Shmups that were not worth your money.

[Avatar Ignis]

I Loved Shikigami 3 I bought it without any expectations, and it is easily my favorite Wii game. The game is just fun, rewards ballsy play and the in game banter is just golden (Sadly i parted with that system. Yes, I dont have my Wii hurr hurr)

For me It'd be Deathsmiles for Iphone. I seem to be the only one to hate this game, and this is coming from someone who really enjoyed the other cave iphone ports/deathsmiles for xbox360. I just feel so cheated looking at the prices for the weapons you have to buy in game. Lesson learned for me, no more horis for iphone...

[Age of Kings]

Gamecube port of Ikaruga. I understand how people like it, as it is in many cases how some of the younger folk got into the genre but that is not the case for me and I have no such nostalgic affection for it. It's extremely bland, the novelty wears off quickly, and it bores me a lot.

[AntiFritz]

Gamecube port of Ikaruga. I understand how people like it, as it is in many cases how some of the younger folk got into the genre but that is not the case for me and I have no such nostalgic affection for it. It's extremely bland, the novelty wears off quickly, and it bores me a lot.

Yeah same, i can see that its a decent game but i find it really boring with its lack of different shiptypes and no ability to focus or bomb. Good thing i didnt actually buy it though.

[xbl0x180]

Hahaha. Holy carp. I paid about 61 bucks for Shikigami No Shiro 3 (USED!) for the 360, but I feel it was worth it even if there is the Wii version that costs less than 10 bucks new. I also have "Castle Of Shikigami 2" for the PS2 and play it on mute while listening to other music on headphones; that, too, was less than 10 dollars

I'd play most of the games mentioned in this thread (except those on MAME) over Strike Witches.

[Bee Cool]

It boggles my mind how people think Shikigami no Shiro III wasn't worth their money, I think it's a great bullet hell series and is only over shadowed by the pinnacle games of the genre.

[cj iwakura]

Oh don't get me wrong, they are all great. I just think 2 was a little more fine-tuned, and I figured it would appeal to more people than 1

Mostly due to this: the port (Mobile Light Force 2) is about as barebones as it gets. Shiki 2, on the other hand, has a fantastic port. Tons of options (more than some Cave games), an unforgettable, and fully-voiced dialog, and a choice for remixed BGM. Its easily the best shmup that you can buy sealed for under $10

I just figured the first one would get a lot more hate due to all of that

SnS1 has its charms. Firstly that it's hard as HELL. Secondly the power-up system, exclusive to Shiki 1.


Final boss insanity:
Shoujo (1) > Tsukiko (3) > Shintaro (2)


And yes, those are professional VAs in Shiki 3's dub. That's Michael effing McConnohie as Kagachi!
It's deliberately hilarious. Watch for the Federer reference.

You want bad voice work? Play Shiki 2.

[nZero]

I had a good time with Shikigami no Shiro 2, but Shiki 3 (360 ver-- don't have a Wii and barely touched it in the arcade) felt kind of half-baked and wasn't nearly as enjoyable (except for the storytelling, especially some of the Dramatic Change pairings). At the Wii version pricepoint I couldn't complain, but at full price... I have to say I'm glad I was able to resell it for what I paid for it.

[xbl0x180]

And yes, those are professional VAs in Shiki 3's dub. That's Michael effing McConnohie as Kagachi!
It's deliberately hilarious. Watch for the Federer reference.

You want bad voice work? Play Shiki 2.

Both have horrible dubbing and it'd be one main deterrent from buying these games. Professional voice acting is in tone, timbre, pitch, delivery, all that stuff. Now, if they had hired the professional actors who do the voices for the Adult Swim (other than anime) or Comedy Central cartoons, then we'd have something worth listening to (and paying for)

[Paradigm]

Both have horrible dubbing and it'd be one main deterrent from buying these games.

[AuraDRGN]

A doujin game I bought a year ago cant remember the name but it was horrible and dissappointing shmup A doujin game I bought a year ago cant remember the name but it was horrible and dissappointing shmup

(double post deleted /nZ)

[Tigershark]

Good thread.

Truth is many of the shooters I buy I don't play that often. But then that's what is so good about this genre. You can pick it up and play it for 10 minutes and then move on if you want to and when you come back to it you don't have to spend ages trying to work out what buttons you need to press.

For me the biggest disappointment (price to play) was RSG. It was like the holy grail for many years due to its game play and the respect many people had for it but then I bought it. I've probably played it 20 times and even then only that much because I spent so much on it and thought it must get better soon. I want to believe it was a good purchse but when I think about playing it again there's always another game that gets in its way.

[Estebang]

The only shmup I've ever regretted buying was Chaos Field. One of the most divisive games on this site, I know. You can put me firmly in the "hate it" camp. It's not really awful, just fiercely mediocre, which is almost worse--there's nothing ridiculous or silly about it to mock.

[Vexorg]

Regrettable shmup purchases I've made:

-Psyvariar 2, bought a new import copy of this for $60 and I think I played it twice.
-Deathsmiles iOS (just can't get into it. Probably would have been better off just buying it for 360 in the first place.)
-Sky Shark PCB that Never worked in my cab
-Raiden IV (another one in the "bought it and played it twice" category, although it was reasonably cheap.)
-Nanostray (just not very good.)

