Racketboy "Hidden Gem Shmups" Article - Input Needed!

[professor ganson]

I think the following are potentially defeasible rules of thumb.
- No games by major developers like Cave or Psikyo, since their releases are all scrutinized and familiar.

Not true. Space Bomber is less known than quite a few doujinshi. Zero Gunner is about as well known as the original Thunder Force.

- No games that lacked a proper arcade or console release.

Aren't you just trying to stir the shit up with this one?

For the first point, I think you meant to say: "True, the rule is defeasible and here's an example." But in fact it's not a good example. Space Bomber isn't discussed much simply because most of us Psikyo fans don't think it's anything terribly special. Same with Zero Gunner.

As for the second point, I'm not sure what you mean. For the most part games that don't see a proper release are relatively hidden. We can talk about which of those are worth pursuing; it just seems like it warrants a separate topic. But maybe that's just me.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Well, Psikyo fans of course know about Space Bomber and Zero Gunner, but if being hardly ever namedropped on these very boards doesn't mean a shmup is hidden, I don't know what a hidden shmup means.
I thought you were advocating exclusion of computer-only shmups. If I misunderstood you, then never mind.
On a side note, I don't think a single shmup ever released for Dreamcast is really hidden.

[AttObl]

There was a Thunderforce pt1? LOL

Maybe I haven't played enough hidden gems to contribute anything to this thread. I definitely agree that it's probably best to leave out Doujins, they'll have their own article down the road I imagine.

Yep. It's just that it's released on the Sharp computer systems, along with the NEC computer systems. Also, I think it's released on Japan only.

I agree with you on the Doujins, though.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I for one feel Trizeal is more of a doujin game than anything else, whereas Uridium 1&2, Apidya, Space Manbow and Thunder Force were made by professional developers for the living, but never had any console or coin-op iterations. "Hidden" and "gem" parts are debatable enough. I see no need for any further hair splitting.

[saucykobold]

Forgotten Worlds is popular enough among fans of arcade action games but doesn't seem to get much discussion or play within the shmups community. It's unusually frenetic for a late '80s shooter, has excellent and memorable boss fights, and proves that shops and lifebars can work well. Bonus points for being incredibly atmospheric.

Dig up the STGT thread from last year for some more arguments against [Xexex].

I skimmed through the first few pages and saw three criticisms that rose above the level of pouting:

1) "Recovery is impossible."
This is just objectively wrong. Xexex's first round checkpoints are pretty lenient. Getting fully powered up takes just about a minute, sometimes less. In Gradius, getting back on your feet usually requires more than one stage.

2) "It's boring."
Xexex is one of the busier traditional memorizers so if you find it boring, you probably won't be turned on by anything else the subgenre has to offer.

3) "I keep getting shot from behind. That's cheap!"
Every memorizer has threats that will take first-time players by surprise. Gradius' mechs can no_clip through mountains, you have a slim chance of fluking your way past R-Type's sixth stage if you don't know where the crates spawn, and Goku Paro's smiling candy guys have assassinated countless players from behind. I don't see how Xexexian surprise bullets are qualitatively different from these.

It seemed like most participants were implicitly whining about old school horis in general. I suspect that R-Type and Gradius II (games on both of our top 25 lists) would have gotten similar receptions.

[Drum]

^ The real problem with Xexex is that
A) It looks like a dog (but for some completely mystifying reason people think it has good graphics).
B) It's just way too much of a shameless Frankensteining of R-Type and X-Multiply. The gameplay is ok, I guess. Not as fun as X-Multiply, probably better than pre-Leo R-Types.

^I can't get behind that. Bio Hazard's surround weapons really make the game different to anything else and Gynoug's subweapons add an extra layer of strategy to the game (use them or horde them). Apidya's weapons seem like an afterthought to the game itself. There really is no point to using say, spreadshot over that curly thing, for instance.

I dunno. What do you mean by 'mechanics'?

BHB's ship orbiter had been done before - it's just more of a pain to control it than in Forgotten Worlds/Prehistoric Isle. Also I only ever use the red worm laser. I really do like the game but yeah. Gynoug has its share of useless and uber weapons, and the mini-inventory system is no way no how more interesting than 'Gradius but different'. They're all really rad games that are totally on the same level graphically and gameplay-wise - I just find your Apidya-aversion is a bit strange, honestly.

