PS3/PC Shmups?

derpkhan · Post by **derpkhan** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 3:54 am

Hello there!

So I've been into shmups for a while now, I got into Shmups with R-Type on the PS1 when I was younger (I'm only 19 tsk.) and then I tried out the Touhou games.

However lately I've decided I want to try out some more shmups and the like and for some reason I am terrible at finding these things. I only own a PC and PS3, from what I can tell these two platforms are slim pickings when it comes to shmups. I can't afford anything insane like an arcade cabinet but at a push I could get a 360. Anyways the point is that I was wondering if there are any good/relatively easy to find PS3/PC shmups?

Sorry I'm so clueless about this.

BareKnuckleRoo · Post by **BareKnuckleRoo** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 5:30 am

Other than emulation, you could look at getting doujin titles for the PC. There's a whole huge bunch of 'em out there that are solid. :p

EmperorIng · Post by **EmperorIng** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 6:21 am

For the PS3, you can pick up Under Defeat HD, and there are rumors that another G.REV shooter "Mamoru has Been Cursed!" is making its way to the US as well (though you can import a copy from Japan if you wanted to).

Those are the only retail shmups that are platform-specific (though a JPN/PAL-only 360 release of Under Defeat HD is out there); the rest are older shooters on the PSN, and a few doujin titles on the PSN market.

Squire Grooktook · Post by **Squire Grooktook** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:07 am

For commercial pc shmup releases in english, you can't do much better then the Gundemonium Trilogy on Steam. It's on Ps3 as well, if you have a problem with drm.

PC version has netplay while the Ps3 does not. However the netplay was very buggy for me and desyncs easy, so you may not get much use to it depending on you and your pals internet.

Obiwanshinobi · Post by **Obiwanshinobi** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 12:29 pm

Of things not emulated yet: Raiden III and Shikigami no Shiro trilogy.
Taito Type X roms (cracked): Homura, Raiden IV etc.
Hydorah and other excellent freeware titles.

LtC · Post by **LtC** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 1:54 pm

Söldner X-2 is the best shmup you can get on a PS3. You should really get the ones on PC that are on both PC and PS3.

As for PC

Great for beginners and freeware:
Cho Ren Sha 68k, PatriotDark, Blue Wish Resurrection

Amazing PC shmups that rival even the better arcade and console shmups:
Kamui, Crimzon Clover, Zen-Ichi, HELLSINKER, Samidare

derpkhan · Post by **derpkhan** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 2:05 pm

Ah, thanks for the suggestions, the help is appreciated.

beatsgo · Post by **beatsgo** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 5:12 pm

I'll just leave this corrected link hear...

derpkhan · Post by **derpkhan** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 8:32 pm

beatsgo wrote:I'll just leave this hear...

This just goes to the reply section of the thread.

Squire Grooktook · Post by **Squire Grooktook** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 9:35 pm

Don't buy Soldner X-2 unless you don't mind playing through a painfully boring normal mode with the worst level and boss design ever, and then doing it several more times to find the hidden keys and unlock the harder difficulties (lol fetch quests in a shmup).

As for the quality of the harder difficulties, I dunno. Never bothered. Fuck that game.

beatsgo · Post by **beatsgo** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 10:42 pm

derpkhan wrote:
beatsgo wrote:I'll just leave this hear...
This just goes to the reply section of the thread.

Wow, my bad

This!

shmuppyLove · Post by **shmuppyLove** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 12:47 am

Squire Grooktook wrote:Fuck that game.

Agreed.

I inherited the game on a PS3 I got, but I certainly wouldn't have paid for it.

Super Stardust HD and NovaStrike aren't traditional shmups, but are at least in a similar vein and much better than most other offerings.

Novastrike Wikipedia lulz:

Gameplay is very simplistic; you must shoot everything you see, but with "next-gen" graphics and sound effects.

If you ever played Zone 66 on the PC (probably not since you're only 19), it's very similar.

Lord Satori · Post by **Lord Satori** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 7:00 am

Squire Grooktook wrote:Don't buy Soldner X-2 unless you don't mind playing through a painfully boring normal mode with the worst level and boss design ever, and then doing it several more times to find the hidden keys and unlock the harder difficulties (lol fetch quests in a shmup).

As for the quality of the harder difficulties, I dunno. Never bothered. Fuck that game.

Oh, forgive them for doing something besides genericly large ships and little girls as bosses and trying something different for a change. I'm with you about the hidden keys, but iirc, you don't need them to unlock harder difficulties. Just new levels.

As for other shmups, theres one in the minis section called A Space Shooter for 2 Bucks. It's funny, cheap, fun, and well worth it. There are a few others such as the Gundemonium collection (never bought that one, but it looks fun), Hitogata Happa (got that one, never beat it), an HD remake of 1942 who's name I forget, and a few others that escape my mind.

Squire Grooktook · Post by **Squire Grooktook** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 7:16 am

Lord Satori wrote:
Squire Grooktook wrote:Don't buy Soldner X-2 unless you don't mind playing through a painfully boring normal mode with the worst level and boss design ever, and then doing it several more times to find the hidden keys and unlock the harder difficulties (lol fetch quests in a shmup).