[Estebang]

I actually don't regret buying Nanostray. It was neat to have a playable shmup with nice graphics on the DS when the system was new, and I had some fun trying to move up the internet rankings.

Though, the scoring system is Hyper Duel levels of ridiculous (read: don't use your special weapon or the coin magnet). I hear the Taito-published Japanese version made some improvements.

[AntiFritz]

I never played nanostray 1 only the sequel It was ok but personally never like those kind of shmups. I heard 2 was much better though.

[cj iwakura]

I rather liked Chaos Field, for what it was.

[dieKatze88]

Deathsmiles NA. I bought it knowing it wasn't going to compete for my attention very much versus Otomedius G, and boy did that ever come true when I found out I would have to steal my brother's NTSC/U 360 to play it (big pain in the ass!). I absolutely refuse to import Deathsmiles for no good reason (well, I'm hoping for a GOD release sometime this decade) so I haven't put much time into it.

Also, Gradius III and IV. I bought it mostly as a stopgap for me finding the replacement parts required to fix my Gradius IV PCB that I love so dearly, and I continually find myself completely underwhelmed by Gradius IV running in 15khz resolution. There was just no excuse for that shit on the Playstation 2. Worse than that I own both the US and JP releases of Gradius III and IV, and I have a backward compatible J-360, so I can experience the bad in two regions.

[Illyrian]

Radiant Silvergun.

Most overrated pile of crap I've ever got on Xbox live arcade. In my opinion it's not even worth soiling MAME with it.

[KidQuaalude]

Shikigami 2 and 3 are great games, I don't know what you some of you guys are smoking.

King of Fighters : Skystage - now THAT's a stinker.

[Tigershark]

King of Fighters : Skystage - now THAT's a stinker.

Agree with that. It's unplayable on the PSP.

[Gus]

Radiant Silvergun.

Most overrated pile of crap I've ever got on Xbox live arcade. In my opinion it's not even worth soiling MAME with it.

Can I borrow your time machine?

[Paradigm]

Radiant Silvergun.

Most overrated pile of crap I've ever got on Xbox live arcade. In my opinion it's not even worth soiling MAME with it.

RS is for good players.

[dunpeal2064]

Radiant Silvergun.

Most overrated pile of crap I've ever got on Xbox live arcade. In my opinion it's not even worth soiling MAME with it.

RS is for good players.

Agreed

[Deca]

RS is for players that like really long, tedious, slow moving games. I just have no desire to put so much effort into learning a game that's so oppressively strict in how you need to play it. Most shooters present challenges that I'm motivated to analyze, learn, and overcome. RS just pisses me off, there's no enjoyment to be had for me.

[dunpeal2064]

Slow Moving? There's a boss every minute or two.

There are plenty of ways to play RSG, unlike Ikaruga.

Either way, not really on topic

[Plasmo]

There are plenty of ways to play RSG, unlike Ikaruga.

It's actually the other way around. In RS you are only allowed to kill the red ones and nothing else. In Ikaruga you have to pick up three in a row, but you can actually choose freely when and where. If you're going for the maximum amount of chains though, of course, both games only have one way.

Nevertheless I love them both.

[Deca]

Slow Moving? There's a boss every minute or two.

There are plenty of ways to play RSG, unlike Ikaruga.

Either way, not really on topic

There are a lot of bosses, but even during the boss fights the game always felt slow to me. Everything just seems to take too long. I also remember a lot of obnoxious scenery dodging that was mainly difficult because your ship barely moved fast enough to get from one gap to another.

I don't really see how it's off topic, someone said they felt the game wasn't worth their money because they didn't enjoy it, and we're expanding on that and discussing what we like or dislike about it.

[dunpeal2064]

You don't have to only kill reds, you get a bonus for going from a red chain to one blue, and then picking up a yellow chain. Yellow enemies have a higher point value too.

There are also weapon bonuses, which you can get in a variety of ways, and those secret dogs.

Even if you are only killing reds, you have many weapons to use. I find it much more open than Ikaruga.

I can see why it wouldn't appeal to everyone though, and I'm not surprised it showed up here, but the last thing I think this game is is slow.

I still find this kinda off topic, as if you felt it was a waste, then it was

[Illyrian]

Radiant Silvergun.

Most overrated pile of crap I've ever got on Xbox live arcade. In my opinion it's not even worth soiling MAME with it.

RS is for good players.

Agreed

I wouldn't know, I've generally been too busy playing Ketsui, Dimahoo and Dai ou Jou White Label at the Goodge Street Arcade.

Oh hang on, THOSE ARE DIFFICULT GAMES TOO!! MY OPINION MUST NOT HAVE BEEN BASED ON ME BEING RUBBISH AT RS! OMG!

p.s. I've put a fair number of hours in Radiant Silvergun to try and make myself like it as I'd heard how awesome it was. It's a boring, overly long trash fest with atrocious balancing and a pathetic final boss that fires bullet patterns that wouldn't even be seen on the first level of most shmups.

[dunpeal2064]

I find the earlier stages of Ketsui to be much more managable than RS, but DOJ White Label starts off way though

Obviously some won't like it, its not a Cave/Raizing game, and does a lot differently.

I think its pretty much fact at this point that some people love RS, and some people hate it. No need to get upset about it