[Annoyboy]

I think this counts as 'hidden', as it's import-only, it's not mentioned in the PSX Hidden Gems article and I barely see anybody here or elsewhere talking about it:

Gokujou Parodius. Preferably the 32-bit version, as it's much more polished than the Super Famicom original and has some significant differences.

- Japan-only.
- The only non-arcade Parodius (bar the MSX one, obviously) and, as a result of being developed for the home consoles, the most balanced of all of the games in the series. The difficulty curve is absolutely perfect in that you get a little bit further in every single time you play and there are no - and I mean *no* - moments of frustration or perceived unfairness.
- Unlockables, again due to the fact that it's a console game.
- The hidden fairies provide a completionist challenge akin to the dogs in Radiant Silvergun (actually, exactly like the dogs in Radiant Silvergun).
- About the only game in the series, besides Da!, which lives up to the 'parody' part of the name, with lots of references to other games and the Parodius series itself.
- An absolute explosion of visual imagination. I can't think of any other game in the genre that casts its net so wide, so successfully. It also contains a seemingly endless supply of small animations that you only notice after repeated plays. The music is of a similarly high standard and wide variety.
- Extra modes.
- The USP of the announcers (which are amusing at first, but can thankfully be switched off, as they become distracting when playing for score/completion).
- The usual Parodius goodness, just lots more of it and far more effectively realised than previously.

Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius is the console-only one with hidden faires (and announcer), and I mentioned it earlier. Gokujou Parodius does have an arcade version.

[Herr Schatten]

Dig up the STGT thread from last year for some more arguments against [Xexex].

I skimmed through the first few pages and saw three criticisms that rose above the level of pouting:

1) "Recovery is impossible."
This is just objectively wrong. Xexex's first round checkpoints are pretty lenient. Getting fully powered up takes just about a minute, sometimes less. In Gradius, getting back on your feet usually requires more than one stage.

2) "It's boring."
Xexex is one of the busier traditional memorizers so if you find it boring, you probably won't be turned on by anything else the subgenre has to offer.

3) "I keep getting shot from behind. That's cheap!"
Every memorizer has threats that will take first-time players by surprise. Gradius' mechs can no_clip through mountains, you have a slim chance of fluking your way past R-Type's sixth stage if you don't know where the crates spawn, and Goku Paro's smiling candy guys have assassinated countless players from behind. I don't see how Xexexian surprise bullets are qualitatively different from these.

Admittedly, the first two complaints are bullshit (although it's really quite difficult to recover from stage 5 on), but the third one is valid. Not in the form you've written it down there, though. You see, people weren't actually complaining about getting shot from behind or anything else a little memorization could have helped with. They were complaining about getting shot from off-screen. In stages 3 and 5 in particular bullets just come out of nowhere, seemingly randomly. While it's not completely impossible to avoid them if you have really fast reflexes, their mere existence still spells the polar opposite of good game design.


Also, I don't know which STGT thread you have skimmed, but I seem to find quite a few valid points of criticism in this one:

[...] when it comes to the free vertical scrolling in stage 3 and 5, I just hate the game, become frustrated and don´t have any fun at all. What a jump of difficulty... There´s enemies everywhere which want to jump on you, bullets coming from outside the screen (kiss my ass) and the visibilty of the direction you´re heading is too less. To me the flint is a little too passive, often it doesn´t attack an enemy that is quite close. The boss fight in stage 3 was horrible at first. I have mastered it quite fast, but what the hell... the control feels sooo sloppy because of the vertical scrolling and the lack of foreground objects to get a feeling where the hell you and the dragon are moving. It should never ever be that way in any shmup. Of course the random extra lives are a bad joke.

Random extends aside, the difficulty jumps all over the place (stage 3 being much more difficult than stage 4, for example), most of the weapons are fancy-looking useless crap. Worst of all: Why are enemies allowed to shoot me from off screen?

[...] hate the off screen bullets and random lives bullshit [...]

[...] unbalanced, unfun, and frankly unfinished.

[...] Totally agree stage 3/5 don't mesh well with the rest of the stages in terms of difficulty and make or break your run. The random extends need to go (neither R-type or Gradius has this style, Konami was totally off their rocker when deciding on this). Supposedly the PSP Xexex port retooled the AI on the Flint to where its far more aggressive and not just wandering about at times. The enemies that go off screen only to return at your backside and can fire at you while off screen is some nonsense.

