Rank Video Game Consoles by Shmups: RESULTS ARE IN OH BOY!3!

[Skykid]

Let's not over think it eh?

Last call for votes!

[DrTrouserPlank]

1. 360
2. Dreamcast
3. PCE
4. Saturn
5. Mega-Drive*

* Don't think there's really a 5th machine with a significant enough library that is superior over another machine's. By choice I'd rather cast no 5th vote.

Last Day bump. Will tally tomorrow depending what time my hangover subsides.

Too much five dorrah Sake Sake?

[gray117]

What I don't see the rationale of is rating platforms by their original titles and just one of the three methods of running non-native games. I'm not saying there's no reason to break it down that way, just that I don't get it. Is it because of commercial releases? Commercial games like Konami's deluxe packs use emulation and not porting, though, and the current crop of consoles have purchasing ROMs for emulation built-in.

You're being too objective; I'd venture this is poll is more about a fondness for the experiences had with shmups on said consoles.

There's something especially irrational [yet pleasing] about proportioning credit to a platform in the first place, unless like you say there was something particularly innovative/valuable about it's construction or these were first party only releases.

The pc is somewhat discounted because it is such an open system with - consequentially - an extremely fractured sense of identity - there's absolutely no sense of curation about it's library and is not really defined by a single design or 'generation' (although yes with retro/emulated releases etc. that does start to become less significant over time for all platforms; but so too does technical brilliance and still we're able to appreciate these even if they are no longer of real practical relevance).

Admiration and fondness for more defined/identifiable, perhaps even, symbolic, consoles is somewhat more rational in this light, albeit still an individual subjective judgement of course.

But yep let's not get too hung up on this

I must admit I surprised myself a little with my relative ps2 and saturn placements...

[Squire Grooktook]

1 Super Nes
2 Xbox 360
3 Ps1
4 Ps2
5 Nes

[Skykid]

* Don't think there's really a 5th machine with a significant enough library that is superior over another machine's. By choice I'd rather cast no 5th vote.

You may cast no 5th vote if you prefer, and you can also edit your list any time before closing.

[Skykid]

Congratulations shmups forum for a display of beautiful serendipity!

The calculations:

Points were attributed against your 1 - 5 scale. Your first place console received 5 points, your fifth place console received 1, etc.

Summary:

In a neck and neck race, the Saturn and 360 were fighting for the higher votes: only the final result could declare them JOINT WINNERS! That's right, to the exact number, the points declared them absolute equals at 157. Wow! Worthy winners I say, a night of champagne and hookers for them to share.
Elsewhere, the Dreamcast accrued a shedload of low number votes, but enough to make it a surprise 2nd place champion! Lotta love for Sega's swan song out there. Its glory has never diminished.
Following up, the PS2's truckload of glorious shmups saw it edge out the PSX, leaving them in 3rd and 4th places respectively. About right when measured against each other, but a travesty when we consider NEC's shmup powerhouse, easily a console with one of the most eternally strong shmup catalogues of all time, has been relegated beneath them to 5th place. Blame yourselves shmups forum: EDUCATION.
Arguably correct in relation to the PCE, Sega's Megadrive is just one spot behind. The beautiful black beast with a stirring throng of arcade shmups ready to elevate the senses and arouse the genitals.
Nintendo's SFC, with a small shmup selection of note, edges out the Neo Geo, leaving them in 7th and 8th spots on the chart.
Rounding off, the PSP pushes through with Dariusburst and the eminent Sengoku Cannon, MSX is driving up behind it followed by the X68k, who probably should have seen Chorensha, Image Fight, Ajax and Cotton lift it a little higher.
Master System and finally Famicom share the bottom spot with just 1 vote a piece. Fair? You decided.

