10th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Discussion Thread

[Nifty]

Sent out some reminder PMs to those who have yet to fix their votes. Again, please do so, as I really don't want to have to change or discount any submissions.

One week to go okay so apparently I can't count a month properly

[louisg]

After showing a friend Ikaruga for the first time yesterday, I realized I had to bump it up in my list. No matter how tedious it is to max-chain, and how not-so-great it is as a survival-only shooter, it's just so mind-blowingly well done, artistic, and clever, and full of great ideas, that I felt compelled to give it a better score. Lots of great variety, too.

[WarLord]

Are people forgetting Border Down? sadface.

I wanted to put 50 games in the vote list...

Make choices is a thing that I hate to do in the life.

The worst is when I have to select some games for sale...

PS/ Thanks guys for your replies about NMK environment !

[KAI]

Thank god I'm not the only one voting for Karous.

[Vyxx]

Edited out Ibara in favour for DDP-SDOJ

No! Ultimate shame!

Just kidding, I'm sure SDOJ is amazing but I've yet to play it.

[louisg]

Thank god I'm not the only one voting for Karous.

I'd enjoy that game so much more if I didn't suck at it. My weapons hardly level up I was actually showing that one off to a friend the other day, too.

Hey, I'd be interested to know why you put Radilgy 1 on the list and not Noa. I haven't played Noa much, but I've been coveting it

[KAI]

Noa doesn't feel like a Milestone game at all. Collision Damage, shitty scoring system, boring stages and a stupidly hard last boss, those are the reason why I dislike it.

[EmperorIng]

After showing a friend Ikaruga for the first time yesterday, I realized I had to bump it up in my list. No matter how tedious it is to max-chain, and how not-so-great it is as a survival-only shooter, it's just so mind-blowingly well done, artistic, and clever, and full of great ideas, that I felt compelled to give it a better score. Lots of great variety, too.

I said earlier that it almost made my list - I think in many respects it's a fantastic game. I just can't get in to the whole chaining aspect. Really in general, the "position yourself precisely in every single way to max out points" is irritating to me.

But I won't deny that Ikaruga is a great shmup in its own right. Just not on my list hah hah.

[louisg]

After showing a friend Ikaruga for the first time yesterday, I realized I had to bump it up in my list. No matter how tedious it is to max-chain, and how not-so-great it is as a survival-only shooter, it's just so mind-blowingly well done, artistic, and clever, and full of great ideas, that I felt compelled to give it a better score. Lots of great variety, too.

I said earlier that it almost made my list - I think in many respects it's a fantastic game. I just can't get in to the whole chaining aspect. Really in general, the "position yourself precisely in every single way to max out points" is irritating to me.

But I won't deny that Ikaruga is a great shmup in its own right. Just not on my list hah hah.

Yeah. I don't think Ikaruga is that fun once you're approaching the point that you're mastering the stages. Where it shines is when you're picking and choosing chains based on your skill level and situation. Playing it like that, you really have to think fast. In other words: Sucking at Ikaruga makes it more fun Kinda too bad.

Noa doesn't feel like a Milestone game at all. Collision Damage, shitty scoring system, boring stages and a stupidly hard last boss, those are the reason why I dislike it.

OK that makes me feel better about not having a way to play it Man, now I want to play Radilgy. Or get better at Karous.

[louisg]

I just last-minute added Batsugun. I 1-credited Special Mode to stage 5, and the game is just astounding. I like how the experience-based power ups coincide with the stage design. For example, the second ship gets homing shots in the later levels to help you deal with all the popcorn enemies that flood from the side. Really well thought-out.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I just last-minute added Batsugun. I 1-credited Special Mode to stage 5, and the game is just astounding. I like how the experience-based power ups coincide with the stage design. For example, the second ship gets homing shots in the later levels to help you deal with all the popcorn enemies that flood from the side. Really well thought-out.

One of the best things about the Special Version is how different a game the smaller hitbox makes things. It feels much more fun to play than the normal version, where the hitbox feels just a tad too big for my tastes. Even with the ability to get a 1-hit shield (at max shot power/level, get another levelup, you'll see afterimages of your ship when you move if you've got a shield) it never feels too easy, especially as the loops make things much tougher.

[chum]

If it never gets too easy, sounds like you didn't even play it or you did but you don't know what you're doing. Most of the game is way too easy because:

-The first loop is completely trivial aside from the score tricks (which aren't particularly hard)
-The Stages 2, 3 and 5 of the loops all have hidden pigs you can activate to refresh your shield and bomb stock.

