20th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

[Pizza from yesterday]

Thanks once again, Nifty, for keeping the tradition alive. A few random thoughts:

- I never really noticed before, but there are relatively few titles that I'd be inclined to consider "accessible" on the list, especially near the very top; opinions obviously vary on what exactly fits that definition, though I imagine few would include the likes of Garegga, DOJ and Ketsui.

IMO the one thing Ketsui offers to more casual players is a scoring system

Yeah, Ketsui isn't suited for beginners.

Ketsui Deathtiny on the other hand is one of the most accessible shmups period considering you can

• Play the game at 1/10th the normal difficulty and adjust upwards in 1/10th increments as you get comfortable

• Practice any segment of any stage at any difficulty level

• Retry mistakes immediately + a whole mode to help you train from your mistakes in arcade mode

• The gadgets and extensive manual ensure nothing is obfuscated

• And other aids like replays and 30 save states and so on

I never fail to recommend it, even to non-shmuppers. Ketsui's skill ceiling might be in the stratosphere, but with Deathtiny's slew of training features it's able to accommodate any player of any skill level and show them a fun time.

[Gamer707b]

I love to see what games keep attracting new players, and which hold attention after hundreds or thousands of hours. If TF3 passed those tests it would remain in the top 25.

If that's your criteria then you've picked the wrong genre.

TF3 is objectively better than any Cave game because it has the word "Thunder" in the title. It's playground science.

Speaking of objective science, the following image comparison tells us all we need to know:





One of these gets me pumped to dispense my phallus craft's hot loads of laser justice into a giant space phoenix. The other chills me out for a relaxed weekend outing, maybe sandwiches in the park before a free evening symphony in the 4H club's band shell by the lake?

Can't argue with science. Technosoft > Cave.

Love me some Thunder Force 3. I may even like it more than TF4. Just did a clear of it last weekend and just like you explained, it felt like a chill and relaxing weekend playing through it. As far as Technosoft > Cave. I would agree, but around here, you will get sentenced to hard labor for life the mere mention of that.

[R79]

Surprised a game like Daisenpu is outside of such a epoch spanning list. Pretty much the king of old school vert shooters I would say, until everything went completely nuts post Batsugun. Clearly a real progenitor to Garegga, with such a splendid pace, sound and feel.