The Self-Introduction Thread

[chadm]

Hello.

I've been checking out the site recently because I love shmups and I've recently tried to get back into them. Info I found here helped me solidify my XBLA demo opinions of Ikaruga and Guwange (to the positive) and Sine Mora (to the negative). After looking at some other entertaining threads and posters, I decided to join up.

I've played shmups in bursts. I suppose my first 'shmup' was Centipede, but that was decades ago and I'd barely count it as a shmup, especially when compared to the games that got me into the genre: Touhou. I found these games a few years ago, began looking into the entire genre, then took a break from gaming; my interest in danmaku, however, never left.

Now that I'm back into gaming I've decided to start with XBLA shmups, but I intend to broaden my purchases to PC, and possibly to older consoles, as I develop as a player and as a fan. To that end, this forum seems like the best place on the web.

Thanks for all the help so far. I look forward to actually interacting/contributing in the future.
-Chad

[Treason]

Hello everyone! Been lurking around for some time but today I decided to register. My shooting career started with Parodius (1990) for the Game Boy and these days I have Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga and Deathsmiles for the 360 and I'm wanting to buy Akai Katana. I also really like Jamestown as my nickname is from one of the ships there. I'm a big fan of both Geometry Wars and the Super Stardusts, although I'm not sure you guys take those ones seriously.

I've been a casual player just shooting around, never really understanding the systems of the games, but now I want to change that. I'm trying to understand how the hell Ikaruga and Radiant work, so are there official threads for the games?

Thanks!

[PAPER/ARTILLERY]

Soo... introductions eh?

Well my name is Moosebag and I play shmups.

There I said it, I feel better now!

Been playing and collecting for years but recently started buying some PCB's and have gotten a bit addicted, my newest purchase is an Ibara PCB and yeah... that's a tough one!

I know you theres guides for all sorts of games on here so I'll be checking those out and hopefuly expanding my collection!


cheers

Hey man, you're in Norfampton? Me too! You ever drink in the Racehorse?

[m0ng00se]

Hey I'mm0ng00se

I posted a couple noob ass threads a while back where everyone was super cool then I disappeared for a bit while school kicked my ass. I'm bored out of my face and playing a ton of MAME so I'm back on here now, though. Still haven't 1CC'd anything, but I can get extends now, so I must be getting somewhere (Started with Batsugun and DDP but now I'm good at the first two levels of a dozen games and not significantly better at the Batsugun or DDP). I'm really trying to get good at R-Type because my name starts with R.

[unknown1412]

Belated introduction.

Hi there. I've been playing shmups for more than 5 years now but I only registered here last year. Although I think I already had the fascination for this genre when I was still a kid. Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings and Raiden are the games that got me into this. But right now, I'm more into the Darius series and bullet hell stuff (I'm leaning more on the former though). Most of the time, I play on an emulator. But right now, I got hooked to DBAC after an unexpected appearance in one of the arcades that I usually visit.

So yeah, nice meeting you all.

[Oniros]

Hi all, I'm Oniros!

I've been a casual shmup fan for the longest time. My personal favs are Jamestown and Blazing Star. Right now, I'm trying to get into Cave games and overall trying different shmups to see what I like. Other gaming genres that I like are metroidvanias and fighting games. Nice to meet y'all!

[Chukkzy]

Hi there, I think I am more casual than the average people on here, hopefully that is no issue . I had an Amiga like, 20 years back, I never played stuff like Gradius back then but more european shooters like Apidya, Z-Out, Xenon 2 and Wings of Death, I never really was good with this sort of games but I always adored the style and theme of such works (I am a sucker for exploding sprites and huge scifi fortresses). Last Shmup I bought was the amazing Sine Mora on Steam (although, again I suck at playing it... that digger robot... x.X)
Japanese Favourites of mine are the 194x games (awesome) and Raiden. I just am more for the vertical scrollers I think.

Other stuff that I like: Eighties Rock & Wave music, Seventies Rock, Ninties Techno, Scifi Paintings (I paint a bit myself but I suck at it) and games like Trackmania or Platforming games in 2D & 3D.

[6tusBeckmesser]

@Chukkzy: I guess I'm even more casual then you. Also new to the boards, after having lurked around for a bit. Right now I'm trying to catch up on shmups on the Neo Geo and plan to moving on to the SNES… After that, who knows which wonders await me

[Heavy Viper]

Hey there, long-time shooter, first time poster. I live in Western Australia, and I've loved games of all sorts since I was four years old.

As far as shmups go, I started off with a small selection of STGs in an arcade close to my house, including Truxton (one of my favourites to this day!), R-Type, Galaga, Operation Zedblade and the first Banpresto Macross game, and it's been one of my favourite genres ever since. Outside of shmups, I enjoy racing games, action games and adventure games - but hell, to be honest, I'm not picky. I like to think I can enjoy any game that has a solid system at its heart.

