Most Disappointing Shmup Sequels

[CreditFeeder]

Gunbird 2, they did away with Yuan Nang

xxx1993 are you finally back?

I'm sorry to disappoint

[davyK]

Ikaruga if it's really a sequel to RSG.

Still glad I didn't pay full price for Raiden V.

[EmperorIng]

Sengoku Cannon was so bad, so disappointing, that no one has even mentioned it.

If you had told me it was a newgrounds fangame made with ripped Psikyo sprites I would have said "this is a pretty good effort for a flash game in 2004!"

[CreditFeeder]

Sengoku Cannon was so bad, so disappointing, that no one has even mentioned it.

It was bad, yes, but was it really disappointing? Genuine question, I wasn't following shmups at the time.
From today's point of view, Wikipedia and mobygames in hand, having reached perfection Psikyo decided to die long before 2005 after a final hurrah releasing Cannon Spike, Dragon Blaze and Zero Gunner 2 in the span of a single year —after that came years of nothing but mahjong games, being reported as shut down and that X-Nauts thing wearing their logo without any OG in the roster to release a Cho Aniki game where you jerk the right stick to ejaculate proteins.
So, what were your expectations at the time Sengoku Cannon released? At least the art is really nice.

[Lord British]

Ikaruga if it's really a sequel to RSG.

Still glad I didn't pay full price for Raiden V.

I'm not saying it's total shit, but Raiden V was disappointing

[Jonpachi]

Sengoku Cannon was so bad, so disappointing, that no one has even mentioned it.

If you had told me it was a newgrounds fangame made with ripped Psikyo sprites I would have said "this is a pretty good effort for a flash game in 2004!"

Omagawd this one. I remember paying for EXPRESS shipping and hurriedly popping it into my PSP as soon it arrived, as I so loved Blade (BLAEDE) on the Saturn. I still spent a solid week working to get the 1CC in semi-denial over the tragedy, but once the fog lifted and I started being honest with myself I found myself posting it on Ebay and moving on never to look back.

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

Don't think Ikaruga is actually RSG 2, rather just part of the Treasure Cinematic Universe © . While a directly reoccuring stone-like is pretty obvious, you can find quite a few evil sentient rocks and evil guys from space who like to be defeated by their own attacks across their games. Very cute.

[Jonpachi]

Don't think Ikaruga is actually RSG 2, rather just part of the Treasure Cinematic Universe © . While a directly reoccuring stone-like is pretty obvious, you can find quite a few evil sentient rocks and evil guys from space who like to be defeated by their own attacks across their games. Very cute.

I think it’s the “Project RS2” bit that gives this impression. Spiritual successor seems more apt.

[EmperorIng]

Sonic Wings Funeral is looking to be a strong contender come next month!

[To Far Away Times]

Aero Fighters 3. Its VERY inferior to Aero Fighters 2.

[Johnpv]

Raiden Nova. It sucks at everything.

It's this right here. Just not anything anyone wanted in a Raiden sequel. Raiden V wasn't great but this was so much worse.

[bcass]

Arcade Gradius III. Back when it first came out it didn't bother me so much, possibly because the later SNES release fixed a lot of the problems, but looking back it was a huge mistake and step backwards compared to the masterpiece that Gradius II was. I don't think the Gradius series ever recovered.

[Sengoku Strider]

Gunbird 2

This is like if Hitler, Satan & Kanye held a weeklong conference to determine the most wrong answer.

[Jonpachi]

Gunbird 2

This is like if Hitler, Satan & Kanye held a weeklong conference to determine the most wrong answer.

I wouldn’t say it quite like that, but, yeah.

Gunbird 2 was absolutely FOUNDATIONAL to my love of the genre. That port on Dreamcast, followed by Ikaruga, were why I found this forum in the first place, and sent me spiraling into a long period of exploration in which I consumed all the history and knowledge about the genre I could get my hands on.

[Sengoku Strider]

Gunbird 2

This is like if Hitler, Satan & Kanye held a weeklong conference to determine the most wrong answer.

I wouldn’t say it quite like that, but, yeah.

Gunbird 2 was absolutely FOUNDATIONAL to my love of the genre. That port on Dreamcast, followed by Ikaruga, were why I found this forum in the first place, and sent me spiraling into a long period of exploration in which I consumed all the history and knowledge about the genre I could get my hands on.

I was being silly, but GB2 was the game that made me love STGs as well. I'd quite liked several shooters sporadically over the years, but Gunbird 2 unexpectedly sucked me in and made the genre a central one for me. It's just such a fundamentally well-crafted game top to bottom, and it isn't as esoteric as a lot of danmaku which made it easy to get drawn into despite being so brutally hard.

