What game sparked your interest in shooters?

[Ridley]

I started with the 80's shit like Space Invaders, Defender or Asteroids but my real first love was R-Type for Master System and C64 ....and the love never ended

[burgerkingdiamond]

I was born in 1985 and grew up with the NES. I basically skipped the SNES/GENESIS gereration and went straight into the Playstation and so on.
As a kid with my NES my favorite games were Gradius, Legendary Wings, and 1942. Me and my sister used to play Gradius all the time. I still have some good
memories of that.

As a matter of fact, I think Gradius for the NES is the only shmups I've actually 1CC'd... (Arcade version is way harder, the Moai heads destroy me)

I got way more "hardcore" (only relatively speaking) when I discovered MAME about 2 years ago. It literally blew my mind to discover so many amazing games
that I'd never heard of. I didn't even know that danmaku existed. But as soon as I learned about it I was hooked. Specifically DoDonPachi was the game that grabbed
me from the first time I played.

[Super Laydock]

None in particular.

basically I already liked the first one I played and then I just grew on liking most shmup stuff that came along.
First game making me realise that I had a particular fondness for the genre was Salamander though.

[RSmith]

I remember playing Star Soldier on the NES when I was 5. Although that game hasn't hold up very well nowadays it is my first memory of playing stgs. After I kind of forgot about them although every time I saw a Raiden or Aero Fighters cabinet I always played them. Another hiatus until Raiden 4 came out recently and even though I'm not very good at stgs I always come back for more punishment.

[elvis]

Vortex Blaster on Sega SC-3000
https://stickfreaks.com/sega-sc-3000/vortex-blaster

[Frenetic]

I remember going to an arcade and playing Moon Cresta with my dad. That was really awesome.

Santa Fe Springs used to have this community center with video games and I would go and play Starforce on free play in between sessions of D&D and Empire Builder.

I had a college buddy and we tried our darndest to beat 1943 on the NES. One of these days I'm gonna go back and hopefully beat it.

I recently went to some shmupmeets and played Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 OH YEAHHHHH

[replayme]

i owned a handheld defender game from a VERY early age (like 7 or something)... you can see it here:
http://www.geekvintage.com/entex-defender.php

although i've always been into videogames, and shmups as a consequence, i think the first shooter i ever played was gynoug on the megadrive. either that, or swiv on the amiga.

[spadgy]

either that, or swiv on the amiga.

Another seminal one for me. At the time I didn't realise what a huge genre there was to try, and considered SWIV something of an oddity. I only have it on the SNES now, but still whip it out once in a blue moon...

[LSU]

Space Invaders when I was quite young, I'd have been about 11 or so at the time and it was the first time I had encountered an arcade game, during a Butlins family holiday back in the summer of 1981 or maybe '82. It was a revelation. The ominous sound effects, the imposing art on the sides of the cabinets, the mysterious, luminous squid-like aliens that relentlessly descended. I loved it. Sometime soon after that a visiting fair in my home town had a Scramble cocktail cab. I loved that too and kept going back until the fair was gone taking the cab to another lucky town. Then I discovered the local arcades. They had Asteroids, Defender, Xevious and Sinistar at which point I knew shooters were the thing for me.

[Zeron]

I guess the first shooters I played was Airwolf and Tiger Heli back in the late 80s but they did not exactly spark any massive interest just like I had Thunder Force IV which I still love to this day but I still didnt make me go nuts for the genre,


I still have to thank Batsugun.

[tinotormed]

Gradius III for the SNES. I know, I am very horrible in this game because I could not 1cc it when I was a kid.

[HeLGeN-X]

Definitely Gradius in the arcade when I was about 6 years old, I actually 1cc'd it as a kid, it was the only shmup I played seriously and hardcore till Ikaruga and then I played just about every shmup game that ever came out from before I was born (Galaga, Centipede,) till after my interest that I missed. I also used to play Giga Wing heavy when it first came out, but I never knew what to call the genre and couldn't find any other games like them, I used to call them space games till Shmups.com. (Back in like 03.)

[borislaw]

No question it was Ikaruga. That was the first time I pursued a 1cc or played for a high score in a game this type. I had enjoyed shmups before this; namely UN Squadron and G Darius, which was one of my favorite non-RPG games for PS1. But my approach to these games was always a casual one, typically playing 2-player with a friend and credit feeding until we beat the game. Ikaruga turned me into a fanatic.

[gum_drops]

Very first game that got my interest would be Galaxian for the Colecovision.

