Vertical shmups with charge-bombs (Arcade)

[doctorfaustus]

I've been searching for days, trying to find a shmup I used to play in a local arcade. At that time, it's memorable characteristic was a charge bomb (I'd never seen that before), where you could hold down the bomb button and build up its strength. After combing through a bunch of raidens, dodonpachis, and capcom titles I'm about 60% convinced that the game I'm thinking of is 19xx: war against destiny, but I thought I'd ask for your collective knowledge in case there are similar mechanics in other vertical shmups. So, can you think of any other verticals that have charge bombs, or any other bomb-strength-building gameplay?

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Espgaluda 1 & 2. A normal tap of the bomb takes 1/4 of the meter, but a full charge takes off 1/2 and you can delay the bomb for as long as you have meter left.

ESP.Ra.De uses the same kind of bomb gauge, but its recharge mechanics are a bit different, and the more you use the bomb the less gauge it uses to get to a higher charge with subsequent uses (if you've used/recharged the gauge a lot, you can get nearly a full charge with only slightly more meter used than a short tap would, as in 1/4 bar). I think it's tied to how much it takes to max out your bomb refill counter (starts at 200, 300 then 400 if I recall).

I'm about 60% convinced that the game I'm thinking of is 19xx: war against destiny

As far as I know, that uses a charge shot, whereas bombs are a simple 'tap the button and it fires' sort. Oh, never mind it has both, my bad (I think I was confusing it with 1944 - The Loop Master).

[doctorfaustus]

I'll check those out for some fun, they've been on my to-play list for a while since I enjoy some of Cave's other games. I didn't know they included that mechanic. Though, in the specific game I've been hunting for recently, I'm pretty certain your character flies a fighter/craft, unlike in the Espgaluda games. It's also not a dragon or some-such.

[Jeneki]

Does Daisenpu (Twin Hawk) count?

Press bomb once and it summons a squadron of planes that fight along side you. Cool!

Mash the button and it summons a squadron of planes that KAMIKAZE CRASHES into everything. BAD ASS!

[BulletMagnet]

There are a couple of games that allow you to hold the bomb button to "aim" the blast's effect area (Battle Bakraid being one), but manually charging a bomb's power isn't a feature you see too often...19XX was the first one I thought of when reading your original post.

[Jeneki]

Also take a look at Pink Sweets, where bombs have a charge up period just to use. In the 360 arrange mode there's a more literal "hold button to charge" to use a hado shot instead of a standard bomb.

[KAI]

IBARA (saa kakatte koi!)

[Pretas]

(not an arcade game, but vertical)

Bokandesuyo! gives you unlimited bombs, but there is a lengthy charge time needed to use one.

[Ed Oscuro]

The Strikers games have both bomb meters and a kind of charge shot which might seem like a bomb.

The Raiden Fighters games also have a lot of charge shots, and again some of these should be bomb-like.

[Imhotep]

Nostradamus

[Jeneki]

The Raiden Fighters games also have a lot of charge shots, and again some of these should be bomb-like.

Oh yea, that reminds me of Sasuke in Shikigami III. His charge shot is even better than a bomb.

[ZacharyB]

Does Daisenpu (Twin Hawk) count?

Press bomb once and it summons a squadron of planes that fight along side you. Cool!

Mash the button and it summons a squadron of planes that KAMIKAZE CRASHES into everything. BAD ASS!

There's even one more. When you summon the planes, you can press the bomb button afterwards (a single time) to send them crashing down. Mashing the bomb button before the planes even appear instead fires off a bone fide bomb-like explosion.

[Skykid]

Gigawing has a charge reflect thingy.

[shmuppyLove]

I was going to say Strikers as well, but you don't hold down the bomb button, you hold down shot ...

Was it a proper vert or a vertizontal? (like 19XX)

[Ed Oscuro]

Vasara's charge shot, also.

[doctorfaustus]

I was going to say Strikers as well, but you don't hold down the bomb button, you hold down shot ...

Was it a proper vert or a vertizontal? (like 19XX)

Yeah, I had seen lots of charge-shots at the time, so I'm positive it was a charge-bomb. It very well could have been vertizontal, which is a word I just learned, thanks. It most certainly was not horizontal.

I think I'm going to settle on 19XX as the culprit. I should have also placed a year on my original post, but 1995 seems pretty spot on. Certainly wouldn't have been past 1999, so that knocks out a bunch of suggestions.

Still I think I got a lot of great suggestions from the thread, thanks all!