1998 Greatest Year in Shmup History

[CKR]

I took the results from the 10th annual shmups top 25 (including honorable mention) and compiled a list of the releases by year. As you can see 10 of the 60 award winners were released in 1998. Many people say 1998 was the greatest in gaming history because of games like Metal Gear Solid or Ocarina of Time, but 1998 was the year of the shmup.

1987 2
1988 1
1989 1
1990 1
1991 0
1992 2
1993 1
1994 2
1995 2
1996 2
1997 5
1998 10
1999 4
2000 3
2001 3
2002 1
2003 3
2004 4
2005 3
2006 2
2007 2
2008 1
2009 1
2010 1
2011 2
2012 1

[Ed Oscuro]

people got no respect for meta fox

It's interesting how the next-highest years come both immediately before and after this. Wonder how much the ranking would change if certain titles were removed from the rankings. (An insight into something like this motivated the "Top 25 without a certain company's games" thread recently.)

[CKR]

Only 2 of the 10 releases in 1998 were Cave releases. They were ESP Ra De and Dangun Feveron. The others were Raiden Fighters Jet, Armed Police Batrider, Gunbird 2, Cyvern, R-Type Delta, Einhander, Blazing Star, & Radiant Silvergun. Seems like a balanced list.

[To Far Away Times]

Only 2 of the 10 releases in 1998 were Cave releases. They were ESP Ra De and Dangun Feveron. The others were Raiden Fighters Jet, Armed Police Batrider, Gunbird 2, Cyvern, R-Type Delta, Einhander, Blazing Star, & Radiant Silvergun. Seems like a balanced list.

That is not a bad list of shmups at all right there.

Raiden Fighters Jet, Armed Police Batrider, and R-Type Delta are some of my favorites.

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

IMO 1994 was the greatest shmup year solely because of the creation of Raiden DX.

[MathU]

Not to mention Darius Gaiden and Kingdom Grandprix.

[system11]

Everyone is wrong - 1990 was the best year because that's when Star Fighter came out, which is the best shmup of all time, all others laying on the floor defeated under the radiating power of SuNA.

[EmperorIng]

Everyone is wrong

shmups forum, 2014

[Xyga]

90 + 91 best years in shmups history. By far.

I'm wrong and I'm proud.

[Ed Oscuro]

Only 2 of the 10 releases in 1998 were Cave releases. They were ESP Ra De and Dangun Feveron. The others were Raiden Fighters Jet, Armed Police Batrider, Gunbird 2, Cyvern, R-Type Delta, Einhander, Blazing Star, & Radiant Silvergun. Seems like a balanced list.

d'oh, schooled by the newcomer. I stand corrected! Don't really care about a surprising number of the games on that list but we can swap one of the last three with Guardian Force.

But still, how could the post-Toaplan era include the greatest year in shmup history? You should be able to go to '91 or '93 or something and find oodles of games, so the list is not just balanced but has depth.

[CKR]

But still, how could the post-Toaplan era include the greatest year in shmup history? You should be able to go to '91 or '93 or something and find oodles of games, so the list is not just balanced but has depth.

I was just compiling a list voted on by this forum. This really isn't my opinion but an aggregate of the shmups forum. The voters saw the late '90s as the dominate era. Earlier, you was alluding to a list that included games without Cave as being more representative, but it wasn't until post 2001 that Cave dominated the charts. In the last 11 years, 14 of 21 titles awarded by this forum were Cave titles. There just isn't much competition with Cave anymore. Hopefully with the small downloadable game era were in, we'll see new Toaplans and Raizings emerge. May the future be bright.

[Ed Oscuro]

Earlier, you was alluding to a list that included games without Cave as being more representative

Well, this was the assumption that some other people were working from, in putting together a non-Cave list. I think that if you only find two Cave games from 1998, though, that pretty well discounts that theory.

That being said, if memory serves the Top 25 lists usually have a lot of Cave games. Maybe it was just different this time...?

[dunpeal2064]

Cave just rarely released more than one arcade game a year, so any list specifying a year is only going to have one or two Cave shooters.

[CKR]

Earlier, you was alluding to a list that included games without Cave as being more representative

That being said, if memory serves the Top 25 lists usually have a lot of Cave games. Maybe it was just different this time...?