[AAA]

the very first one?
phoenix

the next chapter?
flying shark

the one that changed everything
r-type

[Stormwatch]

I didn't like the ancient stuff much, and I pretty much ignored all "modern" shmups -- in fact, for a long time I had to ignore anything newer than the SNES, since folks wouldn't get me a new console (vicious circle: "Why buy a new console? You already have a computer!", and "Why buy a graphics card? You already have game consoles!", so no modern games either way).

Then I got a Dreamcast at last; and then, almost by chance, I got Mars Matrix, which was radically unlike the stale, slow-paced old stuff I knew: fast, wild, intense, roaring, exploding. Now that's what shooters are about!

[Hair]

When I was a kid with an NES I loved Tiger Heli and to a lesser extent, Section Z. They were my first shooter loves. Tiger Heli was equal to Mega Man 2 as my favorite games of that generation.

I enjoyed many of the mid to late 90s arcade shmups like Gunbird and Strikers in the arcades and Panzer Dragoon 2 on the Saturn. They got my back into shooters after I was more into fighters thanks to SF2, Fatal Fury, AOF, Samurai Shodown etc...

Playing Robotron on a Saturn Williams collection gave me that first perfect gaming high that made me decide that shooters are my favorite genre. I got to wave 11 or something after only being able to get to wave 5 or 6 just by zoning out, and realized the mindset and concentration needed to play a shooter. They way I play shooters even today came from that gamers high during a Robotron session.

I enjoyed many Dreamcast shooters before Ikaruga came out, especially Mars Matrix. But it was Ikaruga that got me into shooters as deep as I am now. Ikaruga got me to seek out shooters from every era and console, including ones I had missed such as Radiant Silvergun and post-DDP Cave shooters like Guwange.

Noiz2sa by Kenta Cho got me into daijun shooters.

[emphatic]

the very first one?
phoenix

the next chapter?
flying shark

the one that changed everything
ESPGALUDA

This was so eerie that I had to use it. My first shmup was Phoenix and I feel in love with Flying Shark. Then started to play for score with ESPGALUDA. I remember how R-Type was "all the rage" when it appeared. The graphics were (and still is today) "too good to be true" etc. But I never liked the gameplay. Verts for me please.

[terry330]

Sky Shark on the NES when I was little. Don't think I ever managed to get anywhere in the game back then but I still thought it was cool as hell. That is the first I remember playing often.

It wasn't until I got a Neo home cart system and Aero Fighters 2 that something in my brain clicked. That led me to getting into imports and I got a Saturn and most of the better shooters available for it. That kept me busy until the Dreamcast came out and stuff like Giga Wing 1 & 2, Mars Matrix, Gunbird 2 started to get released.

After that I got a supergun and started in on PCBs, ditched the sg and ended up with a pair of Blast Cities.

[esreveR]

Funnily enough I was slow to start playing video games, but my first experience with them was definitely with Raiden II in a car wash arcade.

There was also Metal Slug 3 in said arcade and ever since I have been a major Seibu and Nazca fan. Though admittedly the zombies still scare me a little to this day.

[ilitirit]

I started playing in the early '80s, so back then you played whatever arcade game was available at your local cafeteria (because arcades were out of the way for a kid where I live). I was young and very impressionable back then so I was drawn to games that separated themselves from the rest in some way. I can't really remember which one made me a fan, but here are some of the ones I find memorable (I'm sure I left out a lot...):

Space Invaders was the first one I remember playing (primarily because it was the only one available), but Phoenix was the first I remember actually trying hard to be good at. Galaga was my first experience with a ranking system (the medals) and glitches (make enemies stop firing) and maybe bonus stages? Pseudo 3D ground targets sparked my interest in Xevious and Mega Zone. Choplifter was interesting but I didn't like the gameplay. Moon Patrol was cool (parallax scrolling), but bland. I liked the concept behind Time Pilot, so I played that a lot. 1942 was groundbreaking of course. It got so popular that after a while if I walked into a place and heard the theme, I just walked back out again. *Everyone* played that game. Terra Cresta was amazing because of the music and more importantly, that fact that you could actually transform your ship! We called the 3rd boss "Man-at-arms" (because He-man was big at the time), or "Armstrong". I enjoyed it more than Dangar, but the latter had better music IMO. Terra Force was the first one I remember 1CC'ing. Mag Max was the first "isometric" shooter I remember (we never had Zaxxon down here). I *loved* Exed Exes. The look and feel just appealed to me and I liked the fruit bonuses. This is the game that made me realize I how much I like Capcom's graphics and icons (especially the Yashichi).