This means you can just bomb spam or take a hit for free throughout most of the loops.

[trap15]

^ this

[louisg]

If it never gets too easy, sounds like you didn't even play it or you did but you don't know what you're doing. Most of the game is way too easy because:

-The first loop is completely trivial aside from the score tricks (which aren't particularly hard)
-The Stages 2, 3 and 5 of the loops all have hidden pigs you can activate to refresh your shield and bomb stock.

This means you can just bomb spam or take a hit for free throughout most of the loops.

Hah! Sounds perfect for me! I've actually switched to normal mode, but it's good to know I can play a relatively casual game of Batsugun when I feel like it. I don't have the time/energy for shmupping that I used to

[Tyranix95]

One week to go!!

Man, I'm itching to see the results.

[near_miss]

How bout a top borderliners list you guys? I am dying to put Sin and Punishment 2 at the top of a list. Really want that one to be immortalized on a best of list! Burns me every year I can't vote on it

[Tyranix95]

near_miss wants a "near-miss" Top 25 list.

I though that's what the Honorable Mention list was for.

[near_miss]

Tyranix95, I thought that we couldn't vote for rail shooters etc -- so I didn't include on my list. Is there some way to vote for it I'm missing?

[Tyranix95]

Heh, don't get confused: I was just messing with ya.

1. Vote for STG games.

2. Do not vote for Rail Gun games.
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=44216
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Rail_shooters

Rail Gun games missed the STG list.

[near_miss]

Yeah I hear ya, just figure there's a lot in there for an STG fan... these annual lists certainly got me trying out games I hadn't heard when I started. I guess where do you draw the line? I say: S&P2!

[Tyranix95]

Hey Nifty,

I spy 93 Top 25 Ballots so far.

And looks like 30 Ballots do not have brackets around the game titles. (n1, n2.)

Not sure why putting brackets around the title of the game is so hard.

But, looks like you may have to fix a few Top 25 Ballots to avoid tossing out some ballots out.

I bring this up because I'm hoping we can get 7 or more Top 25 ballots and break last years total of 99.

----------
n1. Voting rules: Use the following vote format, including brackets: [integer score 1 to 25] [first game title]

[25] [Favorite]
[24] [Second Favorite]
... etc ...
[2] [24th Favorite]
[1] [25th Favorite]

n2. trap15, ciox, Bananamatic, SunJammer, blackoak, Rex Cavalier, BareknuckleRoo, Aleksei, CptRansom, Serraxor, louisg, Kollision, CStarFlare, Annoyboy, RNGmaster, ebarrett, ED-057, DMC, dannnnn, SePh1r0tH, DocHauser, javel, emphatic, Aquas, Psikyo_Ball, Monstermug, ikaruga007, Squire Grooktook, ResumeDPosition, near_miss

[Squire Grooktook]

Oh, I'm so sorry. I must have forgotten to put the name brackets up when I lost the original text file and rewrote the list.

I edited the post to include brackets, I hope that's all right.

[trap15]

I don't know why I'd have to? Are you running a script to do all the stuff?

[emphatic]

Mine has brackets now.

[nasty_wolverine]

Why so few mentions for Hellsinker???
Is it that nobody likes it or nobody plays it??

PS: I put brackets in my vote too...

[Squire Grooktook]

I'v never played it, along with Crimzon Clover.

I wanna play these games, but I don't wanna pirate or buy yen for Japanese Amazon.

I know you can buy/trade from people around here and other sites, but I don't think my parents would be to keen on that lol.

[EmperorIng]

Can't you order it through rancor's tokyo shop?

[incognoscente]

Are you running a script to do all the stuff?

Yep, but I built in lots of automatic ballot correction stuff in the past few years to cut down on my having to manually fix so many ballots. Yours should parse just fine.

Really, as long as the weight is before the title on the same line with at least a space between them, it should be OK. But telling people they need to place brackets is tradition and tradition is cozy like a warm blanket.

[Squire Grooktook]

Can't you order it through rancor's tokyo shop?

I thought of that, but I'm not sure if my parents would be okay with ordering from such a site (they very paranoid heh).

[BIL]

Tell your folks I vouch for rancor / Jeff. ^_~ When they see my avatar they'll know I'm a poster of impeccable character!