Any verts with people?

Mortificator · Post by **Mortificator** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:45 pm

That is, vertical shooters where the player controls a human/robot/whatever that runs on the ground, instead of a ship or aircraft. The only ones I've played are Guwange (cool) and Aleste Gaiden (ew). I'm looking for fixed scrollers, not top-down run 'n guns like Ikari Warriors (though Gundhara and Out Zone have a strong vert feel to them).

I know you play as characters in the Touhou games, but is there any terrain in those, or just vast quantities of bullets?

I guess I'm interested in playing another vert where you have to deal with terrain instead of just bullets. I actually prefer bullets, it's just that I've played so many verts, you know?

Diabollokus · Post by **Diabollokus** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:49 pm

Undeadline on the sega genesis and also elemental master by technosoft again on the genesis, both match your requests.

I can think of quite a few verts with flying characters i.e. shikigami no shiro series or gunbird but not that many ground based.

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:57 pm

If you're interested in borderliners (shock!) maybe you should consider something like Capcoms Mercs? It's a bit long in the tooth and has no scoring system to speak of, but it's a blast in 2 player.

Post by **spadgy** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:25 pm

MX7 wrote:If you're interested in borderliners (shock!) maybe you should consider something like Capcoms Mercs? It's a bit long in the tooth and has no scoring system to speak of, but it's a blast in 2 player.

Easily available on the Capcom Classics discs too. I can't remember for sure, but I think it's on the first volume...

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:38 pm

Knightmare on MSX... from none other than Konami, it even has some Gradius references (Including "Die in a difficulty checkpoint and you are screwed"). It's an excellent game IMO, if you don't mind oldschool gameplay. Its one of those games that I feel it should be more known... I always am amazed how Konami could make such a killer game on 1986 and fit it in just 32kb.

There's also "Yami no ryu ou Hades no monshou" on MSX also... its a ridiculous hard shmup with a walking character, great for masochists. This one was made by Casio. (Yeah, the guys that make watches.. they had a software-developing branch on the 80s that made exclusive MSX software, including some pretty good games)

And King's Knight, from Square, available on MSX and NES.

Edit - Seeing you already played Aleste Gaiden, you should be able to play other MSX games. Aleste Gaiden indeed isn't very hot (In spite of being very impressive on the technical side). Of course, none of those games could compare with Guwange... but Knightmare deserves at least a try.

ptoing · Post by **ptoing** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:51 pm

Gun Smoke

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:02 pm

legendary Wings and Phelios. Winged human avatars (one mounts a winged horse to be anal, but...)

edit: d'oh, I didn't read carefully. Never mind, sorry.

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:05 pm

spadgy wrote:
MX7 wrote:If you're interested in borderliners (shock!) maybe you should consider something like Capcoms Mercs? It's a bit long in the tooth and has no scoring system to speak of, but it's a blast in 2 player.
Easily available on the Capcom Classics discs too. I can't remember for sure, but I think it's on the first volume...

Yeah, that's the one. Make sure you don't get the PAL version though. No tate = sucks.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:01 pm

MX7 wrote:
spadgy wrote:
MX7 wrote:If you're interested in borderliners (shock!) maybe you should consider something like Capcoms Mercs? It's a bit long in the tooth and has no scoring system to speak of, but it's a blast in 2 player.
Easily available on the Capcom Classics discs too. I can't remember for sure, but I think it's on the first volume...
Yeah, that's the one. Make sure you don't get the PAL version though. No tate = sucks.

The US version (and probably the JP PS2 CCC) is missing tate as well, but has an adjustable full screen yoko that doesn't cut off the screen and an option for a bigger mode that moves the score, life bar, etc. data to the side, which I feel make up for it a bit. No progressive scan and only a "smooth", blurry filter sucks, though (both of which were fixed in CCC 2). No 60 Hz for PAL.

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:02 pm

MX7 wrote:
spadgy wrote:
MX7 wrote:If you're interested in borderliners (shock!) maybe you should consider something like Capcoms Mercs? It's a bit long in the tooth and has no scoring system to speak of, but it's a blast in 2 player.
Easily available on the Capcom Classics discs too. I can't remember for sure, but I think it's on the first volume...
Yeah, that's the one. Make sure you don't get the PAL version though. No tate = sucks.

Depends on which Capcom Classics discs are being refered to..

The more recent ones released on the PS2 and XBOX don't have tate options, period. The older compilations for the Saturn and PS1 have the tate options for games that supported them (I believe MERCS is on Volume 4).

Post by **spadgy** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:03 pm

BrianC wrote: an option for a bigger mode that moves the score, life bar, etc. data to the side, which I feel make up for it a bit.

I'm sure the Pal has this too...

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:04 pm

Kiken wrote:
MX7 wrote:
spadgy wrote: Easily available on the Capcom Classics discs too. I can't remember for sure, but I think it's on the first volume...
Yeah, that's the one. Make sure you don't get the PAL version though. No tate = sucks.
Depends on which Capcom Classics discs are being refered to..

The more recent ones released on the PS2 and XBOX don't have tate options, period. The older compilations for the Saturn and PS1 have the tate options for games that supported them (I believe MERCS is on Volume 4).

From what I heard, EU got four of the Capcom Generation discs in one collection for PSX, but still got stiffed on the 50Hz thing.

spadgy wrote: I'm sure the Pal has this too... (option for bigger screen while moving stuff to the side)

My sentence came out a bit awkward, but I meant that the game has that feature, not that the EU one doesn't.

