9th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

[DMC]

Manabu Namiki takes the gold, silver and bronze medals, along with the fourth place.

[incognoscente]

Good catch!

Anybody knows Treasure's public email?

info[at]treasure-inc.co.jp ?

[Icarus]

Garegga at #1, Batrider at #2, MMP! and Futari in the top10, and Pink Sweets getting an honorable mention. I am happy.
Thanks for the list once again, incog.

[emphatic]

DOJ ahead of Kets?

I have no problem. The PGM games are equally wonderful, even though Ketsui is MY personal fave.

[RNGmaster]

What is it Strikers 1945 II has that 1999 hasn't?

It doesn't have coin chaining, and I find that the "flashing" interval is longer. Plus the ship selection is more interesting. Certainly better than the zero-sum game that is S1999 character selection. Instead of having only one high-tier ship, you have several - Lightning, Hayate and Flying Pancake.

I'm glad Crimzon Clover got onto the Honorable Mentions. And RSG got booted, el oh el.

[TenshiP]

Glad to see Crimzon Clover to make honorable mention.

[mesh control]

The top 11 is bad.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Not really. 4 of those 11 I would never consider putting on a top shmups list. 6 of them were somewhere on mine, and ESPGaluda would likely have been on mine if I had played it.

[man9child]

Sucks about Radiant Silvergun. It'll be back next year. I can't imagine why Ikaruga would rank so highly and Silvergun wouldn't place other than the fact that fewer people have played it.

Also, I think you meant to put Ketsui # 1.

[finisherr]

What's the deal with Battle Garegga? I tried playing it once today but the bullets are sometimes hard to see so it kinda turned me off.

[Chirpy13]

.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

I could see the bullets just fine.

Having to actually play for score and intentionally die just to be able to have a shot of clearing the game is terrible. Rank should never make a game impossible if you're playing for survival. Why should I have to suicide as a survival strategy? Suiciding for score in a game is fine to me, but having to do it just to survive is dumb. Pink Sweets and Muchi Muchi Pork got it right as you can actually try to play both on 1 life, and in Muchi Muchi Pork version 1.00, you have to be able to 1 life to be able to score as high as possible due to the loop requirement(I really do want to see a vid or replay of someone looping 1.00, even if I would never pull it off). Pink Sweets has all sorts of other bad stuff about it though, but you're also rewarded for staying alive with higher scores.

[moozooh]

Battle Garegga is an entirely acquired taste, and may take a lot of time (probably more than you'll be willing to spend on it) to click, but it's one of the games deserving the #1 spot.

Also, the list got better after the change.

[finisherr]

So, I just credit fed through Ketsui for the first time after having cleared the first loop of DDP (first clear for any shmup) and played some other games. Wow, this shmup is awesome. It's shockingly difficult, it's immensely gorgeous, and sonically crisp (even the soundtrack is highly intense)! I'll have to get my skills up before I truly attempt this one, but really, I'm kind of surprised that this didn't come in as number 1. Did a lot of people choose Garegga for old school cred or what?

[MX7]

So, I just credit fed through Ketsui for the first time after having cleared the first loop of DDP (first clear for any shmup) and played some other games. Wow, this shmup is awesome. It's shockingly difficult, it's immensely gorgeous, and sonically crisp (even the soundtrack is highly intense)! I'll have to get my skills up before I truly attempt this one, but really, I'm kind of surprised that this didn't come in as number 1. Did a lot of people choose Garegga for old school cred or what?

Garrega is positively oceanic in depth, and this is something that can only increase appreciation over time. While it may seem initially simplistic, with a simple medaling system and slightly eccentric bombing system (ripped off Gun Frontier), the more you explore, the more ridiculously deep the game gets. To understand the rank system is to intentionally rip the game apart, and, indeed, to consider exactly how it was programmed. The cool mise en scene and music become largely irrelevant, as you're essentially playing against the programmer himself, playing the game in a deliberately counterintuitive manner. I personally see Garrega as a masterpiece of postmodern game design.

Moreover though, it's more fun to score in Garrega than pretty much every other game. When you shoot something, bits of rust fly off. You can pick assorted weapons and limbs off larger enemies. You get frequent extends for doing this. If you mess up, by dying or missing a medal at max value, the game gets a bit easier (in the same situation, most shooting games punish you with effectively increasing the difficulty through powering down the player or returning them to a checkpoint). Basically, it's one of the most fun games ever made.

