Viscerally satisfying moments in shmups

[ZacharyB]

Every Raiden Fighters game is a pure adrenaline rush, playing for score. Knowing so much is riding on every section of the stage. Then, after achieving X medals, just surviving. No extends. Good luck!! I normally don't like the hardcore genre of music, but it really fits here.

[Ikazu-san]

Let's not forget Crimzon Clover Unlimited Stage 5. Because I'll never forget how I reached Gorgoneion for the first time. Seeing that last Maelstrom remainigs spinning in place before exploding was real good feel. Orgasmic even.

[Shepardus]

Let's not forget Crimzon Clover Unlimited Stage 5. Because I'll never forget how I reached Gorgoneion for the first time. Seeing that last Maelstrom remainigs spinning in place before exploding was real good feel. Orgasmic even.

Doesn't even have to be Unlimited, that stage is amazingly fun to run through even on Novice.

[pegboy]

Override's charge shot is so goddamn good. I find myself letting it off even when there's nothing onscreen. The game in general is really good at shunting big, colourful sprites around, no moreso than when that screen-raking hellstorm is unleashed.

I actually get excited by the announcer in Vapor Trail when he informs me to "Go for the kill!" in his glorious muffled voice.

Reminds me of Slap Fight MD's classy emcee and his impassioned yell of "TERMINATE THE FLAGSHIP!" as the boss rolls up. He's like Bob from Donpachi, played straight!

Also Gradius V's peerlessly imperious announcer, who makes shmuppin men out of weenie little noobs. GV was my first 1CC and I literally did it just to hear what he'd say after I made the loop.

st2: "YOU NEED SOME PRACTICE." STFU meanie announcer! ;-;
st8: "WHAT THE HELL?" Yeah I know :[
2-1: "YOU ARE A LIVING LEGEND." Thank you announcer-san. ;__; Hey, the screenshot on the back cover used a credit on stage 2! HE NEED SOME PRACTICE. :3

We could have a whole topic on shooter announcers, assuming there isn't one already. ^_~ AEXCERRENT

I love the Gradius V announcer as well. He actually says "Close, but not close enough!" if you game over on stage 8 (Stage 7 is what the hell?) I only know this because I purposely game over-ed there just to see it (saved the clip on my PC too).

My favorite is probably the pretentious and blunt "You lose" if you game over on stage 6.

[BIL]

Ah, that's right. I remember getting "WTH?" after being mashed by the absolute last crusher in st7's speed section and cracking up, wondering if it was some hidden thing.

Best game over quip for sheer succintness goes to Thunder Force II on X68k, I think. "SHIT!" Though my personal favourite is Dangun Feveron's pricelessly cheesy, plaintive "NAWWW!"

OT, I could swear the male Gradius Gaiden announcer is the same guy who played an infamously wooden Harry Mason in Silent Hill, only he actually sounds human cheerfully reading out powerups and ship statuses in GG. Even convincingly bursts out laughing if you game over late enough!

[Tregard]

I've always loved the way Golden Ogre bites the dust in Darius Gaiden. Splitting apart into its constituent segments which spin crazily off into the distance, then BADAAAAAM, your ship is engulfed in crazy psychedelic zebra flames, and when the smoke clears the odd metal towers in the background have been completely vapourised. The only thing that could make it better would be a bit of juddering slowdown to show just how truly immense it is.

I also love a good pre-boss "Warning!" message, especially if it's a fairly lengthy one with the boss making some sort of grand entrance. Always gives me a great "this shit just got real" feeling, especially if its one I can't comfortably take down.

[mamboFoxtrot]

The "E" weapon from Gates of Thunder. I don't really know what its DPS is compared to the other weapons, but it certainly SOUNDS powerful! *KA-CHUNK KA-CHUNK KA-CHUNK*

"Lethal Shots" in Ironclad can be pretty cool, too, even if I end up wasting a third of them because the boss wasn't actually vulnerable yet. (Seriously, why can they shoot at you before their cutscene invulnerability wears off?)

Though my personal favourite is Dangun Feveron's pricelessly cheesy, plaintive "NAWWW!"

