N64 Shmups?

loserdork · Post by **loserdork** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 8:31 am

Seeing all these Playstation shmups threads got me curious. Is there a definitive list? All that really comes to mind is Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth and Bangai-O.

Plasmo · Post by **Plasmo** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:12 am

Your post already is the definitive list

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:25 am

loserdork · Post by **loserdork** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:38 am

Plasmo wrote:Your post already is the definitive list

That's what I thought.

szycag · Post by **szycag** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:42 am

robotron 64

loserdork · Post by **loserdork** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:56 am

Wow! 3!

Now we're talking.

Jockel · Post by **Jockel** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:59 am

doesn't starfox count? ^^"

Plasmo · Post by **Plasmo** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 1:13 pm

And don't forget Goldeneye, where you also shoot and blow up stuff.

D · Post by D » Wed Mar 04, 2009 1:47 pm

Plasmo wrote:And don't forget Goldeneye, where you also shoot and blow up stuff.

another sig worthy response this is.
What a great reply, lol

Zeether · Post by **Zeether** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:53 pm

you forgot dezaemon

Koa Zo · Post by **Koa Zo** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 4:17 pm

Hyper Asteroids 64 is decent.
...at least I enjoy it.

robthebanks · Post by **robthebanks** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 4:18 pm

Why can I see this exact thread popping up in a few years regarding the PS3?

D · Post by D » Wed Mar 04, 2009 4:20 pm

robthebanks wrote:Why can I see this exact thread popping up in a few years regarding the PS3?

THE FUTURE IS NOW http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=24877

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 5:26 pm

There is also the Aleck64 arcade motherboard PCB that the Aleck64 version of Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth runs on. I've been told that it needs the dedicated Aleck64 arcade control panel to play it properly on a candy cabinet setup. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

heavymetalme · Post by **heavymetalme** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 5:48 pm

According to Racketboy's Hidden Gem list, Dezaemon 3D is a "2D Shmup", though, I've never heard of it, nor could I find any definitive footage of the N64 game on YouTube (which means it doesn't really exist).

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 6:37 pm

I guess it's a shmup creator tool, like all the Dezaemons.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/n64/ima ... .html?gf=9

Edit: Menus seems to be in english too.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 10:22 pm

heavymetalme wrote:According to Racketboy's Hidden Gem list, Dezaemon 3D is a "2D Shmup", though, I've never heard of it, nor could I find any definitive footage of the N64 game on YouTube (which means it doesn't really exist).

I saw it for sale once at a Japanese department store...the retail price for it was at 6,800 yen. But since I didn't own an N64 console at the time, I didn't buy it. ^_~

tommyb · Post by **tommyb** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 10:47 pm

Totally sig'ed your comment about Goldeneye, Plasmo.

I'm still laughing about it.

dmzach · Post by **dmzach** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:01 pm

to be fair, shooting bullets @ bad guys in games owns

lgb · Post by **lgb** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:13 pm

heavymetalme wrote:According to Racketboy's Hidden Gem list, Dezaemon 3D is a "2D Shmup"

2D gameplay, 3D graphics.

I've never heard of it, nor could I find any definitive footage of the N64 game on YouTube (which means it doesn't really exist).

Dezaemon 3D is the only Dezaemon that has a Wikipedia article, as of right now. Kemco's Super Nintendo lightgun title X Zone does not have Youtube footage, as of now.

To be fair, Star Fox is closer to a shmup than Goldeneye. Generally, people call games like Star Fox "3D shooters". As I recall, Japanese tend to group these games under the term "STG", as well.

robthebanks · Post by **robthebanks** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:45 pm

Apparently people call games like Goldeneye "First-Person Shooters" which shows how close they are to the Shooter genre

What about Sin and Punishment? If you're including Star Fox...

lgb · Post by **lgb** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:58 pm

I'm not including Star Fox, or Goldeneye, or Sin and Punishment, in anything; these games might be "shooters", but not "shmups". Hence the name and all. Yes, I know my comment might have been off a bit, but that is completely beside the point.

MathU · Post by **MathU** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 4:15 am

I consider Starfox 64 a 3D shoot 'em up.

Plastic · Post by **Plastic** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 4:57 am

MathU wrote:I consider Starfox 64 a 3D shoot 'em up.

I just don't see it.

It makes me think of the people who call Metal Slug a shmup.

dmzach · Post by **dmzach** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 12:40 pm

starfox and snp would be rail shooters

metal slug is run and gun

A Black Falcon · Post by **A Black Falcon** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 8:01 am

Most have been mentioned, but in one list... as far as I know this is complete.

(true shmups)
Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth
Dezaemon 3D (Japan only)

(shmuplikes/arena shooters/static screen shooters)
Asteroids Hyper 64
Bakuretsu Mukeki Bangaioh (Japan only)
Space Invaders (also on PC, Playstation, and Saturn)
Robotron 64 (also on Playstation as Robotron X, but much better on N64)

(rail shooters)
Star Fox 64
Sin and Punishment: Successor to the Earth (Japan only)

(classic collections) (only listing relevant titles in the collections)
Midway Presents Arcade's Greatest Hits Volume 1 (Sinistar, Defender, Robotron 2084)
Namco Museum (Galaga, Galaxian)

There's also Knife Edge: Nose Gunner, which is a lightgun-style target-shooting game, just with the controller of course.

