How long have you been playing shmups?

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 10:49 pm

I played Space Invaders, Asteroids, etc. when they first hit the arcade, but I guess it's only over the past 2.5 years or so that shmups have been my main hobby.

What about you?

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 10:54 pm

June of 2003. I became so fed up with easy games that I figured I might as well tackle the hardest genre. Dangun Feveron was the game that really got me into the genre that summer.

I picked up Lightening Force on the Genny many years ago, but always deemed it impossible. It stayed that way until relatively recently.

JJG · Post by **JJG** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 10:55 pm

I've been playing shmups since the nes days but they weren't my main gaming focus until this year.

Limbrooke · Post by **Limbrooke** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 11:00 pm

I guess I too started on NES with 1943.
Although after that I didn't do too much until around 1998 when I began to play Gradius and Gradius 3 although that was rather limited.
It might have been in 2004 when I first bought Raiden DX that I got into shooters to the point where I am now, although I always played them in arcades when I saw them.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 11:06 pm

The earliest shmup I can remember playing is Twinbee on my cousin's NES, I have no idea how far back that memory goes...a little ways later I played a few SNES shmups from time to time, but I didn't really get "into" the genre until maybe 3 or 4 years ago, when I first tried DDP in MAME, and thereafter bought my Saturn.

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 11:40 pm

since i was eight i guess:

1995 - i play truxton in a laundromat about twice a month

"hey this is fun"

1996 - i played strikers 1945 about twice a month in some tiny arcade in a shopping plaza in sasebo. didn't want to spend more than a credit on a game due to the expense of 100 yen and having only 5 bucks a week to spend on anything.

1997-1998 - i played darius gaiden and GALACTIC STORM in a small arcade about once a week. as i got better on one credit in darius gaiden the asshole operator set the difficulty higher and higher until it was impossible for me to get past stage 3 on a credit. fucker. they also took out galactic storm due to the flightstick breaking and i was sad.

1999 - 2000 (BLACKOUT) i dunno what happened but i only primarily played counter-strike

2001 - i play darius gaiden again in mame, unaware of all the great games that have come into existence. i have also forgotten about the one credit clear.

2002 - moving back into the US, and obtaining precious broadband, i find a pack of playstation shooting games. i sucked at every one of them but i loved them!

sometime 2003 - i come across this site and learn of a large number of games i have never tried! i ended up liking a lot of them but the list i started playing seriously shrunk as i find a style that i can appreciate. i stopped visiting the site when the forums went up and down.

jan-mar 2004 - i play just about every doujin game ever and try to master them, getting to stage 8 of PCB in about a month's time. then i lose everything in a hard drive crash and a motherboard fry.

apr-nov 2004 - when I got my new machine, i had forsaken all computer video games due to my irrational fear that i'd destroy my computer again solely by playing them until half-life 2 came out.

mar-nov 2005 - (BLACKOUT) so i found this game called world of warcraft and got obsessed with it and my grades became shit as a result.

dec 2005 - i was in a bit of a panic when i discovered that i was failing half my classes for the winter semester. so i tried to find a game to play that doesn't demand much time. i fired up dodonpachi. i couldn't no-miss the first stage for a week. i was pissed. i went on to forsake EQ-like mmorpgs for that they allow my grades and actual playing skills to erode. horribly.

jan 2006 - i decided to give the newest installment of airrade -air- a go. after a week, i went back to playing battle garegga, aiming to beat my survival record of stage 5.

feb 2006 - i start trolling these forums

J-Manic · Post by **J-Manic** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 11:42 pm

I remember playing Gradius and LifeForce on my NES back in the day, but those weren't the games that got me hooked on the genre. Layer Section and Darius Gaiden did it for me. I bought my Saturn and those two games back in 2000. So I guess that makes me a shmupper for 6 years now. And it's been a fun ride.

Pirate1019 · Post by **Pirate1019** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 12:05 am

Seeing as I am only 16 I am still mildly baffled at how I got hooked pn shmups. Maybe I am just a masochist. It started about a year ago with a link I found for ABA games' Gunroar. Then I got all of his stuff. Then Warning Forever. Then Ikaruga, now everything I can get my hands on.

ahnslaught · Post by **ahnslaught** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 12:06 am

The first game I remember playing is Galaga with my dad in a burger place in Korea in the early '80s (around age 5) when I was little. Shmups were a staple since then, as like all kids, I loved outer space and spaceships.

Then, around the PS1-era, college came along, and played RPGs by myself, and lots of fighting games and sports games with others. Shmups took a long back seat during that time.

Only in the last 2 years have I started shmupping again, but it's a lot harder than I remember it... but with less time on my hands to play games in general, it's become the genre of choice since each game only lasts a few minutes with my rather limited skills (if you even want to call it skills, that is).

