DOS Shmups

[mjclark]

As the result of a complex involvement with a password locked Dell Latitude, I now have an old laptop which dual boots XP and DOS 7.1.
It might be fun to play some DOS shmups in their native environment so any suggestions?

[Kasbe]

I used to enjoy Major Stryker, by Apogee, when I was a kid. It's free now. I also remember Raptor and Tyrian 2000.

That's the three I played the most.

[shmuppyLove]

Zone 66

[Drum]

Overkill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5gwPzefurs

[Gespenst]

Baryon if you do enjoy Raiden & co.

[Ruldra]

Stargunner

[Rozyrg]

I always had a soft spot for Flying Tigers; but I admit it's fairly humble in comparison to Apogee's stuff from around the same time (Stargunner was pretty awesome, alright.) It does has some strange quirks, though.. ok, perhaps not too strange if you've played enough PC shareware. It seems just about impossible to track down the full version too.

Maybe the guy sells copies out of his house now. >_>

[brendz]

remember having a blast with "round 42" as a kid. Basically a fancy space invaders in color

[Austin]

Raiden isn't great but can still be fun.

[Ruldra]

I'm gonna go off-topic a bit and suggest you get One Must Fall 2097, one of the greatest fighting games I've ever played. Had sooo much fun with it back then. I heard it's freeware now.

[dieKatze88]

Raptor: Call of the Shadows.


/thread.

[brendz]

Dont know if it counts as a full on shmup (action/adventure shmup?) but I played alot of Thexder II when I was as a kid. Pretty sure the first one was not as good.
You can transform from robot mecha to a plane. Its kinda easy with the mecha as it has a homing laser but its worth a playthru.

[Ruldra]

Thexder 2 is better known as Firehawk. Looks good.

[Estebang]

Abuse seems to have been the very first 2D run-and-gun with mouse aiming, and is held in quite high regard. Pretty sure it's a DOS game.

[shmuppyLove]

Abuse seems to have been the very first 2D run-and-gun with mouse aiming, and is held in quite high regard. Pretty sure it's a DOS game.

I think I just saw a homebrew port of Abuse for the Wii recently ...

BELIEVE IT

[ELabit]

I played the heck out of Tyrian when I was a kid. I should give it a try to see how it is now I've been so spoiled with great shooters

[pavelk]

xenon 2, project-x

[BPzeBanshee]

Wing Commander IV. Good luck finding the files online though, that game beats even games made this year for filesize due to the movies being spanned across like 6 CDs.

[Edmond Dantes]

Wing Commander IV counts as a shmup...?

Earlier today I was playing a shareware version of Raptor: Call of the Shadows. Seems decent.

By the way, if you run the games on a laptop you might not be able to get all the sound/music. Laptops tend to have crappy onboard sound that isn't 100% soundblaster compatible.

[Sinneslöschen]

The Last Eichhof
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Eichhof

[tinotormed]

Tyrian

This is the DOS shmup that I mostly grew up with, since it is one of my favorites.

[Drum]

Thexder 2 is better known as Firehawk. Looks good.

Thexder II is fantastic.

If people want more Thexder-y gameplay, there's Wibarm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppT6DvM2Gd0
It's basically Thexder: The action-RPG.

[Estebang]

Raptor and Tyrian are terrible examples of the worst kind of Euroshmup.

[Drum]

Raptor and Tyrian are terrible examples of the worst kind of Euroshmup.

They're actually pretty fun, but so is bitching and I would be heartless to deny you the pleasure.

[louisg]

Raptor and Tyrian are terrible examples of the worst kind of Euroshmup.

They're actually pretty fun, but so is bitching and I would be heartless to deny you the pleasure.

I definitely wouldn't equate Raptor and Tyrian. Tyrian is flawed, but the levels are fun, well designed (as far as I remember), have a lot of variety, and are fast paced. It's like a DOS tribute to PC Engine shmups (though, if you have a PCE or TG16, I'd suggest playing those first ). Unlike Raptor, you won't find dozens of identical waves of slow enemies. But, it generally controls best with a mouse since it, unfortunately, has inertia.

I also enjoyed Major Striker. It's the only shmup that lets you play as a baked potato. There's also Attack of the Mutant Space Bats, which is a respectable scoot n shoot.

Bottom line: When trying to find a DOS shmup, you are really just trying to find what is least bad I vote for Tyrian all the way.

[AttObl]

I think Tyrian is one of the most memorable Shooting Games in the DOS System, since there are secrets to discover, the weapons are great, the soundtrack is awesome (Gyges, Will You Please Help Me comes to mind.), and it has a memorable storyline.

Also, I tried to play Stargunner, but my ass got kicked so many times it's not even funny by the time the first boss rolls in. I might as well give it another go before I go insane from how freaking hard it is.

[lilmanjs]

Raptor sure has a lot of the same stuff going on, but in the later levels of the game it gets to being quite a very hard game. though I didn't play much Stargunner, but I do remember the soundtrack was awesome. you can actually download the soundtrack for Stargunner for free these days

[Ruldra]

Also, I tried to play Stargunner, but my ass got kicked so many times it's not even funny by the time the first boss rolls in. I might as well give it another go before I go insane from how freaking hard it is.

Here's a little trick to help you out:

Buy any weapon that attaches to your ship, then choose to swap weapon location. The game will attach another weapon to your ship and remove the previous one. Start the mission before the game removes the weapon. Now you have both of them fo the price of one!

I tried this as a joke back in the day and was surprised it actually worked.

[Drum]

Another one I forgot: Star Goose.
It's not really a great game (in fact, it's a cheap bitch) but it has a cool look and some pretty novel ideas that haven't been built on so is definitely worth a play. Also has the best name ever.

[Master O]

Overkill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5gwPzefurs

Looks like Salamander, Dos Edition.