List of recomended shooters?

Vomitspit · Post by **Vomitspit** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 12:29 pm

Hello all. I am very much an old skool gamer, who has recently rediscovered his love for old skool shooters. I fondly remember playing games like R-type and 1941-43 in the arcade, and Gradius/ Life Force on the NES.

I now realize that I've probably missed out on some classics. If you'd make a list of recomended shooters, you'd make me a happy man.

I've also read a little bit about the game Radiant Silvergun. It doesn't seem to be availible on any current platform. Is it possible to play this game on an emulator? (Hope I'm not violating any rules by this question)

SAM · Post by **SAM** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 12:46 pm

Radiant Silvergun only avaliable on Sega Saturn, and if you does not own a Saturn yet, it might not worth getting a Saturn for. Unless you manage to acquire the game cheap.

Saturn does got a large libary of shumps, but many of them become avaliable on others current system recently. Besides the Saturn version of the same game cost much more than the other versions.

Don't know about if it was emulated, I think it is not.

Zweihander · Post by **Zweihander** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 1:03 pm

it's impossible, Saturn still hasn't been fully emulated. your best bet would be to shell out the $200+ on ebay for the game, then get ahold of a Japanese Saturn, OR modify a non-Jap one. good luck, i too haven't had the privelege to play RS. :/

for the plus side, here's some shooters i'd recommend:
Einhander (PSX)
Ikaruga (DC, NGC)
any CAVE shooter
Bangaioh (DC; borderline shmup. some may call it a platformer, but it's really more of a shmup than anything.)
Rez (DC, PS2; rail shooter)
Twinkle Star Sprites (DC; puzzle-shmup)
any of the Darius games (IMHO, G-Darius for the PSX pwns them all)
R-Type Final
Iridion II (GBA; avoid "Iridion 3D" like the plague though)
Quarth (GB, obscure yet addictive puzzle-shmup)
Philosoma (PSX) fucking hard, but with solid gameplay, and an intriguing story complete with a twisted ending.
Mars Matrix (DC) NOTE: ONLY PLAY THIS IF YOU ARE A MASOCHIST.
Psyvariar 1 or 2 (PS2), if you're feeling suicidal. IMO, Psyvariar 2 is an inferior sequel; Psy1 has MUCH more replay value AND goes 2-player.
And last, but certainly not least, the Shikigami no Shiro games (multiplatform). 'Castle Shikigami 2' for PS2 would be the most economically-sound way of getting Shiki 2 ($10, yo!), despite the shitty dub-voices. also keep a lookout for Shiki 1, aka 'Mobile Light Force 2'. Just turn the voices down all the way, and you're good. ^^

Diabollokus · Post by **Diabollokus** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 1:08 pm

Hi vomit spit welcome to the forum

Actually your question is rather huge as there have been many high quality shmups released over the last while for a variety of platforms.

Yes radiant silvergun has been emulated with varying sucess, theres the odd ''radiant silvergun for PC'' floating on ebay for a fiver, I own my saturn orginal and the $150 bucks i spent was worth it. Its also available in arcade format as an ST-V cartridge but you'll need a machine to plug her into or a supergun of some sort.

Do you mean recommended shooters as in recent ones? or only classics i.e. genesis thunderforce 4 style?

regardless 3 main consoles for shmups

playstation 2 has the largest console libray, home of the manic shmup and cave fan,.

Saturn, hardcore fav with many home arcade conversions radiant silvergun and garegga being the most talked.

Dreamcast, home to about 14 shmups but the quality is consistently high most are failry cheap bar border down.

Theres PC mame which in all honesty may be your best solution check the shmups.com xenocide files and read some of the reviews.

Heres a list to get you started

thunderforce 3 and 4
battle garegga
armed ploice batrider
battle bakraid
soukyugurentai
radiant silvergun
ikaruga
border down
gradius V
strikers 1945
musha
fireshark
mars matrix
dodonpachi
hyper duel
dragon blaze
zero gunner 2

People could add to that for ages but that'll give you something to look at everyone of those games is pretty good, you'll find some on mame and gens emulator others are console based.

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 1:22 pm

Diabollokus wrote:most are failry cheap bar border down.

Speaking of the price of Border Down, check out this auction. Anybody who's been looking for an affordable copy should prepare to cry. A lot.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 8210966654

visuatrox · Post by **visuatrox** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 1:35 pm

The reason why that auction sold so low

"We are not selling outside U.S. at this time, due to shipping and customs hassles."

