21st Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

[R79]

Is Air Zonk generally considered the inferior version to PC Denjin? Surprised to see it languishing below Earth Defence Force

[jehu]

Is Air Zonk generally considered the inferior version to PC Denjin? Surprised to see it languishing below Earth Defence Force

Below a certain threshold, the rankings are essentially meaningless. Methodologically, I hope it’s clear why. Don’t read into it.

[water_kooler]

Giga Wing - 15 votes
Mars Matrix - 8 votes
How come Giga Wing has more votes?

[To Far Away Times]

Giga Wing - 15 votes
Mars Matrix - 8 votes
How come Giga Wing has more votes?

I'm not here to say it's right or wrong to like one game over another, but here are my thoughts on why Giga Wing seemed like a special game to me before I even knew what a "shmup" was, and why I bounced off of Mars Matrix pretty quickly:

Giga Wing has a surprising amount of crossover with non-shmup players. Think of it like a mini Ikaruga. It has a great idea, is focused around that idea, and communicates that idea extremely effectively.

The reflect feature goes hard.

Holding a button for six different attacks in Mars Matrix is just not nearly as good an idea or as focused. Mars Matrix is what like Radiant Slivergun is to Ikargua. It throws everything and the kitchen sink at the player, where a little refinement, focus, and thoughtfulness of scope can go such a long way.

And to be fair, I think Giga Wing is the best game Takumi ever made by a long shot. It was good enough and had enough cross over appeal to be one of the two shmups in the Disneyland Arcade (along with R-Type).

[R79]

Giga Wing is a nice vert shooter with lots of action and some brilliant soundtrack moments, and you don't even have to turn the telly on it's side, which in this day and age of cheap '90s TVs drying up... can be a relief. Also had a PAL release (unlike MM which was always a fairly expensive import, now really expensive) and was actually sold here dirt cheap for many years and could be found offline as well (pretty dreadful cover art possibly helped there), same with the UK Bangai-O, also on Dreamcast.

[Whiskers]

Giga Wing - 15 votes
Mars Matrix - 8 votes
How come Giga Wing has more votes?

Two reasons for me.

1. I like Giga Wing’s aesthetics better.
2. Mars Matrix counterstops. It may not be a big deal for most. But I tend to lose interest in a shmup once people counterstopped it.

[D!!]

Why do we still have 20th Annual Top pinned in the Shmups Chat and not this one?