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 12:51 am

Been crowding out other genres since fall '01, I think (STRIKERS 1945 PLUS at restaurant... pockets of quarters mysteriously vanish!). Before that I was a sissy gamer who thought Thunder Force 3 was hard.

Nemo · Post by **Nemo** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 1:40 am

Seriously, since '02. Sure I've played them since the late 80's, but I actually used to think you beat a shooter as long as you completed it within the amount of credits allowed.

gavin19 · Post by **gavin19** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 2:40 am

Always had a minor interest in shmups since I first got my Spectrum + R-Type in 88/9. Then after that I can only really remember having Axelay/Super R-Type for the SNES. I guess I took a big break then until Mars Matrix on DC revived my interest again in 2001(?). Since then I have bought a second DC, Saturn, and Gamecube all mostly to have the full range of shmups available to me (already had PS2/Xbox). The only arcade shmups I can remember playing were UN Squadron and 194x over 15 years ago.

Post by **Icarus** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 2:47 am

First ever shmup: Stargate on the Atari 2600, when I was about six years old (roughly 19 years ago). Started seriously playing them when I was 14 years old (about 11 years ago), with R-Type, Nemesis , Dragon Spirit and Raiden in the local arcades.

yojo! · Post by **yojo!** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 3:39 am

I've been playing shmups since space invaders in the arcade...

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 3:59 am

Rob wrote:Been crowding out other genres since fall '01, I think (STRIKERS 1945 PLUS at restaurant... pockets of quarters mysteriously vanish!). Before that I was a sissy gamer who thought Thunder Force 3 was hard.

Ok, so it's not just me. Whenever this thread pops up, it seems like everybody has been playing shmups since either:
A) Space Invaders, Asteroids, or some other 25+ year old game, or
B) A newer game, but the person was only [single digit number] years old at the time.

I didn't play shmups at all until about 4 years ago. Basically, my gaming history is like this:
Childhood through high school: Mainstream gaming
Beginning of college: My N64 was boring, turned to retro gaming (which for me is the NES era)
Middle of college: Never had a Genesis growing up, but I bought Gunstar Heroes, which lead to Treasure fanboyism
End of college: Stumbled across this site while looking for Radiant Silvergun info (which, ironically, I've still never played). Dodonpachi got me hooked.

It's kinda weird, since I was drawn to shmups because I thought they were overwhelmingly intense and completely unconquerable. Now that I see how cold and calculated they are once you're past the ZOMG teh BULLLETS!!!111 phase, I'm kinda disenchanted by them...

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 4:20 am

Davey wrote: Ok, so it's not just me. Whenever this thread pops up, it seems like everybody has been playing shmups since either:

Everyone wants to point to the first games they played regardless of how much of a real impact they had.

Now that I see how cold and calculated they are once you're past the ZOMG teh BULLLETS!!!111 phase, I'm kinda disenchanted by them...

You had to bring the hate into the thread. A fast (or elaborate) bullet pattern is still exciting to me, though nothing can possibly top working through Strikers and GB2 for the first time (without superplays or talk of WRs... ahh, 2002, I miss ye).

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 4:22 am

Rob wrote:
Davey wrote: Ok, so it's not just me. Whenever this thread pops up, it seems like everybody has been playing shmups since either:
Everyone wants to point to the first games they played regardless of how much of a real impact they had.

Truxton taught me that it's okay to bomb right before the enemy hits you, if that tells you anything.

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 4:32 am

One of my first video games was Phoenix. I also had Defender and i think Yar's Revenge so...

I probably couldn't really play until i was maybe 3 or 4 so i guess a little more than 20 years.

MSZ · Post by **MSZ** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 4:46 am

Just about 20 years ago, but no, I am not that old.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 5:08 am

Most of 6th-10th grade, my favorite genre was shooters.

Then they fell off the earth until I built a mame cab in 2002. From 2003 on it's been my favorite.

Gungriffon Geona · Post by **Gungriffon Geona** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 6:22 am

I've mostly been a fan since I was 8. I got a NES and played Life Force a hundred times over. Later on got the original Gradius and was numbed by it's difficulty (which honestly the game still annoys me.
The next game I remember playing was Strike Gunner STG at a friend's house every time I came over. it usually ended up us using teamwork to tear the harder bosses down, me remembering "go to turret mode and I'll move the ships while you fire!"
Next game (though not a true shmup) was Cybernator/ASV, which became an extreme addiction to play. I still go back to it every now and then.
After that there was a time when I didn't play any, I think 1 or 2 years (Might've been wrapped up in Starfox or Super Mario World I think.)