THE RESULTS

1: XBOX 360 & SEGA SATURN - JOINT WINNERS
2: Sega Dreamcast
3: PlayStation 2
4: PlayStation
5: PC-Engine
6: Mega Drive
7: Super Famicom
8: Neo Geo
9: PSP
10: MSX
11: X68000
12: Master System & Famicom - JOINT BOTTOM

Here's the score tally breakdown as it happened:

Code: Select all

Saturn: 5, 5, 2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 4, 5, 5, 4, 5, 4, 5, 5, 2, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4, 3, 5, 3, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 2 (157)

Xbox 360: 3, 4, 5, 5, 2, 5, 3, 5, 4, 5, 4, 5, 5, 1, 5, 5, 4, 1, 5, 2, 2, 4, 3, 3, 3, 5, 3, 1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 3, 4, 5, 2, 5, 4, 3, 5, 4 (157)

Dreamcast: 2, 3, 2, 3, 5, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 4, 4, 4, 2, 3, 4, 3, 5, 1, 2, 2, 2, 5, 1, 4, 2, 5, 3, 3, 1, 4, 2, 1, 5, 2, 4 (101)

PS2: 4, 3, 4, 4, 1, 5, 3, 2, 1, 3, 1, 2, 1, 4, 3, 4, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2, 5, 3, 3, 4, 2, 1, 2 (77)

PSX: 1, 1, 5, 1, 1, 2, 2, 5, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 1, 4, 4, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 2, 5, 5, 2, 3, 3 (71)

PC-Engine: 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 3, 2, 3, 4, 2, 5, 2, 5, 4, 4, 3, 1, 1, 3, 1, 3 (69)

Mega Drive: 2, 1, 3, 4, 2, 2, 3, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 1, 4, 1, 1, 1, 4, 1 (51)

Super Famicom: 2, 3, 2, 1, 5 (12)

Neo Geo: 5, 3, 3 (11)

PSP: 1, 4 (5)

MSX: 4 (4)

X68000  1, 1 (2)

Master System 1 (1)

Famicom 1 (1)

Thanks for playing this game!

You can now go and open threads complaining about the results, the unfairness, the rigging, the "artificial restrictions", and how Sony consoles deserve to always be number one because Sony, and the PS3 is amazing etc.

Enjoy.

[guigui]

Now this is a nice result : no winner

Thanks for counting all of this Skykid.

[trap15]

Wow, a tie for 1st. That's quite something!

[MauJustice]

Top 6 was expected, a little surprised by the order of 3-6.

[Skykid]

Top 6 was expected, a little surprised by the order of 3-6.

Yeah, it's practically upside down. I had plenty of fun shmupping on my PS and PS2, especially when Arika's fine ports landed, but overall I don't think they command the same legacy as the machines in 5 & 6.
Not everyone is old enough to have basked in the 16bit glory days, which is how I consider the results to be affected, but if it means anything the point tallies were very close between all four.

Now this is a nice result : no winner

Thanks for counting all of this Skykid.

My pleasure, all good fun and with a surprise outcome!

[EmperorIng]

Certainly didn't expect a tie. Classic and Cave, side by side? Perish the thought!

And certainly didn't expect anyone to vote Neo-Geo or SNES as a #1 spot. I guess Super Earth Defense Force is just that good.

[BIL]

Wait - WHERE IS THE PS3 FUCKING CASUALS

[Skykid]

Certainly didn't expect a tie. Classic and Cave, side by side? Perish the thought!

And certainly didn't expect anyone to vote Neo-Geo or SNES as a #1 spot. I guess Super Earth Defense Force is just that good.

That was Squire Grooktook and mr NG:Dev respectively. I can understand the latter, since it's his indie game weapon of choice, but I can only conclude the former was on a drug called R-Type III.

[Jeneki]

I'm sure those later tier rankings would be different if people were allowed more than five choices. It's easy for one random person to boost a console up when no one has any votes left to push others above it.

[Skykid]

I'm sure those later tier rankings would be different if people were allowed more than five choices. It's easy for one random person to boost a console up when no one has any votes left to push others above it.