All of that guy's voice clips are amazing.
I kinda want to see someone replace Darth Vader's voice in the "NOOOOOO" scene with the Dangun clip.

[Jeneki]

I'll never forget the first time I popped a quarter into Raiden II. Shot the first couple of enemies in the game, and holy crap there's shapnel flying everywhere, planes smashing holes in the forest starting fires, and just crazy destruction everywhere. And it just got better from there. Really left an impression.

For a specific game moment, Blazing Star when the boss drops out of the space station and you fight it as you're breaking into the atmosphere, with jets of flame streaming off both your ship and the boss. Awesome stuff.

[juonryu2nd]

Not sure if it counts, I think it's rather a reverse example, but I find it very satisfying how the enemies in the last stage of RefleX throw everything they have at me and are still unable to penetrate my shield.

[BIL]

For a specific game moment, Blazing Star when the boss drops out of the space station and you fight it as you're breaking into the atmosphere, with jets of flame streaming off both your ship and the boss. Awesome stuff.

I love a good planetary atmosphere entry/exit sequence, especially when it involves something not surviving the process. Nemesis II GB's defeated third boss gets space-cremated right in front of you, the hull disintegrating until only the core remains, before that vanishes too. The BGM fading to a drone, then reaching an ominous whine as the Vic breaches the atmosphere in a ball of flames is a great touch.

Borderliner, but Assault Suit Leynos's third stage takes place in Earth orbit, and friend or foe, anything that flies too close is gonna get red hot, with a brief escape window before it explodes into flames. Sadistic fun (and strategically sound!) leading enemy mechs on a diving chase, then pulling up as the poor buggers explode. The US release Target Earth deleted the stage's ending cinematic, where an unfortunate mech pilot doesn't make it back to the dropship and gets burnt alive, as will you if you're not quick enough.

Hyper Duel not only plunges you from cold space through a burning debris field to just above the ocean... the doomed space colony that was the previous stage is falling too, and closes out the descent in a blinding mushroom cloud. Then you fly past its distant, smouldering remains in the next stage. Great continuity, and actually pretty dark stuff... the entry sequence's obstacles are containers spilled from the stricken colony, which your AI mech rival unceremoniously blasted out of orbit to get to you. One of my favourite examples of seamless STG cinema.

[Shepardus]

Just played my first attempt at Cho Ren Sha 68k in a while and the bomb in that game is really satisfying to use.

(On a related note, I got a new PB off that run and made it well into the TLB, what I'm guessing is its final phase with just the center core left. I bet I could have gotten a 2-ALL if I hadn't lost my second-to-last life with three bombs left, or if I hadn't lost a ton of lives trying to recover in 3-0...)

[LordHypnos]

Another one from Mars Matrix is the way that the various destructable things on the third battle ship in stage 4 just keep on exploding once you destroy them

[Blinge]

Go play LordHypnos

Gradius V is full of them. The goo stage is very satisfying if you manage to keep in control of it. As is a perfectly executed ST5 boss, if you manage to hide behind the asteroids well enough.

Scorejackpots:

- Progear! Turning an entire screen of bullets into gems and then sucking 'em all up. The last rush of enemies on the train tracks before ST3 boss springs to mind.

- Giga Wang 2. Managing to get a... vulcannon, was it? Triggering what can only be described as a jewelgasm

[Obiwanshinobi]

Einhander: Absolute favorite game for moment to moment kick back. The way each and every non-zako enemy has multiple destructible parts, and reels back and reacts to every piece broken makes every battle and kill feel uniquely personal. Like your battling and killing real, intelligent entities bent on your destruction instead of automated attack drones.

Not sure if "visceral" in my case, but emotive, that. One of Hyper Duel's first bosses also gives me an impression it fears to die (seems to be in panic just a couple of hits from its end).

"Visceral" would be the speedup section of Raiden III's second "orbital" stage (the sound of quick medalling). The sound of bullets grazing, while not as frequent as in Raiden Fighters, adds to the experience as well (possibly because it's not so frequent).

[Oniros]

UNLEASHING ALL THE KATANAS IN AKAI KATANA SHIN

How come no one has mentioned this? The first time I did it I was like HO. LY. SHIT.