I definitely wouldn't count free-roam flying shooters or FPSes like Rogue Squadron or Goldeneye or any of those in a list like this.

Anyway, while I know a lot of people hate Star Soldier Vanishing Earth, I've always thought it was pretty good. Maybe it's because I didn't have a Playstation or Saturn but did have N64 in the late '90s so this was the only shmup I had, but I liked it from when I first got it... of course, I did play a lot of PC games back then, and Game Boy, so I certainly had played many other shmups. But yeah, I definitely like Star Soldier Vanishing Earth. It's not perfect, but it's fun, with good level designs, a nice challenge level, hidden bonus stages to find (a challenge, and great fun!), on-cart high-score and levells-reached saving, millions and millions of points, a great, and unique, chain system with a timer -- you keep the chain going by hitting another enemy before the (very quick) timer bar runs out; as you memorize enemy patterns more, you learn where to be to keep the chains going as long as possible... it adds a great element of strategy to the game, and it's really too bad more games in the genre don't use something like it, I thought it worked pretty well. So yeah, I at least quite like it.

Bangaioh, Sin & Punishment, and Star Fox 64 are all of course spectacularly great (really, the sheer greatness of Star Fox 64 and Sin & Punishment make up for any other weaknesses in this field, I would say), but most people know that... Star Soldier Vanishing Earth is a lot less appreciated. It does benefit from being virtually the only game of its kind of the platform, of course, but even so, it's good.

loserdork · Post by **loserdork** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 9:23 am

Sweeeeeeeet. Thanks for that thorough list.

I just thought of this. I know it's not N64, but I remember enjoying Vertical Force for the Virtual Boy.

Mortificator · Post by **Mortificator** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 4:41 pm

That game was great. I liked it better than any of the Star Soldiers.

A Black Falcon · Post by **A Black Falcon** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 3:26 am

Sweeeeeeeet. Thanks for that thorough list.

There aren't too many, so it didn't take long... it kind of is too bad that there weren't more, the system clearly could do a good shmup or shmuplike, as the ones on it prove.

Oh well, at least there were Bangaioh, Sin & Punishment, and Star Fox 64, all among their respective genre greats... and I did like Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth. Even if it certainly isn't on a part with those games, it's a solid, above average shooter, in my opinion. And I haven't played them, but have heard at least some good things about Robotron 64, Asteroids Hyper 64, and Space Invaders. I'd get them if I found a copy...

The N64 is my favorite console, but I'll admit it isn't for the shmups. The two rail shooters are amazingly good, though, of course...

I just thought of this. I know it's not N64, but I remember enjoying Vertical Force for the Virtual Boy.

I got a VB a year ago, and while I haven't gotten any more games than than the two I got initially, one of them is Vertical Force (the other is Wario Land). I keep meaning to get Red Alarm, but haven't quite yet... oh well, I will. But yeah, Vertical Force is amazing, a fantastic game for sure. I don't know if it's better than all of the Star Soldier games, but it is quite good. A few Game Boy games tried the dual-layer thing (Aero Star for instance, which I have... at least one more too), but it works a whole lot better here, where you can clearly see the difference in space between the layers. The graphics are good, the music fantastic, the game well balanced... it is short at just five levels and is pretty easy in Easy and not too hard on Medium, and that's even for me, of moderate at best shmup skills. I haven't beaten it on Hard, but while it definitely is harder, that's mostly just because the one time I seriously tried, the batteries died on me near the end of level 4, and I haven't gotten up the will to go through it all again... I'm sure better shmup players find the game quite easy, particularly if you use the helper ship that heals you. Still though, if you do that you won't be shooting, so if you want to score you have to minimize use of it, so that won't help for a score competition or something.

Anyway, yeah, great game. But have you played Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth? The 3d graphics may be just average, but I thought that the style works well, the story is cheesily entertaining, the game has on-cart saving of your high scores (with some very large numbers... not Giga Wing 2 large, but big.

), and the game system unique, thanks to the Rolling and chain combo systems. The Rolling shield system -- I prefer the setting where you activate it by quickly rotating left and right on the pad or stick -- gives you a shield for a second that will reflect bullets. The other option has it on the R button, but there it has a cooldown timer; on spin-stick-back-and-forth, you can do it repeatedly. It kills your stick, if you use the stick, but it's great fun... the chain combo system I described already, of course, but it is interesting. It definitely makes you want to memorize the stages in order to keep your chain combos going as long as possible.

And then there are the two different ways to use the bombs, either as a straighter shot that hits something in front of you, or an explosion that damages everything on screen, but less. And there's also those three hidden levels to figure out how to reach... one of them's an awesome retro Star Soldier-style one.

It is true that you have only three ships to choose between, each with a preset weapon that you cannot change, so there isn't any weapon switching during play, which some people dislike. I've always just played as the blue ship with the laser; it's far better than the other two, I'd say. I don't mind the limitation, the game's plenty fun anyway. It's not the best shmup ever for sure, but it's interesting. Of course, it might also help to have a bit of nostalgia for it like I do.

D · Post by D » Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:51 am

I never knew there were so many fighters on the 64
http://www.racketboy.com/retro/nintendo ... brary.html