Pork! effectively improves on Garrega in every way. It takes similar mechanics, and both multiplies and simplifies them. It's the perfect marriage of Cave's undoubtably attractive presentational style (bright colour pallet, heavily sexualised characters, chirpy music) with Raizing's patented 'stupidly deep yet ridiculously satisfying' scoring system. And that's why it's the best shooting game ever. I won't be surprised if Pork! remains in the top ten next year too.

[Cuilan]

Nice to see Futari 1.5 and Espgaluda in the top 10, and happy that Deathsmiles is pretty high up (should be higher though). Very sad that Deathsmiles 2, the Senkos, and Trouble Witches Neo are nowhere to be found. In fact, most of the games I voted for didn't even get an honorable mention...

[moozooh]

If you mess up, by dying or missing a medal at max value, the game gets a bit easier

Let me address a misconception here: dropping the medal chain does not decrease rank in any way. Instead, it indirectly makes it somewhat harder as restarting a medal chain takes a minutely higher toll on rank compared to continuing an existing 10k-medal one.

[Paradigm]

Having to actually play for score and intentionally die just to be able to have a shot of clearing the game is terrible. Rank should never make a game impossible if you're playing for survival. Why should I have to suicide as a survival strategy? Suiciding for score in a game is fine to me, but having to do it just to survive is dumb.

Here's a replay of KET proving you wrong.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Edit: Never mind.

Plus, he still keeps the rank low in said replay. What I want to see is a full max rank run, no TAS and humanly possible play. Preferably with little to no scoring. And even then, my opinion of the game would only improve a little bit.

It's still not a fun game, and nothing will get me to like it.

[moozooh]

You're just being unreasonable, that's all. First of all, WR-level replays pretty much never suicide to survive, they do it to accumulate bombs and perform other tricks. Reducing rank is a side-effect in that case. But handling the game at rank that high requires very deep understanding of the game, as well as awesome skill. Clearing the game without suiciding while also intentionally driving the rank high is not impossible (basically all the strategies KET has used in that video apply)... but can you do it? And why would you — just to prove a point nobody else cares about, being busy playing the game for score?

What you essentially want is for the game to be easier, but not easier; more conventional, but not so conventional. Go play Muchi Muchi Pork and see if it's close to what you want, otherwise forget it.

[Twiddle]

if you understand (not necessarily like) garegga you will become far less bad at games

[MX7]

If you mess up, by dying or missing a medal at max value, the game gets a bit easier

Let me address a misconception here: dropping the medal chain does not decrease rank in any way. Instead, it indirectly makes it somewhat harder as restarting a medal chain takes a minutely higher toll on rank compared to continuing an existing 10k-medal one.

Ah, OK. Is there another Raizing game where missing a 10k medal brings the rank down?

[Sapz]

That'd be Pink Sweets 1.01 (and possibly 1.00, haven't really played this much so not 100% sure on it).

[Icarus]

That'd be Pink Sweets 1.01 (and possibly 1.00, haven't really played this much so not 100% sure on it).

Just PS ver1.01, ver1.00 has no real rank decrease ability besides dying, and even then it doesn't chop that much off.

[Rob]

Did a lot of people choose Garegga for old school cred or what?

lol @ idea of 1996 earning "old school cred" on here.

[BulletMagnet]

Darius Gaiden...into the Top 25.

Other than this inexplicable stain on the festivities, not a bad list overall.

Thanks to incog for making this happen on rather short notice!

[Psikyo_Ball]

Im happy for see Dragon blaze on the list this year. (my favourite).

[mjclark]

Nice to see x68k in the platforms
Why no Dreamcast- is that cos none of the releases were original?
And very pleased to see Darius Gaiden in there, but no Milestone or Triangle Service...oh well, that's "taste" for you

[ChainsawGuitarSP]

(in the same situation, most shooting games punish you with effectively increasing the difficulty through powering down the player or returning them to a checkpoint)

That's supposed to be a good thing...

[finisherr]

I just checked out GunBird 2. Seems like a pretty good game, only it's way too cutesy for me to commit any extent of time defeating. Of course, that's just me though...