13th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

[Squire Grooktook]

Top 10 same thing take away Dot Eater.

Don't make me bump the "Ikaruga is really that great" thread

[cicada88]

PS3 is not included for Ketsui

[Shepardus]

Top 10 same thing take away Dot Eater.

Don't make me bump the "Ikaruga is really that great" thread

There's no need, it did just get voted as the 10th best shmup after all.

I'm surprised there isn't more Raiden in this - I thought those were pretty popular. And Raiden Fighters Jet is quite heavily favored over the others, but I don't know enough about it to have any idea why.

I would say there's a lack of Psikyo love, but actually only CAVE and Raizing have more in the top 25+honorable mentions, and only Treasure and CAVE have more in the top 25. Still dismayed that the highest Psikyo is down at #23, though. (Dragon Blaze is really good, you guys )

[trap15]

I'm 99% sure the only reason RFJ is on there and none of the other RF games is a stupid cargo cult.

[chempop]

RFJ and DX are both represented, not sure what more you want. More interesting is how an whole 1 Toaplan game makes either list, especially considering how they are a legendary developer I would expect a little more love at least in honorable mentions.

I'm glad Treasure's big 3 are all ranked high, even though I'm not a huge Ikaruga fan, they all deserve it. Slightly surprised with how popular Darius is becoming, I guess having a new game in the series being milked from a whale utter will do that.

I still don't/won't/can't understand how Pink Sweets ranked so highly, I wonder how many people here have legitimately gotten to the 6 stage? Could the 360 arrange mode be a contributing factor (which is considerably more playable)?

Obligatory - Still no Dimahoo in top 25 I DEMAND A RECOUNT

[trap15]

Yeah anyone who voted for Pink Sweets either hasn't played it for more than 5 minutes, or has played it for 500 hours and is totally insane. My guess: 99.9% of people who voted for it are the former.

[Shepardus]

Yeah anyone who voted for Pink Sweets either hasn't played it for more than 5 minutes, or has played it for 500 hours and is totally insane. My guess: 99.9% of people who voted for it are the former.

I think if you voted for it you're either Icarus or you actually meant to vote for Recca.

[royalfan84]

I think Jet gets the most love because it's the newest of the RF games, has the most stages with variety based on your scoring and progression, and the most ships. I also enjoy the training aspect it employs...certain standards that are achievable with moderate practice to unlock the last couple of "real" combat missions. Plus all the secrets.

I voted for Dragon Blaze over Gunbird 2...both are excellent games I enjoy even as they kick me in the nuts later in the games....I just love Dragon Blaze's concept a bit more and whole "jumping off the dragon" strategy aspect of it gives it the edge of GB2 for me. I've always loved Strikers 1945 II, I think it's the perfect shmup for the beginner to moderate shmup player; pretty good balance in that aspect. I hope it never falls off the list entirely.

I agree on Toaplan; the more games I play from that company- the more I love it.

Glad to see Treasure's big 3 in the top 25 again; although I think RS, GV, and Ika should be on the list in that order. Ikaruga is unique but I think the other two are quite better. RS should be in the top 5 every year!!!!

[charlie chong]

i play rf jet more because i have 1ccd the other 2 but not jet so i enjoy playing it more at the present time.
people who like pink sweetz are mentals but i respect that

[NTSC-J]

I don't understand MuchiMuchi Pork among the greatest either.

[Xyga]

Love Pink and Muchi, although I suck at both.

RF: wasn't there a "which is the best RF to play" thread ? (aren't they all good anyway)

[Strikers1945guy]

I haven't put 500 hours into pink sweets but I've managed to get to stage 6 a handful of times. Last year I was inspired by the runs Icarus did to bust out my PCB again. No infitine lives trick. I play purely for survival and controlling rank and it's balls to the wall fun.

Also maybe people voted for pink sweets because of the Arrange mode on the 360 port? It's super fun and not quite so unforgiving.

