Shmup boss names

[esreveR]

So guys. I was looking at the DoDonPachi Dai-Fukkatsu website, and decided to try translating some of the names of the bosses from the original DoDonPachi using Google Translate and I was surprised at the results.

Apparently the bosses in DoDonPachi (Including the first stage mid-boss and excluding Hibachi) are named after the seven deadly sins! Lookie here...

-The Saturn-mode boss (Dual pods and things) is Lust.
-The first-stage boss (Giant gatling gun thingamabob) is Gluttony.
-The second-stage boss (Bigass tank) is Greed.
-The third-stage boss (Big flying...thing...) is Sloth.
-The fourth-stage boss (GIANT LASERS WOOOOOO) is Wrath.
-The fifth-stage boss (GIANT MISSILES WOOOOOO) is Envy.
-The sixth-stage boss (BULLET HELL WOOOOOOO) is Pride.

So I was wondering, maybe we could make a decent listing of boss names in shmups. Maybe.

I'll, uh, edit in more stuff later. If anyone's interested.

EDIT: I also figured out that the mid-bosses in Stage 4 of DOJ are named "Sin" and "Punishment". Although hell if I know what "ガク" is supposed to mean.

[mrsmiley381]

Darius tends to name its bosses, right? At least Darius Gaiden did, anyway. I always liked Folding Fan. Has a good ring to it.

I always liked Gradius bosses. Gradius V had like four different Big Cores and several other Core types. I always liked the name Elephant Gear, as much as I hated that slow-walking irritating monstrosity. Apparently the "final" boss's name is Venom, even though it claims to be a part of what was known as Venom or something to that effect.

[NzzpNzzp]

Cinderella Amber is a good name for a tank.

[Mortificator]

Huge Darius Battleships has names and commentary for the Darius bosses, and this post at GameStone lists the Gradius bosses. To round out the big three of arcade horis, I put together a list of the R-Type stages and bosses a while back. The names are from the Japanese Wikipedia (thanks again to the guys at romhacking.net for translation help!) and the libraries in R-Types and R-Type Final.

R-Type
Stage 1 -- The Encounter -- Dobkeratops
Stage 2 -- Life Forms in a Cave -- Gomander & Outslay
Stage 3 -- Giant Warship -- Warship core "Green Inferno"
Stage 4 -- A Base on the War Front -- Compiler
Stage 5 -- The Den -- Bellmite
Stage 6 -- Transport System [there's no boss in the arcade version; the PCE adds one, but I don't know it's name]
Stage 7 -- A City in Decay -- Bronco
Stage 8 -- A Star Occupied by the Bydo Empire -- Bydo

R-Type II
Stage 1 -- Ruins -- Subtom
Stage 2 -- The Cavern -- Barakus
Stage 3 -- The Crimson Sky -- Corvette
Stage 4 -- Sliding Path -- Rios
Stage 5 -- Base Under Construction -- Blender
Stage 6 -- A Bydo Star -- Womb

Super R-Type
First Stage -- Asteroid Belt -- Illuminator
Second Stage (same as Stage 1 from R-Type II)
Third Stage -- Cave -- Inexsis (based on Stage 2 from R-Type II)
Fourth Stage -- Giant Space Ship -- Prisoner
Fifth Stage (same as Stage 4 from R-Type II)
Sixth Stage -- Recycling Factory -- Recycler
Seventh Stage (same as Stage 6 from R-Type II)

R-Type III
Stage 1 -- Dimension Catapult -- Guard-Ray
Stage 2 -- Acid Creatures -- Necrosoul
Stage 3 -- Heavy Metal Corridor -- Course Grab
Stage 4 -- Fire Cask Factory -- Beast 666
Stage 5 -- Bionics Laboratory -- Phantom Cell (transforms into Dobkeratops, Rios, Gomander & Outslay, and Gondolan)
Stage 6 -- Galactic Center -- Mother Bydo

