Most beautiful shmup?

[Jonst]

I'm sure there's already a thread for this...either way,I'll say it again...these are quite nice IMO...

Espgaluda 2
Dodonpachi daifukkatsu
Dodonpachi sdoj

Honourable mention:
Akai katana
Sturmwind

[AweOfShe]

I'm in love with the designs, sprites, and overall look for Mushihimesama, and Mushihimesama Futari. I find the world absolutely beautiful.

[Aleksei]

Easily Darius Gaiden.

[stryc9]

Soldner X 2 looks pretty good, shit game though.

Gradius V is awesome looking, especially for PS2 hardware. As far as older pixel art efforts, maybe the later Toaplan games, R-Type Leo.
Prerendered stuff - Pulstar, Blazing Star, the newer CAVE STGs on account of the shiny overload.

[Wyrmnus]

Shikigami no Shiro III's mid bosses have the most awesome explosions Ive ever seen.

[Mad Grab]

Guwange!

[Despatche]

absolutely nothing compares to dodonpachi, nothing. we need doj with ddp graphics.

[null1024]

^
madness, I say -- we need DDP with DOJ graphics [and while you're at it, DFK with DOJ graphics ]


But in seriousness, Futari is fucking gorgeous, definitely my nomination. Although, I certainly think that the Yagawa SH-3 games all look more impressive than the others, Futari is just really pretty.
I was surprised to see so many other people mention it, but it was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the thread title.


Soukyugurentai looks damn impressive, but probably not most beautiful. RSG is a few notches above [we all love the Saturn's VDP2]. Darius Gaiden, that's a damn good top contender. G-Darius does some great things too, and only its PS1-ishness seems to hold it back.

[Kollision]

Graphics in both Soldner-Xes are amazing
2nd one is better, but it's a pity that everything moves too fast and you can't really appreciate the beauty

[R-Gray 1]

Ikaruga comes to mind.

yup, Ikaruga .

enemies choreography backgrounds, stage designs, music fits with the chapter, the intro presentation of each chapter , the colors, japanesse sentences...

[ELSMMXIV]

Cave's games are some of the most beautiful ones out there. Especially the Dodonpachi and Mushihimesama series.

If I had to choose it one most beautiful game it would be either Crimzon Clover or Mushihimesama.

Dogyuun also had some crazy awesome designs and sprites.

[Tatsuya79]

Cave games like Futari, EspGaluda 2, Deathsmiles or EspRade and, yes Guwange was worth mentioning.

But hard to talk of a shmup look out of its time context.
I think R-Type Leo, Pulstar, Last Resort, Super Aleste or Spriggan were really great in that regard.

3D is another matter.

[greg]

Psyvariar 2 for the DC deserves mentioning. The bullet showers in that game are beautiful, like watching a fireworks display.

[royalfan84]

Sine Mora
Ikaruga
Darius Gaiden

Guwange
Gradius V
Radiant Silvergun
Border Down
Raiden Fighters series

[gray117]

Dodonpachi Dai Ou Jou - pixel art including those derived from 3d assets fitting together so well in a single identity to kind of cross the 'generation' boundaries at that time. Gives you a balance between that garish arcade feel but with with an atmosphere to it too. Yes it owes a lot to it's predecessors in form and concept but I think it's the kind of sweet spot in execution at that resolution for me.

Ikaruga for doing so much with so little, yet still crammed with craftmanship - kind of a technical appreciation there. Again something of a cross generation performer.

[near_miss]

Hard to pick just one... like different games for different things.

Gradius V: bosses, backgrounds, weapons -- Overall I choose Gradius V.

R-Type Final ... thick atmosphere, stunning bosses.

Under Defeat: Boss destruction animations are so great, have a level of physical presence rarely seen.

Someone mentioned Psyvariar 2 - also epic, fluid boss explosions - and those bullet patterns are hypnotic.

Also agree with the Ikaruga props -- love the stage intros.

For 2D trickery, I'd say Rayforce - some really great "camera" movements made by clever parallax...

For sprites... I'm a sucker for Ketsui's gritty realism, also Battle Garegga... (love the flying debris + sparks on bullet hits)

Hybrid 3D/2D winner: Radiant Silvergun.

[royalfan84]

Hard to pick just one... like different games for different things.

Gradius V: bosses, backgrounds, weapons -- Overall I choose Gradius V.

R-Type Final ... thick atmosphere, stunning bosses.

Under Defeat: Boss destruction animations are so great, have a level of physical presence rarely seen.

Someone mentioned Psyvariar 2 - also epic, fluid boss explosions - and those bullet patterns are hypnotic.

Also agree with the Ikaruga props -- love the stage intros.

For 2D trickery, I'd say Rayforce - some really great "camera" movements made by clever parallax...

For sprites... I'm a sucker for Ketsui's gritty realism, also Battle Garegga... (love the flying debris + sparks on bullet hits)

Hybrid 3D/2D winner: Radiant Silvergun.

R-Type Final yes that one is good to look at. Forgot about it. And it moves at a pace that you can actually fully soak up the scenery.

[Jeneki]

Beautiful destruction? Raiden II and Ibara.

Beautiful colors? Mushihimesama / Futari.

Sexy ladies? Steam Hearts!