This seems like a nice place! I'm pretty reserved though, so most likely I'll be lurking for a while.

[Erobotan]

Hi!

I'm an amateur game developer, I've only created one game so far (it's a beat'em up). I was wondering what kind of game that i want to make next but after seeing this forum I'm thinking about creating a shmup because this forum seems very friendly toward game developer (no anti advertisement rules - which is often used to lock my thread and prevent me from getting feedback for my game T_T, and it's even have a dedicated subforum for game developing!). To be honest, shmup is not my favorite genre so I wonder how it will turn out ...

Anyway, nice to meet yo all!

[spadgy]

I'm an amateur game developer, I've only created one game so far (it's a beat'em up). I was wondering what kind of game that i want to make next but after seeing this forum I'm thinking about creating a shmup because this forum seems very friendly toward game developer

Welcome, and do check out the Development section of this forum!

And hi to all our new members (those that have posted in this thread and otherwise). Loads signing up at the moment!

[The Pope]

Hey guys, my name's Jake (IBZ) and I'm really glad to have found this forum. I don't get too much time to play games anymore, so these are good for the 20-30 min sessions I get. The first shmup I ever played was Gradius on the NES. I remember how blown my mind was when there was a SECOND level to Gradius. Wow! Not too long after that, I learned that you can power up your ship, too. These games just keep getting better and better! The last sealed video game I bought was Gradius V and I got it the day it came out in '04. I'm also a fan of 2D fighters, run+guns, pinball, and especially all the Midway arcade classics. Been leeching lots of tips in these threads here...

Edited to include a list of some of my favorites:
G-Darius, Ikaruga, Darius Gaiden, Gradius V, Mars Matrix, Raiden (All of them), I'd also like to play more Cave games, but I don't have a 360. Sometimes I stumble across a machine around Seattle, but not too much.

[daigle]

Hello, I used to post here a little over two years ago, had a really nice collection going and then found out my GF at the time was pregnant. Sold it all and left gaming for a while to get my personal and professional life in order. Now that she and I are on the verge of marriage, are both gainfully employed and now have TWO beautiful children im gonna slowly get everything I once had and then some. Feel great to be back on this forum though, check it maybe a few too many times a day looking for deals or cool games I hadnt seen before. Anyways glad to be back and hopefully permanently.

[Jonst]

Hello, I used to post here a little over two years ago, had a really nice collection going and then found out my GF at the time was pregnant. Sold it all and left gaming for a while to get my personal and professional life in order. Now that she and I are on the verge of marriage, are both gainfully employed and now have TWO beautiful children im gonna slowly get everything I once had and then some. Feel great to be back on this forum though, check it maybe a few too many times a day looking for deals or cool games I hadnt seen before. Anyways glad to be back and hopefully permanently.

Nice,sounds good man! Hope you manage to get it all back!

[serys]

Hello~
I used to mess around with STGs a little while back but put aside my interest so I could focus on art and work and whatnot. Though, recently I've found time to get into an STG called Hellsinker and decided since I come here often trying to figure out more about it that I'd register. So here I am.

Also, I'm interested in being a pixel sprite artist if someone wants to make a game. I'm pretty good at coming up with game concepts and scoring systems as well.

[Erobotan]

Welcome, and do check out the Development section of this forum!

Definitely, that subforum is the reason why I decided to register !

Hello, I used to post here a little over two years ago, had a really nice collection going and then found out my GF at the time was pregnant. Sold it all and left gaming for a while to get my personal and professional life in order. Now that she and I are on the verge of marriage, are both gainfully employed and now have TWO beautiful children im gonna slowly get everything I once had and then some.

Hope you can get your collection back, you need to introduce those gems to your two beautiful kids !

[daigle]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Actually I have a question, I'm slowly building up my collection again and snagged a few of the cheaper Saturn games. For my next wave though im conflicted on how to proceed. Should I go after more recent Cave LE's like muchi and sdoj or snag older classics before they get any more expensive like Garegga, Batsugun and Border down. Are those older ones topped out on how much they cost or are they steadily rising? Are the Cave ones gonna hold steady? I know it's hard to predict but any advice would be appreciated.

[Jonst]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Actually I have a question, I'm slowly building up my collection again and snagged a few of the cheaper Saturn games. For my next wave though im conflicted on how to proceed. Should I go after more recent Cave LE's like muchi and sdoj or snag older classics before they get any more expensive like Garegga, Batsugun and Border down. Are those older ones topped out on how much they cost or are they steadily rising? Are the Cave ones gonna hold steady? I know it's hard to predict but any advice would be appreciated.

Well,first off,go for the games you want to play the most.the older stuff you mentioned like border down and garrega seem to be capped kind of,they're still expensive and there will always be sellers that take the piss with prices on ebay! But you can get them fairly reasonable if you're patient.Cave stuff is always pricey as well but it should be stable for a while...