Nah, I think 5 is enough to get it square in your head. It comes down to experience and personal experience. For example, I wouldn't figure the Dreamcast above PCE, from both experience and personal experience, but I'm assuming plenty of people here have had more DC ownership compared to PCE. It's nothing definitive, just for fun, and I think it turned out rather well in the end.

More than 5 votes would have been a pain in the ass for me to calculate too (it was a pain in the ass already tbh.)

[scrilla4rella]

a very enjoyable write-up of the results. Right on to the Saturn and 360 for their first place finishes. Major bummer about the low rank of the PCE though I think this is mainly an accessibility issue. Everything else seemed to be on the money imo.

[chempop]

Nice results, and thanks for doing this Skykid! In the last thread about ranking consoles I'm pretty certain I had Saturn and 360 tied for 1st place, I should go check.

[louisg]

Nah, I think 5 is enough to get it square in your head. It comes down to experience and personal experience. For example, I wouldn't figure the Dreamcast above PCE, from both experience and personal experience, but I'm assuming plenty of people here have had more DC ownership compared to PCE. It's nothing definitive, just for fun, and I think it turned out rather well in the end.

It's funny, all 3 16-bit systems are in the exact order I would've put them in I can totally see voting for the SNES. It doesn't have too many good shmups, but the ones which *are* good definitely have an appeal.

Re: DC over PCE: That was a tough one. PCE is my "desert island" system: Lots of fantastic arcade ports, and some great originals. Like the Atari 2600, though, as better ports come out for other systems, the PCE is diminished a bit. And the shooters on the DC that I clicked with, I *really* clicked with. I mean, not one but two swively helicopter shmups? A follow-up to Radiant Silvergun? A Darius-like shmup with a modern 3d makeover? A port of Takumi's finest game with all kinds of bonuses thrown in? Sign me up, man!

Anyway, that was my logic

[EmperorIng]

I think price definitely is a factor in regards to experiential consideration (lots of $10 words there) - I think it's cheaper to get a Saturn collection going than a PCE-CD collection going. Unless you do the pirate shuffle. Even discounting that, a 360 is cheap comparatively, and easily compatible with today's hdtvs, so a lot more people will have access to that, or the Dreamcast (a last gen system) than older systems such as the PCE, even if this forum's average age is skewed a bit higher.

As for SNES, I've never played BioMetal, but I've heard good things. But SNES is the every-thing-but-shmup system for me, primarily.

[BIL]

PS1/SS/DC/PS2/360 in the top five with their metric fuck ton of coinop-derived goodness and MD/PCE/SFC in tow with lots of first-rate originals is a sterling selection whatever the specific ordering of each group. Not a surprising list but it shouldn't be, this place generally knows its stuff. SFC at upper tier, now that'd be a paddlin'!

I either don't care for or can already get decent versions of the shooters for stuff on most of the lower-ranked systems, but I like Recca, Final Mission, Abadox and a handful of other FC shooters enough to rank it above the rest of that group. Not terribly bothered either way, though.

As for SNES, I've never played BioMetal, but I've heard good things.

Just beware the SNES version's vomit-inducing 2Unlimited soundtrack! The SFC one's is excellent, very Zuntata-ish in its slightly offbeat synthpop catchiness (reminds me of MegaBlast to the extent I wonder if the apparently unknown composer worked on both).

[Skykid]

I think the Fami got a raw deal tbh, but there's that word again, experience. Over Horizon, Crisis Force in addition to Bil's mentions would have given it a spot above the MK3 probably, but there's not a huge amount in it.

[louisg]

I think the Fami got a raw deal tbh, but there's that word again, experience. Over Horizon, Crisis Force in addition to Bil's mentions would have given it a spot above the MK3 probably, but there's not a huge amount in it.

It totally did. Let's not forget that Lifeforce was also many people's first 2-player simultaneous co-op shooter, and it had a respectable 1943 as well.

[BIL]

Oh man, Life Force's NES version is why I'm here. Can't believe I forgot to mention that. Gradius II FC is great fun too, worth owning even if you've got the arcade ver.