Flint is dumb as rocks.

Xexex... i want the tentacle rape monster to do its job, but it seems to get stuck in corners, and i think somewhere in the second stage it just disappeared into the ceiling. but maybe i am hallucinating.

So basically, people are complaining about

- random extends
- deadly offscreen-bullets
- unbalanced difficulty curve
- the AI of the Flint making it act in strange and unexpected ways. (You need to rely on the damn thing in lots of situations, especially in the second loop, so you're screwed when it decides to act in a way it isn't supposed to.)

If these complaints don't rise above the level of pouting, I don't know what.

It seemed like most participants were implicitly whining about old school horis in general. I suspect that R-Type and Gradius II (games on both of our top 25 lists) would have gotten similar receptions.

I can't speak for the others, but for me this is just not true. I do love both R-Type and Gradius II, but Xexex has taught me to hate it with a pasion. Additionally, everything Xexex does, other games do much better, namely R-Type, Gradius, X-Multiply, hell, even Thundercross.

It looks like a dog (but for some completely mystifying reason people think it has good graphics).

Agreed. Xexex's supposed beauty is something that will always stay a mystery to me. This is just a minor niggle, though. If the gameplay was alright, I wouldn't mind the visuals.

[Sizone]

I just find your Apidya-aversion is a bit strange, honestly.

I think Herr Schatten's point about Gaiares could probably be brought to bare here: That one really needs to cast off nostalgia to be objective about these matters. Speaking for myself, I find Apidya to be -really- pretty and generally solid, but it brings absolutely nothing new to the table. That is, everything it does has been done before, just as well but without the new coat of paint. The only thing that really makes it stand out is its aesthetic (and though I know I'll get some flak for this, that the rest of the Amiga shooter library is really kind of poor, at least for anyone who isn't crazy about R-Type). I find it to be a game of exceptional quality, but not really superb. The reason is probably that I had a Sega (and a Mac) at the time and not an Amiga. It stands out as the best Amiga shooter to me, but not as a really great shooter in general.

[Drum]

Speaking for myself, I find Apidya to be -really- pretty and generally solid, but it brings absolutely nothing new to the table. That is, everything it does has been done before, just as well but without the new coat of paint. The only thing that really makes it stand out is its aesthetic (and though I know I'll get some flak for this, that the rest of the Amiga shooter library is really kind of poor, at least for anyone who isn't crazy about R-Type). I find it to be a game of exceptional quality, but not really superb. The reason is probably that I had a Sega (and a Mac) at the time and not an Amiga. It stands out as the best Amiga shooter to me, but not as a really great shooter in general.

I never played Apidya until recently, never owned an Amiga. Anyway, I feel about it basically the same way you do: exceptional quality, not superb, mostly interesting because of the excellent presentation. But that's what I'd say about Bio-Hazard Battle and Gynoug. All three of them deserve to be on a 'hidden gems' list, and they're all of comparable quality.

[Edmond Dantes]

Okay, so I tried Xexex for myself. Admittedly I didn't go in-depth but just from first impressions, I can't see calling the visuals "ugly" or the game itself "bad" or saying the Flint is "non-aggressive" (unless you're playing the English version, where for some reason it is a pretty passive pest, but in the Japanese version it would actively seek out prey).

But I have too many shmups on my plate to give it a more in-depth play than that right now.

[Paradigm]

Xexex has its flaws, but it's certainly not terrible by any means. People on here just like to bitch, a lot.

[Treasurance]

for some reason Scarlet Meister comes in mind

ok it doesn't run 60fps on any of me computers but holy shot

[shadowbringer]

I remembered about a Game Boy game: Aero Star (made by Vic Tokai); I played it when I was little, and it was fun; it even made me want to not change weapons (at most times) in order to not miss points from stacking weapon powerups (and I didn't care about score or about trying to not get hit; I just cared for trying to "beat" the game under all of the game's continues and max lives). I mean, the survival part was fun, and the stages were well-designed, fun to play through. Also, it had a jump mechanic (the ship travels on the ground, and it can jump to avoid grounded bullets and to progress through the stages. There are also bullets which only hit you when you're jumping), and the boss fights were fun to play, as well (except the first one, iirc, as I tried to milk the enemies (!) everytime)

Dunno if Trouble Shooter Vintage (Battle Mania Daiginjou) would be unknown enough (it wasn't released outside of Japan, iirc), but it's also fun (though easy)

And, regarding pc shmups, I'd say that even among Touhou fans, Phantasm Romance is underplayed, and equally good/fun to play with survival in mind (and both the danmakufu script interpreter and the script itself are free). I would mention it's "sequel", Phantasmagoria Trues, if it seemed a bit more complete (there are possibly stages in development).

