Notable Storyline/Villains/Heroes in a Shooter

[xxx1993]

R-Type became dark with Delta and Final.

[EmperorIng]

Belsar. Don't know anything about them, I still half-think they are just robot fish, but they are some of the coolest badguys in all of shmup-dom.

Cats is my favourite Vilian ever(I want to kill him so much) because after you beat him in a rough final boss figth he bails in some sort of escape pod and the game tells you to complete the second loop for the real ending but no matter how many times you beat him he always escapes
Except on the Genesis version that is

Hm, I cleared three loops of the MD version (starting on Normal instead of the default Easy) and always got the same ending (edit: not quite, loop 2 and 3 were the same; final boss escapes in either one, though). The only MD Toaplan shooter that actually hands out a different ending for each subsequent loop is Tatsujin.

The ending for the MD port is the same regardless of whether or not CATS dies, but you can kill him before he escapes. You need the laser since it does the most damage.
End of the Meme-Dream

[Perikles]

The ending for the MD port is the same regardless of whether or not CATS dies, but you can kill him before he escapes. You need the laser since it does the most damage.

Nah, you can destroy the little relay on the upper right even with a level 1 green scatter shot, you don't need the random super power-up (which you can see in the video) and/or the blue laser to do that.

[gs68]

mmm, grimdark in my shooties

To be honest, having poked at RayForce, RefleX, Radiant Silvergun, and other STGs with bleak plots with more hopelessness than 1984, I much prefer outlandish, silly plots in my games these days.

[Magma Dragoon]

Belsar. Don't know anything about them, I still half-think they are just robot fish, but they are some of the coolest badguys in all of shmup-dom.

I have a theory that they are actually survivors of that planet obliterated by All-Nothing in G-Darius, if I'm not mistaken it's called Blasar or something. Maybe this name is a mistranslation of Belsar, hence my theory.

[Captain]

Here's the real final boss of Zero wing, available only on the PCE version. Whether or not it's actually CATS piloting that thing is unknown. This version as a ton of cutscenes, and it isn't in english. CATS himself only appears in one. Maybe he isn't even the villain, but just a messenger? That blondie seems pretty main villain-ish to me.

[Magma Dragoon]

Here's the real final boss of Zero wing, available only on the PCE version. Whether or not it's actually CATS piloting that thing is unknown. This version as a ton of cutscenes, and it isn't in english. CATS himself only appears in one. Maybe he isn't even the villain, but just a messenger? That blondie seems pretty main villain-ish to me.

The PCE version has a completely different plot from the other versions.

[Lord Satori]

...What? Why would you give a game a completely different plot based on what system its on?

[Squire Grooktook]

Because it came later and they had more memory space for cutscenes and whatnot? It's not hard to understand.

[Magma Dragoon]

They did the same with Hellfire.

[EmperorIng]

The PCE's CD add-on had an unfortunate fetish for cramming every game with voiced anime cutscenes, whether or not the game asked for it.