There goes a majority of buyers, waah it is so much trouble writing a foreign address on the parcel

And the few buyers that were left, were scared away by

"cashier's check and Bidpay only for this auction, Sorry, NO Paypal!"

Having sold a bunch of stuff on Ebay, I know from experience that bids will be much lower if you don't offer paypal.

Vomitspit · Post by **Vomitspit** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 2:23 pm

I don't have access to any of my consoles right now, and wont for another month, so MAME-games are preferred. Thanks for all your replies.

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 2:28 pm

visuatrox wrote:The reason why that auction sold so low

"We are not selling outside U.S. at this time, due to shipping and customs hassles."

There goes a majority of buyers, waah it is so much trouble writing a foreign address on the parcel

And the few buyers that were left, were scared away by

"cashier's check and Bidpay only for this auction, Sorry, NO Paypal!"

Having sold a bunch of stuff on Ebay, I know from experience that bids will be much lower if you don't offer paypal.

The seller had it for $30.00 Buy Now, and somebody bought it after the auction had only been up for like 8 hours. It has nothing to do with it not being bid up to a normal level because of payment method or shipping restrictions. The guy who bought it probably was the very first person who saw the auction and knew what they were looking at. If I had caught the auction before it closed, I sure would've bought it for $30 (and resold it for $70

), regardless of payment methods. The seller just didn't know what it was worth, and as a result took it in the butt. Border Down is rare and has plenty of demand within the US. If it hadn't been listed with the ultra-low Buy Now, it would've got up to $70 just like every other sealed copy of Border Down that's sold on eBay in the last year.

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 2:59 pm

For anyone new to shmups, I strongly suggest going to the main page (www.shmups.com) and perusing the xenocide files.

To ask for shmup recommendations without qualifiers is just too sweeping, especially given how many are actually good.

The fantastic thing about the xenocide files is that games are catagorized by console so you can start by hunting down the games for the system(s) you already own, then you can target new consoles that have impressive libraries of shmups.

Don't believe for a moment that there are any 'top 10' or 'top 20' shmups. There are hundreds of shooters and a great number of them are definitely worth your time. Check out the xenocide files and do a bit of exploring yourself--definitely worth doing instead of constraining your perception of the genre to a limited number of recommendations from the forums.

visuatrox · Post by **visuatrox** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 3:12 pm

"The seller had it for $30.00 Buy Now"

Ohh didn't see that!

, a very generous price indeed

Anyway to get back on topic, Vomitspit what consoles do you have?. Or are your intentions to buy a console depending on the shmups avaible for it?.

freddiebamboo · Post by **freddiebamboo** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 3:33 pm

CMoon wrote:For anyone new to shmups, I strongly suggest going to the main page (www.shmups.com) and perusing the xenocide files.

To ask for shmup recommendations without qualifiers is just too sweeping, especially given how many are actually good.

The fantastic thing about the xenocide files is that games are catagorized by console so you can start by hunting down the games for the system(s) you already own, then you can target new consoles that have impressive libraries of shmups.

Don't believe for a moment that there are any 'top 10' or 'top 20' shmups. There are hundreds of shooters and a great number of them are definitely worth your time. Check out the xenocide files and do a bit of exploring yourself--definitely worth doing instead of constraining your perception of the genre to a limited number of recommendations from the forums.

Very good advice, just check the arcade section and read the reviews to get an idea of the more modern games in the genre.

I would recommend DoDonPachi as a good intro to manic shooters and it's available on MAME

cigsthecat · Post by **cigsthecat** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 3:35 pm

Here are 5 excellent shooters that you should be playing.

Gunbird 2

Dragon Blaze

Armed Police Batrider

Raiden Fighters Jet

Batsugun Special Version

al138 · Post by **al138** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 3:46 pm

Shienryu (Gekou: Shooting King) is a good choice for the PSX. And you can probably find it for under $5.

Vomitspit · Post by **Vomitspit** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 3:51 pm

visuatrox: Right now I don't have access to any consoles at all; just my computer.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 4:29 pm

Vomitspit wrote:visuatrox: Right now I don't have access to any consoles at all; just my computer.

It seems you are currently failing at life. What would you like to do?

