Top 25 Poll Results Lacking Some of the Best Shmups

[Friendly]

The problem is that many people voted despite never having played games like Gradius V.
And that goes for a lot of older/rarer top-class shmups. Another example is Border Down.
None of these people should have been eligible to vote.

And this is the explanation why the results of the poll have been relatively worthless in recent years in so far that they do not represent the best shmups of all time, but are skewed towards newer (current gen) console releases.

[AntiFritz]

I'm not sure what your trying to say besides "I don't agree with the results".

[Ed Oscuro]

Timely AND provocative!



If it makes you feel any better, I DQ'd myself this year.

[chempop]

I didn't vote because I want the value of my favorite games to drop

[NzzpNzzp]

Gradius Gaiden is older and rarer than Gradius V, and it still placed.

[Friendly]

Gradius Gaiden is older and rarer than Gradius V, and it still placed.

Gaiden got a world wide release on PSP in 2006.

[DrTrouserPlank]

Sine Mora is a timeless oldskool classic.

[Hagane]

"The list of the 25 favorite STGs of other people doesn't include some of my favorite STGs". Dumb thread.

[CDexWard]

Raptor: Call Of The Shadows is missing, too.

[trap15]

X-Plan is severely underrated.

[NzzpNzzp]

Gaiden got a world wide release on PSP in 2006.

Oh, that's true. But really, do you think that many of the people who voted for it would be willing to play a 2006 PSP game but wouldn't touch a 2004 PS2 game because it was too old/outdated? I can't imagine there are many Gaiden fans who haven't played V.

[BIL]

Let's have a TASTE BATTLE thread. /fapfapfap unnnngh *poot* zzz...

Gradius V is its subgenre's Musha Aleste. Some neat weapon mechanics and nice presentational flourishes, but unfocused, way overlong and too slow to raise the pressure. Like Musha it gets very good eventually then ends.

Border Down, Sexy Parodius, R-Type Delta and Einhander are all horis with more concise pacing and deeper action, and are also better-presented on the whole (Delta and Einhander may have aged polys but their respective atmospheres and settings shame GV's metal corridor extravaganza). Guess which one of these five I didn't vote for!

Anyway, pretty sure peeps here will just pirate stuff if it's too r@rez for their noob asses! Unlike ME, I've owned Gradius V since 2004! They were givin' that shit away at TRU! (if the NTSCU is too 1337 for you, just go for the JP ver, it had a million budget reprints)

[Special World]

I didn't vote because the voting system was so weird. Is that how you guys always do it? Very strange. Maybe I'll give it a shot next time.

Personally I think the top 10 looks great. Only things I'd put up there are Gate of Thunder, Twinkle Star Sprites, Eschatos, and Ginga Force.

[KAI]

Fraud, that's the only answer.

[Nifty]

The T25 results have forever been subject to weighty helpings of popularity and also accessibility. This time was no different. It'd be the same for any genre's best-of ordering made by its active player base. More variety would be nice, but at the same time I'd prefer to know where I really stand.

Is that how you guys always do it?

Yes

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

The problem is that many people voted despite never having played games like Gradius V.
And that goes for a lot of older/rarer top-class shmups. Another example is Border Down.
None of these people should have been eligible to vote.

And this is the explanation why the results of the poll have been relatively worthless in recent years in so far that they do not represent the best shmups of all time, but are skewed towards newer (current gen) console releases.

This post is utterly perfect in every way.

[Jeneki]

The problem is that many people voted despite never having played games like Gradius V.
And that goes for a lot of older/rarer top-class shmups. Another example is Border Down.
None of these people should have been eligible to vote.

What is the message here? Gradius V is one of those shmups pretty much everyone has played. Even my buddies who don't normally buy shmups have played it, because liek ogm dood TREASRE! Border down on the other hand, no one outside shmup circles has heard of.

[louisg]

I played Gradius V. It was OKish. I didn't put it on my list.

