Most Influentual Shooters in History

[dpful]

MY most influencial personally

How can this be subjective? Are these the shooters that have influenced YOU the most?
:

Yeah, and sorry for derailing the thread.

[Edge]

Now let me try, I think the most influental I can think of are:

-Space Invaders (Like it or not this game created this genre)

-Gradius (That was a new rebirth for the genre, all later shmups were influenced by it, even R-Type)

-R-Type (Even if R-Type ws influenced by Gradius, I think it introduces many original features to this genre (like shield, beam, that stylish look many shooters tried to copy)

-Raiden (I am not sure but I think this game influenced most of the vertical shmups, and even the maniAc shmups)

-DoDonPachi (As mentioned before, it made those maniac games that popular. And many other companies came and tried to make shmups more like DDP.)


That are the games that I can think of beeing the most influential.

[gameoverDude]

80s: Xevious (this kind of thing eventually evolved into Layer Section and Soukyugurentai), Dragon Spirit , Sky Shark, Twin Cobra (inspired Raiden, which in turn influenced other games), 1942, R-Type, Darius

90s: Batsugun (started the manic shooters), Battle Garegga, Radiant Silvergun, 19XX, Dodonpachi, Raiden & Raiden Fighters series (Battle Bakraid shows some RF influence, especially with its multiplier)

2000s: Border Down, Ikaruga, Psyvariar Revision

[SAM]

Outta curiosity, though, why would you mention Psikyo's work as innovative? I'm not dissing them or anything, I just can't think of too much offhand that they did which no one else had.

Well, Psikyo invented the Paikyo's shuffle: the first few stages would in different order each time you play the game.

I think this is what "they did and no one else had", may be others think that is not worth copying?

[freddiebamboo]

Batsugun & Garegga IMO

[Edge]

I personally hate shuffling stages. Always the same order is much fairer. I even hate another stage order by the ship/character I use (that's somehow ok) but really what is that stage shuffle really good for?

For example not all stages are balanced exactly the same in matters of scoring and difficulty. So it's important for your highscore in what order the levels came.

I don't want to offense Psikyo games or bash them, I just find this very feature very dull.

[SAM]

I personally hate shuffling stages. Always the same order is much fairer. I even hate another stage order by the ship/character I use (that's somehow ok) but really what is that stage shuffle really good for?

I guess that would make playing the first few levels repeatedly a bit less boring. (Are you talking about Vasara?)

For example not all stages are balanced exactly the same in matters of scoring and difficulty. So it's important for your highscore in what order the levels came.

I totally agree with you on this point.

I don't want to offense Psikyo games or bash them, I just find this very feature very dull.

That's why no body else copy this feature. And thus, we can safely called this feature the "Psikyo Shuffe" knowing for sure that no one else does this.

[freddiebamboo]

That's why no body else copy this feature. And thus, we can safely called this feature the "Psikyo Shuffe" knowing for sure that no one else does this.

8ing is guilty as well, but at least you have the option to choose if you want random or not.

[Imhotep]

Omega Fighter as a very early ('89) example of a scoring-based shooter

Garegga for intensity, complexity

Batsugun for consequently liberating some parts of the gameplay

Dodonpachi for Cave

Esprade for introducing the "sourced out" score mechanic (which tendentially sucks, imo, cheers to Raizing)*

R-Type for being the founder of a subgenre


*
I just figured that Silvergun tends to be that, too. Cave shooters are often like Silvergun in disguise.

[ResOGlas]

1st gen: Galaxian

2nd gen: R-Type

3rd gen: DoDonPachi

Now: How would I know, I still mainly play DoDonPachi

[Dandy J]

Esprade for introducing the "sourced out" score mechanic....I just figured that Silvergun tends to be that, too. Cave shooters are often like Silvergun in disguise.

Umm ESPRade's score system is like the complete opposite of RSG?

Also tendentially is not a word.

[Imhotep]

Umm ESPRade's score system is like the complete opposite of RSG?

Also tendentially is not a word.

Thanks for your brief lesson.

Short chains are characteristicly for many Cave shooters, as they are for Silvergun. Find a trigger situation, exploit it. Both mechanics (Esprade and RSG) ground on "artifical" gameplay elements (shot with special attributes, coloured enemies). I find myself bound to a certain path much faster in Cave games than say Psikyo or Raizing.
However, Treasure never cared about disguising this.

I know that it's all about memorization, but the difference between say Cave and Raizing is: In Cave games, the necessity of finding the "right" path shows quickly, but they make the "perfect" path very fuzzy. In Raizing games, it's exactly the other way round, which I prefer.

[Imhotep]

nevermind

[Dandy J]

In Cave games, the necessity of finding the "right" path shows quickly, but they make the "perfect" path very fuzzy. In Raizing games, it's exactly the other way round, which I prefer.

yeah well I perfer cave so you are an asshole for having a different opinion than me ok

edit: ugh the mad smiley doesnt look very mad

[FatCobra]

Raiden showed me the magic of shmups for the first time.

[AWJ]

For example not all stages are balanced exactly the same in matters of scoring and difficulty. So it's important for your highscore in what order the levels came.

The ships you can select aren't anywhere close to balanced against each other either, in any Psikyo game I've played. I think that that "unfairness" is really part of their style. Make of that what you will.

[Leeram]

What about scramble, I don't think anyone's mentioned that. I think that was pretty influencial. It kind of set the scene for hori shoot 'em ups.

Oh and surely Space Invaders has to be number one, basically because of it we have games now. It started everything, not just shoot 'em ups.


Cheers

Leeram

[TGK]

What about scramble, I don't think anyone's mentioned that. I think that was pretty influencial. It kind of set the scene for hori shoot 'em ups.

... or defender

but I would say that before Cave and before Batsugun, the original manic shmup was Robotron.

It is also one of the first shmup with an addictive scoring system.

You may argue that it is not a shmup. Well, I believe that it is, but simply different because at the beginning of video games developers are still experimenting with concepts, thus there is no real "shmup" yet.

[dessgeega]

70's Space Invaders / Defender / Asteroids
80's Gradius / 1941 / Twin Cobra
90's Raiden / Strikers 1945 / Radiant Silvergun
2000's Ikaruga / Mushihime Sama / Ketsui

can we really decide what the most influential shooters of the 2000s are? being as we're only halfway through them? we can't really gauge what effect mushi will have on shooters that come after it. it seems an odd choice anyway, given that it doesn't really do anything new.

anyway, i agree that robotron is critical.

[Zweihander]

Psikyo games? Influential? This does not compute...

[Dice]

Not River Raid? I think I've read before it's not considered a shmup here, but IMO it is. Particularly the 5200 version because it has enemy tanks that fire back at you. It's revolutionary because its vert scrolling, and you control the speed of your ship by adjusting the speed that the screen scrolls.