Shooting Game Tournament 2006

[mulletgeezer]

Wivern Wings - still not emulated i believe.

ASO II - Is the same game as Alpha Mission 2 (it's Armoured Scrum Object BTW)

Iridis Alpha - I like it but it's not a pure shmup and so i don't think it would work. It's also too weird and old for most tastes.

In the Hunt - it's a really slow game which i like but many players would hate.

Desert War - not a pure shmup, more a push scrolling rescue game with shmup elements and average gameplay. not a gem. Also i didn't actually mean to nominate Choplifter and Jackal, sorry. They're both good but they're not pure shmups.

Black Heart - a really basic game with huge, rather amateurish graphics. not a gem.

Zunzunkyou No Yabou - a weird, very japanese comedy shmup. it might be a hidden gem for it's charm, but not for it's gameplay.

[Rob]

Tried in MAME-

Dragon Breed - I imagine only one Irem game should make the poll. X-Multiply should be that game.
Air Gallet - Seems pretty mediocre. Playing this for a week would suck. Sorry, no specific criticisms. Maybe someone can back me up with reasons.


I'm feeling a strong urge to play Blazing Star again. Sick, yes.

[mulletgeezer]

Cyberd - isn't this a doujin?
Go Go Space Monkey - it's the mini game in GTA3 isn't it? Geometry Wars would be a better choice.
Varth - I think the joystick waggling bomb charge is quite fun, but we need to see what others think as it might not be popular.

How about:

Kamui - I forgot about this one. It's awesome but i think it might be doujin?

L-Dis - PCE cdrom game. Now this is a proper hidden gem. An awesome parodius style game that's really playable and quite challenging. This would be a good contender but i imagine the format will rule it out as it's unlikely most members could get hold of this.

Space Manbow - I've never gotten around to playing this but people tell me it's a hidden gem.

Air Duel - I've played this and it didn't seem great, but i think it's been accused of being a hidden gem before.

Air Buster - This is quite a fun and challenging game and doesn't get mentioned very often.

Eco Fighters - i haven't played this much but it seemed to have potential.

Hellfire - not so much hidden as undervalued, this game is more playable than many seem to realise and it's very challenging.


I think the idea of eliminating games from the list by raising objections is sound, but this might allow games that nobody likes to remain in the list. i don't think any game should remain in the list unless it's been nominated by a few members, e.g. Omega Fighter has been mentioned a few times now and so should probably make the shortlist, but I doubt very much Black Heart would ever have been nominated by a second player.

[BulletMagnet]

Kamui - I forgot about this one. It's awesome but i think it might be doujin?

It is, and only the demo is available for DL, you have to buy the full version (which is apparently very difficult to get ahold of).

[Shatterhand]

Space Manbow doesn't have any score system, other than "Who kills more enemies have the better score"

Also, I think the game may loop infinitely, though it gets harder. The game is harder than the Gradius I, ,and no one managed to finish the 2nd loop of Gradius in the Ramus shmeet... I dunno if anyone would be able to do it in Space Manbow (I never even tried the 2nd loop, maybe the game ends there, but I doubt it)


Other than that, I think it would be an awesome choice.

[Rob]

2 more suggestions:

Coryoon
Magical Chase

[Nemo]

I could do a Magical Chase.

[mulletgeezer]

That's 2 good choices there, but aren't both those games really easy? There are lots of hidden gems on the PCE but not many of them are sufficiently challenging. Aldynes and Violent Soldier seemed reasonably hard, they might be considered gems by some folks.

[Shatterhand]

I finished Coryoon on my 1st or 2nd go at it. Stupidly easy.

[Icarus]

There are also a lot of PCE games that might suffer from the infinite milking bug, like Soldier Blade did.

[professor ganson]

There are also a lot of PCE games that might suffer from the infinite milking bug, like Soldier Blade did.

Speaking of Soldier Blade, I've wanted to ask whether this is a properly vertical shooter that gets chopped in the PCE version? If so, I may pass on picking this up, as I hate to play chopped games. Thanks.

[Icarus]

Speaking of Soldier Blade, I've wanted to ask whether this is a properly vertical shooter that gets chopped in the PCE version? If so, I may pass on picking this up, as I hate to play chopped games. Thanks.

AFAIK, Soldier Blade is PCE only, so yoko mode is all you get.

[mulletgeezer]

Yep, SB is PCE only so it's full screen yoko if i remember rightly, but i think as with many PCE verts it has a hidden bordered mode which gives the right screen proportions and looks much nicer, Super Star Soldier and Final Soldier certainly had this mode but they require silly button press combinations to activate.