As for the quality of the harder difficulties, I dunno. Never bothered. Fuck that game.
Oh, forgive them for doing something besides genericly large ships and little girls as bosses and trying something different for a change. I'm with you about the hidden keys, but iirc, you don't need them to unlock harder difficulties. Just new levels.

Yes, the generic techno soundtrack, featureless drab vistas, and giant robot/battleship bosses were a breath of fresh air from the loli shooters that I don't play (YEAH THAT'S RIGHT I DON'T PLAY TOUHOU GG).

That's just the aesthetics though. Really, I just don't get the feel that any thought or effort was put into the level design, boss design, the weapon system, or even the ship and hitbox size at all.

Also the hidden keys are needed to unlock the harder difficulties, because the requirement iirc is that you 1cc the game including the true final stage, which requires the hidden keys to reach.

Deca · Post by **Deca** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 7:21 am

Every time someone recommends Soldner-X 2 I'm convinced they're joking.

Squire Grooktook · Post by **Squire Grooktook** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 7:29 am

I know it has fans who always recommend it as "the surprisingly improved sequel to Soldner-X", but I just don't see what the appeal is. Like seriously, can someone tell me what's so great about this game?

I played it cause my hipster "modern games suck, indie games da best" friend recommended it to me as super hardcore with great level design. He was always going on about how crazy and bullet hell the game is on higher difficulties. While I'm sure it gets hard, even watching videos of it on higher difficulties it still looks bland and poorly designed as heck.

I personally think my friend (who is not a regular shmup player) didn't know about bullet hell when he first played it, and thought he was all super hardcore for playing a game with lots of bullets in it, not realizing that such a concept has been done before and done much better.

Lord Satori · Post by **Lord Satori** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 8:04 am

Well, I personally like it because of the music. It's better than some other shumps I've played, where it just seems like they threw a song in because it'd be weird without one. Calling it generic simply because it's techno is just stupid. A few of the bosses I admit are terrible, like the final boss of the normal game, which is just some sort of wierd gauntlet thing, and the boss of the ice stage, which looks like a large Alien head (though it's theme is pretty sweet), but the DLC final boss more than makes up for it. It also has a pretty decent story, and character voices. Yeah, the game needs a little work but damn, its not that bad. I'm not a huge fan of the game or anything, I just don't think it deserves the hate.

EmperorIng · Post by **EmperorIng** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 8:32 am

Lord Satori wrote:It's better than some other shumps I've played

Better than flash games, aesthetically speaking.

Squire Grooktook · Post by **Squire Grooktook** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 9:29 am

Lord Satori wrote:Well, I personally like it because of the music. It's better than some other shumps I've played, where it just seems like they threw a song in because it'd be weird without one. Calling it generic simply because it's techno is just stupid. A few of the bosses I admit are terrible, like the final boss of the normal game, which is just some sort of wierd gauntlet thing, and the boss of the ice stage, which looks like a large Alien head (though it's theme is pretty sweet), but the DLC final boss more than makes up for it. It also has a pretty decent story, and character voices. Yeah, the game needs a little work but damn, its not that bad. I'm not a huge fan of the game or anything, I just don't think it deserves the hate.

Maybe I just never gave the ost a chance, it's pretty hard to hear it over the damn game. That being said, top class ost's (be it Cave, Zuntata, etc) often manage to make their melodies and hooks stand out admist the chaos. I never really heard anything that hooked me, or really any melody at all throughout my playthrough of the game (maybe I just need to turn the sfx down and volume up?)

And it's not so much the aesthetics that bother me (though they are pretty bland). It's just that it feels like no thought was put into designing a fun game whatsoever. The level design is non existent and feels like the developers sat around a table pitching random ideas for bullet patterns ("A SPREAD SHOT! YEAH, OKAY WHAT NEXT? AN AIMED SHOT? OK WHAT NOW...UHHH...UMMM...ANOTHER SPREAD SHOT!"). The bosses are pretty much the same thing, except all this coming from a single target rather then random waves of filler enemies.

The game doesn't even leave room to the player to think about strategy. It's completely obvious what weapon you should be using from one moment to the next, and most of the bosses with destroy-able parts can't even be taken out in the order you choose, but are only vulnerable in a certain order (play Darius to see how much better it is when players can destroy boss parts in any order they choose).

And on top of all this, the hitbox and ship size is really annoying. The game seems like it wants to be a game about inching through tight but slow moving bullet patterns, but it has a hitbox that's way too big for that kind of gameplay, and on top of it your ships model is way too damn long, often times if you wanna squeeze through a tight gap you just have to cross your fingers and hope you guesstimated correctly where your hitbox is and how big it is. Not fun.

Honestly, the whole game, from aesthetic to gameplay, just feels like an enormous cash in to me. And the way it demands players to replay the boring normal mode over and over to unlock higher difficulties feels like it's trying to further milk gamers post purchase, something that I have no explanation for besides pure sadism.

