the "top 25" threads on this board). I have since gone to a convention at which I played a couple of games that I found immensely entertaining (Twinkle Star Sprites and Zero Gunner 2) and was disappointed to later find out they were not released here.

My question then is how I should get into this genre of games? I read the Board FAQ and saw the list there but was still unsure how to begin. Is there a certain shmup that is regarded as a good introductory game or should I choose a wide selection? I have a SNES, Genesis, N64, Playstation, Dreamcast, Saturn, PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii; all of them are the ones that are readily available in North America and so are only region-free if they are by default (except the SNES which can play Super Famicon games). My girlfriend and I would probably play them together so two-player games are preferred but not an absolute necessity.

Thanks very much for the help and I'm sorry if I put this in the wrong spot or should have posted in the introduction thread first.

[DMC]

*play around with mame
*consolwise I would recommend an import-friendly ps2 as it has many different shmups subtypes.

[drunkninja24]

Yeah, I'd start with MAME and check out DoDonPachi, Raiden, and such on there. If you are willing to invest a little dough then, you can check out Mushihimesama Futari and Espgaluda II on 360 (these two games are region-free and work on any 360) for imports or the US releases of Raiden IV and Raiden Fighters Aces, both of which are $20 now. It's really up to you. MAME is a good starting point to find things that interest you though.

[ROBOTRON]

Hi! I've been a pretty avid gamer for a very long time now. My favorite aspects of video games are the challenge and the necessity for manual dexterity, which is why my favorite genre has traditionally been platformers; for some reason the entire genre of shoot 'em ups had never struck me as one that I would be particularly interested in (which is obviously absurd).

However, I recently started collecting the Sega systems I never played when I was younger and realized that both the Saturn and the Dreamcast had a large library of shmups. Upon discovering this I decided to familiarize myself with these types of games but didn't know where to start: I was torn between playing through them chronologically or by their popularity (I had planned on using the "top 25" threads on this board). I have since gone to a convention at which I played a couple of games that I found immensely entertaining (Twinkle Star Sprites and Zero Gunner 2) and was disappointed to later find out they were not released here.

My question then is how I should get into this genre of games? I read the Board FAQ and saw the list there but was still unsure how to begin. Is there a certain shmup that is regarded as a good introductory game or should I choose a wide selection? I have a SNES, Genesis, N64, Playstation, Dreamcast, Saturn, PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii; all of them are the ones that are readily available in North America and so are only region-free if they are by default (except the SNES which can play Super Famicon games). My girlfriend and I would probably play them together so two-player games are preferred but not an absolute necessity.

Thanks very much for the help and I'm sorry if I put this in the wrong spot or should have posted in the introduction thread first.

Show the fact that the food fight is the bomb!

Welcome to the slot machine which is the hot joint where that smoke is called shmups11.org! With the hot seat, hear closely, and have the food pie cloth of the angel ready! Shmups11.org is not the movable type device of your father, now we point to the circuit board and the data damage of the technology which is imitated after the taxi of PCB, the food it supplies to the young and the old shmupper with the forums! Because we possess the love Jones for shmups, the heart where the think tank is largest was called together. This time you inquire about this, so we would like you to open your ears and close your cake hole.

Are your butt cheeks wiggling? They should be, look at the next paragraph!

Beware of the import dealer that attempts to rape your visa and mastercard that has been attached to the ebay method of buying overpriced shmups. Like the little orphan, if you inquire about shmups11.org, the trap, the hole and surprise are avoided in your intestines. Because the method of being defeated the chief of one stage like the cabinet of shmup of the cave was learned give the finger to those donkey holes.

You forgot to mention an important thing.

Hit hard with your johnson where impureness and the pride of the shmupping your rear-end adhesion creates brown filth from the diaper of your crack, use the package of boldness as you wipe with the high boy, ride!

Because the food which is welcomed is because of brain of the pea bean of duration it connects the bomb and your wardrobe it adjusts!

