What's the BEST moment in any shmup you've played?

[finisherr]

The first time you defeat a boss in Ketsui and the entire screen shakes as if the explosion is destroying your monitor. That was pretty impressive.

[Giest118]

The stage 4 boss in Espgaluda 2 is awesome.

Also, Mushihimesama Futari stage 5. The entire stage. I fucking love that stage.

[Mortificator]

The finale of R-Type Delta, when your own Force turns against you.

scrolling DOWN in abadox..

Also a good one.

My first encounter with Queen Fossil in G-Darius.

YOU YOU YOU

[Lord Satori]

not sure if this qualifies as the BEST moment, but the final boss of the soldner X2 DLC was pretty awesome. the unexpected revival was a pretty cool twist as well.

[Ghegs]

The finale of R-Type Delta, when your own Force turns against you.

I never interpreted it that way. I always saw that the Force is sacrificed to destroy the Bydo egg, or that the egg pulls in the Force itself (the Force is made from Bydo parts as well, right?) in an attempt to impregnate itself (it's a very "planting the seed" type of thing...) but the Force manages to win out their internal battle yet is destroyed itself in the process. Or something, who knows what the devs were smoking. The series has plenty of imagery about conception, birth, death and all that stuff, so it would make some sort of sense.

[Captain]

Plenty of theories about the last two (shooter) R-type games on TV tropes.
One of them is that the Bydo try to show you that they are the same as you or that you're not any better than them by having such an appearance.

[Nasirosuchus]

When the final boss of In The Hunt finally died.

[Obiwanshinobi]

When I discovered what Type 2 multiple laser in Gradius V is all about. There were other Fun Weapons™ moments in other shmups, but that one comes to mind first. The essence of what I seek in shmups.

The series has plenty of imagery about conception, birth, death and all that stuff, so it would make some sort of sense.

I find "hatching" moments in games (Chelnov, MGS and so on) particulary striking, but interestingly, the only shmup where I recall it being explicit is Metal Black... and it's a boss that hatches there, not "you". Not much of a shmup moment, though, just a purely cinematic feature.

[Special World]

Eschatos, when you leave the Earth's atmosphere and the ethereal music starts.

[null1024]

Not much of a shmup moment, though, just a purely cinematic feature.

Eh, this thread is mostly about those, it counts.

[Captain]

I loved the moon illusion from Metal Black as well.(and how it mocked the trend of having such an object in the background)

As for a good moment: Any time you destroy some supercomputer.(Ether vapor, Rayforce, R-Type Leo, Kamui, Thunder Force,and I even think a Gradius game has one)

[Astraea FGA Mk. I]

Clearing Death Label mode on Ketsui Death Label is the most recent

I've had a lot of satisfying moments it is hard to choose

[Eaglet]

Holy shit i forgot there are so many of these moments.

The entirety of Ketsui stage 5 but the backwards scrolling section in particular. Shit gets real.
Also hearing the beginning of the ending theme (the bell like arpeggios) after the first 1CC. Fuckin' epic.

Last stage of Metal Black. Starting out all solemn. Then building up to the kick ass folky 6/4-part that goes into the accentuated pad chords while you're raining destruction upon the enemies that are left.

[Zeether]

Oh shit, I just forgot something.

Stage 2 in Recca. The part where after fighting the first snake boss the screen scrolls backwards, then it scrolls faster...and faster....and faster...

[Ed Oscuro]

not seeing beloved "sindy" after Mega Blast's final boss.

Doh was a highlight but the other Arkanoid / Bubble Bobble / Volfied (?) references were kind of odd. Who are these people, and why have they taken our women AND turned all the Taito mascots into big useless chrome things?

Love the underwater tiles for the first stage, needed to be used in a better game though.

[TransatlanticFoe]

The little guys (and dolphins) at the stage interval landing strips in Fire Shark. Makes me smile every single time.

And the, frankly incredible, stage transitions in RayForce.

[SuperSoaker360]

Every part during your first play of Hellsinker where you can't tell what the fuck is going on.

Oh wait, that's like the whole game.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Speaking of little guys, them driving cattle off the grazing ground in the first stage of Raiden.
Mao Mao's video ad in the first stage of Sonic Wings Special.
The first stage boss's agony in Hyper Duel Saturn Mode (struggles to its very bitter end).

[BareKnuckleRoo]

It's hard to think of a best - the first time I cleared Futari 1.5 Original I was super happy (since it was the first Cave game I bought and it crushed me for half a year or so). Now that I've improved since I first got into arcade shmups, 1-ALLing DDP was super satisfying; it was the first Cave shmup I tried in MAME when I was still in my Touhou phase and I thought it was way too difficult at the time.

[guigui]

Radiant Silvergun Kotestu (stage 2-1 boss) arrival : warning, fast upward scrolling, wa-chi arms movement meaning "get ready to fight"

[null1024]

Radiant Silvergun Kotestu (stage 2-1 boss) arrival : warning, fast upward scrolling, wa-chi arms movement meaning "get ready to fight"

so damn cool

Seriously, when he just gets in front of the moon was one of the coolest things ever.
Man, I take back my last answer, this is a much better one.

[Barrys_Bapz]

First time playing on a Sony PVM with S-Video and Fast Striker v1.1 the soundtrack and pink bullets totally in the zone and captured in 20 inches of pure hectic battle.

[AweOfShe]

The stage 4 boss in Espgaluda 2 is awesome.

I'm with you on this. I absolutely love the entirety of that fight.
The stage 3 boss fight was pretty cool too. I like Janome's death animation.

[louisg]

If we're talking purely aesthetics, I love it in Soukyugurentai in the final level where you beat that mid-boss, and then the music shifts and you descend onto that huge space plane. Actually, Souky is full of great moments like that. Darius Gaiden did some great things in the last level with music (and absence of), too.

[Obiwanshinobi]

More mechagony - most Einhänder bosses have some painstakingly life-like animations. Think Godzilla; when Japanese depict injury and death, they make sure the victim's awareness shows.

[powersoul]

Not sure which game this was, but it was during the 90s, when I was still a kiddo. The first thing that came into my mind when the boss appeared was "wow, this game has Gundam for boss". I mean, usually the final transformation of the bosses are humanoid, or even something similar to Gundam.

[emphatic]

Also, every time I reach the final stage of Flying Shark. That soundtrack, those merciless planes.

[Tyjet]

I'm sure this is not the intent of by the designers, but the moments in CAVE games the On Screen Display disappears or the screen freaks out because there are too many things going on. Make me feel that I just "cashed in" a good chunk of score.

Examples:
Espgaluda 2 arrange - go into kakusei over during bosses on lv99*99 and watch bullets/OSD/ship dissappear.
Deathsmiles MBL ver1.1 - Induce enough items and you'll see graphic glitches everywhere.
Mushihimesama futari BL - Turn bullets to 30000x and OSD flickers.

[iconoclast]

I'm sure this is not the intent of by the designers, but the moments in CAVE games the On Screen Display disappears or the screen freaks out because there are too many things going on. Make me feel that I just "cashed in" a good chunk of score.

Yes, I love this. You can also do it in Akai Katana Shin, but it's harder to pull off.

[VixyNyan]

It can be done in ESPgaluda II as well, easily done in Arrange mode when using Kakusei/Zetsushikai in their Over state, gathering gold like crazy with overflowing red bullets on-screen. ^^;