Underrated Gems: What shooters are underrated?

[M.Knight]

ESP Ra.De's scoring is fun once you get the hang of it, but there is the issue of boss milking. A (probably unintended) way to exploit the scoring system is to use only the B-shot's smallest bubbles to hit the bosses. You do this by moving to the side while launching your bubbles. This will not damage the boss a lot, but it will still give you as many points as if you hit the boss with every bubble, or something like this. Bosses have no timers in this game so you can try to remove their health bit by bit even though it is very risky and difficult.

I also agree with Dangun Feveron having a cool soundtrack and being very enjoyable, and with Fairy Wars having an interesting mechanic. Being respectively a CAVE and a Touhou game, I wouldn't say they are extremely underrated but they probably are if you compare them to their developers' other games, indeed.

[trap15]

Bosses have no timers in this game

Not true. I was playing ESP Ra.De. at MAGfest a week ago, and I had them time out while milking them. I actually enjoy doing the milking in ESP Ra.De., and while the timers are really long, they are not actually infinite. You can generally kill them by just using the smallest bubble within the time limit, is how long it is. But if you dilly-dally, they will eventually just explode on their own.

[M.Knight]

Wow, I wasn't aware of that. Thanks!
I wonder why putting such a long timer though, I doubt it is because they intended the boss milking.

[trap15]

Funny story. They actually knew about it but didn't do anything because they didn't think players would be crazy enough to exploit it. We all know how that turned out!

[Cagar]

Funny story. They actually knew about it but didn't do anything because they didn't think players would be crazy enough to exploit it. We all know how that turned out!

Wow, source?
Not doubting that you're lying, just wondering if you found this out by finding a comment "Blah no-one will do this" in the game's source code that you have explored
inb4 "it's impossible to have comments in an old arcade game's code"

[M.Knight]

Haha, amazing!
I guess one lesson we can learn is to never underestimate the players' abilities (and madness).

[Ghegs]

Funny story. They actually knew about it but didn't do anything because they didn't think players would be crazy enough to exploit it. We all know how that turned out!

Wow, source?
Not doubting that you're lying, just wondering if you found this out by finding a comment "Blah no-one will do this" in the game's source code that you have explored
inb4 "it's impossible to have comments in an old arcade game's code"

It was in one of the interviews GaijinPunch translated, if memory serves.

[BIL]

I keep that interview bookmarked.

[TheMongoose]

Thanks for the responses. Now I am better equipped for attempting better scores next time I pick it up.

[copy-paster]

For me, definitely S.C.A.T ( aka Action in New York ) on NES
Fun gameplay, awesome graphics ( and voice samples too ) and fun 2P mode, this game is like when Contra meets Thunder Force

And don't forget Nemesis 2 ( aka Gradius : The Interstellar Assault ) on gameboy
Very obscure and underrated shmup, even for the series

[LordHypnos]

I'll agree with Triggerheart Exelica. That game seems very enjoyable and well designed, especially with auto-rotate off, though that will admittedly lead to frustration sometimes. I say completely worth it, though.

Also would add Zero Gunner 2. Probably the least played Psikyo shmup, possibly the best, and definitely the last. It just seems very underplayed for how fun it is.

I'll bet that quite a few Naomi shmups are underrated (I know a few people have mentioned Border Down, Radirgy, Trizeal, etc). Nobody seems to play them as much as earlier stuff or CV-1000 stuff. I've enjoyed almost all of the few that I have played.

I kind of agree with GFW and Dangun Feveron (They're pretty much my favorite TH and CAVE game of the few that I've played, and don't seem to be as popular as others), but I think it's only in relation to their respective developers. Seems like every time scoring is mentioned, somebody will chime in with something along the lines of "Now Dangun Feveron, that game has a fun scoring system." You don't see that as much for something like Mars Matrix (unless it's me specifically posting). Personally I like the DF scoring system mostly for its similarities to the Mars Matrix scoring system (in that you have to weave through bullets collecting items and move all over the screen) as well as caravan games (kill enemies fast to spawn additional enemies! Actually that happens sometimes in MM with local rank, and Ikaruga for that matter). I wouldn't even say that Mars Matrix is that underrated in the West, but DF still seems more widely played and, consequently, appreciated.

Mars Matrix is way underrated in the East though, WTF.

Also a few others: Battle Bakraid (why does this one get the least respect out of the trilogy!?), Aero Chimera (freeware game that is easily top 25 material), Gaplus (best galaga), and maybe Fast Striker (not that it isn't flawed, but it's still lots of fun! Not to mention that Stage 3 has some of the coolest stage hazards).

[Shepardus]

Battle Bakraid (why does this one get the least respect out of the trilogy!?)

It's probably the least interesting out of Garegga/Batrider/Bakraid to play for survival, lacking both the character of Batrider and the sheer detail of Garegga. Most of the stages are almost trivially easy for survival too (provided you picked Flame Viper), though the bosses get fairly challenging and are pretty fun (especially the miniboss rushes in the Cloud stage).

The scoring, on the other hand, is truly excellent. Utterly insane and nothing at all like Garegga or Batrider, but it's the most fun I've ever had with a chaining system. It's a shame that apparently very few people have put any real effort into learning to score in Bakraid (you can easily get a top ten score in the highscores thread even if all you do is chain the stage 1 boss), as that's the one thing that makes Bakraid remarkable in my opinion. I have no idea how Bakraid managed to sneak onto the top 25 shmups of all time list this year, not because I disagree with it being there (I myself would put it even higher), but because I would have expected to see more scoring runs if people liked it enough to vote for it, and I wouldn't rate it as a top 25 for its survival gameplay.

[trap15]

Thunder Dragon 2. Why am I the only person who plays the best game ever made?

