Totally new with a few questions

[CaptainAhab]

Hello there (and Merry Christmas Eve!),

I have always been interested in the shmup genre but I have never gotten to play many of them. The most recent one that I believe would be considered a shmup is Super Stardust HD on the PS3.

I have a few questions --

1. What are some great games for someone who has access to Mac OS X, Windows 7, a Wii, and a 3DS? What would be good for someone just starting out?

2. Is there any special equipment that I need to pursue this genre? Are there any systems or peripherals I should be aware of?

3. Is there a sort of shmup center on the interwebs? I stumbled upon this forum but I am wondering if there is a website devoted to the shmup genre that is relatively active and updated.

Thank you and have a Merry Christmas!

[chempop]

Welcome to the farm "Moooo, Bahh, Ribbit, Cock-a-doole-doo!"

1. You might want to consider emulating to see what's out there before dropping serious coin. I'm the least qualified to give any real pointers, but I'd imagine windows7 will run Mame (you'll have to find the roms on your own).

2. A wide range of optional accessories/hardware exists. While some prefer using a keyboards, control pads (often Sega Saturn or Xbox360) are popular too. Trumping both in popularity are of course arcade sticks, but do some research first to ensure that you get a good one (check out the hardware subforum). Once you've graduated from emulation and console shooting, the next step will likely be running games on their original arcade hardware (often JAMMA standard). Rather than owning an actual arcade cabinet, many players opt for the supergun setup which will allow you to play arcade games on a TV/monitor. If you have mild insanity you will eventually want to consider a japanese candy cabinet.

3. This be it. Happy shooting and grazing!

[KAI]

1.You have all Milestone shooters on Wii. Go for them.

[Obiwanshinobi]

If your Wii is backwards compatible, there's Ikaruga and Shikigami on Shiro II for the 'Cube (as well as Shikigami no Shiro III for the Wii). Then there are Geometry Wars: Galaxies and Blast Corps.
I play them on WinXP Pro, but Shikigami no Shiro 1-3 and Raiden III might be playable on your computer. PC has got many exclusive shmups, so check out Hydorah and Warning Forever.
Raiden IV, Homura and Giga Wing Generations hacked ROMs work on home computers without emulation, but that's piracy. Realistically speaking, piracy is the easiest route to expand your knowledge of the genre. Softmodded Wii is a home to excellent Mega Drive/Genesis emulation (that's more piracy for ya), where I think Eliminate Down deserves to be played.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

On the 3DS, there's Kokuga, a 3DS D/L title on the USA Nintendo eShop site with some shmuppy elements thrown in for good measure.

On the DS side, I'd recommend picking up a copy of Ketsui Death Label for that extreme cool "bullet hell" (aka danmaku in Japanese) and it's compatible with the 3DS and 3DS-XL (even on the DSi-XL as well).

If you buy the Petit Computer app on the USA Nintendo eShop site and save it to your 3DS's SD or SDHC memory card, you can d/l the cool free indie-shmup title called GMeister (it'll take awhile to scan in all the required 161 QR codes to fully d/l the GMeister shmup title via the 3DS's outerwards-facing camera setup). Plus, a second indie shmup title by the name of Reflect Edge version 2.01 is available to d/l free of charge running on the Petit Computer app (again scanning the required QR codes). Reflect Edge has that modern-day danmaku action mixed in with the classic NES/Famicom 8-bit stylized graphics - a fun shmup romp indeed. You'll need to use the 3Ds stylus together with the D-pad or Circular Pad when playing a serious session of GMeister.

This thread listed here talks about the indie Petit Computer GMeister shmup here: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... t+Computer

Here's another link to the QR codes for both aforementioned games: http://www.geocities.jp/sp1_ssr/petitcom.htm

And there's the Virtual Console title of the classic Famicom released "Summer Canival '92 Recca" shmup to d/l to your 3DS off of the Nintendo eShop site also.

Chain Blaster is another cool shmup title found on the Ninty eShop.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[xfullmetal17]

I definitely recommend MAME for the old arcade ones.

If you do get Shikigami no Shiro II/III, be ready for some terrible voice acting. (at least the English versions) Sold shmup gameplay apart from the voice acting though.