One thing I do notice is that console-only shooters have really fallen off in terms of popularity.

Gradius V is its subgenre's Musha Aleste. Some neat weapon mechanics and nice presentational flourishes, but unfocused, way overlong and too slow to raise the pressure. Like Musha it gets very good eventually then ends.

I kind of agree with this. MUSHA always bugged me-- it's got great presentation and art, but it's brain-dead easy even on hard mode after a couple plays. You get to the point where there are zillions of bullets coming at you, but somehow I remember being able to shoot down nearly all of them. Kind of like Spriggan was ruined for me when I figured out a couple overpowered weapon combos, MUSHA was ruined for me when I found out you had a secondary weapon

[Mortificator]

Fortunately, Sotoyama didn't stop after two verts. Mahou Daisakusen's consistently interesting.

[TransatlanticFoe]

I've never been able to get on with anything Konami have done. They're my gaming Radiohead. So excuse me for not playing a game for a console I don't have by a developer I don't like (although it's in partnership with G.rev).

So we should be voting for Gradius V and Border Down (which is awesome btw)? What else should we be voting for? Or is this another OMG too much CAVE thread?

I don't vote for plenty of recent releases because I don't have the hardware to play them on. By that logic, should my vote not count because it's not representative of an experience of the whole spectrum of shmups?

[DrTrouserPlank]

I've never been able to get on with anything Konami have done. They're my gaming Radiohead. So excuse me for not playing a game for a console I don't have by a developer I don't like (although it's in partnership with G.rev).

So we should be voting for Gradius V and Border Down (which is awesome btw)? What else should we be voting for? Or is this another OMG too much CAVE thread?

I don't vote for plenty of recent releases because I don't have the hardware to play them on. By that logic, should my vote not count because it's not representative of an experience of the whole spectrum of shmups?

It's an interesting point. People are allowed to vote in elections that determine the government that will lead their country for the next 4/5 years without any prerequisite requirements of their knowledge of politics, ability to rationalise etc. Voting for the "best" shmup is a far more trivial poll. In the same way that stupid people who have no knowledge of politics and finance probably shouldn't be given a vote on the next government, should people who haven't played every shmup in existence be excluded from voting in this poll?

Where is the artificial cut-off where someone's opinion becomes devalued sufficiently (based on their experience of shmups) that it can't be considered a valid vote?

[cools]

Lack of INSERT COIN means GV doesn't qualify for my vote.

I like Border Down, but I've not played it enough to rank it.

[DrTrouserPlank]

Lack of INSERT COIN means GV doesn't qualify for my vote.

I like Border Down, but I've not played it enough to rank it.

Nor have I. Kinda liked the branching difficulty path as much as I can remember it. Reminded me of Starfox/Starwolf bizarrely.

[To Far Away Times]

I never cared for border down.

Gradius V is cool, but I don't want to learn a 70 minute shmup.

[Squire Grooktook]

Where is Rayforce

Where is taste

[ED-057]

they do not represent the best shmups of all time, but are skewed towards newer (current gen) console releases

Yeah but I voted this time and I have never played anything on any Sony or MS console so it should have balanced out.

[R-Gray 1]

uhm u could say it here
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=44687

dont worry next time i will vote for Eihänder, gradius V rayforce, axelay, super rtype, gradius gaiden,Border down, under defeat etc

[BIL]

Basically, don't vote for anything CAVE and you'll be the world-weary, seasoned shooter vet we all aspire to become. All your scores will improve too. I nearly made the cut this year, with lots of obscure names like Konami, Irem, Capcom, Taito, Seibu and Toaplan, but I completely screwed up by including mainstream darlings Ketsui and DOJWL. I'm trying to cut back on my Raizing and Psikyo intake too, they're also just too common for a rugged genre veteran's list.

[Muchi Muchi Spork]

Anyone who votes for Cave is more of a whore than Aya Hirano and grips more teddy bears than the SDOJ intro movie.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

'cave sux' is the new shmup hipster fad