R-Type Delta
1st Contact -- Lethal Weapon -- Moritz-G
2nd Contact -- Deformation -- Dastonate Cocoon & Dastonate Worm
3rd Contact -- Gigantic Attack -- Gates core
4th Contact -- Invasion -- Q.T. Cat (with the R-9 from the first game inside)
5th Contact -- Evil -- Gondolan, Gomander & Outslay, and Warship core "Green Inferno"
6th Contact -- Awakening -- R-Types, Dobkeratops
Last Contact -- Life -- Bydo Core

R-Type Final
Stage 1.0 -- Metropolis Quietus -- Xelf-16
Stage 2.0 -- Twisted Ecology -- Negus O Shim
Stage 3.0 -- Battleship Raid -- Wave Core
Stage 3.5 -- Forest Watchdog -- R-13A Cerberus
Stage 4.0 -- Deserted Lab -- Dobkeratops
Stage 5.0 -- Dimension 26 -- Fine Motion
Stage 6.0 -- Floating Graves -- Gomander & Outslays
Stage 6.1 -- Beautiful Erasure -- Nomemayer
Stage 6.2 -- Anti-Space -- Gridlock
Final Stage A -- The Bydo... -- Bydo
Final Stage B -- Summer Night -- R-9A Arrow-Head
Final Stage C -- Wherever

R-Type Leo lists the stage names when you enter them, but I haven't found a source for the bosses. Area 3's boss is a robotic version of Subtom, though (and Subtom himself is a rebuilt version of Dobkeratops).

[BPzeBanshee]

I once saw concept art for Raiden Fighters and found one giant aircraft boss to be named "Vahrstor" and the tank boss that's in every RF title is "Wild Weasel" (variations having stuff like G at the end). The rest are all unofficial titles people's come up with as far as I know.

[Treasurance]

A TOTAL KARMA COMPRESSOR SYSTEM NAMED "GARLAND"

[SFKhoa]

EDIT: I also figured out that the mid-bosses in Stage 4 of DOJ are named "Sin" and "Punishment". Although hell if I know what "ガク" is supposed to mean.

In DOJ's case, Jaw.

[esreveR]

I tried figuring out the names of the bosses in Under Defeat, the attempts are kind of botched, so I might need a bit of help...

Stage 1 Boss: Winchester Air Tank
Stage 2 Mid-boss: [シニコフ アウカー] Class Battlecruiser
Stage 2 Boss: Bordeaux [マウゼル] Class Battleship
Stage 3 Mid-Boss: Bled Super Heavy Artillery
Stage 3 Boss: [スプリーフェルド] (Might be Colt Automatic, as the air units are named after guns) New Air Tank
Stage 4 Mid-Boss 1: Right Arm Heavy Armored Train (Reconnaissance Vehicles, Combat Vehicles, [砲塔車] (I think it's the locomotive?))
Stage 4 Mid-Boss 2: Big Guns
Stage 4 Boss: Fire Tower
Stage 5 Mid-Boss 1: Arsenal Experimental Multiple Turreted Super Heavy Tank
Stage 5 Mid-Boss 2: Enfield Experimental Air Tank
Stage 5 Mid-Boss 3: [ネオステーダ] Experimental High Mobility Tank
Stage 5 Boss: [ブローン] (Likely Braun or Brawne) Self-Propelled Fotress

[Observer]

Let's see if I'm starting to learn japanese:

シニコフ アウカー Shinikohu-auka (????) It's in katakana so I don't know what it's trying to mean.

マウゼル Mauzeru aka "Mauser". German name of course, considering Japan loves Deustchland.

スプリーフェルド Supuri-ho(?)rudo??? No idea really.

ネオステーダ Neosuchi-da ???

ブローン Buro-so (Maybe it's indeed brown in german?)

Ah, I give up. Drag SFKhoa to this thread, he has a major grasp of moonrunes.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Taito had some pretty cool Boss names for it's G-Darius PCB release including Queen Fossil & Great Thing.