[CIT]

If we play a PC-Engine game, the only way to go IMO is playing a Caravan mode.

[DJ Incompetent]

I think the idea of eliminating games from the list by raising objections is sound, but this might allow games that nobody likes to remain in the list. i don't think any game should remain in the list unless it's been nominated by a few members,

It's possible, but probably unlikely. I was counting on the fact people were gonna make a note to specify what they did or didn't like based on their preference, I just wanted them to give a reason to back it up. I've shuffled games around because people said they were "average"..which almost may be a personal taste objection in itself.

If anybody is holding back on listed games they really want to say they don't like, feel free to come out with it.
If there's enough simple "preference" objections, I'll work them in the list based on detail of their complaints. Or just add a tenth of a complaint point in the Lesser Nominations or something.

mulletgeezer, a special thanks also for really contributing to the game facts.


list is updated

[Shatterhand]

Xexex (Jpn only) - Good pick if is the JPN version, but it has the same problems of Space Manbow AFAIK (No score system and infinite looping, though someone else should confirm it)
Nebulas Ray - Great game.
Omega Fighter - I already put my bet this one will be the game picked for the week. It HAS to be in the poll
Macross Scrambled Valkyrie - Great game
Cybattler - Awesome game
Trigon (Jpn only) - I am not a big fan of it
X-Multiply - This doesn't have much of a score, I think it's a great shmup for survival, but not good for score competition
Alpha Mission 2 (Armoured Scrum Object II = ASO II) - I don't dig this game too much...
Super Spy Hunter - Is this a shmup?
Captain Skyhawk - Kinda boring
Boogie Wings - AWESOME game. Please put this on the poll
Air Buster - Good game
Dragon Breed - Great game, but is it good for a score competition?
Violent Soldier - This game kinda sucks, doesn't?
Eco Fighters - This deserves to be in the poll too
Hellfire - I don't like it.
Image Fight - I don't like it either
Cyberd - this indeed is doujin, but it runs on very old PC systems (I used to play it in a Pentium 233 Mhz with 32 mb with no slowdown), and it has an awesome score system.
Magical Chase - yes, it's very easy.
19XX - I personally think it's a good pick
Air Duel - this is crap
Gekiridan - I had thought about nominating this, but I know many people don't like it. I personally like it a lot.
Air Gallet - Mediocre? I think it's an awesome game and it could be in the poll
Nostradamus - L-Dis - 0 (emu possible? +)
Cyberd - 0 (Is this a doujin? +)
Magical Chase - 1 (Easy? +)
19XX - 1 (Clamed common, I've not seen nor heard of this game till recently +)
Outzone - 1 (Easy w/super ball weapon +)
Air Duel - 1 ("Didn't seem great" +)
Gekiridan - 1 (Average. +)
Air Gallet - (Mediocre +)
Cyvern - 1 Please NO!
In the Hunt - If this fits in Hidden Gem Week, I would like to see it in the poll, mainly because I got it SO CLOSE to finish it... maybe this could give me the incentive to finally 1cc this game
Change Air Blade - I think this could be a good option too
R-Type Leo - 1 There's not much of a score system, and I bet many people could finish the game in a week... but it's an awesome game
Sengeki Striker - I Dunno if its common, but it's a good game
Kingdom Grandprix - 0 Please no....
Shienryu (Geki-Oh) - The game is awesome, but it's not very available... it runs like shit on Mame. I own the saturn version though
Space Manbow - Like I said, I dobut anyone would be able to double-loop it in a week (If Icarus did NOT double loop Gradius in one week, I don't think he could do it with Space Manbow either ). The lack of score system is NO problem to me, and I think it would be an awesome choice

[Twiddle]

The theory is, the last games nobody knows enough about to bitch against may be our """hidden gems?"""

Russian roulette.

[Rob]

I demand Coryoon and the 40 ALLs it would bring.

Violent Soldier - This game kinda sucks, doesn't?

Not particularly.

[Randorama]

Uhm, hidden gem...









Psychic 5!!!




?

[CIT]

Psychic 5 is not a shooting game!

[Turrican]

In the Hunt would indeed be cool. it's on MAME, PSOne, Saturn, so there's a fair chance that the majority of us has access to it.

Let's hope this one shows up in Edge's poll.

[Vincere]

In the Hunt would indeed be cool. it's on MAME, PSOne, Saturn, so there's a fair chance that the majority of us has access to it.

Let's hope this one shows up in Edge's poll.

