Top 20 Doujin/Indie Shmups (Voting) VOTING CLOSED

[Moniker]

We get a lot of newbie: what should I play? threads. In an effort to enable new shmuppers to find some games that will satisfy, I hereby declare the first annual Indie/Doujin award contest. Similar to the top 25 shmups of all time, this will focus on doujins and indies in particular, since they're easier and cheaper to obtain in a legal fashion. Also, they tend to rock.

Deadline: April 15

Rules:
Each participant gets 20 votes. S/he must select at least 5 games to qualify. Unlike the annual top shmups voting, assign the highest number to the highest rank. (As this is easier for me to sum.)

Ex:
ring^-27 - 5
Hydorah - 5
Crimzon Clover - 4
ChoRenSha68k - 3
ZenIchi - 2
Hellsinker - 1

As long as you choose at least 5 games, and your votes add up to 20, you will qualify. So go ahead and name 20 Touhou shmups (each with one vote) if you feel so inclined.

Minor rule elaboration: It occurs to me that it may be hard to differentiate your vote with a big list, so feel free to use (reasonable!) fractions if you want.

EG:
Hydorah - 5.5
Kamui - 3.5
Ring^-27 - 3
Touhou 6 - 2
Touhou 7 - 1.5
Touhou 8 - 1.5
Reflex - 1
BWR+ - 1
Eden's Aegis 0.5
Patriot Dark - 0.5


In order to keep things simple, only one version per game will be counted. Thus, Ether Vapor and Ether Vapor Remastered will be judged identical. However, clearly separate games, like Blue Wish and BWR+ will be counted separately. Rule of thumb is if the stages are different, it's a different game. Different scoring mechanics do not qualify as a new game. This ought to suffice for our purposes of directing new shmuppers. I don't claim to be an absolute expert in these matters, so if I've made an error, please post or PM me so I might judge them correctly.

All major subgenres should qualify: Static/Scrolling Verts/Horis, Twinstick/Arena, & Manual Scroll. Run'n'guns & light gun games need not apply. Any and all platforms are acceptable: Arcade/Console/PC/XBLA/XBLIG/PSN, etc. Defining a game as doujin/indie will be fairly lax, so just use your best judgment.

Non-comprehensive list of doujin/indie shmups:

AirRade/Summer
Alltynex 2nd
Armed 7
Blue Wish/Resurrection/+
ChoRenSha68k
Crimzon Clover
Decimation X/X3 (XBLA)
Diadra Empty
Dolls Ingram
Eden's Edge
Eden's Aegis
Every Extend (PC, PSN, XBLA)
Everyday Shooter (PC, PSN)
eXceed 1-3
Fraxy (any and all mods thereof)
G-Type
Game Type (XBLIG)
Genetos
Guxt
Hellsinker
Hydorah
Infinity Danger (XBLIG)
Jamestown
Kamui
(Robot Witch) Meglilo
Nomltest
Parsec 47
Patriot Dark
radiangames Crossfire 1/2, Fireball, Inferno, Joyjoy, etc. (XBLIG)
Radio Zonde
Red Barrel
Reflex
Refrain ~Prism Memories~
Ring^-27
Rrootage
Samidare
Satazius
Score Rush (XBLIG)
Self Destruct
Shoot 1UP (XBLIG)
Stella Vanity
Touhou 1-13
Tumiki Fighters
Varia
(It Came from) Verminest
(Super Robot) Vulkaiser
Warning Forever
Wisp Lisp Array of List (XBLIG)
XOP/XOP Ultra/Black Ultra/Special/etc.
ZenIchi



Votes will be counted through April 15.

Discussion Thread

[Moniker]

Placeholder for Results.

[Bananamatic]

HELLSINKER - 5
ChoRenSha 68k - 4
Crimzon Clover - 4
Blue Wish Resurrection - 3
Imperishable Night - 3
Seihou Shuusou Gyoku - 1

[moozooh]

Perfect Cherry Blossom - 16
Imperishable Night - 1.5
rRootage - 1
Undefined Fantastic Object - 1
Crimzon Clover - 0.5

[Aliquantic]

Each participant gets 20 votes. S/he must select at least 5 games to qualify. Unlike the annual top shmups voting, assign the highest number to the highest rank. (As this is easier for me to sum.)

