7th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time! - Results

[Ruldra]

Stage 5 boss of Gradius V is awesome.

[Ed Oscuro]

I'd like to see a Top 25 Shmup Bosses of All Time poll.

[25] DOJ stage 2 boss
[1] 24 other bosses

[49]upgraded aliens in Stargate
[1]49 other things

[PROMETHEUS]

DOJ stage 2 boss ??? what the hell is so special about it ? It's ugly and its patterns aren't that much fun...

[Danbo]

[25] Black Heart Mk.2 (Battle Garegga)
[24] Glow Squid (Battle Garegga)
[23] Black Heart Mk.2 (Armed Police Batrider)
[22] Black Heart Mk.1 (Battle Garegga)
[21] Glow Squid (Armed Police Batrider)

[ncp]

DOJ stage 2 boss ??? what the hell is so special about it ? It's ugly and its patterns aren't that much fun...

They're great fun when hypered, one of those bosses that doesn't feel like a damn chore every time, due in part to its mostly randomized patterns and quick bullet speed. When those patterns start overlapping during a hyper it's quick and exciting. The random bullet spam at the end is always fun, too. The boss as a whole is not overly difficult (but not too easy either) and yet is still fun to do, which is perfect. And who cares if it's ugly, if we're voting on looks I'll vote for Ketsui's Doom despite never having played it.

edit: Second favorite would probably be DDP's st 3 boss, especially the second loop. 1-3 is a good boss but it's too easy to be on a list of favorites... 2-3 is just damn fun.

[kengou]

DOJ's 2nd boss is my least favorite boss in the whole game... ugh I hate that thing. It just seems like luck whenever I make it through that boss without dying. Most of its attacks don't even have much of a discernible pattern, they're just random messes.

DDP's and DOJ's third bosses, though, are amazing. Best bosses of those respective games? Possibly!

[ncp]

I don't think they're really a "random mess" (aside from the last one which is supposed to be just that lol), there's only a couple different patterns, but the timing and order are randomized. IMO it's a perfect example of how to use randomization in a boss: it doesn't affect scoring and the difficulty is about the same each attempt. There's just enough randomization to make each attempt a little different, but not too much to ruin it.

Looks like I'm alone with my opinion on this one though

[jpj]

treasure have some awesome bosses.

(oops, i said the T word)

[Dale]

The DOJ 2nd boss is a punk bitch. Especially on Death Label mode. I just want to get to the some of the harder bosses and this asshole's glitchy collision kicks in and randomly kills me. The DOJ level 4 boss is cool and level 3 is alright but the level 2 boss needs to learn his place.

[emphatic]

Ketsui bosses 2 & 4.

[doctorx0079]

Pfft, FIRE Fossil in G-Darius is so much better.

fixed

[Zaarock]

Pfft, FIRE Fossil in G-Darius is so much better.

fixed

Needs more spaceship fleet eating

[doctorx0079]

Pfft, FIRE Fossil in G-Darius is so much better.

fixed

Needs more spaceship fleet eating

Pfff, cut scenes in shmups are just gravy.

[RollingSkull]

Kinda sad to see no Castle Shikigami or Imperishable Night showing but I'm a loser.

[Matsunaga]

I'm liking this list. It got me to play the hell out of Garegga for the last few weeks, which has been great. Unfortunately, Ikaruga is still too high. Why is that game good? I wish someone could explain it. I tried to play it today and was completely bored.

[professor ganson]

Kinda sad to see no Castle Shikigami or Imperishable Night showing but I'm a loser.

Seriously. I can't begin to understand why someone would prefer Mushi or Ikaruga to Shiki. Makes no sense to me at all.

[jonny5]

Kinda sad to see no Castle Shikigami or Imperishable Night showing but I'm a loser.

Seriously. I can't begin to understand why someone would prefer Mushi or Ikaruga to Shiki. Makes no sense to me at all.

mushi is (arguably ) a much better game.....any of the shiki titles pale in comparison(again, arguably)

[professor ganson]

Kinda sad to see no Castle Shikigami or Imperishable Night showing but I'm a loser.

Seriously. I can't begin to understand why someone would prefer Mushi or Ikaruga to Shiki. Makes no sense to me at all.

mushi is (arguably ) a much better game.....any of the shiki titles pale in comparison(again, arguably)

You know I respect your opinion, but I think you're seriously mistaken in this case. The art and music alone of Shiki 1 & 2 completely destroy Mushi, to say nothing of the gameplay.

[jonny5]

i cant really recall any shiki music off the top of my head and i will admit mushi's soundtrack is not cave's best, although it kinda fits with the theme.....

but the graphics are some of the most polished and detailed cave has produced to date.....the PS2 port doesnt do it any justice whatsoever.....personally i dont think shiki's boxy 3d backgrounds and (imo) bland character design look all that great

to each there own i suppose

[Shelcoof]

Muschi's got catchy tunes and I love the art style. I prefer it over any Shiki game

[professor ganson]

I think the majority here prefers a straight-up space theme with detailed graphics like Gradius V, but I much prefer something very Japanese, either cute-em-up or fantasy/horror, and I think of the Shiki series as the pinnacle of the latter.

Mushi's bug thing is really lifeless, as far as I'm concerned. It's not cute, scary, gross or anything. Just dull. Even Drone Tactics has a far better bug-themed art style.

I think Shiki II's music is some of the better shmup music I've heard. I even listen to the soundtrack regularly.

[Rob]

I like some of the background details in Mushi. I think they tried a bit harder than usual to give things some life.

Shiki > Mushi cuz of playing.

[jonny5]

Shiki > Mushi cuz of playing.

no.....just no

[Gwyrgyn Blood]

Shiki's scoring system is so much better than Mushi's it's painful. Also Mushi has the most snore inducing bullet patterns of any Cave game there is on Original and Maniac. It's like they saved anything remotely interesting for Ultra.

I like Mushi's soundtrack way better though. The only song I really ever remember from Shiki is the character select screen.

[professor ganson]

Rob (reasonably) objects to the 3D graphics in Shiki, but I don't think it detracts too terribly much from the dark/mysterious feel that the Shiki series conveys. Mushi may be detailed but, as I said, it just doesn't have any artistic merit. Draughtsmanship without any vision.

[jonny5]

Shiki's scoring system is so much better than Mushi's it's painful. Also Mushi has the most snore inducing bullet patterns of any Cave game there is on Original and Maniac. It's like they saved anything remotely interesting for Ultra.

i see things the exact opposite

and you are dead wrong on the bullet patterns

did you only play the first stage by any chance?

[Gwyrgyn Blood]

Mushi's Maniac bullet patterns are pretty much the laziest designed patterns there are. You can dodge literally 90% of the patterns in the game by tapping in one direction. Half the time you don't even have to look at the screen.

And yes I know Mushi pretty well which is why I know it's scoring system is pretty bad. The tapping mechanics are kind of funny and interesting but it pretty much boils down to a more anal and restrictive DDP which is about the most awful thing I can think of in a scoring system.

[ncp]

Mushi's Maniac bullet patterns are pretty much the laziest designed patterns there are. You can dodge literally 90% of the patterns in the game by tapping in one direction. Half the time you don't even have to look at the screen.

And yet touhou games are still 10x worse in that department

[jpj]

i wonder what games are gonna get bumped off this list with all the cave ports coming out on x360

[moozooh]

Guwange, for one.