Look at the mouth of your cousin....it is the shmup power pump of your fist!

[Kollision]

My introductory suggestions for some of your consoles:

SNES - Axelay, Space Megaforce
Genesis - Thunder Force III, Sagaia, MUSHA
Playstation - Einhänder, Raystorm
Dreamcast - Giga Wing, Trizeal (if you can play imports)
Saturn - Galactic Attack (aka Layer Section), Strikers 1945 (again an import) - US Saturn shmup offerings are a shame
PS2 - Raiden III, Gradius V
PS3 - Söldner-X 2, Hitogata Happa (only on PSN)
Xbox 360 - Deathsmiles, Raiden IV

Have fun!

[FoodsAreBombs]

Thanks a lot everyone! I just picked up Raiden IV for the 360 today and will continue my search for the others tomorrow, along with playing around with MAME. Thanks again for the quick response.

[Obiwanshinobi]

What you need for your SNES is R-Type III: The Third Lightning. For the PSX - Namco Museum Volume 4 (released in the US too) sporting excellent versions of Ordyne, Assault and Pac-Land (pre-Mario Bros. sidescroller) for good measure.

PS2 - Raiden III, Gradius V
PS3 - Söldner-X 2, Hitogata Happa (only on PSN)

That's funny; I played Hitogata Happa on a PC the other day. Also, the PC version of Raiden III is the hardest rockin' one.

[sunburstbasser]

Ikaruga-Either a disc for Gamecube/Wii or download it off of XBLA.
Soukyugurentai-You can get the Japanese Saturn game at a good price on Ebay still. The Playstation port came to the US as Terra Diver.
G.Darius-Playstation originally.
Darius Gaiden-Saturn or Playstation, plus a few re-releases.

These are currently my favorite shmups, and none should be too difficult to track down for your consoles.

On MAME, I recommend these games:

Battle Garegga
Thunder Cross 1 and 2
Salamander 2
Dangun Feveron
Gekirindan

And have fun!

[iluvmonsterz]

start with the saturn shmups you can get an import key and a few of the good shmups for well under a hundred bucks...i started my obsession on the saturn...be warned;this is not a cheap hobby/way of life...you will find yourself working overtime and picking up shifts to pay for little peices of plastic that cost up to several hundred dollars(sometimes more). i personaly love it!!

[Jockel]

Import Mushihimesama Futari for Xbox360 (it's region free).
Got a friend addicted to shmups with this game.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

On the portable gaming plaforms, there is Ketsui Death Label on the NDS from Arika. Admittedly, Ketsui DL plays easier on the bigger NDS-XL handheld compared to playing it on the smaller NDS Lite variant. Comes with a cool superplay DVD as well but it is marked Region 2. A "DVD Region X" boot disc + dongle key on the PS2 console will play it without any problems. Or set your DVD player in your PC tower/laptop to region 2 DVD playback setting and be prepared to get blown away by a master ace Ketsui player showing off his mad skills.

There is another side to the world of shmups if you get your feet wet delving into the arcade shmup PCB hobby side. By using Mame/Mame32 as a barometer to gauge whether you or your gf like said arcade shmup titles, getting the real arcade PCB version is the best way to experience it with real arcade hardware/software. By getting either a supergun or a candy cabinet setup, will open more doors to numerous arcade-only released shmup title offerings that never got a proper home console port release. Of course, your wallet will drain much quicker by going the arcade PCB route rather than going the console gaming route when it comes to choosing the more obscure/rare shmup titles to play/own/collect, especially with the classic Cave arcade shmup PCBs and newer Cave arcade shmup PCB conversion kits.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[louisg]

There are some great shmups available domestically for the systems you list. I think all of these are pretty cheap:

Saturn:
- Galactic Attack (same as RayForce / Layer Section) - I got mine for $6 and it's my favorite shmup. You should tate your TV for this one though
- Darius Gaiden - not perfect but very entertaining