I tried really hard to beat Namco's Sky Kid but I just couldn't get past the 18th (or 19th stage). I liked the game a lot because the gameplay was simple enough but it was quite challenging (especially scoring). Also loved the easter eggs, secrets and cameos from other games. I developed a lot of tactics and strategy for that game. I remember the shop owner hated it whenever I played because I stayed on the machine for just a few credits. One day I was on a high score with about 5 lives left on stage 16 and he reset the machine so that he could make more money from other people >:(

A.S.O. was very cool - like a vert version of Gradius, but more interesting (and not as hard!). Slap Fight had great music and an interesting exploits (I remember if you died without firing a shot someone on the first level your ship gets powered up, or something like that) and secrets (shoot at random empty space for bonus!?) but I could not get good at the game, so I spent much more time watching other people play.

Side Arms is a classic. Great music, graphics and gameplay. My favourite experience with Mobichan.

Silkworm had an awesome and unique 2P mode, which was quite rare for a shooter.

Omega Fighter was the first one I remember where you got more points if you killed enemies closer to you. In fact, I think the stronger your weapon got, the shorter it's range, which meant more score (could be wrong about the details). Master of Weapon was the first one I saw where the high score could be "clocked".

During the 90's there were just so many shmups but very few had features I thought were groundbreaking. Varth was interesting because of the permanent shield pods though. The game progression, sound and length gave it an epic feel. It remains one of my favourite shmups. One of my most memorable arcade moment's was 1CC'ing it for the first time.

Aero Fighters was my first experience with what you'd a call a manic shooter I suppose (loads of fast bullets, pretty patterns). I found it very hard. The Strikers series is what turned me on to Psikyo games though. It was around this time also that it started getting hard to find newer shmups locally (because importing them costed a LOT of money), so I didn't really play many shooters outside the Psikyo games.

Kenta Cho's Noiz2sa was probably what sparked my "post-arcade" interest in shmups again.

[Battletoad]

Technically it was Contra III. In 2007 I saw a video of the hardest difficulty mode and was just amazed by the amount of over the top action as well as the difficulty and the player's incredible skill. (I had just bought a Super Nintendo to play Donkey Kong Country 3 again which I could play on a cousin's SNES for a few weeks around 1997.) I hadn't seen anything like that before and almost couldn't believe what I saw. ^^
Then before even before buying Contra III, I got my hands on a Mega Drive and Contra: Hard Corps. I played the game for hours and hours, total awesomeness. It's still my favourite game today. Roughly at the same time as C:HC I got Axelay for the SNES. It took a little longer here, but I started to love it more and more while playing. So to sum it up, Konami is to blame for my shmup addiction.

[ST Dragon]

What got me really hooked was Thunder Force III (Genesis)

But the following also played a great part in making me a fan of the genre:

1945 Strikers II (Arcades)
Axelay (SNES)
Gradius (NES)
Gynoug (Mega Drive)
Life Force (NES)
Lords of Thunder (PCE)
Project X (Amiga)
R-Type II (Amiga)
RayStorm (PSX) - Basically the main reason I bought a PSX back in 1997!
ST Dragon (Amiga)
Thuder Force V (PSX)

[ratikal]

Zone of the Enders 2: The Second Runner.

I unlocked the minigame Zoradius, which is a parody of Gradius. I was like, "Hey, wasn't there a game like this only side scrolling?" So I downloaded the Gradius 3 ROM, played it, and here I am.

[MachineAres 1CC]

I had remember seeing a few shooters in the arcade a few times before it, but the thing that really got me into it was playing Raiden on SNES back in 1992. My cousin rented it from the local video store and it changed my life after that point. I think we played it for 2 days straight, and I was on the search for SNES, Genesis, and PS1 shooters for the next number of years

[Stormwatch]

Contra

NOT a shooter.

[david peterson]

Contra

NOT a shooter.

The thread title is what game sparked your interest in shooters not what shooter sparked your interest in shooters .

[mrsmiley381]

I always played shooters on and off. Space Invaders, Galaga, any and all that stuff. Ikaruga really got me interested in shooters, as did R-Type, but the game made me a shooter fan for life was Gradius V. I still can't 1cc it but the game is so beautiful and the soundtrack is one of the most glorious I've ever heard. That game is one of the primary reasons I ended up studying game design.

[Battletoad]

Contra

NOT a shooter.

The thread title is what game sparked your interest in shooters not what shooter sparked your interest in shooters .

1. What david said.
2. I know about the distinction, just back then I didn't know. And well Contra simply was what got me into the shmups genre because it has some similar attractions to real shmups.
3. I mentioned Axelay to include my first real shmup, too.

[wataru330]

Sky Shark cocktail cab @ the local pizza joint in middle school.

DownLoad 2 PCE a few years later...my Mom got it for my 16th birthday. (after I had cut lawns all spring to prove I was serious about earning the coin to buy my own Turbo CD add on)

Would love a cocktail cab of my own, someday.