Shmups for beginners

[slk486]

Event though I've been enjoying shmups for the past 20 years or so, I've never stayed very long with any of them, except R-Type, Twin Hawk and Truxton (MD). Probably just due to lack of dedication.

So I thought with a couple of easy shmups under my belt, I'd be better suited for the more complex ones (currently playing Ikaruga) as well as having felt a sense of acomplishment

I know that wether a shmup is easy or not is debatable and depends on skill, but was wondering if there is a general consesus about a couple?

[ptoing]

Espgaluda is quite easy, certainly one of the easiest games by Cave.
Lords of Thunder is very easy.
Gunhed is pretty easy if you make sure to get enough insta respawn powerups.

For freeware stuff I would say Guxt (very simple and oldschool gameplay) and Cho Ren Sha 68K (at least the first loop is pretty easy)

[Sumez]

I think DeathSmiles is a really good place to start out.

Beating it sure isn't easy, but getting into it is very easy, and the first six stages aren't particularly hard, while still posing a bit of a challenge (and the last stage is only really difficult with suicide bullets). I'm sure they are fun to play on rank 1 (which is actually the default choice) as well.

Also agreed on Espgaluda.

[BarfHappy]

The best easy shmup is Sexy Parodius... funny, fun, colorful, great soundtrack, objectives, the gradius weapon system and the twinbee bells... fantastic Only the Extra level is difficult
Thaaat said it s not really serious and if you ve managed to beat RType, then i would say try G-Darius. It is not very difficult, yet a nice little challenge, Einhander could be a good candidate as well.

[maxlords]

I'd toss Thunderforce III into the mix for easy shmups for beginners.

[1up]

I think DoDonPachi is in the easy category with the Ship C - Shot combination. Stages wont be that hard due to your large spread and the boss patterns are not that fast/dense and you can always bomb the hell out of the bosses if it gets to hectic.

thats how a mediocre player like me can make it to stage 5

[slk486]

The best easy shmup is Sexy Parodius... funny, fun, colorful, great soundtrack, objectives, the gradius weapon system and the twinbee bells... fantastic Only the Extra level is difficult
Thaaat said it s not really serious and if you ve managed to beat RType, then i would say try G-Darius. It is not very difficult, yet a nice little challenge, Einhander could be a good candidate as well.

Never said I BEAT R-Type, just stayed with it

Thanks for the suggestions, guys, you managed to only mention games I don't have - not that I have that many. Do have Thunderforce IV, which come to think of it, didn't feel very hard last I played it.

I'll take your suggestions to ebay, and see what he says. Oh, wait... Sexy Parodius, I have that one for the Saturn. I guess I'll start there, then.

[Battletoad]

Axelay. Just get hit by the bullets and not by the enemies.

[slk486]

Axelay. Just get hit by the bullets and not by the enemies.

Because that's the better way to die?

[Battletoad]

Haha no, when you collide with an enemy you die. When you get hit by a bullet, you lose your activated weapon. So you can take up to 4 hits by bullets before you die.

[slk486]

Haha no, when you collide with an enemy you die. When you get hit by a bullet, you lose your activated weapon. So you can take up to 4 hits by bullets before you die.

Oh, right, I remember now

[Hair]

I agree with the Cave suggestions (ESPgaluda, Dodonpachi and Donpachi, Death Smiles). Cave's easier games are at the same time respected by hardcore players, difficult towards the end, and yet easy for new players to get in to.

Dodonpachi, Donpachi, ESPgaluda, ESP.Ra.De, Guwange, and Dangun Feveron are all easy for new players getting into more modern bullet hell games, and yet challenging to people who have spent time with hard old school horizontals. And they are all free in Mame.

No matter what: GET MAME.

I would also recommend the Kenta Cho/ABA Games shooters. Noiz2sa, rRootage, and Parsec47 especially (but they are free, so just get them all). They are easy to get into, but definitly pose a challenge at the highest levels. They usually have level select, which is good for practice. Very high amount of slow moving, small hit box bullets with very visable ship and bullet hitboxes within the entire (larger) visual sprite.

Link: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/index_e.html

These are all for the PC of course, so do not even bother unless you have (or are going to buy) a good arcade stick or gamepad for your PC.

If you have better control hardware for your consoles, and I assume you have a Dreamcast or 360 (since you play Ikaruga), so go with Death Smiles (Xbox, US release; other Cave games are Japan only), or Gun Bird 2 (Dreamcast, US release). Gun Bird has many diffilculty levels to ease you in. You might also like Border Down (Dreamcast, Japanese import only), which is a horizontal shooter that appeals to vertical shooter fans while still paying homage to many oldschool horizontal shooters.

The Dreamcast and 360 pads are usable with shmups, but if you want to really get serious, I would suggest the Agetec Dreamcast arcade stick, or any of the Xbox 360 sticks with stock Sanwa parts (Hori, Mad Catz).

[Sumez]

Your definition of "free" makes me very uncomfortable...
I suggest BUYING whatever game you decide on, helping you take the game more seriously and invest some decent time into it.