Even Success' first two Psyvariar games of Psyvariar Medium Unit & Psyvariar Revision G-Cards running on the Taito G-Net motherboard had some interesting boss names dealing with the technology used to create them in the first place. The GUIS (Galactic Unified Integrated System) is still in control of all the computer systems/bosses until the pilot named Psyvariar brings it down once & for all, eventually. Too bad that SCEA didn't allow any USA based game devs to bring Psyvariar Complete stateside (since it didn't get a proper American G-Net arcade release either).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[NzzpNzzp]

I once saw concept art for Raiden Fighters and found one giant aircraft boss to be named "Vahrstor" and the tank boss that's in every RF title is "Wild Weasel" (variations having stuff like G at the end). The rest are all unofficial titles people's come up with as far as I know.

Violet Head/Sand Lobster/Red Eye?

[hzt]

Let's see if I'm starting to learn japanese:

シニコフ アウカー Shinikohu-auka (????) It's in katakana so I don't know what it's trying to mean.

マウゼル Mauzeru aka "Mauser". German name of course, considering Japan loves Deustchland.

スプリーフェルド Supuri-ho(?)rudo??? No idea really.

ネオステーダ Neosuchi-da ???

ブローン Buro-so (Maybe it's indeed brown in german?)

Ah, I give up. Drag SFKhoa to this thread, he has a major grasp of moonrunes.

They're all altered versions of real weapons manufacturers (at least that's what I guessed and Japanese Wikipedia agrees with me). They mostly look stupid if you romanise them and of course there is no "right" way to do it.

シニコフ アウカー - Shnikov walker (Kalashnikov)
Mauser you got
スプリーフェルド - Spreefeld (Springfield)
ネオステーダ - Neostaid(a) (Neostead)
ブローン - Brown (Browning)

Also where did the seven sins stuff come from? I can't find anything like that on the site. And the Daioujou ones are definitely not sin and punishment, on the Daioujou site the names are written in kanji and the "shin" is 神 god/"kami", and I'm not sure where punishment came from.

[sunburstbasser]

All of Radiant Silvergun's bosses have a name, handily available right here:

http://www.emuxhaven.net/~silver/Main%20Story.html

Batsugun named all of it's bosses. Deep Purple for Stage 1, for instance.

Battle Garegga has:

Stage 1: Nose Lavagghin
Stage 2: Mad Ball

Don't know most of the rest, but Black Heart is the stealth bomber and Glow Squid is the final boss.

Battle Bakraid names all of it's bosses.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Deep Purple also being in Thunder Force V, with the next two continuing the "rock" theme!

[8 1/2]

I have my own names for shmup bosses.

Ketsui's Cinderella Amber is "The Golden Turkey." Oh how I hate that golden turkey!

[Bananamatic]

Battle Garegga has:

Stage 1: Nose Lavagghin
Stage 2: Mad Ball

Don't know most of the rest, but Black Heart is the stealth bomber and Glow Squid is the final boss.

SATANIC SURFER

Oh, and Dimahoo. Infernon definitely lives up to his name.

And the Daioujou ones are definitely not sin and punishment, on the Daioujou site the names are written in kanji and the "shin" is 神 god/"kami", and I'm not sure where punishment came from.

Daioujou's bosses are the 4/5 sacred beasts:
S1 - Suzaku - vermilion bird
S2 - Byakko - white tiger
S3 - Genbu - black tortoise
S4 - Seiryu - azure dragon
S5 - Kouryu - yellow dragon

I can see a fire bee fitting in

And then they ran out of ideas and threw in lolis

[BPzeBanshee]

I once saw concept art for Raiden Fighters and found one giant aircraft boss to be named "Vahrstor" and the tank boss that's in every RF title is "Wild Weasel" (variations having stuff like G at the end). The rest are all unofficial titles people's come up with as far as I know.

Violet Head/Sand Lobster/Red Eye?

Whoops. I forget Raiden Fighters had mission briefings with boss names.

[esreveR]

I once saw concept art for Raiden Fighters and found one giant aircraft boss to be named "Vahrstor" and the tank boss that's in every RF title is "Wild Weasel" (variations having stuff like G at the end). The rest are all unofficial titles people's come up with as far as I know.

Violet Head/Sand Lobster/Red Eye?

Those names are obviously official, as the game states them.

I'd be interested to see more of the boss names, though I have no idea where they could be found.

