What portable system is best for shooters?

greyfalco · Post by **greyfalco** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 6:19 am

Situation: Just moved. New city. New job ... 50 minute train commute to work. Love shooters. Disposable income enough to justify any of the major portables, and even the weirder ones (GP2X? What is that all about?) - but it's more to me about the games. I'd prefer one or two shooters of amazing quality that I could try to perfect for life rather then quantity of shooters. Basically, I need a portable and one or two game recommendations.

I really hope this doesn't start a flames/arguments, I just want some personal opinions on portables they own and the best shooter they own for them.

-grey.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 6:29 am

If you're against emulation, I'd go for a Nomad or Turbo GT.

If you don't mind emulation, I'd take PSP, and the GP2X also looks interesting...

Zweihander · Post by **Zweihander** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 7:04 am

GBA. Iridion II, Astro Boy: Omega Factor, and Gunstar Super Heroes should be incentive enough. But if you're gonna go for something more obscure, go Turbo Grafx GT.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 7:38 am

IMO, the Game Gear and GBA (regular or SP) are the best dedicated handhelds for shooters. Game Gear has the GG Aleste games. GBA has Gradius Galaxies, Xevious Classic NES, Twinbee Famicom Mini, and the b/w GB/GBC lineup of shooters, which includes Solar Striker, Nemesis, Gradius: The Interstellar Assault, Sagaia, Parodius, Project S-11, and Burai Fighter Deluxe (aka Space Maruader GBC).

I don't count downloaded ROMs for GBA, PSP, or any other system. Only games commerically available. I do count offical emulations and classics collections, though.

IMO, the best shooter for GB is the GB b/w Nemesis. It combines elements of Gradius 1/2 into an excellent game.

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 7:39 am

Well convenience is quite important when it comes to portable gaming. And the convenience of taking a vast emulated shmup library with you on the go on a single tiny PSP memory stick cannot be understated. That (and its beautiful LCD screen) makes the PSP a very strong choice right now.

It's hard to single out "one or two shooters of amazing quality", as it depends on what era of games you prefer, but some versions of shmups you can play on the PSP include several Sonic Wings, R-Types (PCE/SNES), Soldier Blade, Super Star Soldier, Alpha Mission II, Last Resort, Pulstar, Galaga, Gaplus, Kyukyoku Tiger (PCE), Raiden (PCE), Noiz2sa, Blazing Lazers, Phelios (MD), Elemental Master, Gynoug, etc. Lots of good stuff.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:01 am

PC engine GT is a sweeeeeeeeeeet handheld (if you can get over the battery issue) and is littered with good shmups..

but so is the PSP if you count emus.. id say it comes down to what you want really, just play games or something more.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:20 am

If you're looking purely from the perspective of what system has the best exclusive catalogue of officially released shooters, I would say Wonderswan and Game Gear are the best.

Wonderswan, as it has Judgement Silversword, the best handheld shooter made, and playable in tate!

Game Gear has GG Aleste II, the second best handheld shooter, IMO.

As well as the technically most impressive Game Gear game (looks like it's on HuCard!).

Zweihander · Post by **Zweihander** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:26 am

The problem with Wonderswan is actually getting ahold of Judgement Silversword...

SD Gundam: Operation U.C. looks fun though. ^^ and RUN=DIM, if the legends of it existing are actually true...

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:35 am

Run=Dim exists, I assure you.

Just hard as hell to find, just like JS.

There's a Gundam shmup on WS? I didn't know that.

ROBOTRON · Post by **ROBOTRON** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 5:31 pm

A NOMAD.

Who can resist the Genesis library of shooters at your finger tips? When I was in the hospital for 40 days, my Nomad is how I survived.

Xexyz · Post by **Xexyz** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 5:39 pm

Counting what the systems library has to offer (no emulation), the PC Engine GT should win hands down. You get to play all the PC Engine shmups on the go. If I'm not mistaken, it's still the system with the largest shmup library around right?

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 5:55 pm

Seven Force wrote:If you're looking purely from the perspective of what system has the best exclusive catalogue of officially released shooters, I would say Wonderswan and Game Gear are the best.

Wonderswan, as it has Judgement Silversword, the best handheld shooter made, and playable in tate!

Game Gear has GG Aleste II, the second best handheld shooter, IMO. As well as the technically most impressive Game Gear game (looks like it's on HuCard!).

Wonderswan only has one or two shmups, all of them hard to find. The Game Gear only has a handful of shmups. The GG Aleste games are well worth finding, though. Nemesis, Solar Striker, and Burai Fighter Dexlue for the b/w GB are all cheap as dirt and extremely easy to find. Also, while Nomad and Turbo Express/PC Engine GT may have a better shmup lineup, Nomad suffers from a screen that's not well suited to shmups and both systems aren't as good on battery life as the Game Boys.

jpolz · Post by **jpolz** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 6:06 pm

I second the Nomad.

Thunderforce Series, Gleylancer, & Gairaies in all their glory on the go!

Tony Gradius · Post by **Tony Gradius** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 8:53 pm

P S P.

