Quotable quote in this month's Game Informer

[Special World]

Readers were asked which classic video game genre they'd revive:

"Easy: shmups. The last good shmups were Gradius V and Ikaruga. I think current-gen reincarnations of this classic genre would be amazing. In a game world where player-friendly games reign supreme, a dose of hardcore shmup action would be a great breath of fresh air."

[Jeneki]

Gradius V and Ikaruga? Someone should let him know G.rev is still making shmups.

(both were collaborations with G.rev)

[KyoKusagani1999]

Promising News! Not everyone in society wants to put up with learning Bullet Hell,
so creators like G.REV are there to revive the industry, just the way you liked it!

[drunkninja24]

I know man, there's been like, no shmups at all in these last few years. Not sure what Cave, G.Rev, or Qute have been doing, get on it guys!

[Udderdude]

General gaming public still woefully uninformed about niche genres like shmups and tactics games, news at 11.

[KAI]

I'm sure most of these guys were raped by Pinksweets.

[AntiFritz]

I'm sure most of these guys were raped by Pinksweets.

Unfortunately, I don't think any of those guys have even heard of pink sweets

[To Far Away Times]

U guyz ever play Sina Mora? It's like deep and shit and has a story and shit. And the grafix on it are tight.

[TrippyCake]

I'm fine with shmups as they are now.
Sure, there could be twice as many developers and hopefully CAVE can stay up, but otherwise it's absolutely great right now.

[Special World]

I'm fine with shmups as they are now.
Sure, there could be twice as many developers and hopefully CAVE can stay up, but otherwise it's absolutely great right now.

I would actually be really happy if Cave would break out of their comfort zone and try a different style of shooter every once in a while. Maybe give Yagawa a chance to make another Raizing-style shooter, or just do something else entirely. Cave has a great core system, but it would be nice to play something else from them. Ah well, we have Qute I guess. Here's hoping Ginga Force is everything Eschatos was.

[Some-Mist]

If shmups ever do have to go out with a bang, the best thing that could ever happen would be a battle garegga, armed police batrider, and battle bakraid collection port (I can't play PCBs unfortunately).

But yeah, it looks like they aren't aware of CAVE and G.Rev.

[Jeneki]

The real trick, I believe, would be getting people to actually pay money for shmups.

I bring shmups to public gaming events all the time. They get played pretty much non-stop. The excitement is there ...

... and then they ask me where they can get the game. I tell them where I got it, and how much I paid. And I always get the same reply:

"meh, should be a $5 download."

And that is why we don't see more shmup releases over here. As much as the general public claims they want shmups in the west, they don't.

[Ed Oscuro]

General gaming public still woefully uninformed about niche genres like shmups and tactics games, news at 11.

Marketing still everything, niches don't count (certainly in many important senses they don't, thank goodness for independent devs) - film at 12.

[NTSC-J]

I would actually be really happy if Cave would break out of their comfort zone and try a different style of shooter every once in a while. Maybe give Yagawa a chance to make another Raizing-style shooter, or just do something else entirely. Cave has a great core system, but it would be nice to play something else from them.

I think they already have:

Progear (first hori): somewhat successful
Ibara (Raizing-style): tanked
Pink Sweets (first Cave shmup made while programmar was on PCP): tanked
Deathsmiles II (first Cave shmup with polygonal graphics, new hardware): tanked hard

Just stick to what you do best, Cave: chains and bees.

[exquisite_torture]

Shmups should be more like Kung Fu Master.

[Special World]

I would actually be really happy if Cave would break out of their comfort zone and try a different style of shooter every once in a while. Maybe give Yagawa a chance to make another Raizing-style shooter, or just do something else entirely. Cave has a great core system, but it would be nice to play something else from them.

I think they already have:

Progear (first hori): somewhat successful
Ibara (Raizing-style): tanked
Pink Sweets (first Cave shmup made while programmar was on PCP): tanked
Deathsmiles II (first Cave shmup with polygonal graphics, new hardware): tanked hard

Just stick to what you do best, Cave: chains and bees.

I meant more in the gameplay systems. Besides the Raizing-style Yagawa games, it's always quick rapid/slow laser/bombs in a very similar-feeling craft. I love every one of their games (except DFK 1.5) but as it is they've just released a FLOOD of games for 360 that feel essentially the same. Yes, there's a ton of scoring variance between them and that's where the nuance comes into play, but it would be cool if they'd really go to the drawing board every few games and try to really redefine their niche. Cave's bullet hell style is a very specific type of shooter - what would they produce if they made a game in the style of a classic hori? How bout a caravan shooter? A bridge between all the different genres like Eschatos? What about something more like a classic Toaplan game?

I would say that, if anything, Deathsmiles was their most original game since forming the genre, and that was a big success for them, with a ton of great ideas. I'd like for them to go beyond just tooling up a new scoring system every time and occasionally work up radically different base systems.

Anyways, it's not gonna happen and I do love just about every game they've made. It's good that Qute's out there, they seem pretty willing to try out crazy new ideas.