[royalfan84]

I also like seeing two Darius games in the top 25. Although I do wonder....will Darius Burst CS eventually leapfrog Gaiden to be considered the best Darius game so far? Gaiden was just one spot ahead of CS this year. Now Burst is new and could be getting that "it's brand new and everyone is playing currently" vote this year that eventually disappates after a couple of years. Or does it gain more momentum and following over the next few years to supplant Gaiden and push the top 10? Gaiden has thankfully and deservedly received a bit of a resurgeance in the votes over the last couple of years. Interesting.

G-Darius....I put it in my honorable mentions (haven't spent as much time with it as Gaiden). It's a game that I initially love the first few levels and then the difficulty spike of the later bosses just really takes the wind out of the sail for me. I know it's not impossible; but it sure seems that way. The 3D polygons don't bother me as much they some; but it's certainly not as good to look at as Gaiden. And Gaiden's balance of difficulty progression seems so much better. Idk maybe I'm playing G wrong....I really appreciate a lot of things about it...but am also frustrated. I like it; but I really want to enjoy it more and love it.

[PowerofElsydeon]

Shit Twinbee and Compile games shouldn t be ignored

[iconoclast]

I don't understand MuchiMuchi Pork among the greatest either.

I don't know about it being among the greatest, but it's definitely Yagawa's best game. (´-ω-｀)

[Strikers1945guy]

I don't understand MuchiMuchi Pork among the greatest either.

I don't know about it being among the greatest, but it's definitely Yagawa's best game. (´-ω-｀)

Get out

[d0s]

Happy to see Garegga in the #1 spot even though it's not my personal #1, just feels like it belongs there. RayForce, R-Type, Crimzon Clover, Darius Gaiden all nice to see, though these games would be my top five picking from this list (in order 1-5: R-Type, RayForce, Darius Gaiden, Battle Garegga, Crimzon Clover). I wish I could get as excited about Cave as so many people here are but I think I have some fucked up taste because Esp.ra.de is my favorite cave game and it only made it to honorable mentions

e:

Shit Twinbee and Compile games shouldn t be ignored

Dude you say this about Compile in like every thread, they're my fave developer too (Gunhed/Blazing Lazers was #1 in my list) but you just gotta accept most people who play these games don't give a shit about Compile (and that's OK) or else you're gonna end up really angry and bitter. Nobody wants to hear a dude in every thread like HEY WHAT ABOUT [developer 5 people seriously care about]. Try exploring the games in this list instead and broadening your horizons! Also Garegga had some ex-Compile people on staff and that was #1 so it's not like their talents have been ignored, this site is just mostly focused on arcade games.

[Squire Grooktook]

I wish I could get as excited about Cave as so many people here are but I think I have some fucked up taste because Esp.ra.de is my favorite cave game and it only made it to honorable mentions

I'm actually quite fond of Cave's earlier works too. Have you played much of Guwange or Dangun Feveron? Those are my personal favorite Cave's.

[Some-Mist]

Nobody wants to hear a dude in every thread like HEY WHAT ABOUT [developer 5 people seriously care about].

<--- me on progear and beating the dead horse

[royalfan84]

We all have those games....we love but we feel not enough people appreciate. And we wonder....have these games even been tried seriously by many on this shmup forum? For me it's games like Gunhed\Blazing Lazers, Einhander, Lords of Thunder, TF IV. And to a lesser degree Radian Silvergun. (I actually understand how the "scorers" on this site hate it, but I feel like it should be higher every year than it is; should never be in danger of falling off the list-which it did once). We all have our tastes; and our access to certain games. The sad thing about this list is the impact that "accessability" has on the voting. That's not anyone on this site's fault...just the shape and super-niche of the genre as a whole. I hope that changes one day. Mame is great, Steam is great. XBOX Live Arcade and the xbox 360 were great. Virtual Console even deserves a lot of credit. But....we're still lacking moderately easy access to a majority of these games. Arcades are dying; but our love for these games is not.