You are correct, it appears as if there is a possible recency bias (relative to the amount of shmup releases per year) in the selected games. Cave has been the main shmup producer for over a decade; however, 39 of the 60 games on the list were released pre-2002. (where Cave didn't dominate or in some years didn't exist yet) People like you, Ed Oscuro, are doing a good job of keeping the older releases alive.

[Ed Oscuro]

Cave just rarely released more than one arcade game a year, so any list specifying a year is only going to have one or two Cave shooters.

True, there's not a direct comparison to be made between an attempt to remove a publisher across years, and an attempt to find the top publisher for just one year.

@ CKR: Thanks, I feel good now

[spadgy]

people got no respect for meta fox

I love Meta Fox. 1989 all the way for the Seta massive!

Seriously, though, 1998 doesn't surprise me. I think it's reasonable as a statistic peak year for the genre; an average point just before the gradual tail off in arcades, shmup focused studios and such began. Of course, there's been a few spikes since.

Of course, statistics are rarely to reliable.

Apart form the fact that 6 out of 7 dwarves aren't Happy, of course.

[RegalSin]

Between the advent of the MSX and the Dreamcast ( because the N64 and PSX also took place ),All videogames in general. Even the N64 had a bit of the action, and by all means it is an N64.

The PS2, GCN, X-box ( FPS for all, and cheap games that could run better on PC ). Yeah and so forth. Everything is just independent, or homemade. Yeah I agree everything between the MSX and Dreamcast was better.

Everything.

[Oniros]

Last year was the best year in shmup history because that's when I discovered them.

[evil_ash_xero]

The second half of the 90s were very good for shmups. I don't know which year I would pick.

[spadgy]

I was 18 in 1998. Thus, by default my life has been downhill for the subsequent 15 years. So from my perspective, shmups have only got worse, along with everything else.

[KAI]

2005 - Radirgy/Ibara
Nuff said.

[Xyga]

I was 18 in 1998. Thus, by default my life has been downhill for the subsequent 15 years. So from my perspective, shmups have only got worse, along with everything else.

I could sig this.

[spadgy]

I hope the reality is I'm more of an optimist. But, like shmups, since 1998 I just find it harder to fit in, and I'm in increasingly in a less healthy state.

(The truth is many of my favourites are post-1998, and we're lucky that the genre's had a few resurgences since then).

[Xyga]

No for our generation it's over, no more great shmups, upcoming WW3, misery and cancer.
The apocalyptic cyberpunk comic/movie/games stuff we were enjoying as kids was actually predicting our future.
Go buy some Sunblock 5000 now or you're toast.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I wonder how many ladies share your opinion (about teenage years of one's life).

[CKR]

I was 18 in 1998. Thus, by default my life has been downhill for the subsequent 15 years. So from my perspective, shmups have only got worse, along with everything else.

I was 19 in 1998. Life was a party back then.

[Xyga]

I wonder how many ladies share your opinion (about teenage years of one's life).

Who would speak about that with women ? Do you tell them about your postcount on a nerdy video games forums ?

[gigetto]

The second half of the 90s was a wonderful time for all types of videogames. The ps1 had made gaming mainstream and everybody was producing games as if there was no tomorrow. Risky or not risky. It was a very productive time. Then it all went so expensive and corporate that a lot of genre suffered.

[CKR]

The second half of the 90s was a wonderful time for all types of videogames. The ps1 had made gaming mainstream and everybody was producing games as if there was no tomorrow. Risky or not risky. It was a very productive time. Then it all went so expensive and corporate that a lot of genre suffered.

As the budgets started to skyrocket, people wanted experiences to trump gameplay. The late 90s was the start of this transition. I think in the digital era we're currently in that the older style games will come back. Let's face it, not very many people are willing to pay $60 for a shmup. Hopefully they will pay $10-$15. I really hope that high quality sprite work can continue, though. Some of that late 90s stuff is amazing. I'd pay for high resolution re-releases of many of these games.

[RegalSin]

Your forgetting 1995 was one of the worst years, for Japan. They had to recover. Asides for Yo-Yo's here are some things for mind.

Robots
Cars

Electronics
Computers

Toys
Yo-yo
Tamigotchi
Pokemon
SONY
Beanie-babies
Furbies
Bogs
Nintendo

After 1995, they needed some way to dig their way out of problems. So year 1995, sums up the last time, anywhere on this planet was, decent. Then 2001 came along and the internet took over.