[Teufel_in_Blau]

Blue Wish Resurrection Plus is a very easy and very fun Doujin Shmup. It was my first 1CC and I really like the Soundtrack. It also has different difficulty levels. You can also try Eden's Eagis but the flying girls never clicked with me.

You can get them from the devs site:

http://www004.upp.so-net.ne.jp/x_xgamer ... works.html

You will get redirected to the vector Downloadpage. Just click the big green "Go to the Download Page"- Button and then the other "Download Now" - Button.

Oh, and it's REALLY free.

[slk486]

@Hair

Very detailed reply, and thanks for that I've been using MAME for years, but lacking a cabinet (which is in the plans but will probably take a few years), I really don't enjoy it as much as the consoles in front of a CRT TV. I have an X-Arcade Tank stick for MAME, for which I've got adapters on the way for most of my consoles. I also have the Sega Arcade Stick (the one with neon green buttons) for my DC and really enjoy the DC shooters I have with it. I stopped most of my emulating a few years back, since the "feeling" just isn't there and when the whole library is free, I feel I don't appreciate the games enough. The only consoles I don't have are the FM Towns and X68000 (oh, and the N64, but honestly...).

Gunbird 2 (JP) is in my library, so perhaps that would be a better starting point, than Sexy Parodius with a pad.
Unfortunately my XBox 360 is the EU version, so I think region locks will prevent me from playing most of anything but EU releases (right?)

Border Down is dead expensive (IMHO), and is quite far down my list of games to get because of it.

@Sumez: Exactly

[Sumez]

With a European 360 you're at least able to play Deathsmiles (at an affordable price, too)
Also Guwange on XBLA, but that's less open to beginners, but at least it's cheap (and pretty).

[Hair]

Yeah, that was dumb of me to assume you were from the U.S... Didn't see that you were from Denmark. I'm normally not that narrow of vision or mind. But as stated by Sumez, Death Smiles is also a PAL release.

BTW, the ABA Games are 100% freeware on his own website, not emulated. They are must-haves since you have a PC stick to play them with. They are at least worth the 5-10 second download and are a great intro to modern bullet hell games since they have multiple selectable levels (difficulty and stages), and visable ship and bullet hit boxes. Bullet hell may not be what you want, but they are free to try.

If you want to play another oldschool Hori, Parodius (all of them) is great. These are certainly available on a console you have (mine are on Saturn, but Japanese release only). Parodius and Gun Bird 2 are so different, try both and see what direction you want to go in.

slk, Sumez, I agree it is better to buy games when possible, but I think Mame is a good thing for preserving games that are no longer in production. I never said you should steal games. I do have Mame ROMs that I am not going to buy physical versions of (especially since they aren't made anymore), but Mame has also turned me on to games and developers that I have spent money on. Most of this money has gone to retailers (of old games), personal collectors, and import game shops (all of which I *do* want to support). Buying out of production games does't make one dollar for the developer. But using Mame to get into modern shmups can get a person to spent money on *new* games in the future, and that does help the developer.

For someone new to the genre, Mame is a great way to find what you like with no harm done to industry (the opposite actually). That's what I consider free, and it is nothing to be uncomfortable about. I want slk to find the right game(s) and get into shmups more. Downloading a Guwange ROM (just an example), loving it, and then buying Cave games is the ultimate goal. Buying a game he's never played, hating it, and then not buying a shmup ever again is the ultimate thing to avoid.

slk486- Don't be afriad to try a bunch of games before deciding which one to get deeper in to. Of course part of playing shmups is spending countless hours perfecting your play in a certain game, but it is also about experiecing the vast variety the genre has to offer. If you are going to try and master a shmup, you might as well make sure it is the one you want. You've been given some good suggestions (and I am sure more will come), just be sure to try many of them, don't just pick one and then plan on mastering it before going to another game.

I hope I am not misreading your intentions, but it sounds like you are looking for a single suggestion to try and get deep into. I'd go shallow into several games first, and then pick one or two to master.

I know you are not a shmup newbie since you have been playing them for 2 decades, but I am sure there are some sub-genres and developers (with their own style and gameplay) that you have never played before. Mame ROMs can at least set you in the right direction without investing 500,000 dollars in out of print games and PCBs with none of that money going to the people that made the game.

Disclaimer: I do believe in buying old games to support the retro retailers and maintain their value on the open market (such as private sellers on eBay), but no one is going to buy physical releases of every Mame ROM; and if it's a game you want to buy you'll want a ROM (or ISO) as a backup anyways.

[Sumez]

slk486, since you're from Denmark, and have a big collection of console games, you might be interested in the Danish Play:Right forum.
You might already know of it, but there's a lot of talk about shmups and such lately, what with Cave games being released in Europe and all. Lots of talk about imports as well.

http://playright.dk/forumaktive.php

[Treasurance]

H E L L S I N K E R .

[CptRansom]

H E L L S I N K E R .

You're on drugs if you think Hellsinker is for beginners. Or you're trolling. Whatever.

Play Futari. Start on Novice modes, then BL Original, then 1.5 Original, then Maniacs, then BL God, then Ultra if you really hate your life. One game with very simple scoring mechanics (hell, there's a even a Platinum release so cost shouldn't be too much of an issue) + DLC = enough to last you a good long while even if you're just shooting for clears.