Let's see if I'm starting to learn japanese:

シニコフ アウカー Shinikohu-auka (????) It's in katakana so I don't know what it's trying to mean.

マウゼル Mauzeru aka "Mauser". German name of course, considering Japan loves Deustchland.

スプリーフェルド Supuri-ho(?)rudo??? No idea really.

ネオステーダ Neosuchi-da ???

ブローン Buro-so (Maybe it's indeed brown in german?)

Ah, I give up. Drag SFKhoa to this thread, he has a major grasp of moonrunes.

They're all altered versions of real weapons manufacturers (at least that's what I guessed and Japanese Wikipedia agrees with me). They mostly look stupid if you romanise them and of course there is no "right" way to do it.

シニコフ アウカー - Shnikov walker (Kalashnikov)
Mauser you got
スプリーフェルド - Spreefeld (Springfield)
ネオステーダ - Neostaid(a) (Neostead)
ブローン - Brown (Browning)

Also where did the seven sins stuff come from? I can't find anything like that on the site. And the Daioujou ones are definitely not sin and punishment, on the Daioujou site the names are written in kanji and the "shin" is 神 god/"kami", and I'm not sure where punishment came from.

So I guess it goes like this:

1-1: Winchester
2-1: Kalashnikov
2-2: マウゼル ボルトー (Mauser Bordeaux?)
3-1: Bren
3-2: Springfield
4-1: ライトアーム (Right Arm?)
4-2: Big Guns
4-3: Fire Tower
5-1: アセナル (Arsenal?)
5-2: Enfield
5-3: Neostead
5-4: Browning

Mind you I'm using Google Translate so I fail at this ;_;

As for DoDonPachi, I got the names from the DFK site, the secret mid-bosses and such. They could be off though, not sure. The DOJ site also provides a designation, which could cause some confusion.

Battle Garegga has:

Stage 1: Nose Lavagghin
Stage 2: Mad Ball

Don't know most of the rest, but Black Heart is the stealth bomber and Glow Squid is the final boss.

SATANIC SURFER

Oh, and Dimahoo. Infernon definitely lives up to his name.

And the Daioujou ones are definitely not sin and punishment, on the Daioujou site the names are written in kanji and the "shin" is 神 god/"kami", and I'm not sure where punishment came from.

Daioujou's bosses are the 4/5 sacred beasts:
S1 - Suzaku - vermilion bird
S2 - Byakko - white tiger
S3 - Genbu - black tortoise
S4 - Seiryu - azure dragon
S5 - Kouryu - yellow dragon

I can see a fire bee fitting in

And then they ran out of ideas and threw in lolis

Oh...I didn't know about the sacred beasts thing...that's really helpful, actually.

EDIT: Actually, that explains why many describe Hibachi as the "Crimson Bee" or "Scarlet Bee". Cool!

[Observer]

1-1: Winchester
2-1: Kalashnikov
2-2: マウゼル ボルトー (Mauser "Bo-ru-to-", no idea if "Bordeaux" is pronounced as "Bordó" -this is our spanish pronunciation-, if so, then you are right)
3-1: Bren
3-2: Springfield
4-1: ライトアーム (Yep, it's "Ra-i-to-a-mu", Right Arm, now, it could be Right Arms or even The Right Arms, lol, either way, it sounds like a funny name)
4-2: Big Guns
4-3: Fire Tower
5-1: アセナル (A-se-na-ru... Yeah, sounds like Arsenal)
5-2: Enfield
5-3: Neostead (Maybe it's Neosteed?)
5-4: Browning

Man, this game has some hardcore boss names. Not as trippy as Darius or Hellsinker but pretty nice.

