13th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Discussion Thread

[royalfan84]

Yeah R-Type certainly has held up. The original just has that perfect balance of strategy, memorization, and a bit of free stylin' when you lose power ups. The aesthetics remain eye candy to this day. I was glad to see quite a few votes for Thunder Force IV and Gunhed. (Seems like more than usual)

[EmperorIng]

I flip-flop on whether or not I like Delta more than the original. Definitely my favorites in a series I am terrible at (R-Type II's stage 2, why do you have to be so hard?).

I was glad to see quite a few votes for Thunder Force IV and Gunhed.

It makes me wonder if we should ever do a best-console-only shmup list (or if we have done one in the past) and see how things stack up. Then again, I feel like that list is hard to do, given how it would be inevitably skewed to the 32bit-and-prior eras, and whether or not you would count doujin releases on newer consoles (we did have a top doujin list which was really neat).

[pegboy]

There was a console only top 10 list a while back: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=39902

[Perikles]

I flip-flop on whether or not I like Delta more than the original. Definitely my favorites in a series I am terrible at (R-Type II's stage 2, why do you have to be so hard?).

It makes me really sad that R-Type II doesn't seem to get much love even though it deviously intensifies everything that makes the original so great. I will say that the first game is more balanced as far as the weaponry is concerned (it's baffling just how useful all of them are while there's no reason to ever pick anything other than the DNA laser in II with the exception of the blue laser for that harrowing shaft in the fifth stage), but I adore just how much II hates the player. Checkpoint recovery in the first loop is surprisingly reasonable, too! And speaking of that: I'm almost certain that people who like Irem games on principle yet struggle with their difficulty will revel X-Multiply, I never thought there would be an Irem arcade shooter where you can recover from the final stage in the second loop without prior knowledge. I dare say that it is objectively on par with the first R-Type, if not better.

I'd definitely be interested in a new console only top 10, by the way!

[rjosal]

It makes me really sad that R-Type II doesn't seem to get much love...

R-Type II is above the original for me. I'll try to vote next year.