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

BHB's ship orbiter had been done before - it's just more of a pain to control it than in Forgotten Worlds/Prehistoric Isle. Also I only ever use the red worm laser. I really do like the game but yeah. Gynoug has its share of useless and uber weapons, and the mini-inventory system is no way no how more interesting than 'Gradius but different'. They're all really rad games that are totally on the same level graphically and gameplay-wise - I just find your Apidya-aversion is a bit strange, honestly.

Bio Hazard's aiming was fine and the game played absolutely nothing like Forgotten Worlds. I don't think the two can be compared. FW you were constantly attacked from all sides in all situations - BHB you're mixing it up between aimed and straight shots (ie yellow straight laser for bosses and level 6). Then there's red homing or blue 8-way for busy sections where you just want to concentrate on dodging. Using red homing exclusively is a viable strategy - but I'd mix in some yellow laser if you want to do well.
Don't forget that some of the ships don't even have these weapons. There really are many ways to play this game.

Gynougs inventory doesn't even need defending. The fact that you have to think, make a decision and then use when necessary bumps Gynoug's system above Apidya's, design-wise. Gynoug does have some gimmicky stuff like that angel thing and there's no functional difference between the red and blue-type spreadshots but there really is nothing to Apidya's system. At a stretch I'd swap out bomb-types for level four but even that isnt necessary.

Worth mentioning that Apidya copies a couple of bullet formations and a bonus stage directly from Gynoug.

I never played Apidya until recently, never owned an Amiga. Anyway, I feel about it basically the same way you do: exceptional quality, not superb, mostly interesting because of the excellent presentation. But that's what I'd say about Bio-Hazard Battle and Gynoug. All three of them deserve to be on a 'hidden gems' list, and they're all of comparable quality.

So you never had to deal with the slowdown and disk-swapping. I also just remembered the co-op mode was bugged. Was that fixed for the re-release?

So anyway yeah, I dont think it's unreasonable to say that Apidya is clearly and unquestionably lagging behind both Gynoug and BHB in terms of quality.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Mercenary Force/Tenjin Kaisen (GB) - not just original and stylish, but also pretty good.

[saucykobold]

So basically, people are complaining about

- random extends
- deadly offscreen-bullets
- unbalanced difficulty curve
- the AI of the Flint making it act in strange and unexpected ways. (You need to rely on the damn thing in lots of situations, especially in the second loop, so you're screwed when it decides to act in a way it isn't supposed to.)

Random extends are problematic, yes. I wonder if there's some obscure mechanic for making them appear regularly that we don't know about. Weapon randomness is a non-issue; enemies drop fixed items and there's always something well-suited for the current area.

I should've been clearer, but I actually had offscreen bullets in mind. They might seem to be random at first glance, but they're more or less predictable. They come from the right at set times--nothing that can't be handled with an attached Flint and/or experience. Offscreen bullets won't come from the left if you kill enemies before they're swallowed up by that edge of the screen. When you can't prevent an enemy from leaving, just keep in mind that it'll take a few last pot shots while out of sight.

The difficulty curve is a little odd. I don't think Xexex is that much worse in this regard than many other shooters (e.g., I find R-Type's level 4 to be harder than 5, which is harder than the final stage), but I certainly concede the point.

The Flint is a tool with strengths and limitations and I enjoyed figuring out how to get the most out of it. It becomes slower and lazier the more you upgrade it, so micromanagement is almost always a lot more effective than letting it roam free. Getting jammed in the ceiling or what have you is obviously bad, but I think this is a moot point; just micromanage the Flint and learn the relative handful of spots in which it can do something buggy.

...most of the weapons are fancy-looking useless crap.

I disagree. Round and Ground Lasers are awesome in most situations and Homing and Search are useful in spots. Shadow can kill certain bosses quickly. I'd say that Spiral is the only outright bad weapon (the pea shooter has more utility). Some weapons are great in some areas and lame in others but this is pretty par for the course.