1. Buy a console.
2. Decide which console to buy, then buy.
3. Emulate a console.

Vomitspit · Post by **Vomitspit** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 5:26 pm

Now I've downloaded and briefly played Dragon Blaze, Giga Wing and
Dodonpachi. They are all very similar to me, but great fun and extremely difficult. Is this type of shooters some kind of sub-genre?

sjewkestheloon · Post by **sjewkestheloon** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 6:32 pm

well they are all more or less manic verts, far more examples of the modern shmup than the traditional games you are used to. and yes they are all hard as nails. i suggest you pick one or the listed, probably ddp, and put in a good few hours of play. i'd suggest a couple of moderate playthroughs cred feeding the first few stages, and then start playing seriously with only one or at the most a few creds trying to better your score and progress. this will help you to get a feel for the game and figure out if you'll enjoy extended play.

have fun

uwfan · Post by **uwfan** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 7:07 pm

there should be a sticky on this forum for the recommended top 10 shmups for each of the main systems.

we could hold a vote to determine these Top 10s.

that is all.

dessgeega · Post by **dessgeega** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 7:36 pm

Elixir wrote:
Vomitspit wrote:visuatrox: Right now I don't have access to any consoles at all; just my computer.
It seems you are currently failing at life. What would you like to do?

1. Buy a console.
2. Decide which console to buy, then buy.
3. Emulate a console.

if you've got a computer, you can run mame.

i recommend upl's mutant night, which was never ported to any console.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 7:38 pm

You can't play shmups with a keyboard, though. I would kill people caught doing so.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 7:44 pm

visuatrox wrote:"The seller had it for $30.00 Buy Now"

Ohh didn't see that! , a very generous price indeed .

Yeah, this reminds me of the time I saw a cart and case only GG Aleste for 24.99 buy it now. I ordered it and it turned out to be legit like the pic of it suggested. I wish I saw that $30.00 Buy it Now for Border Down. I love good deals. I got Mr. Driller Ace from Play-Asia for about 30 dollars and that was one heck of a deal (it arrived today with great packing). I'm hoping they will get some more Steel Empire GBAs. They were selling those at about 30 dollars too. I love taking advantage of good deals!

Keyboard isn't good for shmups, but Mame32 and most doujin games have gamepad support. Even when just trying games out, pads are so much better than keyboard. I highly recommend trying to find a pad with dual analog for Gunroar. There are some out there that are rather inexpensive. For games that have the evil lack of joystick support, there's joytokey.

Vomitspit · Post by **Vomitspit** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 8:06 pm

I have a Wingman Action from Logitech. Not the most expensive 'pad but I'm used to it and think it's great.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 8:11 pm

OH YEAH, WELL I USE ONE OF THESE FOR MAME GAMES. SO HAR. :(

That was low of me, I know. Currently I use this for Vasara and such games. It's really a good pad after all.

ihaveproof

Vomitspit · Post by **Vomitspit** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 8:48 pm

I just tried Mars Matrix. I thought I was good because I could get to the fourth level of R-type II on one coin.

This is another level of skill. I'm not sure if I'm going to just give up now or retreat to an easier set of games.

visuatrox · Post by **visuatrox** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 8:52 pm

Well the manic shooters take some time to get used to, games like R-Type Final and Gradius V you would probably be more familiar with.

I'm not much into emulation, but if you want to try out something different compared to those then I would recommend Pulstar & Blazing Star.

But you really should get a console though to play some of the latest/greatest games. A PS2 would be a good choice. Emulation does just not feel the same, especially if playing on a keyboard. Border Down+dreamcast+vga cable+monitor+arcade stick offers a very different kind of gaming experience compared to emulating a game.

sjewkestheloon · Post by **sjewkestheloon** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 9:16 pm

mars matrix rules

:):)

just learn how to use the reflection shield for a brief second, collect bullets, spam them out and move to a safe area. still hard as a bastard though

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 10:07 pm

uwfan wrote:there should be a sticky on this forum for the recommended top 10 shmups for each of the main systems.

we could hold a vote to determine these Top 10s.

that is all.

I have suggested this at least half a dozen times, especially given how often such threads ('what are the best shmups on the PSX?') come up, but it seems that such stuff would be considered clutter.

uwfan · Post by **uwfan** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 10:17 pm

CMoon wrote:
uwfan wrote:there should be a sticky on this forum for the recommended top 10 shmups for each of the main systems.

we could hold a vote to determine these Top 10s.

that is all.
I have suggested this at least half a dozen times, especially given how often such threads ('what are the best shmups on the PSX?') come up, but it seems that such stuff would be considered clutter.

dessgeega · Post by **dessgeega** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 10:35 pm

Elixir wrote:OH YEAH, WELL I USE ONE OF THESE FOR MAME GAMES. SO HAR.

i just use a playstation controller.

it's basically a super famicom controller with two extra buttons.

ROBOTRON · Post by **ROBOTRON** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 10:55 pm

Big Question.

Whats systems do you own/plan to get?