[Jonpachi]

Broke my parent’s TV for GB2 as I only had a 13” screen in room and I couldn’t help but want to see it running in Tate on their 32”. Snapped the yolk trying to put it back…

[utsunderthesky]

Otomedius

i dislike almost everything about this game, besides the music. It has every single one of my genre pet peeves:

-Messy backgrounds and poorly colored bullets

- Lot’s of downtime in stages with nothing going on, either due to poor level design, or hiding load times.

-Bosses with invincibility frames

-FBI watchlist characters

-bullet sponge enemies

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

There is balance in the world.

This is it, the anti xxx1993

[ryu]

xxx1993 are you finally back?

I had the same thought a while back. Don't remember what post triggered it though.

So far I have to chime in with Thunder Force VI too. At least I wasn't enjoying it as much as previous games from the franchise.

[BrianC]

Sonic Wings Funeral is looking to be a strong contender come next month!

What do you think of that N64 game (spinoff?), Aerofighters Assault? It looks more of an Ace Combat style game, which is a bit disappointing on a system with barely any shmups. Not sure if it's a bad game, though. It's from the same developer as Pilotwings 64.

[EmperorIng]

Sonic Wings Funeral is looking to be a strong contender come next month!

What do you think of that N64 game (spinoff?), Aerofighters Assault? It looks more of an Ace Combat style game, which is a bit disappointing on a system with barely any shmups. Not sure if it's a bad game, though. It's from the same developer as Pilotwings 64.

The few videos I've seen of it make it look quite horrible, and I am not a fan of that style of game (let alone on the N64) to begin with.

SW Funeral is more disappointing because it is meant as a "return to form" rather than an experiment/spin-off, imo!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I think if I had to think about it, the one that really springs to mind is Espgaluda 2. I actually really like the game so long as I don't try to use the Zetsushikai mode they added which really complicates scoring, but you're basically scoring suboptimally if you don't use it, so either you play it purely for survival, or you learn a really complicated scoring system that involves dodging bullets shot by bullets.

In some ways, Leiria Stargazer feels like a better followup to Espgaluda in the form of a doujin game since it doesn't fundamentally change the core scoring mechanic and make you feel like you're disregarding scoring if you don't use the weird new mechanic at all.

Presentation-wise, everything about Espgaluda 2 is fantastic, so it's really only the scoring that irks me. I just wanted more of the same as in Espgaluda 1, without anything too wacky.

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

Blazing Star. Not only do I find the announcer so annoying I stopped playing the game after an hour or so (I tried again and again to get into the game, but after 30 minutes or so, I usually give up again), the dark mood of Pulstar is replaced by a kind of cheap cheerful fruit machine vibe. It's a pity because I do realize there's a lot of excellent stuff in this game, but it's just not for me.

[Sumez]

Blazing Star is fucking amazing

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

Blazing Star. Not only do I find the announcer so annoying I stopped playing the game after an hour or so (I tried again and again to get into the game, but after 30 minutes or so, I usually give up again), the dark mood of Pulstar is replaced by a kind of cheap cheerful fruit machine vibe. It's a pity because I do realize there's a lot of excellent stuff in this game, but it's just not for me.

there's a hack that disables the BONE ASS sound specifically.

[Jonpachi]

Blazing Star. Not only do I find the announcer so annoying I stopped playing the game after an hour or so (I tried again and again to get into the game, but after 30 minutes or so, I usually give up again), the dark mood of Pulstar is replaced by a kind of cheap cheerful fruit machine vibe. It's a pity because I do realize there's a lot of excellent stuff in this game, but it's just not for me.

Hey poor player!

[Sengoku Strider]

Blazing Star is fucking amazing

Co-sign. I 100% sympathize with anyone who's annoyed by the voice samples, and I do absolutely love the atmosphere of Pulstar (at least the first couple of levels, I get absolutely dunked on as soon as I hit the fire stage) but somehow I'm not bothered by the silliness. It's an all-timer for me.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

there's a hack that disables the BONE ASS sound specifically.

Giga Wing still doesn't have a hack to allow for 2 player cooperative combined scoring, yet someone's wasted their time disabling the voices in Blazing Star, Thunder Dragon 2, and Dangun Feveron.

I hate this planet.

[Sumez]

"BONERS" is the best part of Blazing Star, too

[Steven]

and EEE HUR is the best part of Thunder Dragon 2. Removing it should be considered a crime against humanity.