PS2:
- Gradius V.. not a favorite of mine, but gets pretty high marks around here. Plays like Salamander.
- Raiden III .. a not-bad follow-up to the oldschool Raiden games

PSX:
- RayStorm is pretty good-- that's the 3d follow-up to Galactic Attack / RayForce.
- Strikers 1942 II is available as a domestic release (without the "II" in the title I think). I don't know how well the PSX version fares, but the Saturn one had me addicted. No tate mode if that matters, so it's always letterboxed.
- Shienryu is a nice Raiden clone which is available domestically.. I forgot under what name (someone help?). Worth the price of admission for all the wacky game modes they include

DC:
- GigaWing and Mars Matrix (Mars Matrix is *hard* though)
- Cannon Spike is a fun arena shooter.. I don't know what it goes for these days though.
A lot of the really good DC shmups, sadly, were not released here and are kind of pricey. There are ways around that of course, but I won't elaborate.

Genesis:
- Can't go wrong with the Thunderforces. I also like Elemental Master a lot.

Gamecube:
- Ikaruga! I dunno if it's super expensive or what though, I got mine when it came out. It's also on the 360 as a downloadable; that's probably the one to get

Wii:
- Shikigami no Shiro 3 is a manic-style game that's pretty decent. I thought this was better than the previous games.
- All the stuff in Virtual Console: Lords of Thunder for example is a great Turbografx CD game.

SNES:
- Axelay
- Space Megaforce

[Kollision]

- Shienryu is a nice Raiden clone which is available domestically.. I forgot under what name (someone help?)

It's Geki-oh Shooting King.

BTW, louisg, have you noticed how our suggestions were a lot alike? hehehe
When it comes down to introductory titles though, I don't think Geki-oh Shooting King would apply (that is if he intends to play them seriously - as in 1CCing shit and all o'that). It starts out pretty fine, but soon enough the brutal rank is prone to rape the shit out of anyone...

[gs68]

A lot of people here seem to be recommending Esp2 and Futari. True, they have Novice modes that make it easier to get into shooters, my main issue is that they're at least 70 USD new (sans S&H), so for someone who isn't planted into the genre yet, that is a huge gamble.

As for what I recommend, Raiden Fighters Aces on 360 is not a bad deal. It's 20 USD for three games.

[Anesthetize]

I absolutely recommend Mushihimesama Futari for the 360. Best video game purchase I've made in quite a while. I will admit, though, that I think I enjoyed it all the more because I let myself get acquanted with the genre before I made the purchase (mainly because I wanted to ensure my $70 was going to be worth it).

I also enjoyed Castle Shikigami II for the PS2 quite a bit, and it's very cheap on Amazon (seriously, like $8). I'd also recommend Gradius V, as it can be found quite cheap as well. There are plenty of Doujin games that can be found for free or very cheap on the PC. I enjoy the X.X games: Blue Wish Resurrection Plus and Eden's Aegis. Also try out Patriot Dark, the Touhou games, and XOP Black, for sure.

There have already been plenty of MAME suggestions, but I would definitely give Dodonpachi a try. It's not only a very important game in the genre's progression, but indeed quite fun to play (although I admittedly suck at it).

I was in your exact situation a few months ago, and received some great suggestions from the members here. I at first thought shmups would be a passing fancy for me, but it's been almost 5 months and I'm still infatuated with the genre.

One last suggestion: don't acquire all 1,000 suggested games at once. Allow yourself time to get acquanted with each game. I'll readily admit that I'm guilty of ADD when it comes to switching from game to game, but I do believe it's important to actually spend a decent amount of time with a game before you can formulate a real opinion about it.

Have fun!