[cathoderaze]

Hi everyone I'm Skyler. I've been a game collector (mainly imports) since high school and have always appreciated shmups but never really got into them until about a year ago when I discovered that with practice they aren't actually evil games that are impossible to beat. Once I realized this I began collecting shooters for all my consoles. I only have a humble Sony crt monitor at the moment but I am hoping to get a candy cab very soon. It's great to be on the forum!

[stevuns]

Hello i'm from Holland and new to the forum.
Hope to learn more about the great world of shumps. I's my favourite genre even though i 'm not very good.
I mostly play Saturn/dreamcast shumps like Battle Garegga, Trizeal, Batsugun etc...

[arelod]

Hi.

I'm here because I like stgs. I just recently got a PVM 20M2MDU and a PS2 to play some DOJ and Espgaluda on. Loving it so far! I haven't played many shmups before a friend introduced me to Ketsui on MAME. I'm pretty bad still, but hoping to get better. Looking into Battle Garegga now, also!

[superstarsiro]

Hi i'm from italy , i've been lurking here since years. I like g.rev shooters, expecially senko no ronde ( even if it is quite an hybrid), too bad i cannot find anyone to play it seriously. Maybe here... ^__\^

[MrRange]

Hi all, I am kind of new here and yet to introduce myself. I've lurked for a while and decided to join up and attempt to join some of the conversations (although I think I'd be a bit out of my depth). I have been a shooter fan for a long time and mostly collect for the Sega Saturn, although I also buy shooters for the DC and PC Engine and AES when I can afford it.
I'd love to start on PCBs but I just don't know where to start, I am hoping reading this forum more I will learn everything I need to know.

[Agentunknown]

Hi I am from SoCal. Just got a sega astro city to play. Love arcade shmups

[Edobean]

Hello Peeps!

Names Edobean, but most people just call me Edo for short.

I've been into shmups for a very long time now. One of the first shmups that I played was Gradius III. Ever since I got my hands
on that game, I was immediately hooked. I've always been into video games my whole life but it's until pretty recently that shmups has left a mark on me.
Some shmups I've played are Gradius Series, Eschatos, Espgaluda II Black Label, Mushi-himesama Futari, and probably others but I don't remember.

A friend of mine told me to join here, so I did! Simple as that.

I'm a big fan of video games and play all sorts (RPG, Shmups, Action, Puzzle, Fighting, etc.). I like to play older games but love to try the latest games sometimes.
Other things I like to do - Let's Playing, Streaming on Twitch, Drawing, Singing horribly.

It's nice to see others with big love for Shmups. Hope to make some friends here.

[Sidewalk]

Hello!

I have been coming back to this site many times, reading the forum etc, since 4-5 years back when I first found it, but I never registered until now. I reside in Gothenburg, Sweden. Basically a huge fan of well made videogames. Collectors tend to be annoyed by me not collecting a genre or a platform, but just "good games". In the late 90s, shumps started to really stand out for me as they started to become more complex and artistic. It was no longer just about avoiding bullets, but to do it with grace to rack up sick points. Something clearly not included in an FPS.

My feeling about all the excellent shmups we have seen since the late 90s is that Cave is, honestly, doing the games I enjoy the most playing. I really miss the good old dystopic feeling of hellish cyber war with futuristic mechs and disturbing enemies. Cave shooter enemies tends to be disturbing in other ways, if you know what I mean

I am currently trying to get anywhere close to good at Muchi muchi pork for 360 and Phoenix HD on my iphone.
All time fav shmup has to be Ikaruga and DoDonPachi

Peace

[quash]

What's really good, Shmupsforum?

Some of you may already know me from #raidenii, or perhaps Dustloop/VFDC.

In short, I'm just a dude who plays fighting games. What am I doing on this forum, again?

I die at the Stage 4 boss in Strania. That about sums up my STG skillz.

I'm originally from Mountain View, CA (home of Google, and not much else), though I now reside in Yokosuka, Japan; from the bottom of one peninsula to another.

I may post pictures of Japanese arcades and ask lots of stupid questions. Or, I may never make another post again. Only time will tell!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I die at the Stage 4 boss in Strania. That about sums up my STG skillz.

The stage 4 boss is pretty much the point where the difficulty seriously ramps up in the game. No shame in dying there, really, he's way tougher than any of the previous bosses.

[shmuppyLove]

I may post pictures of Japanese arcades

Or any cool stuff from Japan, yes please!

[Aubrey123]

Hi all. My name's Matt and although I played a handful of them in my childhood, I've only started to really get in to shooters over the past year or so.

I've had a blast playing Jamestown with my friend and I've been exploring the Mega Drive's shooters. Currently working on clearing Thunder Force II as it was the first one I played after I got the console. I've lurked here to read up on superguns, display technology and other stuff but now that I'm playing the games more I think it's time to break my cover

Looking to put together a stick soon, which I'm excited about!