[nasty_wolverine]

Beautiful destruction?
Beautiful colors?
Sexy ladies?

Well Hellsinker lacks the destruction aspect a bit, provided you get turned on by traps, disabled, and naked half fairies with the lower half replaced by semi-spheres.

[IseeThings]

Personally I've always really liked everything about Strikers 1945 II

but that doesn't appear to be a popular opinion with people here often saying it's 'too brown' etc.

I just find it a good balance, the graphics are clean and sharp where it matters so you can always tell what's going on while at the same time being modern looking, but not garish like the later Cave stuff.

But I've even seen people claim S1945+ looks better, so yeah, opinions will differ.

Maybe it is a bit brown, but I think that reflects more on the nature of the material being covered. Bright colours like Dragon Blaze (which does also look great IMHO) and Mushisama wouldn't really fit.

[professor ganson]

Personally I've always really liked everything about Strikers 1945 II

but that doesn't appear to be a popular opinion with people here often saying it's 'too brown' etc.

I just find it a good balance, the graphics are clean and sharp where it matters so you can always tell what's going on while at the same time being modern looking, but not garish like the later Cave stuff.

But I've even seen people claim S1945+ looks better, so yeah, opinions will differ.

Maybe it is a bit brown, but I think that reflects more on the nature of the material being covered. Bright colours like Dragon Blaze (which does also look great IMHO) and Mushisama wouldn't really fit.

As far as Psikyo goes, it took me a while to appreciate Sengoku Ace, but now I think it's their best-looking game overall. This article does a great job capturing some of the highlights: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/sengok ... okuace.htm

Way better looking than Sengoku Blade, imho! There are pics from the latter in the article above as well.

[SuperSoaker360]

Akai Katana

[null1024]

Hard to pick just one... like different games for different things.

Gradius V: bosses, backgrounds, weapons -- Overall I choose Gradius V.

R-Type Final ... thick atmosphere, stunning bosses.

Under Defeat: Boss destruction animations are so great, have a level of physical presence rarely seen.

Someone mentioned Psyvariar 2 - also epic, fluid boss explosions - and those bullet patterns are hypnotic.

Also agree with the Ikaruga props -- love the stage intros.

For 2D trickery, I'd say Rayforce - some really great "camera" movements made by clever parallax...

For sprites... I'm a sucker for Ketsui's gritty realism, also Battle Garegga... (love the flying debris + sparks on bullet hits)

Hybrid 3D/2D winner: Radiant Silvergun.

Good picks, really. I really forgot about RayForce when thinking about this, damn -- that game is just the coolest. Maybe not the most beautiful, or most impressive, but it has just brilliant visual design for stages, wonderfully layered -- if it weren't for the aspect ratio [and hilariously small screen if you aren't on an XL], I'd kill to have that game on the 3DS. The stages have a real sense of depth to them.
Taito really wanted to keep up with Sega and the rest during the days when scaling sprites impressed the masses, and by damn, they did.

traps, disabled, and naked half fairies with the lower half replaced by semi-spheres.

yes

maybe

sure, why not

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Futari is my fave. It's overall colour palette and enemy sprites look great.
Akai Katana Shin looks drop dead gorgeous especially it's explotions
Guwange and Jamestown look great too.

Sine Mora is my fave (LOOKING) 3D STG, that's why I'm so bitter about it's gameplay, really needs someone to hack it and tweak it a bit.
Heaven's Variant was shaping up to be a contender, oh well

[Terramax]

Mushihimesama Futari, Blazing Star, and Espgaluda 2 do it for me. But perhaps due to taste, as I love vibrancy and lots of colour. I'm sure someone into brooding, dark visuals would protest my suggestions.

[trap15]

Probably my #1 pick would be Akai Katana Shin/Zetsu. It just looks so damn good. Great use of VFX to spice up the appearance of the pre-rendered graphics.

After that, in an order that I still can't particularly place: Battle Garegga, Armed Police Batrider, Battle Bakraid.

[Oniros]

Akai Katana

This, Futari, and SDOJ.

[gray117]

Mushihimesama Futari, Blazing Star, and Espgaluda 2 do it for me. But perhaps due to taste, as I love vibrancy and lots of colour. I'm sure someone into brooding, dark visuals would protest my suggestions.

Each to their own and all, but am I alone in thinking that futari and sdoj are somewhat of too much of a glowing mess compared to their roots? I suppose it's really sdoj, in particular, that irks me - seems to have abandoned what dodonpachi once was aesthetically - whereas futari is at least a lot more faithful to it's source [albeit there only being an evolution of 2 games].

Is it explicitly the neon that makes sdoj more attractive than say doj, or even dai-fukkatsu, or is it more the hd-i-ness of the overall package? [Personally I think the dolly-lolis are now way too over the top too now... but there we go].

[trap15]

[Personally I think the dolly-lolis are now way too over the top too now... but there we go].

More than DFK? SDOJ is way more manly-mans, you only see the girls in SDOJ in the top-right window thing, and on the select. In DFK they're literally the bosses.

[gray117]

True - I don't think anyone really sees the dfk bosses as a plus... perhaps that's what specifically makes sdoj more appealing to vibrant neon fans than dfk? ... Was more of a side point however, perhaps I should have left it out, or simply stressed ddp/dp more for comparative reference, my bad.