[Mortificator]

1. Arcades were the focal point of the genre for many years, so MAME and other emulators will allow you to play a huge number of top-line shooters, some of which were never ported.

For horizontal shooters, there've been four long-running series. For verts, it's gone more by style and developer. Alfa System, Cave, Compile, Milestone, Namco, Psikyo, Raizing, Seibu Kaihatsu, Takumi, Toaplan, and Treasure are some of the major names.

2. The 360 was the console that got the most shooters the previous generation, and the PS2 was for the generation before that.

3. I'm afraid we're the shmuppiest, captain, at least in English. There are some other useful sites, though, most of which people from this forum have worked on...
World of Arcades
HG101
Shmuplations (down at the moment, but I'd be surprised if blackoak didn't have it up again soon)
Gamengai
Raiden Fighters Emporium

[finisherr]

Just a few recommendations to take lightly:

1. Try to get a hold of Mame 143u8 (I think). You'll have access to some of the best Cave releases. Cave is a maker of modern "bullet hell" style vertical shooters that are just as addictive as they are difficult. If you can't find 143u8, the latest stable mame release will do. No real need to get fancy with a front-end. The good ol' name executable will work just fine. I recommend DoDonPachi for anyone starting out. You'll learn a lot from that game. If you eventually clear the first loop on one credit then you'll be on your way. You can take the skills you learn from that game elsewhere. DoDonPachi roms for mame can be found on the internet for free. Check out titles from Raizing, Psikyo, and Cave.

2. Get a decent stick. It will may game play a whole lot more fun. Most sticks should work on Windows. If you prefer Mac hardware, install Windows in Bootcamp. Many sticks should also work with Ubuntu. I'd recommend checking out stuff from Hori or the Qanba4. If you want to keep things cheap, I'd also recommend getting an XBox360. You can find many Cave releases on the 360 and purchase them here: http://www.videogamesnewyork.com/index. ... 20a&page=2. If you find that you REALLY enjoy shooters, you may want to spring for a candy cabinet and start collecting shooter PCBs (this can get expensive quickly, but seems well worth it).

3. This forum is probably what you might call a shmup center. Hang out in here and you'll learn a lot.

I remember when I first got into shooters. It changed the way I think about video games. Get DoDonPachi running on Mame, a stick and that first loop clear. You won't regret it.

[xfullmetal17]

Latest MAME seems to run DoDonPachi just fine (as far as I can tell at least)

If I can find 143u8 I can compare, any real difference between the versions that makes 143u8 the better choice?

[broken harbour]

To answer your question about shmups on Mac, the only one I can think of is Jamestown, which is an excellent gateway shmup.

[Blackbird]

Welcome to shmupdom, ahab.

1: The best games to start out with largely depends on how much of a challenge you are looking for. Crimzon Clover on the PC is a superb game, but very difficult for a first time player. I have heard that Jamestown is also a good game, but I have not had a chance to play it yet, so I'm not sure how tough it is. You might check out Super Star Soldier on the Wii virtual console. I recall that game had some solid tunes and a more moderate difficulty. There are probably a few other good games on the Virtual Console as well. I'm not so sure about the shmup library for the 3DS/DS. I haven't heard about any shmups on there, but I don't usually play shooters on mobile consoles.

2: You can go as crazy as you want with hardware. Some people are really purist about using arcade sticks. Personally, I'm happy with a classic Saturn controller. Others actually do very well with the keyboard. It's personal preference, really.

3: This is the forum where most of the fans of shmups hang out. Other posters have already mentioned a few of the resources that are available elsewhere on the web. We're kind of a niche fandom =P.

[CaptainAhab]

Thank you all so much for the informative replies! Much appreciated.

I am strongly considering purchasing Jamestown -- my friend picked it up a long while back and said it was phenomenal. I have my Mac dual booted through the Bootcamp application to run Windows 7, so I'm fine as far as hardware and OS are concerned for the time being. I will definitely look into MAME and the titles suggested. I might be without my Wii for a little while, and due to financial concerns anything outside of the hardware I already have is, for the time being, out of the question. That won't be true forever though, we'll see how much I enjoy my initial foray into all of this.

