Portable Shmupping

[Edmond Dantes]

I have a Gameboy Advance, a PSP, and a Neo-Geo Pocket Color.

I have R-Type DX, Gradius: The Interstellar Assault, and Gradius Collection.

I need more.

Start naming names. Particularly any for the Neo-Geo Pocket Color (I already have the two Metal Slug games, assuming those count)

[Obiwanshinobi]

SolarStriker - first-gen GB games rock pretty hard.*
Zanac X Zanac - enough said.
Sonic Wings Special if you can play it in tate on the PSP.

*) There's a little bit of shmupping in Super Mario Land; guess who worked on both games.

[Iori Branford]

NGPC:
Cotton is all I can see.

PSP:
NES, Genesis, CAVE-M68000 emus can be run without any custom firmware.
CPS1, CPS2, Neogeo emus need the firmware (there are soft ones, don't worry) AND you use the included utility to make cache files for each ROM you want to play.

GBA:
Ehh...er, Super Star Shooter, but being homebrew it needs a flash cart, and it's missing 5-minute mode anyway.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Iridion II - GBA. Easy (urgh, lifebar) but quite fun.

[Obiwanshinobi]

For real, I like SolarStriker better than any GBA shmup bar maybe Gradius Galaxies/Gradius Advance. Not that I played Steel Empire a lot...
The thing is, GBA deservs a Caravan collection like you wouldn't believe (not lazy port or emulation; rather, something re-imagined and reworked). One hell of a gaping hole in its library.

[Damocles]

Gameboy/GBA: ZAS, Project S-11 (not excellent, but eh), Magical Chase, Gradius Galaxies, Phalanx

PSP: The Konami Salamander/Parodius/Twinbee collections, Star Soldier (vertical shmupping yay)

NGPC: Uhhh....Cotton?

There are many others on the PSP, but YMMV.

[shmuppyLove]

Don't forget you can convert PS1 games to play natively on the PSP.

Einhander is rad on a portable.

[DocHauser]

PSP: NES, Genesis, CAVE-M68000 emus can be run without any custom firmware.

Damn, I never realised there were emulators that ran on OFW. Now I've got NES, SNES and Megadrive emulators running smoothly on my PSP. Thanks!

[spadgy]

As well as Interstella Assault on GB, there was also Nemesis on the GB.

And dare I suggest Cave's iOS/Android offerings, plus the other decent iOS shmups like Shogun? No I don't.

[gs68]

get a wonderswan and judgement silversword, somehow

as for more affordable options, get Gradius Collection, if only for Gradius Gaiden

[CID]

I own all the STGs for the GBA and almost all of them for the PSP.

On the GBA far and above the best one being Invader. A bit tough to get your hands on but well worth it. I got so many of my friends into it I hunted down a second copy to take advantage of the co-op link feature. Yeah, it has that.
After that I found Steel Empire (another tough find) to be surprisingly enjoyable. I actually prefer playing on my GBA over my Mega Drive copy. Phalanx is also a great port.

The PSP had a very healthy supply of portable shmups. Many are collection packs, several are pretty poor stand alones and few are great one shots for the system. If you're already a fan of a long time series like Parodius or Star Soldier, do yourself a favor and get the compilation packs available for the system.
As for the best ones just for the PSP, Darius Burst I found to be the best Hori. Great music, SFX and visuals. Lots of fun. Star Soldier, not the collection pack, but the Stand alone title made for the PSP. Vert takes full use of the PSP's wide screen. Played tate only, it's a very impressive means of getting some vert on the go. While Burst cost you, I highly recommend getting both of those.

[Astraea FGA Mk. I]

Don't forget you can convert PS1 games to play natively on the PSP.

Einhander is rad on a portable.

+1

So every PS1 shmup is available to you on the PSP. Horizontal games are ideal but there is nothing stopping you from turning your PSP sideways for vertical games.

You can play Progear on the PSP

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Progear on PSP!

Everytime I play this in public and someone walks by and notices me playing Progear they say "Man, that game looks really weird".

[Hibachi]

Check out the Capcom collections for a bunch of stuff and the SNK Classics has Last Resort and Shock Troopers for the PSP.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The GBA port of Steel Empire was released as a Japanese & European GBA title. They both run at an impressive silky-smooth 60fps framerate (whereas the original Japanese Mega Drive version runs at a 30fps framerate). Looks awesome/stunning if running on a Gamecube + Gameboy Player + modded Japanese D-Terminal to VGA output (via 480p format) + Ultracade UVc hooked up to a 15kHz low-res arcade monitor setup via a 56-pin jamma edge harness = 240p format is priceless.

It's a given with the GBA's resolution output at 240 x 160, the only minor issue of not being able to get rid of the ever-present border layout screen with the GB Player interface itself -- if it could be removed, then that'd be ace in my book.

Can't get any better than that, folks.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[To Far Away Times]

You can play just about everything on a modded PSP.

[Edmond Dantes]

I'm not really a big fan of emulation. I'd prefer native releases.

[Captain]

There is also R-type 3 for the GBA.

The game is almost as good as the SNES version but has two main differences.

-Your normal shots travel slower
-THE MUSIC IS RUINED

[gs68]

I would hardly suggest smartphone releases, unless you have something like an Xperia Z1 where you have gamepad-style button layout, or the option to use a Bluetooth controller. Slide controls are annoying as hell.

[Temia Eszteri]

Uuugh. This reminds me of when I got a GP2X Caanoo because it was designed to be usable for shmups, and then the entire open-source handheld community shat itself in an Rot3K-style handheld war and collapsed entirely after smartphones swept over the remains... all without releasing anything good. :I all skippy or inertia-laden shit with more IP infractions than you could shake a stick at, and no verts to take advantage of the rotated control scheme GPH pointed at! *argh* ...that analogue stick was probably to blame, along with lolOSHcommunity.

Anyway, stuff I actually have:

DS(i): Metal Torrent (eh), Ketsui: Death Label (meh)
+ some smartphone stuff, partly as a show of support for CAVE's shmup-related coffers. I agree, slide is annoying, though at least a good stylus is cheaper than a good stick.