Whats the shmup that inspired you to get into this hobby.?

[espibara]

For me its Thunderforce 3 on the Megadrive.

Rented it from my local videoshop back in 1992 and was instantly hooked. Amazing graphics, music and gameplay.

Since then I've never looked back.

[trap15]

Hishouzame!

[Kollision]

Gradius V

[endoKarb]

Espgaluda for me.

[Cagar]

-

[pestro87]

Hellfire

[O. Van Bruce]

dunno... maybe the first shmup I played for score, Mountain of Faith.

[KAI]

Played shmups all my life, but I fell in love when I played Ibara Arrange.

[EmperorIng]

Darius Gaiden and Galactic Attack on the Saturn.
Props goes to Darius Gaiden - the moment I heard "close your eyes" I was in love with the game, and by the time I purchased RayForce, my second shmup, I was hooked on the genre.

[rancor]

Kinda into it when I played Soldier Blade and Blazing Lazers on TG-16 back in 1992

REALLY into it when I played Dodonpachi and Battle Bakraid on MAME..

[Skykid]

Chorensha 68k. It seduced me in the way of the shmup, and soon after the thrill of the shmup 1cc. Never looked back.

[szycag]

playing Dodonpachi in MAME

[Zaarock]

19XX: the war on destiny. ESP Ra.De for bullet hell shmups.

Got MAME to play Metal Slug, 19XX was the featured game that day (MAWS had games of the day and stuff like that back then in the early 2000's). Actually didn't like dodonpachi at first but esp ra.de kept me playing for some reason.

More proof that MAME has been good for the genre's visibility :p

[Wonderbanana]

I loved Galaxian originally but I guess properly it would be Tiger Heli and Flying Shark.

[jochen]

For me it started with "Phönix" on the Atari2600 ( please don´t laugh, I know
that I´m old ). Later I fell in love with "Katakis" on the C64.

[BIL]

Gradius V.

I'd associated shooters with quality from the beginning, when I was a little kid in the mid-late '80s (Life Force and Gyruss were among the NES staples that got me hooked on gaming initially). Made sure R-Type Delta and Raystorm were among the first games I got after my belated PS1 purchase in 2000.

Didn't become a "shooter fan" until GV's NTSCU release in 2004, when I realised this game the mainstream press and players were describing as both monstrously difficult and "too short" was exactly what I'd grown to miss over the years. Did a little research, discovered there was in fact a fucking goldmine of these games available in NTSCJ on both systems, with even more on DC and Saturn, went full import. Wasn't just shooters I found either, there was plenty of other arcade-oriented stuff I'd never had the opportunity to play... but that was the point I really acknowledged shooters as an independent, storied genre and became a fan.

Very nearly didn't get GV due to all the bitching and moaning about its difficulty, haha. Would probably be playing some JRPG now if not for that game.

[AweOfShe]

Blazing Star got me into shmups, or at least made me more aware of the genre (since I did play many before it). Deathsmiles brought me back from a half-decade or so hiatus.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

Salamander arcade started it. R-Type 1 & 2 sealed the deal, along with a bunch of c64 shooters, mainly X-out. There was some Nemesis and Amiga stuff in there too.

[ratikal]

Zone of the Enders 2.

I played the Zoradius(?) mini-game and thought, "Wasn't there one like this on the SNES?" So, I played Gradius III and enjoyed it.

[MauJustice]

The foundation started with Gradius/Fire Shark but Mars Matrix was the game that really opened my eyes.

[louisg]

I played shmups at the arcade (Galaga and Time Pilot '84) and liked them enough, dug Battle Squadron on Amiga, and rented a few for SNES and Genesis. But then it seemed like nobody was making them anymore. One day, I was visiting my brother who'd moved away to college. I walked into a mall, and there was Strikers 1945 (II?) and RayStorm. My mind was blown. When I got home, I immediately ordered Tyrian, and got a couple of the old SNES shmups that I remembered. And then, a couple years later, I discovered shmups.com and I was hooked on more modern games.

[chempop]

My story...

As a kid, MUSHA and Lightening Force were my main titles that gravitated me towards the genre.
As a teen, Mars Matrix and Radiant Silvergun rekindled my interest in shmups.
In my early 20's trying the cave and raizing games on Mame gave me something to look forward to (but were way above my skill level).
By mid 20's I hopped on on the 360 imports starting with Deathsmiles (nail in coffin right there), caught up on some PS2 imports as well..

IN MY THIRTIES: CABS AND PCBS W00T

[moh]

IN MY THIRTIES: CABS AND PCBS W00T

hahaha, awesome

[Jack Burton]

R-type on my friend's Turbo Grafx. From that point on, I was in love.

[Nana]

I'd always had a passing interest in them, but it wasn't until I played Gundemonium Recollection that I absolutely fell in love with the genre. It certainly helps that it didn't just let you credit feed till the end, unlike games I had played before it.

[ciox]

In short, Psyvariar and various shmup superplays on youtube.
It started with a music player on someone's website that played the stage 1 theme from Psyvariar Revision, it made me check out the game, realise shmups can be complex as hell, etc.
Naut's DOJBL run was also a factor in me taking bullet hell seriously, I'm still a very green bullet hell player but I like to think fighting game skills (SF3) made the jump into it easier.

[Jeneki]

Megamania on the 2600 was the first one I got really in to. Also Raiden in arcades was a big one for me; I waited in line for hours to play it.

[trap15]

Threads like this are why I love this forum

[moh]

Threads like this are why I love this forum

i only come here for the titts

[SuperSoaker360]

Touhou