Next games I remember were Angel Crisis and Cave Fish. both were enjoyble, but when I went back to them a few months ago I wonder how I even played them they were so bad. (CF had some good music though.)
After that another grey period I tried Axelay and hated the perspective it had. Though I tried Super R-Type and loved it, despite how hard it was. (at the time I still sucked.)
Next thing I can really call was playing a few games with emulators, such as Rendering Ranger and Gradius 3, and I played Strike Gunner again in a long time. (I'd forgotten the name.) Got into loads of little freeware shooters I'd find scattered all over.
Last year a friend recommended DoDonPachi to me. fell in love with it instantly. Also loved Batrider and Image Fight. Bought Gradius V and was less than pleased with the overall lack of what made the other games so much fun. Also bought RTFinal and loved it.
And that leads up to now, where I'm playing Gallop and all the other R-Type games. also trying out the Darius series, and trying Bakraid and Batsugun as well. also started playing Strike Gunner yet again for the first time in 3 years.

So more or less been playing since I was 8.

Dandy J · Post by **Dandy J** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 7:15 am

For like a year, maybe a little longer. I mean I enjoyed/played shmups before, but only in passing. When I got ESPGaluda that's when I started playing 'seriously' (but really not that serious, I don't play THAT much and I'm not that good soooooooo).

My primary genre is still fighting games.

CHI · Post by **CHI** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 8:16 am

ive been playing arcades for about 20years (on and off though), thinking back SPACE INVADERS was my first but DEFENDER was the one i actually enjoyed (cos it was different)..... then NEMESIS came along in my local minicab place, this was my very first 1CC when i was a kid.....

after meeting KAC, DEL and MILLS, this is when i took shooters more seriously with V.FIVE, DDP and GIGAWING at our local (las vegas and casino) but 'old mills' was the only one who taught me RFjet at namco.....

now im away from home, with not much options to play, i took the next step with mame so i could continue on gaming, so youll be seeing me on the old score boards.....

ps: i want to take this oppotunity to 'CHEERS DEL' for this site..... and all the informations on shmupping.....

Bloodreign · Post by **Bloodreign** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 8:17 am

Didn't seriously get into them until about 4 years ago, of course I played Galaga quite a bit back in the day, some Space Invaders, some Time Pilot, mainly old games as shmups here weren't in plentiful supply during the later years, though a friend and I used to kick it to Gradius and Life Force NES. I also owned Gradius 3 SNES, but traded it away, fifteen years later, another copy and I re-united for some shmup loving.

ill6 · Post by **ill6** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 9:54 am

A really odd shootery route...

Obviously played all the usual arcade stuff as a kid right through to the Amiga but then stopped playing games to focus on studies and drinking and meeting girls and other things...

At some point I ended up with a job, a wife and some free time and I worked out I had enough money to have all the current consoles. So about 4-5 years ago I bought them. Somewhere Ikaruga was played (though I don't like it).

I then worked out I could get all the retro consoles about 3 years ago so I got most of them, many old games are shooters so I started to find my preference was towards them (which was odd as I had always thought I preffered platformers).

I was going to buy an AES but realised that MVS is much cheaper. I started buying current Japanese games too for PS2. I started going to arcades to play Neo Geo to see which games I liked and while there I might playing some strikers, DDP2 RFighters, Border Down etc. This must have been 2-1/2 years ago and thats when I pretty much stopped playing everything else (metal slug aside) and just playing shooters.

Once I had an MVS system and supergun I also started thinking about owning one or two shooter PCB's, maybe one from each major manifacturer. Somewhere in there I got a cab and thats when things got out of hand, once the screen is vertical its a pain to put back so you need a few games to put on it just for variety... Once you have a big pile of games you need to play them a lot else you feel like you wasted your money. Thats when the addiction really took hold... Somewhere in there I found this forum and saw DEL and MILLS playing various shooters which made me realise that it is possible to leave level 3 on a Cave and Psikyo game respectively.

DEL · Post by **DEL** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 10:14 am

Since about 1979.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 10:40 am

Since about 1990.

Plasmo · Post by **Plasmo** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 11:06 am

Since about 2003.

Klatrymadon · Post by **Klatrymadon** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 11:58 am

I've followed the genre fervently since I was about 6 (that'd be '92, although I was playing shmups and games in general before I could walk!), but I'd always played in moderation until around '98. I probably still play in similar patterns, but these days I'm a lot more given to 2-3 month binges on a particular group of games.

Michaelm · Post by **Michaelm** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 12:02 pm

Much like professor ganson.
Played some shooters when I was younger. C64 and Amiga.
In 1989 when I was doing my duty in the Dutch army and was stationed in Germany they had an R-Type machine. I've played that game very much during those days and I will always love the first R-Type game.
But since a year or 2 I've been focusing mainly on shmups and getting a nice collection together.
I also recently bought my first PCB ever. Vapor Trail for like 18 euro's including shipping. Now I need a supergun

I would love to get a cab but I simply don't have room for it

shmups.system11.org

How long have you been playing shmups?

How long have you been playing shmups?

Dinosaur