Characters in Shmups

ScrambledValkyrie · Post by **ScrambledValkyrie** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 5:59 am

How many characters from shmups of whatever sort can you think of? Most of them have a "You pilot cool ship to blow things up and save the galaxy". The Perfect Cherry Blossom games have a lot of shrine maidens and goth girls.

How many shmup characters can you think of that have really any personality?

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 6:11 am

The Demon guy from Guwange. That's definitely not someone I'd like to meet in a dark alley. Or even in broad daylight.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 6:12 am

The characters from Progear definitely have a certain style to 'em.

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 6:25 am

The characters in Gatchaman. I mention this only because I just finished playing it. *shrug*

Esprade and Espgaluda.

TGK · Post by **TGK** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 8:01 am

Garrega, although the characters don't really show, the music and art design really gives a bittersweet and epic feeling at the end, or maybe that's just me being an emo.

Especially that song "Blood brothers in the dawn" that plays in the ending scene where you fly alone in the orangish clouds. That scene somehow always reminds me of the past, the friends I had.

If there had ever been a shmup in which I want to be one of the pilots, that would be Garrega.

Monkey_Man · Post by **Monkey_Man** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 9:33 am

Everything in the Parodius games.

Also: Einhander. Nothing like shooting down baddies while being screamed at in German.

Minzoku · Post by **Minzoku** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:43 pm

Kohtaro

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 7:26 pm

Well, there are the weirdos from the Gunbird and Sonic Wings games...heaven only knows who let any of them get their hands (if they even have them) on a pilot's license. The Mahou Daisakusen/Kingdom Grand Prix bunch are rather lively too.

Ord · Post by **Ord** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 7:40 pm

I always quite liked the characters in the Raizing/8ing games like the Mahou Diasakusen series and especially Armed Police Batrider.

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 10:55 am

it290 wrote:The characters from Progear definitely have a certain style to 'em.

I'll agree on that. The dialogue taking place between you (pilot) & the character badies operating the Bosses, just before the fight begins, is priceless.

Also the girl pilot Thunder Force V (PSX) that has been cloned 3 times… Judging by the ending report, she definitely has a personality.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 10:32 pm

Almost all characters in Shikigami no Shiro II. Then there's a couple in Gunbird 2, but throwing in Morrigan makes me question Capcom's mentality.

I'm sure everything in Guwange should have a mention, though my lack of japanese means it's virtually pointless to try and boast on about it.

Lastly there's Dodonpachi. Oh Type A, B, C, how I love you. Such personality. I heard Type C is pretty emotional.

Darkcomet72 · Post by **Darkcomet72** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 10:55 pm

Props to the guy that mentioned Garegga.

ScrambledValkyrie · Post by **ScrambledValkyrie** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 4:25 am

Huh. Wow. That's an almost surprising bunch of replies. I haven't played nearly enough shooters, I can see.

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 5:01 am

Wow, no mention of RSG yet

Those crazy cats in Shienryu sound like the kind of guys (and girls) you can have a beer with and party after a long day of shooting shit up.

Tar-Palantir · Post by **Tar-Palantir** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 5:11 am

The characters from the Aero Fighters series: among the first selectable-ship shmups. Hien could have fit in to Samurai Aces too

The characters from the Vasaras: all historical, but with an almost Aero-Fighters/Psikyo-esque twist to most them.

Ayin and Tengai fro the Sengoku Ace shmups.

Stuck from Giga Wing.

TGK · Post by **TGK** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 5:24 am

haha, yea, Vasara has really... interesting characters. There is a strange satisfaction in shooting/slashing things up while listening to inane and insessant Japanese banter. I also love J.O.Parodius for that same reason.

I haven't play Einhander though. But somebody mentioned getting screamed at in German, making me curious. My last boss is a German guy

. Good boss though.

TGK · Post by **TGK** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 5:26 am

Darkcomet72 wrote:Props to the guy that mentioned Garegga.

Garrega is one of the games I've enjoyed the most. The characters' portraits and a bit of ending story for them did show up in Batrider. But even without a character portraits, I could imagine what they were like.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 7:23 am

The characters in Vasara relate to the Tokugawa war in japan, but they didn't go around with giant samurai robots killing eachother like this shmup has.

What is it with japanese and robots?

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 8:26 am

Well I would imagine it starts off from the 70's with the JAPN Mazinger & Grendiser Robot Series... Even though the hero robots were a bit too bulky & not as agile as todays Mecha standards (Psyvariar II, Macross/Robotech, etc...)

whity · Post by **whity** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 12:55 pm

BulletMagnet wrote:Well, there are the weirdos from the Gunbird and Sonic Wings games...heaven only knows who let any of them get their hands (if they even have them) on a pilot's license. The Mahou Daisakusen/Kingdom Grand Prix bunch are rather lively too.

I hear you, buddy.
As soon as I saw this forum topic I instantly thought 'SONIC WINGS!'
-Steve the punk.
-Bobby the baby
-Spanky the dolphin

All superbly crafted characters.

dementia · Post by **dementia** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 3:08 pm

That suicidal chick Kagari in Ikaruga.

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 8:26 pm

Well apart from the Ikaruga Wallpapers (of the game characters) that have been floating around, you can't really see the players at any point of the game (On the DC at least...), so I was wondering what was the exact story behind Ikaruga & what/who were the chaps in the wallpapers?

How do you know that Kagari chick was suicidal by the way?

The story-line looks a lot more dramatic than Radiant Silvergun.
The world presented is a very dark, sinister & unpleasant place but it doesn't quite resemble the aftermath of any great world war like in RS....

Any enlightenment on this will be appreciated, as I have been wondering about this since 2002 when I beat it on DC.

dementia · Post by **dementia** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 11:42 pm

ST Dragon wrote:Well apart from the Ikaruga Wallpapers (of the game characters) that have been floating around, you can't really see the players at any point of the game (On the DC at least...), so I was wondering what was the exact story behind Ikaruga & what/who were the chaps in the wallpapers?

How do you know that Kagari chick was suicidal by the way?

The story-line looks a lot more dramatic than Radiant Silvergun.
The world presented is a very dark, sinister & unpleasant place but it doesn't quite resemble the aftermath of any great world war like in RS....

Any enlightenment on this will be appreciated, as I have been wondering about this since 2002 when I beat it on DC.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecub ... 14452.html

Read the FAQ by PBSaffran. Towards the end, it contains translations from the Japanese DC and GCN manuals, as well as translations from the chapter intros that explain the story. I assume Treasure didn't spring for animated cutscenes in Ika because the production values were very high as it was. I agree with you though, you only see Shinra when he's walking to his Hitekkai in the difficulty selection screen, and never again..

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 8:33 am

Thanks!
I'll be sure to read it!