[d0s]

Radian[t] Silvergun

On the flip side I always felt like this game gets way, way more praise than it deserves and I want to punch a hole through my screen every time some blogger or journo who's probably played 3 shooters in his life calls it ~THE BEST SHMUP OF ALL TIME~. If you see people on this site being hard on that game it's probably because many are trying to balance out the insane amount of praise it gets from people who haven't really played many of these games and don't have a lot to compare it against.

[royalfan84]

I've played enough of these games to vote honestly for 3 years and I still think it's remarkable; especially for it's time. Scoring hurts it they went a bit overboard...certainly agree. But scoring is only a tiny part of a shmups game overall value to me as I only really pay attention to it and the strategy when it involves the 1ups to 1CC a game and then only to certain point. I didn't buy all the hype; in fact I'm a skeptic to professional reviewers for the most part. I bought into the epicness of the game (which suits me, I like compile length as opposed to 5 quick stages that are super difficult 3-5). I couldn't get enough of the all the different bosses and different strategies to take them down; especially as I upped the difficulty over time. I don't feel it's overrated; or underrated (possibly a bit on this site). I respect the votes; I've never hated a game that I tried because it made a top 25 here. Mostly I've loved them; this is kind of where the ball really got rolling for me in this genre. I typically don't trash other games I don't agree are as good as some others think they are; I do question why they think they are. And more often than not; I do learn why.

[Squire Grooktook]

I think RSG is really unique in a number of ways. It has a lot of modern elements, in-depth scoring and a tiny hitbox, but it also pairs them with concepts that have been all but abandoned by most modern danmaku developers, and takes them to the extreme. I'd be hard pressed to find another modern danmaku shooter with as much of an emphasis on environmental hazards, boss gimmicks, and unique weaponry.

Hell, even the way you dodge feels unique, despite surface similarities to modern danmaku games. The Image Fight-inspired "measured action" philosophy really shines through frequently and gives the game's patterns a unique feel compared to your typical bullet hell dodging.

[d0s]

I think RSG is really unique in a number of ways. It has a lot of modern elements, in-depth scoring and a tiny hitbox, but it also pairs them with concepts that have been all but abandoned by most modern danmaku developers, and takes them to the extreme. I'd be hard pressed to find another modern danmaku shooter with as much of an emphasis on environmental hazards, boss gimmicks, and unique weaponry.

Hell, even the way you dodge feels unique, despite surface similarities to modern danmaku games. The Image Fight-inspired "measured action" philosophy really shines through frequently and gives the game's patterns a unique feel compared to your typical bullet hell dodging.

No doubt it's unique, and no doubt it's also a great looking game and shockingly good storytelling for the genre, I just wish I could actually enjoy playing it but it just never gets fun for me.

[chempop]

I love RSG but I might be bias due to my story with the game. I had mentioned getting my first danmaku game (mars matrix) to a friend and he asked if I had ever played RSG, he was pretty sure he owned a copy but was in storage somewhere. I found it in his basement, wiped the dust off and he basically gave it to me along with a pile of other awesome things all for $25. I insisted he take more but he refused. It was influential in rekindling my interest in shmups after having taken several years off from video games entirely.

[Herr Schatten]

Surprisingly well-rounded list. As usual, the honorable mentions are even more interesting than the top 25 due to the variety.

Shame about Gunbird 2, if that's not top 25 material, I don't know what is. I'm generally concerned by the apparent lack of Psikyo love. Also, no Shiki II? You people.

[waiwainl]

Thanks for compiling, great job!

Happy to see that R-Type is still going strong. Pitty that Deathsmiles still remains a niche

[Illyrian]

Lol people only voted for Battle Garegga because they want to seem like "smart" shmup fans.

Everyone knows Garegga isn't as good as Batrider.

[copy-paster]

Everyone knows Garegga isn't as good as Batrider.

Err.... Get out?

[louisg]

Everyone knows Garegga isn't as good as Batrider.

Err.... Get out?

Don't blame me. I voted for Soukyugurentai