Sengoku Cannon, Star Soldier, all of the older games, a lot more to come.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 11:58 pm

I have both SD Gundam Operation U.C. and RUN=DIM (very lucky and unexpected find while scouring Golden Shopping Arcade, it was cheap too). showing off here...

Operation U.C. is not very shmuppy at all, and the controls are quite poor. If I want to play a shooter on WSC, I'll play RUN=DIM since it's the only one I have, and for the beat-em-up sections, I think I preferred the Great Battle games on SFC...

Anyway, for pure convenience, PSP would be the way to go since you'll have access to everything the Nomad and TurboGT can play, and I totally forgot about NeoGeoCD emulation too. Pulstar on the go is a winner for me!

snap monkey · Post by **snap monkey** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 12:18 am

ROBOTRON wrote:A NOMAD.

Who can resist the Genesis library of shooters at your finger tips? When I was in the hospital for 40 days, my Nomad is how I survived.

How many batteries did you go through?

Post by **system11** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 12:46 am

Nomad, easily.

How many people actually play handhelds when they're out and about apart from a few train journeys? The battery problem was overstated - get a couple of packs of rechargables, all done.

greyfalco · Post by **greyfalco** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:08 am

Is making a PSP "emulation friendly" difficult?

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:20 am

Unlike dedicated handhelds, Nomad and Turbo Express have region lockout. There are plenty of US shmups for the Genesis and a good amout of US ones for the Turbo Express, but if you want to play Japanese PC Engine games on the go, you need a PC Engine GT or an adapter for imports, which is very akward to use on the Turbo Express on the go.

gameoverDude · Post by **gameoverDude** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:29 am

ROBOTRON wrote:A NOMAD.

Who can resist the Genesis library of shooters at your finger tips? When I was in the hospital for 40 days, my Nomad is how I survived.

Good one. Gaiares, MUSHA, Phelios, and Thunder Force IV are just a few of the reasons.

At least on PSP you don't have to worry so much about the Turbo Express battery problem if you emulate those games. Thank goodness the PSP can recharge its own battery when plugged in.

iatneH- Are you getting full frame rate and speed with Pulstar on PSP? Just wondering.

biocat · Post by **biocat** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:35 am

I have SD Gundam Operation U.C. which I think I picked up in a bargain bin for about 200 yen. It's definitely wonky control wise and not that fun. On the other hand, Judgment Silversword is very good. I have two copies of that, and one has never been opened.

For pure shmupy goodness, though, I would just go for a PSP. The library of emulated gems available on it is too hard to ignore, and it even has a couple nice shmups of it's own on it: Star Soldier, and Sengoku Cannon.

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 2:13 am

gameoverDude wrote:Are you getting full frame rate and speed with Pulstar on PSP? Just wondering.

Coincidentally I was just playing this last night on my PSP, and yes it runs at full graphic framerate and audio fidelity (Neo CD version, btw).

Admittedly the Nomad does have a current advantage of playing many major Megadrive shmups like Gaiares and the Thunderforce games, which the PSP doesn't do at full framerate with sound yet.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 2:43 am

bloodflowers wrote:Nomad, easily.

How many people actually play handhelds when they're out and about apart from a few train journeys? The battery problem was overstated - get a couple of packs of rechargables, all done.

That's a crude generalization. I do play my GBA at home mostly, but I like taking it to places like the doctors office and on vacation. I also like playing something portable when the TV isn't on. The problem with rechargables is that they get weaker with each charge. That's not good for something that has only two-five hours of battery life.

ROBOTRON · Post by **ROBOTRON** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 4:19 am

snap monkey wrote:
ROBOTRON wrote:A NOMAD.

Who can resist the Genesis library of shooters at your finger tips? When I was in the hospital for 40 days, my Nomad is how I survived.
How many batteries did you go through?

I plugged it into the wall next to my bed.

snap monkey · Post by **snap monkey** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 4:58 am

ROBOTRON wrote:
snap monkey wrote:
ROBOTRON wrote:A NOMAD.

Who can resist the Genesis library of shooters at your finger tips? When I was in the hospital for 40 days, my Nomad is how I survived.
How many batteries did you go through?
I plugged it into the wall next to my bed.

ah, good call

FRO · Post by **FRO** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 2:16 pm

BrianC wrote:That's a crude generalization. I do play my GBA at home mostly, but I like taking it to places like the doctors office and on vacation. I also like playing something portable when the TV isn't on. The problem with rechargables is that they get weaker with each charge. That's not good for something that has only two-five hours of battery life.

I agree. When my wife is hoarding the TV to play Harvest Moon, sometimes I'll go to my PC & play, but pulling out the Nomad is a viable option. However, I would tend to agree w/ those that say the Nomad is not shmup-friendly. I can't play Lightening Force on my Nomad, & Steel Empire? Forget about it! There are a couple good shmups that play fairly well on the Nomad. Wings of Wor fared okay, Gaiares was doable, Elemental Master was doable, & I could get by w/ Fire Shark. However, the Nomad is much more suited for slower platform games. I played a LOT of Shinobi 3 on my Nomad when I was working 3rd shift several years ago.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 2:29 pm

When I said that Wonderswan and Game Gear are the best portables for shmups, I was going by the assumption of "best exclusively handheld shmup library".