Urgh, I hate this one. I find it completly fucked up. I'd like to see Star Force selected for the Hidden Gem Week. Uh...not.

[DJ Incompetent]

Thanks a lot Shatterhand

I threw in the tenth-point game-bashing without just-cause thing. It doesn't really add any real title placement shifts that I wasn't doing already, so interpret the list as you please.

The theory is, the last games nobody knows enough about to bitch against may be our """hidden gems?"""

Russian roulette.

Yeah. Probably. But if it can stop this...

All of these are terrible.

voted 6th option (view results)

Bleh. Count me out of this week. All that stuff is crapola.

Starforce. They all look aweful btw...

Argh, man you gotta be kidding... there is virtually none I was hoping for in the list...

But some people aren't joining weeks out of protest. I even got PMs like "the poll X was retarded and has broken the competition thus I won't contribute any more scores to the competition."

The playing week ends on 11th September, 11:59 AM (GMT).

Cool. Were done already!

I think most of us would be happier if that were actually the case.

allright!! im in it.. actually this game wasent as bad as i remembered it

I actually like this game (after innitially thinking it was crap!)

I love this game! Brought back memories of blowing off homework to play Nintendo. I was going to play it on my NES but couldn't get the system to work.

C'mon, this game is kinda fun. I like the boss music =)

...I'll take that chance.


list updated

[Rob]

X-Multiply - 1 (not much scoring. Survival based +)

Half of the games I recognize on the list have survival based scoring. Which I don't think is such a bad thing if it's really tough.

I think the intention/effort here is good, but the list has a bunch of junk stuff on it thanks to poor suggestions. Games like Air Buster are simply mediocre and there really isn't a major flaw to point out, so... Whip Rush is lame. Hellfire is lame. And again, STRIKE GUNNER has no place anywhere near this list.

Another excellent contribution from me.

[Nemo]

For the sake of variation and fairness I feel that FEKA USA should decide what games make it into the poll for Hidden Gem Week instead of Team Germany (Edge) deciding the games once again. As you've seen we have good taste and will take all your suggestions into account.

[DEL]

Rob wrote;

Hellfire is lame

No its not.

[mulletgeezer]

Rob wrote;

Hellfire is lame

No its not.

I think it's a good game, but like i said it's undervalued and it's surprises me more people don't like it as it's fun and challenging.

I think Air Buster is well worth considering - I agree it's not an amazing game but it's quite fun and a seem to remember it's pretty hard, we need something that will actually keep people playing for a week and many of the games on the list won't do that.

How about x68000 games? Xenocide files has reviews of Nemesis 90 and Scorpius, i've not played either but they look the part (Akira describes Scorpius as a gem and it's certainly hidden.) Does anybody know these games? I think we could do with a few more players going through the current list and giving opinions, this will really help us improve it.

[Randorama]

I propose...






Bubble Bobble!


Seriously though, the whole hidden gem idea has empirically proven to be problematic, please avoid it in future tournaments.


(My serious proposal is Omega Fighter. I know, not the nicest game in the world, but it has an interesting score-system, or: at least they tried).

[ParegoricKid]

Space Manbow doesn't have any score system, other than "Who kills more enemies have the better score"

Also, I think the game may loop infinitely, though it gets harder. The game is harder than the Gradius I, ,and no one managed to finish the 2nd loop of Gradius in the Ramus shmeet... I dunno if anyone would be able to do it in Space Manbow (I never even tried the 2nd loop, maybe the game ends there, but I doubt it)


Other than that, I think it would be an awesome choice.

Man I looove Space manbow and it is a real hiden gem!

It doesn't loop infinitely Shatterhand, I finished it several times, there's just the end sequence and credits and that's it. Space Manbow would be awesome, it's one of my alltime oldschool faves.

Other suggestions:
Andro Dunos
Armed Formation
and Dragon Breed, others mentioned it several times already

I didn't read this hole thread, just part of it and I do understand how you chose the games and how it works with the teams and scores. The suggestions made about cautioning someone isn't a bad idea imo, maybe till the end of this years competition a new and better system of setting next yers comp up will emerge from the previous experiences.

I certainly would love to be part of a team next time if I'm allowed to. However I may fuck up the score a little...

I'll try and be a good boy so you'll let me in...

[Rob]

For the sake of variation and fairness I feel that FEKA USA should decide what games make it into the poll for Hidden Gem Week instead of Team Germany (Edge) deciding the games once again. As you've seen we have good taste and will take all your suggestions into account.

Nemo has a good idea here. Edge needs a break from this insanity anyways.