Best Shmups of Every Year (Voting)

[Obscura]

This thread makes me feel guilty about having a Touhou game on a "serious" list.

But I really like IN.

[Estebang]

Vote for a toe hoe if you want, I just shouldn't see an entire list full of ZUN.

For the record, IN is also my favorite of the series (from the four I've played).

[RNGmaster]

Should I take your list seriously, Bananamatic?

Thera's up on there, so he's likely not in one of his serious moods.

Also thanks for reminding me that resurrection of heaven's liquor is a real thing.

[chum]

This thread makes me feel guilty about having a Touhou game on a "serious" list.

That's silly. Don't be so easily influenced by the general opinion.



As for me, I can't really make one of these lists until I've played some more games from certain years, but I would definitely put several Touhou games on mine.

[Ed Oscuro]

what? shmups didn't exist pre-1996? oh you missed their golden age.


1980 - The End

I love where this is going!

Rad list though, really.

Should I take your list seriously, Bananamatic? I only see some toe hoe, but still...

Bananamatic's list is as deep as any Cave scoring system.

There ya go.

(It has Daioh)

Where is some fuckin' Daioh Gale?! And why did you make Cosmo Police Galivan II and not Dangar: UFO Robo II, Nichibutsu?! Oh, they made Terra Cresta II...

[Estebang]

Borderliners like Fantasy Zone and Senko no Ronde are not admissible (though Change Air Blade is).

Why is Fantasy Zone considered a borderline shmup?

Manual scrolling.

[Obscura]

Does that mean Defender and Stargate don't count, and I need to change my list?

[Estebang]

I don't like being a hardass about something so trivial, but I would prefer yes.

Also, I forgot Gyruss existed! Changing my 1983 vote.

[Obscura]

Well damn, that makes 1980 really hard...

Hopefully Galaga counts.

EDIT: Does Centipede count? That would fix my 1980 problems.

[Skykid]

Also thanks for reminding me that resurrection of heaven's liquor is a real thing.

Christ my eyes!

[Estebang]

Centipede is fine.

Galaga is a 1981 game.

[Bee Cool]

Vote for a toe hoe if you want, I just shouldn't see an entire list full of ZUN.

Why? Just because you don't think that they are worthy doesn't mean others don't. If you would have mentioned in your post that you would only allow lists that were within your tastes I wouldn't have bothered voting.

Touhou2deep4u

[Naut]

pre-2009 Shumps don't exist
2009 Undefined Fantastic Object
post-2009 Shumps don't exist

[shadowbringer]

1988: Image Fight
1989: X-Multiply

1991: Gynoug (second options: AeroStar)
1992: Varth: Operation Thunderstorm (second options: Battle Mania)
1993: Thunder Dragon 2 (second options: Battle Mania Daiginjou)
1994: Gokujyou Parodius

1996: Battle Garegga (second options: Twinkle Star Sprites)
1997: Dodonpachi (second options: Raiden Fighters 2/Raiden Fighters Jet)
1998: Armed Police Batrider (second options: Mystic Square/Lotus Land Story/ESP Ra De/Dangun Feveron/Cyvern)
1999: Giga Wing
2000: 1944: The [s]poop[/s] Loop Master (second options: Dimahoo)

2002: Dodonpachi Daioujou
2003: ESP Galuda (second options: Ketsui)
2004: Imperishable Night
2005: Phantasmagoria of Flower View

Pre 2008 shmups don't exist
2008: Phantasm Romance
Post 2008 shmups don't exist

2010: Crimzon Clover (second options: Eden's Aegis/Great Fairy Wars/Double Spoiler)
Pre 2011 shmups don't exist
2011: Phantasmagoria Trues
Post 2011 shmups don't exist

I don't have access to Saturn/Dreamcast/PS2/360 and other consoles that can't be emulated, plan on getting a 360 somewhere around the middle of this year, if everything goes as planned. My list had games in which I preferred the games which gave me the more entertaining mental exercise, and at times I've placed the games I actually played more (example: TSS) and more regularly, as second options, because there are times when I'm a bit burnt out and want something more relaxing, not as strict or restart-inducing.

[Illyrian]

This thread is fucking awesome!

Before 1997 shmups didn't exist, except:
1987: R-Type
1995: Donpachi


1997: Dodonpachi
1998: Armed Police Batrider
1999: Mystic Square
2000: Great Mahou Daisukusen/Dimahoo
2001: Progear no Derpashi
2002: Dodgeball
2003: Ketsui
2004: Touhou 8: Imperishible Night (obviously)
2005: Toowoo: Phantasmagoria of W/E
2006: Futari ball
2007: Muchi Muchi Pork
2008: Tou hou 11: Subterranean Animism
2009: -
2010: Toohoo 12.3: Fairy Wars
2011: Crimson Clover

[Obscura]

Question:

Should this list be "favorites" or "I think this is the objectively best designed"? I just realized there's a bit of a conflict there on my 2003 vote; I generally have more fun with Espgaluda than I do with Ketsui because I'm not quite up to the difficulty of the latter, but Ketsui is pretty clearly the better designed game.