Doesn't it work the same there? I'm pretty sure it's a weighted vote too, with higher numbers carrying a bigger part of your vote, the only difference being that you can use arbitrary numbers in the top 25 vote.

For now:
Perfect Cherry Blossom: 4
Undefined Fantastic Object: 3
Stella Vanity: 3
Imperishable Night: 2
Judgement Silversword: 2
Exceed 2nd: 2
Mountain of Faith: 1
RefleX: 1
XOP Black/Ultra: 1
ZenIchi: 1

Adding in JSS then!

[Zaarock]

Kamui - 6
Judgement Silversword - 5
Hellsinker - 4
ChoRenSha68k - 3
Reflex - 1
PatriotDark - 1

(edited)

[RNGmaster]

5 - Exceed 3rd
4 - Eden's Aegis
3 - Hellsinker
2 - Perfect Cherry Blossom
2 - Crimzon Clover
1 - Gundemonium Recollection
1 - Trouble Witches

[Estebang]

Need a clear-cut definition of "indie" for this thread. Under my own, Cave would be indie.

[Bananamatic]

developed by a small, not as commercial team, games not intended originally for arcades?

[daliscar]

Crimzon Clover - 6
Hellsinker - 5
Zen Ichi - 4
ChoRenSha 68k -3
Refrain Prism Memories - 2

[Erppo]

Perfect Cherry Blossom - 8
Undefined Fantastic Object - 4
Imperishable Night - 4
Mountain of Faith - 2
Crimzon Clover - 1
ChoRenSha 68k - 1

[Estebang]

Alright, none of the games I'm voting for go against the classifications of doujin games or independent freeware, so it's no problem.

For the record, Judgment Silversword wouldn't count, but Cardinal Sins would (originally released as a WonderWitch file on M-KAI's personal site.)

Cardinal Sins - 6
Cho Ren Sha 68k - 5
Hydorah - 4
Kamui - 3
Crimzon Clover - 2

[malchitos]

Crimzon clover-6
Hydorah-4
Trouble Witches-3
Perfect Cherry Blossom-3
ChoRenSha68k-2
Score Rush-1
Infinity Danger-1

[SuperSoaker360]

Samidare - 6
RefRain ~Prism Memories~ - 5
Kamui - 5
Crimzon Clover - 2
Perfect Cherry Blossom - 1
PatriotDark - 1

[Moniker]

Need a clear-cut definition of "indie" for this thread. Under my own, Cave would be indie.

Unfortunately, the line b/w indie/doujin and commercial has become somewhat blurred. So sticking to the spirit is more important than sticking to the letter. CAVE/Seibu/Irem/Raizing/Psikyo/Treasure don't qualify, but a commercialized doujin like Trouble Witches does. Some releases from companies like G.Rev are borderline - I won't disqualify them unless someone gives a good argument why they should. I'm not going to be anal about it - the main point of this is to provide a distinct list from the top 25 of all time, which features mainly arcade games. As I said, use your best judgment.

developed by a small, not as commercial team, games not intended originally for arcades?

This is probably as good a definition as we'll come up with.

Edit: I neglected to specify a deadline, so let's April 15.

[Blackbird]

Kiwami Shooting - 9001
Kiwami Shooting - 9001
Kiwami Shooting - 9001
Kiwami Shooting - 9001
Kiwami Shooting - 9001

[Formless God]

Undefined Fantastic Object - 7
Great Fairy Wars - 7
Kamui - 3
CRS68K - 2
Crimzon Clover - 1

[Blackbird]

No votes for Kotsujin =/?