Maybe everything just clinches and becomes vastly more tight and satisfying on higher difficulties, but it's just not my kind of game.

Ruldra · Post by **Ruldra** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:47 am

For PS3:

- Space Invaders Infinity Gene: Solid game, had a lot of fun with it. Finishing it without continues is quite a challenge.
- Galaga Legions
- After Burner Climax: Rail shooter, but still very good.

They all have demos available for you to try. Stay away from Soldner-X, Sine Mora and that Strikers shmup.

LtC · Post by **LtC** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 12:17 pm

I have no idea why Squire Grooktook is so ridiculously hostile towards Soldner X-2. He obviously hasn't played it very much. For every complaint I could probably point out a shmup that's in the top50, maybe even top25, of most popular shmups on this board that has the exact same problem.

I think it's a very nice game for a beginner AND more experienced player at the time, which is definitely not something an average euroshmup can do. I read Squire Grooktook say the game is easy as hell but that only happens if you keep getting hit. Once you do that the game's rank sinks down and the game becomes a borefest. This also greatly affects your score. And even while the game is a europshmup there isn't really anything unavoidable in it. The game does not leave you unpunished if you get hit either.

I haven't played the first game myself but reading people's comments makes me wonder if we are even talking about the same game. It's a shame this place looks down upon anything that is not in the arcade japanese shmup norm.

Kollision · Post by **Kollision** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 12:28 pm

I don't play games on PCs, unless it's on MAME.

my PS3 observations:

Don't get A Space Shooter for 2 Bucks, it's awful! It's nearly unplayable due to inertia, I repent getting it for my PSP....

If you want minis you'll be much better with Flying Hamster. Not the greatest of things, but at least it's funny at times and poses a bit of a challenge in the end.

Agree with Ruldra on Space Invaders Infinity Gene (a real vert, not a fixed vert) and AB Climax.
As far as fixed verts go, Heavy Weapon seems silly but it's actually great fun.
Galaga Legions is boring, just a flashy memorize-fest that fades pretty fast.
I'm fond of the first Söldner-X, but I'm alone on this. Söldner-X 2 suffers a bit from being too long (bad pacing) and scrolling too fast (you're not given the chance to admire the beauty in the graphics at all).

Super Stardust HD is an awesome arena shooter.
And if you're into gravity arena shooters by all means try Gravity Crash. It's really good.
Another download title to look out for is the Gundemonium Package.

On the retail front, definitely get Under Defeat HD.
The Midway Arcade Origins compilation came out recently, it's got both Defenders, Smash TV, Total Carnage, Robotron, etc.

Deca · Post by **Deca** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 10:43 pm

Squire Grooktook wrote:a bunch of text

You basically just wrote up a definition of Euroshmup!

LtC wrote:I have no idea why Squire Grooktook is so ridiculously hostile towards Soldner X-2. He obviously hasn't played it very much. For every complaint I could probably point out a shmup that's in the top50, maybe even top25, of most popular shmups on this board that has the exact same problem.

But can you name any that have every problem at the same time?

We don't hate on everything that isn't a Japanese arcade game, just games that are objectively inferior to their peers and lack any degree of charm to make up for it.

viniciusvbf · Post by **viniciusvbf** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:52 pm

Super Stardust HD is a must-buy.
I'm not really a fan of arena shmups, but this one is just awesome, when i got my PS3 i got like 10 games or something, but this was all i could play, i've spent countless hours playing it.
Anyone ever played the DLCs? Are they any good?

Lord Satori · Post by **Lord Satori** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 12:14 am

Kollision wrote:Don't get A Space Shooter for 2 Bucks, it's awful! It's nearly unplayable due to inertia

lol, whats that supposed to mean? I beat the damn game, it wasn't that difficult at all. It took me a few tries to beat some of the bosses, but not being good at a particular game doesn't make it bad.

I'm with you on Galaga Legions. It's more flashy than anything. As for Space Invaders Infinity Gene, that's probably one of the greatest Space Invaders based games of all time! It's definitely worth buying it, as well as its level packs. It's music is by ZUNTATA, so it's pretty much a double win.

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 12:37 am

Play these : http://www004.upp.so-net.ne.jp/x_xgamer ... works.html

Lord Satori · Post by **Lord Satori** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 1:22 am

wow, I didn't know he had his own website.

if you go to freepcgamers.com, and search the shmup area, there are a few good ones there.

beatsgo · Post by **beatsgo** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:47 am

This is another good place to look for shmups.

Kollision · Post by **Kollision** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 10:03 pm

Lord Satori wrote:
Kollision wrote:Don't get A Space Shooter for 2 Bucks, it's awful! It's nearly unplayable due to inertia
lol, whats that supposed to mean? I beat the damn game, it wasn't that difficult at all. It took me a few tries to beat some of the bosses, but not being good at a particular game doesn't make it bad.

Hmmmm, could it be because I tried to play on the PSP?

I'll give it another go on a real TV, let's see if it plays a little better at least.

tomwaits · Post by **tomwaits** » Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:37 pm

Hasn't been mentioned yet, but I liked Astro Tripper on PS3.

shmups.system11.org

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