[Hagane]

1987: R-Type
1988: Image Fight
1989: Omega Fighter
1990: Air Buster
1991: Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams
1992: Aero Fighters
1993: Mahou Daisakusen
1994: Gokujou Parodius
1995: Game Tengoku
1996: Battle Garegga
1997: Raiden Fighters 2
1998: Armed Police Batrider
1999: Giga Wing
2000: Dragon Blaze
2001: Arashi no Progear
2002: Dodonpachi Dai Ou Jou
2003: Ketsui
2004: Giga Wing Generations
2005: Ibara
2006: Pink Sweets
2007: Muchi Muchi Pork
2008: Touhou Chireiden ~ Subterranean Animism
2009: Touhou Seireisen ~ Undefined Fantastic Object

Had to leave out RFJ in 1998 and Sengoku Blade in 1996, haven't played anything I liked that's from 2010-2011.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

1985- Gradius
1988- Gradius II Gofer no Yabou
1989- Gradius III
1990- Parodius Da!
1992 Tatsujin-Oh
1995- Donpachi
1999- Gradius IV Fukkatsu
2000- Dimahoo
2002- DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou Black Label
2004- Judgment SilverSword Rebirth Edition
2005- ESPgaluda II
2006- Mushihimesama Futari
2007- Muchi Muchi Pork
2008- Subterranean Animism
2009- Trouble Witches AC
2010- DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu- Black Label
2011- Seisou Kouki Strania


And also, what year did Eden's Aegis and Blue Wish Resurrection get released? Because if I haven't picked something for those years.

[Estebang]

Vote for a toe hoe if you want, I just shouldn't see an entire list full of ZUN.

Why? Just because you don't think that they are worthy doesn't mean others don't. If you would have mentioned in your post that you would only allow lists that were within your tastes I wouldn't have bothered voting.

I only mentioned that because the joke posts were getting annoying. If you really want to make a serious vote for everything Touhou, label it as such.

Question:

Should this list be "favorites" or "I think this is the objectively best designed"? I just realized there's a bit of a conflict there on my 2003 vote; I generally have more fun with Espgaluda than I do with Ketsui because I'm not quite up to the difficulty of the latter, but Ketsui is pretty clearly the better designed game.

Favorites, as evidenced by my vote for TFV. Though obviously, you can't completely discredit objective merit.

[Ed Oscuro]

Vote for a toe hoe if you want, I just shouldn't see an entire list full of ZUN.

Why? Just because you don't think that they are worthy doesn't mean others don't. If you would have mentioned in your post that you would only allow lists that were within your tastes I wouldn't have bothered voting.

Touhou2deep4u

Suddenly, your username confuses the hell outta me.

[Naut]

I only mentioned that because the joke posts were getting annoying. If you really want to make a serious vote for everything Touhou, label it as such.

I don't see any joke posts here.

[Moniker]

And also, what year did Eden's Aegis and Blue Wish Resurrection get released? Because if I haven't picked something for those years.

According to the readmes, Eden's Aegis was 2010 and BWR was 2006. BWR+ was 2008.

Anyone know of a somewhat comprehensive doujin database?

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Okay, so the list stays the same as none of those beat Futari, Subterranean Animism, or DFK BL.

They're decent games though.

[Matsunaga]

1984: 1942
1985: Gunsmoke
1986: Salamander
1987: 1943
1988: 1943 Kai
1989: R-TYPE II
1990: 1941
1991: Xexex
1992: R-TYPE Leo
1993: Batsugun
1994: Batsugun Special
1995: Donpachi
1996: Battle Garegga
1997: Dodonpachi
1998: Raiden Fighters Jet
1999: Gigawing
2000: Mars Matrix
2001: Zero Gunner 2
2002: Dodonpachi Dai ou Jou
2003: ESPGaluda
2004: Gigawing Generations
2005: Ibara
2006: Ibara Kuro
2007: Raiden IV
2008: Dodonpachi DFK
2009: -
2010: Space Invaders Infinty Gene

[Bee Cool]

Suddenly, your username confuses the hell outta me.

Thanks for sharing

[Estebang]

Matsunaga, I'm not counting revisions and black labels as separate games.

[louisg]

1980: Phoenix
1981: Galaga
1982: Millipede
1983: Gyruss
1984: Time Pilot '84
1985: Gun.Smoke
1986: Fantasy Zone
1987: Galaga '88
1988: Phelios
1989: Same! Same! Same!
1990: Thunderforce 3
1991: UN Squadron (SNES)
1992: Nexzr
1993: Lords of Thunder
1994: RayForce
1995: DoDonPachi
1996: Soukyugurentai
1997: Strikers II
1998: RayCrisis
1999: GigaWing
2000: Mars Matrix
2001: Zero Gunner 2
2002: DDP DOJ
2003: Border Down
2005: Under Defeat
2006: Shikigami 3
2007: Deathsmiles
2008: DDP:DFK
2010: Fast Striker

I skipped a couple years. A lot of these were hard because it seems that the games I like all came out on the same years! For example, the year of Fantasy Zone, there was also Halley Wars and Salamander. I also had to choose between Nexzr and Gate of Thunder, two of my favorites. I'm assuming that we're supposed to pick the origin year for arcade games and not the year of a nearly identical home port.

[mesh control]

Matsunaga, I'm not counting revisions and black labels as separate games.

Why?

Ibara & Ibara Kuro are too different to be grouped together. Same goes for Futari & DFK. (can't speak for Batsugun)

I understand for games like DOJ, where the BL fixed bugs, but retained the core gameplay.

[Zengeku3]

Wow... guys actually knows when the shmups got released? Amazing!

2006 Shoot the Bullet

My Pick
2006 Shoot the Bullet

You guys are scum! How do you not know that it was released in 2005? As in, the 30th of December?!!! - Or at least it says so on the wiki.

[Estebang]

Matsunaga, I'm not counting revisions and black labels as separate games.

Why?

You have a point, but I don't want to split the vote for a game, or misrepresent a game's year of origin. We're probably going to have a few ties as it is.