[dannnnn]

[2] Kamui
[1] Alltynex Second
[1] ChoRenSha68k
[1] Crimzon Clover
[1] Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
[1] Ether Vapor
[1] Hydorah
[1] Imperishable Night
[1] Judgement Silversword
[1] Mountain of Faith
[1] Patriot Dark
[1] Perfect Cherry Blossom
[1] RefleX
[1] RefRain: Prism Memories
[1] rRootage
[1] Samidare
[1] Satazius
[1] Shoot the Bullet
[1] Trouble Witches

[Krimzon Kitzune]

XOP Ultra - 5
XOP Black Ultra - 5
XOP Black Ultra Special - 6
Kamui - 2
AirRade AIR - 2

Where's the love for XOP?

EDIT: Yeah, I think these votes are about right.

[azinth]

Perfect Cherry Blossom - 3
Imperishable Night - 3
Undefined Fantastic Object - 3
Blue Wish Resurrection - 3
Seihou Banshiryuu - 2
Zen-Ichi - 2
Eden's Aegis - 1
Mountain of Faith - 1
Patriot Dark - 1
Seihou Shuusou Gyoku - 1

[chum]

undefined fantastic object - 10
great fairy wars - 2
shoot the bullet - 2
flame zapper kotsujin - 2
ring^-27 - 2
judgement silversword - 2

[trap15]

ring^-27 - 6
ChoRenSha68k - 5
Imperishable Night - 4
Perfect Cherry Blossom - 3
Undefined Fantastic Object - 2

[Nifty]

Eeeeverybody gets a list!

Ether Vapor - 4
Guxt - 4
Kamui - 3
Cho Ren Sha 68K - 2
Odd Mobs - 2
Odd Mobs Zero: Arrange - 2
Jamestown - 1
Warning Forever - 1
Mountain of Faith - 0.5
Quantized Blaze - 0.5

Edit: Forgot about Jamestown!

[Rex Cavalier]

HELLSINKER - 10
Radio Zonde - 3
Crimzon Clover - 3
GwangeDash - 2
Zen-Ichi - 1
Fraxy - 0.5
Seihou Banshiryuu - 0.5

[Zorator]

For the record, Judgment Silversword wouldn't count, but Cardinal Sins would (originally released as a WonderWitch file on M-KAI's personal site.)

I'm pretty sure JSS was also released as a free download and thus constitutes indie/doujin, even though the version we are all familiar with was only released through a traditional publisher. If my understanding of the timeline is correct, the game was created for the WonderWitch competition, was free for a time, then was polished with the help of professionals and finally released as the Rebirth Edition we have now.

M-KAI made the base game by himself though. I guess it comes down to what degree of polish defines a non-indie/doujin game, or how many other programmers were brought in. I have a file that I believe to be a pre-Rebirth version of the game, and I believe that it came from M-KAI because I found it with all his other WonderWitch projects, I just can't test it or compare it to Rebirth because I don't have a WonderWitch device(or a Wonderswan for that matter!). If anyone has a WW or WW Player and knows how to load games onto it we can get to the bottom of this.

[Elixir]

We get a lot of newbie: what should I play? threads. In an effort to enable new shmuppers to find some games that will satisfy,

The problem is that your excuse for creating this thread and this thread's purpose are two entirely different things.

Unless people think Hellsinker or UFO are recommendable to newbies, in which case, welcome to the forum.

[Zorator]

I don't think it matters if the games are newb-friendly or not. People often come here looking for good game suggestions, and one of the great things about the genre is indie/doujin games are often seen as of comparable quality to the professionally-made hallmarks of the genre. Anyone looking to get more into shooters really should check out a variety of indie/doujin games not only because there is so many great ones but also since most of them are free.

[Ixmucane2]

Kamui - 5
rRootage - 4
RefleX - 3
Genetos - 2
Cho Ren Sha 68K - 2
Warning Forever - 2
Stella Vanity - 2

[Illyrian]

Touhou: Imperishible Night - 5
Blue Wish Resurrection - 5
Exceed 3rd - 5
Touhou: Mountain of Faith - 1
Touhou: Subterranean Animism - 1
Touhou: Perfect Cherry Blossom - 1
Edens Aegis - 1
Crimson Clover - 1