Re: pouting... I was being snarky, but there were a lot of comments in the high score thread that weren't any more substantive than "I haaaate this gaaaame."

[Herr Schatten]

I should've been clearer, but I actually had offscreen bullets in mind. They might seem to be random at first glance, but they're more or less predictable. They come from the right at set times--nothing that can't be handled with an attached Flint and/or experience. Offscreen bullets won't come from the left if you kill enemies before they're swallowed up by that edge of the screen. When you can't prevent an enemy from leaving, just keep in mind that it'll take a few last pot shots while out of sight.

I will keep that in mind when I play the game again. As far as I remember, though, I always had the most trouble with offscreen bullets in the free-roaming levels, where they can come from above and below, and from enemies that haven't even entered the screen.

I disagree. Round and Ground Lasers are awesome in most situations and Homing and Search are useful in spots. Shadow can kill certain bosses quickly. I'd say that Spiral is the only outright bad weapon (the pea shooter has more utility). Some weapons are great in some areas and lame in others but this is pretty par for the course.

Actually, I have to take back the comment about the weapons. You are quite right.

[Herr Schatten]

I dont think it's unreasonable to say that Apidya is clearly and unquestionably lagging behind both Gynoug and BHB in terms of quality.

In terms of innovativeness, I'm with you. Beyond presentation, Apidya brings nothing new to the table. In terms of overall quality I don't feel the same way, though. It's really quite comparable with Gynoug and Biohazard Battle, and all three of them can be considered gems.

I'm actually not sure whether Apidya is sufficiently 'hidden' to feature on a hidden gems list, though. It might not be well-known to the shmups community in general, but pretty much anyone who ever had an Amiga has probably played it.

[Special World]

twinkle star sprites

[TransatlanticFoe]

Cyvern and Eliminate Down get some more support from me.

It does depend on the way "hidden" is defined. As has been said, I'm not sure anything released on Dreamcast can be classed as "hidden" - but practically all of them didn't make it out of Japan and plenty never received another port, so in a broader sense it might be viable to include Under Defeat/Border Down/Zero Gunner et al.

[CIT]

Hmm, I think a lot of the stuff that got mentioned here is really not that hidden. At least if you already know a bit about shooting games.

Here are some of my suggestions for consoles and home computers. Personally, I don't really think any of the regular releases for Mega Drive, Saturn, DC, PS1, PS2, PC Engine and SNES could be considered hidden, since these are the first systems shooting game fans flock to.

Rude Breaker, PC-98
Second-to-last Compile shooter. Plays like the Zanac/Aleste games, great graphics. If you like Compile you will love it.

Flame Zapper Kotsujin, PC-98
Believe this was mentioned before.

Chikyuu Kaihou Gun ZAS, Game Boy
One of the best Game Boy shooter IMO, really good graphics and chiptunes and plays a bit like Image Fight.

Force Gear, PC Engine
Literally hidden. It's a bonus time-attack shooter in Tokimeki Memorial, but has all the classic Konami shooting goodness.

Psyth, Saturn
Hidden shooter in the Saturn version of Tokimemo. All the Tokimemos have a different hidden shooter, but this is the other one that is really good.

Judgement Silversword, Wonderswan
Maybe this is not so hidden since it is included in Eschatos for 360. Anyway, it's a remarkably complex and engrossing game, considering the hardware it was made for.

Choutetsu Brikinger, Neo Geo CD
CD-exclusive game, with good graphics and sound, branching paths like Darius, and force pods like R-Type. Actually this is a game that people tend to know about, but usually haven't played. Not really sure if it's a "gem" though.

Tomak: Save the earth. Again, GP32
Very cool cute em up, great style, and even something akin to a scoring system. The developers obviously were Cave fans.



Not sure if you want arcade titles, so I'll omit them for now. This is definitely where most hidden gems are though.

[CulDad78]

A lot of the games that we've played for the STGT tournaments would be good candidates for the list...

...but the problem with those and with the large majority of the games suggested so far is that they don't have home ports, which is what I know Nick wants to emphasize given the primary readership of the site. The main dilemma is that arcade hidden gems rarely get any kind of console port, and most shmups that DO have console ports are quite well known to shmup-enthusiasts.