Speaking of Hellsinker. The bosses have some of the most fucking kickass names around:

Segment 1 Lead: Rex Cavalier (Fake?)
Segment 1 Behind: Quiet Minstrel
Segment 2 Lead: Scarlet Queen (hidden boss: Spirit Kernel)
Segment 2 Behind: Glorious Symbol
Segment 3 Lead: No Boss (missile barrages)
Segment 3 Behind: Sunken Bishop
Segment 4: Rusted Dragon
Segment 5: Perpetual Calendar (Sol/Luna)
Boss invoked by the Perpetual Calendar:
Saint Mouve
Old Rose
Segment 6: Apostles of the Seed (Dawn/Dusk)
Segment 7: Rex Cavalier
Segment 8: NOW REACHES THE FATAL ATTRACTION BE DESCRIBED AS "HELLSINKER"
Three possible outcomes after facing the "fatal attractions":
Last Boss 1: Kareidoscope
Last Boss 2: Floccinaucihihilipilification (nicknamed Glitched Kareidoscope due to how on-LSD his fight is)
True Last Boss(es):
Garland (A TOTAL KARMA COMPRESSOR SYSTEM NAMED "GARLAND" for the friends)
Lost Property 771+The Quadruple Ones

Shrine of Farewell:
HEROIC DEAD - NINELIVES
GREAT IMPURE - AL-4TH
BROKEN ONE - LOSTONE TEMPERAMENT NIL
HEROIC DEAD - MILLIONLIVES
Kaname Stones
Unknown?

Extra Stage 1 (The Great Majority): Astral Manowar (not a boss with warning but the final enemy you face, and it's heavy enough to be warranted as a boss, let's not mention the Orbital Squids, Crystalline Leaves and other enemies that appear )

Extra Stage 2 (The Way of All Flesh): The Unnamed 771

[Drum]

Crusty Hammer is the best boss name. Prove me wrong, shmups.system11.org.

[Klatrymadon]

Always loved that one. Something curiously obscene about it. Fatty Glutton has got to be up there as well, though.

I really like some of the names in Metal Black, too. The first boss is called Apartheid. Heavy!

[Thjodbjorn]

1-1: Winchester
2-1: Kalashnikov
2-2: マウゼル ボルトー (Mauser "Bo-ru-to-", no idea if "Bordeaux" is pronounced as "Bordó" -this is our spanish pronunciation-, if so, then you are right)
3-1: Bren
3-2: Springfield
4-1: ライトアーム (Yep, it's "Ra-i-to-a-mu", Right Arm, now, it could be Right Arms or even The Right Arms, lol, either way, it sounds like a funny name)
4-2: Big Guns
4-3: Fire Tower
5-1: アセナル (A-se-na-ru... Yeah, sounds like Arsenal)
5-2: Enfield
5-3: Neostead (Maybe it's Neosteed?)
5-4: Browning

"2-2: マウゼル ボルトー (Mauser "Bo-ru-to-", no idea if "Bordeaux" is pronounced as "Bordó" -this is our spanish pronunciation-, if so, then you are right)"

that could very likely be Mauser Bolt. That would be my guess.

"4-1: ライトアーム (Yep, it's "Ra-i-to-a-mu", Right Arm, now, it could be Right Arms or even The Right Arms, lol, either way, it sounds like a funny name)"

Light Arm, maybe? Is it a laser-based boss?

"5-1: アセナル (A-se-na-ru... Yeah, sounds like Arsenal)"

I agree there 100%. Arsenal makes sense.

[Treasurance]

Last Boss 2: Floccinaucihihilipilification

WE HAVE A WINNER

[Herr Schatten]

R-Type
Stage 2 -- Life Forms in a Cave -- Gomander & Outslay

Strange. I always was under the impression that R-Type's stage 2 boss is called "Gomander/Cyst". This is the first time I hear the name "Outslay". Did I miss something?

[saucykobold]

Strange. I always was under the impression that R-Type's stage 2 boss is called "Gomander/Cyst". This is the first time I hear the name "Outslay". Did I miss something?

I believe Outslay is the snake-like thing that accompanies Gomander.

Crusty Hammer is the best boss name. Prove me wrong, shmups.system11.org.

The Darius series has a lot of grandiose boss names, so it's kinda funny when you encounter Octopus for the first time.

Octopus is an octopus.

[Rupert H]

Awesome topic! I don't know why but I've always had a strange fascination with shmup boss names. I'd love to put together a database, or at the very least contribute to one.

[dunpeal2064]

Does anyone happen to know the bosses names in the Parodius games? Those are ones I would love to know.