[Subterranean Sun]

What! You love challenging games?
NO PROBLEM

Gradius III (Arcade)
R-Type I&II
Darius Gaiden (All up and NO AUTOFIRE!)
Tatsujin Ou (Japanese version)
Dodonpachi Daioujou (PS2)
Dragon Blaze

ENJOY THEM!

[FoodsAreBombs]

Thanks a lot everyone! I didn't expect to get so many useful and kind replies so quickly!

I recently discovered that many of the collections I own include a lot of shooters, and I recently purchased a few as well. I was wondering what the consensus was regarding the quality/difficulty of any of the following games (sorry, it's longer than I expected):

• Gradius III and IV (PS2)
  Raiden IV (Xbox 360)
  Xyanide (Xbox)
  1942 (PS2 via Capcom Classics Collection)
  1943: The Battle of Midway (PS2 via Capcom Classics Collection)
  1943 Kai (PS2 via Capcom Classics Collection)
  Exed Exes (PS2 via Capcom Classics Collection)
  Forgotten Worlds (PS2 via Capcom Classics Collection)
  Gun.Smoke (PS2 via Capcom Classics Collection)
  Legendary Wings (PS2 via Capcom Classics Collection)
  Section Z (PS2 via Capcom Classics Collection)
  Vulgus (PS2 via Capcom Classics Collection)
  1941: Counter Attack (PS2 via Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2)
  Side Arms Hyper Dyne (PS2 via Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2)
  Varth: Operation Thunderstorm (PS2 via Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2)
  Darius Gaiden/Darius 3 (PS2 via Taito Legends 2)
  Gekirindan (PS2 via Taito Legends 2)
  Grid Seeker: Project Storm Hammer (PS2 via Taito Legends 2)
  Gun Frontier (PS2 via Taito Legends 2)
  Insector X (PS2 via Taito Legends 2)
  KiKi KaiKai (PS2 via Taito Legends 2)
  Metal Black (PS2 via Taito Legends 2)
  G-Darius (PS2 via Taito Legends 2)
  RayStorm (PS2 via Taito Legends 2)

[Dale]

Vulgus is easy to get into because you can kill a lot of enemies easily but the difficulty amps quickly over and over again but you'll have a sense of accomplishment anyway though. The game is amazing my personal favorite.

Exed Eyes is a bit more frustrating but it plays a lot differently then Vulgus. Trying to find all the hidden items should keep you coming back.

Gunsmoke is very frantic it frustrates a lot of people but is obviously fun too.

These three would get my highest recommendation out of what you've shown, I get a hard-on for old school simple scoring based arcade shooters though. You should just try all these yourself.

Also Taito Legends 1 and 2 are great.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Hyper Dyne Sidearms from long time developer, Capcom Co. Ltd., came out in Japanese game centers back in 1986. I first saw it at the famous Santa Clara based Great America amusement park in the spring of 1987...it had a lot folks eyeing it/checking it out. There are some subtle hidden nods/references to the classic anime film of "Nausicaa: Valley of the Winds" circa 1984 featured in Sidearm's background scenery.

Plus by selecting either 1P or 2P side, you'd control a different mecha suit and upon picking the alpha-beta powerup icon, you could combine with another mecha suit to form an even more powerful mecha suit combination. Player 1 controls movement of the combined joint 2nd version of super powered mecha suit and Player 2 controls the firing of the bullets if co-op play is in effect.

The U.S. licensee Romstar variant Sidearms promotional arcade poster is a beautiful piece of artwork to have professionally framed for posterity.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[professor ganson]

gun.smoke is easily my favorite on that list. Tough game! I prefer the Japanese Saturn release because it allows for a vertical orientation. The original arcade version is not JAMMA, so that's going to be hard to play without some sort of adaptor.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Its worth noting that most of the vertical shooters that originally come from the arcade are best played with on a Tated monitor. Because of this, i like to play PC doujin games because they are made for the 4:3 screen. There are a few arcade shmups like Mars matrix on the dreamcast that play on 4:3 aswell.