[Obiwanshinobi]

In hindsight, Guardian Force is not as underrated as it's been unplayed because of its exclusivity to system not emulated properly for so long. Even Shienryu and Soukyuugurentai (hardly cult-hyped like Radiant Silvergun) I read of before Guardian Force.

[davyK]

Geometry Wars Galaxies on Wii. The drones have since been reused in GW3, as has the geoms used to unlock new levels, not to forget the variety in the levels themselves and the target scores.

Your multiplier resets with a life loss which is more hardcore than GW3 which keeps your multiplier going between lives.

The control scheme is interesting too with fallback option of the 2 stick traditional scheme using the pro-controller.

[Bradbury]

Hitogata Happa

The first stage is annoying because of the weak fire power and the necessity of kamikaze attacks to beat it. I think the most people already give it up after a few minutes but the later stages can be very enjoyable.

[LordHypnos]

It's probably the least interesting out of Garegga/Batrider/Bakraid to play for survival, lacking both the character of Batrider and the sheer detail of Garegga. Most of the stages are almost trivially easy for survival too (provided you picked Flame Viper), though the bosses get fairly challenging and are pretty fun (especially the miniboss rushes in the Cloud stage).

The scoring, on the other hand, is truly excellent. Utterly insane and nothing at all like Garegga or Batrider, but it's the most fun I've ever had with a chaining system. It's a shame that apparently very few people have put any real effort into learning to score in Bakraid (you can easily get a top ten score in the highscores thread even if all you do is chain the stage 1 boss), as that's the one thing that makes Bakraid remarkable in my opinion. I have no idea how Bakraid managed to sneak onto the top 25 shmups of all time list this year, not because I disagree with it being there (I myself would put it even higher), but because I would have expected to see more scoring runs if people liked it enough to vote for it, and I wouldn't rate it as a top 25 for its survival gameplay.

Fair point, I guess. I haven't honestly played it that much, but the scoring is just super cool. Also pretty fun to watch, IMO. Isn't Advanced course a bit trickier for survival, at least?

[neorocker]

Also would add Zero Gunner 2. Probably the least played Psikyo shmup, possibly the best, and definitely the last. It just seems very underplayed for how fun it is.

hell yes. easily my fave psikyo along with dragon blaze. the control scheme is actually great fun, although i can't deny wanting a proper dual-stick version to toy around with.

[Shepardus]

Isn't Advanced course a bit trickier for survival, at least?

It is, but most of the difference is on the bosses, some patterns shoot extra bullets and stuff like that. If there is a difference in the stages it usually doesn't matter because Flame Viper kills everything before they get to do anything (kind of like Shorty in Batrider). Unlike in Batrider, Normal and Advanced start at the same rank, though for some reason it actually affects the starting rank for the next credit. For what it's worth I do consider Bakraid's Normal Course to be harder than Batrider's Normal Course, it's the last two stages of Advanced Course that feel really easy compared to the last two stages of Garegga or Batrider.

Edit: You know what, I actually just played some Bakraid for survival to make sure I'm not talking out of my ass here. It's actually more difficult than I remember, if you're not playing as Flame Viper. Flame Viper does obliterate almost everything though.

[Squire Grooktook]

eXceed 2nd - Vampire Rex

Shoddy rip off of Ikaruga on the surface, totally unique and fun game underneath.

You ram enemies both to kill them faster and absorb more bullets for a bomb, and speed kill bosses for extra points. It's super aggressive, especially during the boss fights where you sometimes chain one bomb into another.

The scoring is not terribly deep, after you learn the boss speedkills properly, it just comes down to tiny insignificant optimizations. But it's a really fun ride learning to 1cc and master.

[copy-paster]

and Battle Garegga (and Batrider maybe ?) can be underrated by some gamers (coz there was no US / EU console localization and low promotion sales, and in Google Search there was only little information / topic with this game)

great gameplay, semi-realistic atmosphere, crazy music, and dynamic difficulity combine into one game

[Skykid]

^ Garegga is usually near the top of the best shmups of all time list here on the forum.

[copy-paster]

^ read my post again, "Some gamers" that I mean is gamers nowadays who aren't know too much about Shmup games

A : "Hey, do you know Battle Garegga? it is an awesome game dude."
B : "WTF is that? a new FPS games? TPS games? Racing games? or new COD series? or whatever..."
A : " "

[Immryr]

-edit- errr double post.

[Immryr]

yeah... cause the point of this topic is "which shmups are underrated by people who have never heard of or played any?". just list every shmup. would be a good thread.

[HardcoreOtaku]

Hana Taka Daka on the PC Engine.

[Skykid]

Hana Taka Daka on the PC Engine.

Bit weak though innit.

If we're going down the obscure PCE road I'd say Baron Don and the Lost Sunheart because it's absolutely insane.

[Skykid]

^ read my post again, "Some gamers" that I mean is gamers nowadays who aren't know too much about Shmup games

A : "Hey, do you know Battle Garegga? it is an awesome game dude."
B : "WTF is that? a new FPS games? TPS games? Racing games? or new COD series? or whatever..."
A : " "

That makes no sense in relation to the topic. It's not games you haven't heard of, it's games you have done that are underrated.

[HardcoreOtaku]

Hana Taka Daka on the PC Engine.

Bit weak though innit.

I love it, it's one of my favourite games games on the PC Engine.

[Skykid]

Hana Taka Daka on the PC Engine.

Bit weak though innit.

I love it, it's one of my favourite games games on the PC Engine.

I'll go back to it. I bought a copy ages ago and tried to get into several times but it didn't click. I like it visually, but iirc being powered up also means your Tenga is massive, which didn't feel comfortable.

If it's really as good as you say though, I'm all for giving it another shot.