I think shmups for consoles that didn't perform well in the US would be a good place to start. The PCE list a few posts back has a nice selection, and you might also think about adding some of the lesser known shmups for systems like the SMS or Neo Geo. You might also think about Japan-only shmups for popular systems (PS1, Famicom, SFC, Mega Drive, etc.) that US gamers might not be familiar with.

Keeping in mind that the article is for racketboy, a site to which I frequent primarily, I would closely follow the info on the above post (fyi, by a mod on racket). The racket audience is going to want things they can acquire for a system they likely have, so something like Pro Gear, which while likely unknown to that community, wouldn't cut it for this list - because it isn't available on a home console. Conversely, something like Radiant Silvergun wouldn't cut it becuase while it meets the requirements of console release, JP exclusive, it has become well known to even casual home console gamers who rarely play shmups.

So in the vein of relatively unknown to retro (home console) gamers, has a console release, limited production (or JP only, etc), I would suggest:

SATURN - Arcade Gears Image Fight / X-Multiply, Blast Wind, Guardian Force and Gekirindan.
PSX - Gaia Seed

Many others that i'll add later...

[BulletMagnet]

Okay, FINALLY got around to responding to this. First, of course, come my "direct" answers to some of the inquiries posted so far:

If you're talking about unknown to non-shmup fans, you could list something like Batrider or Ketsui and almost everyone on the site would never have heard of it. :/

Yeah, it is pretty relative, but I'm attempting to stick mostly to titles that even genre fans might not have heard of.

-R-type Leo
-19XX
I'd say that because these are part of the R-type and 19XX series', they should be pretty well-known.

I figured that some might question these two, but I threw them up there anyway - though their series are both high-profile, those particular entries tend to be overlooked a lot since they're something of a departure. If nothing else, they're not what you think of when someone mentions either: if he says "R-Type" you picture a Force, and if he says "19-something" you picture back-to-basics old-school WWII stuff. I might end up having to cut them anyways, though.

Maybe add a borderliner because Omega Motherfucking Boost is the most underrated game I've ever seen.

As with the other list I'm not including borderliners here: maybe someone else can get that assignment from RB in the future.

Why [Nostradamus]? I remember it being well-done, but not particularly outstanding in terms of game mechanics.

That one was a semi-personal inclusion, I admit, but I have a soft spot for it: not perfect, but I liked the presentation and over-the-top firepower, and almost nobody's heard of it. Maybe some more people need to give it a whirl in MAME and see what they think...

Finally I'd say anything by UPL in terms of arcade games, but you had the good taste to list Omega Fighter in the OP.

Yeah, I figure if anything of theirs deserves a mention that'd be the one…I find all their stuff to have a certain rough charm to it, though I’m not sure how many of them I could call “gems” in good faith. On that note…

Hacha Mecha Fighter

As much as I'd love to include a game which can legitimately claim that "monkey juggling" is a major part of its scoring system, I'm not sure I can do it.

Hmmmm..... Maybe ZanacXZanac or GunNac for the sake of Compile love?

If you wanted to go really obscure you could mention something like Sylphia, though I haven't played it myself.

I am not comfortable with Xexex being on there. I don't like it and don't think anybody should be allowed to like it.

I figured there'd be some disagreement on this one, but I had to post it just to make sure all that got aired out...I'll probably end up deep-sixing it in the end.

Harmful Park already has a write up in the PSX Hidden Gems article. Since space is at a premium I would steer away from duplicate articles.

This is true, but I'm still tempted to give it a space...anyone else think that's too much?

Speaking of cute'em ups, I remembered the Cotton games. Boomerang has so many stuff in it, plus it's one of the best looking 2D games ever.

Cotton 2 and Boomerang are two of my favorites, but I'm not sure Cotton's quite obscure enough to fit here...something like Magical Chase might be more apropos.

Also seconding Homura - and even that seems to be played more than Psyvariar around here.

I'd still favor Homura over Psyvariar when it comes to this particular list, but others can feel free to weigh in.

BM if you ever get around to making some more Racketboy Shmup Lists, a list for the smaller scale non aracde shmups would be cool. IE Nomltest, Kento Cho, Space Invaders Extreame, Galaga DX, That other Space invaders game on XBL. Maybe you could think up a sub-genre name to describe them

One thing at a time! One thing at a time!