[Lavis]

You could start with the Sonic Wings Saga too; the games are easy to handle and don't get too hard until the last levels.

[gs68]

The Windows Touhou games *bombspams flames away* are good too. Just don't pay attention to the more retarded parts of their fandom.

[jepjepjep]

Castle of Shikigami III for the Wii is pretty recent and cheap.

[louisg]

The quality of the games in the Taito collection varies. RayStorm came out OK, but the consensus seems to be that G-Darius is too fast. Those I *think* are both not too expensive on the PSX. The vertical games like Gridseeker also use a shrunk-down letterboxed resolution, but TBQH many of those are only o.k. games (though I do have a soft spot for Gun Frontier!).

The Capcom collection seems like a good deal if the games translate well (I have the Saturn versions of a bunch of these, but never tried the PS2)... a lot of those are really good games (but oldschool style).

[Obiwanshinobi]

The Windows Touhou games *bombspams flames away* are good too. Just don't pay attention to the more retarded parts of their fandom.

That's right, hang around with Cave people instead. They are so much cooler all way round.

[Exarion]

The Windows Touhou games *bombspams flames away* are good too. Just don't pay attention to the more retarded parts of their fandom.

That's right, hang around with Cave people instead. They are so much cooler all way round.

The Touhou fandom is in the running for the worst videogame fandom. Be careful about what parts of it you visit, or you may be turned away from some good games. As for new reccomendations, look at R-type Delta or Mobile Light Force(Gunbird) if you have a PS3.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

The Windows Touhou games *bombspams flames away* are good too. Just don't pay attention to the more retarded parts of their fandom.

m mm m must witheld urge to rant...... t t touhou fandom .. Aaarrggghh! (loses it completly)

[toaplan_shmupfan]

This is a somewhat late reply, and to my surprise...

Thrillville (and its sequel Thrillville Off The Rails) has two shmup minigames that are actually quite decent, even though they are short. They are more than appropriate for a starting challenge for the absolute shmup novice, since they seem to have a combination of retro and modern (but not manic) shmup difficulty and they do build up slowly enough in difficulty even on the Easy difficulty, with Normal and Hard difficulties also available. (Shmup veterans playing on the hard difficulty will still likely complete the game all the way to the end of level 3 with a five star rating and a very high score on the first or second playthrough.)

* Event Horizon: a horizontal shooter that emphasizes picking up capsules to power up the ship (4 different ships are selectable with different shot type), has a charge shot in addition to the main shot, allows switching between two different shot patterns, and has a boss battle at the end of each level. The sequel Event Horizon II featured in Thrillville Off The Rails gets more challenging faster, with enemies taking more shots to eliminate than the first Event Horizon.

* Loftwaffe 109: a vertical shooter that features powerups, medals to pick up, three different types of shot, a megabomb (max allowed to have in stock is 3), a scoring system encouraging point-blanking and rapid shotdown of the enemy planes, and has a boss battle at the end of each level. This one reminds me a lot like a slower-paced 19xx series game, and the description of the minigame refers to it as a WWII vertical shooter. The sequel Loftwaffe 109 II in Thrillville Off The Rails didn't seem much harder than the original Loftwaffe 109.

(However, the main theme park aspect of these games is IMHO long and drawn out involving missions with forced guest interaction, forced mini-game challenges, and even having to get all gold medals for all completed missions just to unlock other parks, other park rides, and other mini-games. Definitely don't go out of the way to get these games just for the shmup mini-games, but if someone already owns one of these games then the shmup mini-games are there, and are worth trying at least once.)

[moozooh]

MAME + DoDonPachi & Armed Police Batrider.

See you in a week!

Most Touhou games are really quite good; for more challenging gameplay you should take a look at Shoot the Bullet and Undefined Fantastic Object. If you like them I also recommend Perfect Cherry Blossom, Imperishable Night, and Fairy Wars, who have the best scoring systems in the series.