Of course having a Nomand, PC-Engine GT, or PSP with Emu is the best overall option, no question about it.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 3:39 pm

Seven Force wrote:When I said that Wonderswan and Game Gear are the best portables for shmups, I was going by the assumption of "best exclusively handheld shmup library".

Of course having a Nomand, PC-Engine GT, or PSP with Emu is the best overall option, no question about it.

So did I when I mentioned the GBA and, seriously, while the GG Alestes are killer games, both the Wonderswan and Game Gear are more lacking than the GB when it comes to shmup variety. The b/w GB has Nemesis, Sagaia, Parodius, Gradius: The Interstellar Assault, R-Type, R-Type 2, Space Invaders, Burai Fighter Deluxe, Solar Striker, Galaga/Galaxian, and Twinbee. GBC has R-Type DX, Project S-11, Space Invaders, Magical Chase, and SWIV. GBA has Gradius Galaxies, Steel Empire, Space Invaders, Iridion II, Time Pilot, Gyruss, Scramble, Galaga, Galaxian, Classic NES Xevious, Famicom Mini Twinbee, and Famicom Mini Star Soldier (with another version of NES Star Solder coming soon in a cart with two other NES shmups. List of GBA games includes games in classics collections). Wonderswan only has Judgement Silversword and Run Dim. Game Gear has Super Space Invaders, Halley Wars, Galaga '91 (a toned down Galaga EightyEight), and the two GG Aleste games. Seriously, the GB lineup has more in the way of shmups than either the Game Gear or Wonderswan, not just one or two quality games.

Also, the one shmup worth trying to seek out on the WS is not a common game. At least GG Aleste 2 isn't too hard to find at a reasonable price. More than a few of the better GB shmups can be found easily for cheap.

Post by **Ghegs** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 3:57 pm

BrianC wrote:Seriously, the GB lineup has more in the way of shmups than either the Game Gear or Wonderswan, not just one or two quality games.

Of course the GBA wins by numbers, but if we're strictly talking about game quality, then WSC prevails. I'm in the lucky position of having both a fair amount of GBA shmups and Judgement Silversword. As much as I love my Solar Striker and Gradius Galaxies, JSS triumphs over any single shmup on GBA.

But I wouldn't recommend WSC to someone looking for a portable gaming. WSC is non-backlit, which makes playing under anything but optimal conditions (I always play under a lamp) very frustating. And while the WSC itself is cheap, the games are often extremely hard to find, not to mention highly expensive in JSS' case. I'm still looking for Run=Dim and Tetris myself...

So in the end GBA wins this one, but only because the system's better suited for portability and the games are far easier and cheaper to find.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 4:06 pm

Ghegs wrote:
BrianC wrote:Seriously, the GB lineup has more in the way of shmups than either the Game Gear or Wonderswan, not just one or two quality games.
Of course the GBA wins by numbers, but if we're strictly talking about game quality, then WSC prevails. I'm in the lucky position of having both a fair amount of GBA shmups and Judgement Silversword. As much as I love my Solar Striker and Gradius Galaxies, JSS triumphs over any single shmup on GBA.

Still, it's only one game. The GB has more than one quality game (and I refrained from mentioned lesser quality games like R-Type III GBA on purpose). Also, I sincerely doubt that Judgement Silversword totally crushes Nemesis (since Nemesis is one of my all time favorites, though I definatly want to get JSS a try since it sounds pretty darn good). I'm not going just by numbers.

Nemesis is like a remix of Gradius. The first level is very similar to the original Gradius's first level, but the actual layout is all new. The second level is more Salamander like and there's a classic Moai level too. The speed is just right and the ship isn't too fast with only two speed ups.

Burai Fighter is a fun shooter where you can aim like in Forgotten Worlds. Solar Striker is a simple shooter that isn't too flashy, but is a blast to play. The GB/GBC R-Types aren't arcade perfect, but are good ports that capture much of the fun of the original. Gradius: The Interstellar Assualt isn't as good as Nemesis (IMO), but it has some more choices of weapons, excellent levels, and is a quality game. Twinbee GB is a decent remix of the original arcade game. Project S-11 is a cool European style shooter that combines aspects of Tyrian 2000 and Zanac (probably a few others too). Classic compliations rock. I love having Time Pilot, Gyruss, and Scramble in the same cart as well as the new port of Galaga in Namco Museum 50th (though PSP has a Namco Museum with that game and more).

I admit that I was jumping the gun on some of the games (mostly the ones that didn't come to the US, though I do own Twinbee Famicom Mini and like it quite a bit) since I only tried them on emu or heard good things about them, though.

Many GB shooters or shooters on any other system for that matter don't come close to the GG Aleste games, but, IMO, Nemesis is the one game on GB that does come close. I still don't know which I prefer.