[Nick420]

+1 for futari. And you should check out harmful park, Its an easy 1cc plus loads of difficulty levels

[Despatche]

I'd say all three Salamander games would work for you, at least the first loops.

[chempop]

I agree that Dodonpachi, Galuda, and Deathsmiles are probably the most fun and approachable CAVE games. While bullet hell may seem like for pros only, it isn't. I find many of CAVE's games much easier to 1-All than countless other developer's games.

Thunderforce 3 is definitely easier than TF4, but still extremely entertaining and worth looking into. For Megadrive/Genesis I'd suggest MUSHA, easy and brilliant game, but goes for a pretty penny.

There are a plethora of affordable Genesis shmups, Hellfire, Bio Hazard Battle, Raiden Trad... All a good starting place for beginners.

Saturn also has a bunch, Batsugun, Layer Section, Soukyugurentai, are all quite easy to get into and superb.

[slk486]

@Hair: I wasn't trying to accuse you of stealing the games, in my experience I've tended to enjoy the games I've bought more than the others - an example would be that I have a modded classic xbox filled to the brim with games, but never play any of them

Mame did lead me to a lot of arcade goodness, but I've mostly just enjoyed a bit of nostalgia with the games from my youth with no other possible way of playing them (or so I thought). I have no issue with Mame of emulation in general, I've just found my enjoyment of a game is best with the "real thing".

I'll take a look at the ABA games and but the X-Arcade in front of the laptop

Regarding Parodius and Gun Bird 2, I only meant it would probably be easier with a stick than a pad - I'm not very good at shmups with a pad, been playing some Gun Bird on the Saturn that way and I can't seem to move my thumb quick enough

I don't believe anyone is hurting anyone buy emulating or downloading out-of-production games, it just isn't for me in the long run. I did download Ikaruga for DC and ended up buying it anyway, for example.

I really do consider myself a newbie to shmups. I know of a lot of titles, but haven't played more than a handfull enough to consider myself anything more. I kinda like most of the shmups I've tried (that's with a big T), ranging from old school horizontals to never bullet hell verticals and find I'm about equally good (erm.. bad) at all of them. Even played a bit of Chaos Field (DC) yesteday and enjoyed it. I guess my reasoning for asking is if it's a shmup everone else finds easy, then I really *ought* to be able to beat at least that

You're not misreading my intentions, but I think I may have done part 1 of your suggestion and already shallowed (not swallowed) a lot of different style shmups. In retrospect I should have stated more clearly in the OP that I've already TRIED a lot.

BTW: Is it frowned upon to *not* figure out the rank and scoring system oneself?

@Sumez: Didn't even notice you were also from Denmark. I've encountered the forum from time to time, just never spent much time there. Maybe I should?

@CaptainRansom: Which platform is that on?

@Despatche: Salamander games, noted, thanks

Edit: Man I really do plaster those smileys around, don't I.

[Evilmaxwar]

I've been using MAME for years, but lacking a cabinet (which is in the plans but will probably take a few years), I really don't enjoy it as much as the consoles in front of a CRT TV.

You might consider getting a Softmodded original xbox with upgraded hard drive. Easy and most convenient way to "consolize" MAME and other emulators. It will run most Mame shmups up to the Dodonpachi and dimahoo generation without problem. Plus its actually quite easy to find and inexpensive, look on kijiji, craiglist etc. Ive been selling a few customized ones already, marvel machine imo. It will work with the x-arcade but dont get the original x-box adapter it sucks, the newer ps3/xbox combo is supposed to be better but i havent tried.

[slk486]

@Evilmaxwar: I have 2 chip modded classic XBoxes, but I'm very interested in what customizations you are referring to? I've got mameox and a few other emulators on one of 'em, but don't use them these days. Is there perhaps a cool mame frontend to use?

[Ruldra]

Gekirindan, Storm Blade and Fire Barrel are the easiest shmups I know. However, beating easy games won't improve your skills or make you confident. You need to get out there and play the hard ones for that.

[Deca]

I started on DDP and Garegga initially, I believe. Mostly focused on DDP, started trying everything Cave and Raizing playable on MAME at the time. Initially disliked Batrider, but ended up coming back to it a short time later and sticking with it until I got the Normal Course 1CC.

So uh...I guess I'd say DDP is a good intro and Batrider is fairly beginner friendly until you get into Advanced Course and rank control. Death Smiles with Rosa seemed like a really easy Cave 1CC, should be even easier now with the slowdown fixed in the NA version.

Honestly, I would suggest that a beginner just grab all the big name MAME supported games, play them, and just see what you naturally find yourself sticking with.

[RNGmaster]

You won't develop skill as quickly if you just play the easy ones. If you stay on Easy mode, when will you learn the skills to handle anything tougher than that?

Learn basic theory; go with DDP. Any shmupper should play that game, whether they like it or not (and for the record, I detest it).
Oh, and +1 for Futari. Pretty much something there for everyone.

[Special World]

Guy who said Lords of Thunder is easy:

you are crazy