Some ground walking shmups I can think of:
Adventures of Dino Riki NES
Hi no Tori MSX
Undeadline MSX/X68000 (MD one was mentioned, but these versions are a bit different)

it290 · Post by **it290** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:13 pm

Hmm... this thread got me thinking for some reason about how sweet it would be if Capcom released a Ghouls 'n' Ghosts vertical shmup.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:27 pm

BrianC wrote: Hi no Tori MSX

How the heck did I forget to mention Hinotori? Fucking AWESOME and the music is FANTASTIC. This one is from Konami too.

There's also Garyuoh on MSX, though that one isn't all that good.

Post by **spadgy** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:37 pm

Shatterhand wrote:
BrianC wrote: Hi no Tori MSX
How the heck did I forget to mention Hinotori? Fucking AWESOME and the music is FANTASTIC. This one is from Konami too.

There's also Garyuoh on MSX, though that one isn't all that good.

I needs me an MSX. Were they region free?

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:45 pm

Yes, they are

. You may want an european one though, just so you get a more usable keyboard for your needs

Kaspal · Post by **Kaspal** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:04 pm

Guwange comes to mind... you can try it on mame if you want.

Kaede · Post by **Kaede** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:26 pm

Yes Guwange. Also, Outzone is a fantastic vertical 'push scroll' game.

j^aws · Post by **j^aws** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:15 pm

SWAT (Arcade: Sega/ Coreland/ Bally Midway, circa '84)

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9400

Mortificator wrote: ...
I guess I'm interested in playing another vert where you have to deal with terrain instead of just bullets. I actually prefer bullets, it's just that I've played so many verts, you know?

There are a few around but I singled out SWAT because you mentioned dealing with "terrain". It's a vert (3:4), but it's fixed screen with a 4-way control scheme and old; so it might not fit your tastes...

- You clear each screen by killing the required number of enemeies (shown top-left of screen)...
- The "terrain" is 'dynamic' because certain enemies will build these 'blocks' to form a tunnel to reach the surface; you can destroy blue blocks and re-arrange the purple blocks (but not destroy them)...
- Destroying enough blue blocks will build your 'bomb meter' (not to dissimilar from Garegga, Gun Frontier etc.; and done as early as '84)...
- The scoring system is proximity/ enemy based chaining; you can increase multipliers by destroying enemies with the aforementioned bombs, within their blast radius...
- It's a very strategic/ puzzle-'em-up-type Arena shoot-'em-up!
- Okay, granted, you don't walk... but you do have an underwater hoverboard! ;P

EDIT: Although I mentioned that it's fixed screen, it does have some 'minor' push-scrolling...

EDIT 2: Forgot to mention that the scoring system is also colour based, i.e. all purple blocks change to blue blocks, when they touch them, and you can use this mechanic for risk-reward...

DarkMoon · Post by **DarkMoon** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:54 pm

Adventures of Dino Riki on NES.

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:36 pm

Thinking about this, it's surprising how few vertical shmups there are with people actually on the ground, as opposed to flying above it.

Would Soldiers of Fortune (aka The Chaos Engine) count, or is that too much of an exploratory run 'n gun?

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:29 pm

The Coop wrote:Thinking about this, it's surprising how few vertical shmups there are with people actually on the ground, as opposed to flying above it.

Would Soldiers of Fortune (aka The Chaos Engine) count, or is that too much of an exploratory run 'n gun?

My take on this is that only games where the character is always facing forward should count, like in Knightmare, Undeadline etc.

Incidentally, I'm in the process of making a ground-based, heavily disguised Galaga-clone.

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:35 pm

Extermination
Outzone
FixEight

All the Undeadlines...

KindGrind · Post by **KindGrind** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:06 pm

I second the first response to your question, Elemental Master!

Ex-Cyber · Post by **Ex-Cyber** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:29 pm

Ninja Commando (Neo-Geo). Not exactly in-line with the requirements, but it's the closest thing that comes to mind that hasn't already been mentioned.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:19 am

Turrican wrote:(one mounts a winged horse to be anal, but...)

Why do I read the parens first? :p

Anyway, I vote for Ninja Emaki, or Youma Ninpou Cho if you're looking for a challenge (that second game is the Japanese version, much harder to complete), the greatest game not mentioned thus far.

There's also Bullet, a Sega game recently released on MAME. You can't get far in it, though, as the emulation is pretty early (encrypted 68000 game).

DarkMoon wrote:Adventures of Dino Riki on NES.

I think I played the FC version of that in an emulator a while back, had forgotten the name. I'll look this up now.

lol, wikipedia:

In Vol. 224 of Nintendo Power current Editor-in-Chief Chris Slate named "The Adventures of Dino Riki" as his choice for worst game of all time, due to its incredibly difficult levels and lack of enjoyment.[/quote}

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:29 am

OH! I remembered one. Time Soldiers.

rib · Post by **rib** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 2:05 am

twinkle tale? i still think its the best of the three md walking verts.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 2:35 am

The Coop wrote:OH! I remembered one. Time Soldiers.

Not really a shmup by the Shmups definition of mupz, afair

p.s. I just realized it has the classic Neo Geo "collapsing sprite" effect. From the start of the game, shoot up a large turret. Also seen in Beast Busters, and most every Neo Geo game!

Kaspal · Post by **Kaspal** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 3:27 am

KindGrind wrote:I second the first response to your question, Elemental Master!

i love your signature!... do you by any chance speak spanish or something? cuz, citin a paragraph of one hundred years of loneliness its pretty darn sweet!...

"Muchos años después, el coronel Aureliano Buendía había de recordar aquella tarde remota en la cual su padre lo llevó a conocer le hielo." -CAS

shmups.system11.org

Any verts with people?

Any verts with people?

Re: Any verts with people?