[BulletMagnet]

UNLEASHING ALL THE KATANAS IN AKAI KATANA SHIN

How come no one has mentioned this? The first time I did it I was like HO. LY. SHIT.

Actually made an appearance about halfway down the first page.

[LordHypnos]

The charge attack in Xexex is pretty awesome.

[Doctor Butler]

Anything that involves sucking in score items.

Muchi Muchi Pork, Akai Katana, and Game-Type in particular come to mind.

[Kollision]

Blinge is right, I had forgotten about the meteor stage in Gradius V.
That thing is beautiful. I loved it even before I was a shmupper.

[Stevens]

Ugh. I still regret passing on Gradius V when I had it in my hands. One day..

[ratikal]

In Dodonpachi Daioujou, when Koryuu explodes and flies off, a mid-point of the final boss. This shit is so hype.

Also, when the shields Rah and Roh explode in Eschatos (and in JSS as well), going to slow motion.

[Pretas]

Ugh. I still regret passing on Gradius V when I had it in my hands. One day..

You're in luck, it was just made available for PS3 as a download via PS2 Classics.

[Jonst]

Good calls for akai katana shin: full katana launch, although the whole game is gorgeous to me.
Progear: as blinge says, transforming a screen full of bullets into diamonds (especially if you're about to get hit) the game as a lot of great moments where this happens but a couple of faves are stage 2 from the train onwards and all of stage 4.
Also ketsui, which has also been mentioned but by personal fave bit is stage 4. It doesn't piss about. You get bombarded straight away, the music is superb and totally fits the tone and atmosphere (plus I love heavy guitars!) flying up the canyon is such a rush! And the way the screen shakes when bosses explode ...stage 5 also pretty cool!

Ketsuipachi: glorious, colourful chaos! It's just beautiful!
Under defeat: agree with what others have said already.

[JBC]

Fully powered toothpaste laser in Raiden II, twisting into multiple loops, twitching violently, & covering the whole screen like a psycho dragon of death energy - & then managing to not be distracted by it's awesomeness long enough to keep the damn thing.

The green napalm shot from Viper: Phase 1. Gorgeous destruction.

Using a black hole bomb to kill the Golden Ogre in Darius Gaiden just to get the perfect screenshot.

The blissful first stage music of Super Aleste/Space Megaforce while you easily weave between obstacles & collect a butt ton of power ups.

Grinding your pod into most things in R-Type & related games. It's a good way to take out your frustration on a boss :>

[LordHypnos]

Definitely the red shot in Fire Shark / Same! Same! Same!

[STGWeekly]

There's a trigger in one of XII Zeal's stages (G-stream 2020) that causes a shit load of HUGE aircraft to appear. The only way to destroy them all is by bombing + INSANE wiggling. To top it off, destroying all of them is a lot of extra points. It's only visceral if you're manual wiggling, Rapid Wiggle invalidates this. --Aqy

[Squire Grooktook]

Speaking of weapons again, I always found the homing attack from the bits in R-Type Leo was awesomely vicious.

Maybe the similar attack in Salamander 2 as well? Been a while since I played that so I can't tell.

Some of the Wave Cannons in R-Type Final are similarly cool (first notable example you'd get would be the Andromeda's), too bad the game around them is so glacial.

[Biggu Bossu]

https://youtu.be/DqgjqBDYufM?t=21m24s
The Thunder Sword from TF4 is a pretty satisfying charging weapon. A splendid thrust

[Captain]

Deadliar's 60 second charge attack instakilling bosses in Hellsinker.

Unloading your centipede in Gemini Wing.

The final stage of RefleX.

Every single time you use a lock-on laser in any game featuring one.

[Zaarock]

Doujin stuff:

Using melee weapons in Project Repliser. too bad the level and boss design get very silly as the game goes on..

Lining up laser shots in Revolver 360 RE:ACTOR for massive multipliers and items everywhere.

Defeating bosses with maximum heat-gauge in Sora and Suguri.

Final boss rush & explosions in Judgement Silversword.

TLB fight in hellsinker when playing for score. You need to be really aggressive because of bonus points for dealing damage. Combine that with the visuals going crazy & boss attacks synced with music.