The Milestone games, with the exception of Chaos Field. These are great shooters, but not even really popular around here, let alone on the outside.

If any of them truly deserves the “hidden” label it’s probably Illvelo, though its style certainly isn’t to everyone’s tastes.

Do Thunder Dragon 2 and Trizeal count? Maybe not.

I’m a bit torn on Triangle Service, but that might be because I’m not especially fond of their style, personally…

No games by major developers like Cave or Psikyo, since their releases are all scrutinized and familiar.

I’m semi-tempted to abide by this, but for the moment I’m stopping short of going whole hog: just because a “shmup-famous” developer made it doesn’t necessarily mean the fans all know about it. Heck, this thread’s given me quite a few new places to look, heh.

No games that lacked a proper arcade or console release.

If you mean “no unfinished/prototype” games that makes sense, but if you’re referring to doujins, well, we’re still hashing that out, heh.

Honestly you could put nearly the entire backlog of Irem shooters that aren't well known on this.

Any specific proposals from anyone, aside from the aforementioned Image Fight and X-Multiply?

The racket audience is going to want things they can acquire for a system they likely have, so something like Pro Gear, which while likely unknown to that community, wouldn't cut it for this list - because it isn't available on a home console.

It’s true that RB is a console-oriented type of site, but I’m not sure I want to let that limit the list too much, unless RB himself would prefer that some sort of “home ports only” disclaimer be included in the finished product. I’ll hafta ask him…

Hopefully those will move things forward a little bit, in one form or another...next up, I've updated the first post, and am attempting to keep a semi-complete list of everything suggested so far, split into two segments. Basically, I've divided the stuff you've thrown my way thus far into one group that, in my personal opinion, might be worthy candidates for inclusion, and another that encompasses everything else. If you have any disagreements with my specific choices at this point, feel free to put forth a clear and civilized argument as to why you feel that way, and I'll do my best to address your concerns. Oh, and I have been keeping track of the doujin ideas you've suggested, but I'm keeping them aside for the moment.

I've still got a few other options I might deposit here eventually, but for now let's try to work with what we've got so far.

[J-Manic]

Would Crisis Force for the Famicom/NES count? I have yet to meet someone (in person) who has even heard of the game.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I wouldn't call Crisis Force a gem. It might have been the best co-op shmup Famicom had to offer, but it's not saying much.

[Zeron]

This thread lacks Allumers Mad Shark

[E. Randy Dupre]

I think this counts as 'hidden', as it's import-only, it's not mentioned in the PSX Hidden Gems article and I barely see anybody here or elsewhere talking about it:

Gokujou Parodius. Preferably the 32-bit version, as it's much more polished than the Super Famicom original and has some significant differences.

- Japan-only.
- The only non-arcade Parodius (bar the MSX one, obviously) and, as a result of being developed for the home consoles, the most balanced of all of the games in the series. The difficulty curve is absolutely perfect in that you get a little bit further in every single time you play and there are no - and I mean *no* - moments of frustration or perceived unfairness.
- Unlockables, again due to the fact that it's a console game.
- The hidden fairies provide a completionist challenge akin to the dogs in Radiant Silvergun (actually, exactly like the dogs in Radiant Silvergun).
- About the only game in the series, besides Da!, which lives up to the 'parody' part of the name, with lots of references to other games and the Parodius series itself.
- An absolute explosion of visual imagination. I can't think of any other game in the genre that casts its net so wide, so successfully. It also contains a seemingly endless supply of small animations that you only notice after repeated plays. The music is of a similarly high standard and wide variety.
- Extra modes.
- The USP of the announcers (which are amusing at first, but can thankfully be switched off, as they become distracting when playing for score/completion).
- The usual Parodius goodness, just lots more of it and far more effectively realised than previously.

Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius is the console-only one with hidden faires (and announcer), and I mentioned it earlier. Gokujou Parodius does have an arcade version.

Man, I don't know what happened to my brain there. I'll correct the original post.

[Zeron]

has Gazelles Air/Akuu Gallet been mentioned?

[coturnix]

Could "Boogie Wings" fit here? Don´t know if it could be considered obscure, lots of people remember it and i think it leaved quite a mark, not maybe with shmup buffs but still i see lot of people asking "wich game was the one were you caught objects with a hook, and could ride elephants, pogo sticks..."