Here is an unrelated question: do shmups require a great deal of time investment? As a sophomore at a very rigorous college, I do not have a lot of time for video games (one of the reasons I love the 3DS is because many of its best games are single-player, and they do not require 150+ hours of investment to complete and thoroughly enjoy, and finally, they can be played in brief spurts of 20-30 minutes). Lack of time to play video games is one of the reasons I have had to drop multiplayer gaming entirely. Do you find that shmups require a hefty time investment? I'm not talking about becoming some ungodly pro at the genre -- anyone with those ambitions would need to invest at least half of their waking hours into anything, really -- but rather, simply playing shmups through and enjoying them. I figure that they do not require incredibly huge amounts of time such as massively long RPGs like Fallout or The Elder Scrolls do. Am I wrong?

Thanks again. Hope you are all having a good holiday season.

[Squire Grooktook]

I just finished my third semester in college and I can affirm that shmups are probably the best and most convenient genre to play during college. You can get complete fulfillment playing for like 20 minutes in between classes or on break.

Of course like anything, it depends on how serious you are. If you're going for a world record or aiming to be the worlds top player, than of course it's going to take a lot of dedication and time invested. But if you're like me and just want to 1cc some fun games, beat some high scores, and improve a bit at games in general, than they're really the perfect genre for when you're busy.

[Bananamatic]

i don't know man i can spend 7 hours a day on 1 game

and it takes years to be considered "good"

[Squire Grooktook]

To me, "good" just means above average.

TBH I generally consider anyone who can 1 credit clear Nes Contra without the Konami Code as "good", even though that game is pretty easy compared to some of the sequels and similar games (Metal Slug 3 etc.)

Now being "great" is another story, ha ha.

[CaptainAhab]

Just what I wanted to hear, thanks.

i don't know man i can spend 7 hours a day on 1 game

and it takes years to be considered "good"

I don't doubt it; I just wanted to be sure I would have time to play at all. With no more than ~25 minutes a day for video games at most, anything that requires 45+ mins to even get through, so to speak (see: Left 4 Dead 2 campaigns online, any WoW raid, the commitment needed for Dota 2 matches, etc.), is out of the question for someone with my schedule.

So yep, shmups sound perfect. I think I will wait until Jamestown goes on a daily or flash sale to pick it up. I played some Super Stardust HD earlier this afternoon while I have access to my PS3 at home -- got sucked in for over an hour. Very fun game.

Cheers! Have good evenings!

[Squire Grooktook]

So yep, shmups sound perfect. I think I will wait until Jamestown goes on a daily or flash sale to pick it up. I played some Super Stardust HD earlier this afternoon while I have access to my PS3 at home -- got sucked in for over an hour. Very fun game.

Cheers! Have good evenings!

I'd also recommend Satazius and eXceed 2nd on Steam, since those are my personal favorites. Steam is actually building quite a decent library of shooters, and Desura has some good stuff too (Aeternum, Danmaku Unlimited 2, Valkyrius, etc.)

[Blackbird]

Yep, that's one of the good things about shmups. You can invest as much time into them as you are willing. You can spend hours every day mastering one game and going for a high scoring record, or you can casually enjoy a game just playing for fun a few minutes at a time.

I kinda got into shmups for the same reason - as I've gotten older, the pressing need to keep the bills paid leaves me with fewer opportunities for the all day game marathons I used to regularly enjoy =P.

[chempop]

Shmups are perfect for a busy schedule. Within seconds of pressing the power button you'll be having fun, that is just the nature of arcade gaming. But yes, to really get the most out of these games becoming a skilled player who can 1CC game after game can take years of training.. not saying those people actually have more fun mind you.

I also have OSX but am not bootcamping windows7 yet. I'd be interested in knowing how much Ram is needed for running mame smoothly on such a setup. You have a 32 or 64 bit processor?

[CaptainAhab]

I have a rMBP that I picked up a little under two weeks ago. For MAME, I'll be waiting for OpenEmu to release MAME compatibility, because thus far 1.0 is the best thing to ever happen to Mac emulation. I have a 64-bit processor.

Just tried Bug Princess 2 on the App Store and I'm absolutely addicted! I started playing around 10:30 -- I was planning on going to bed around 11:00 but the next time I looked at the clock it was 12:30! Yikes!

Fun stuff.