Best Shmup on NDS

[Xtincthed]

Hey guys,

lately i've been playing some shmups (bought castle shikigami 2 and still fighting my way tru ikaruga) and now i was wondering if there are any shmups on the Nintendo DS that are worth playing

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The best NDS shmup title without question is the Cave/Arika Ketsui Death Label shmup. It was released in Japan back in October of 2008 and there is no foreseeable North American release whatsoever. It is more akin to a boss-rush rather than playing the arcade game of Ketsui on this portable handheld. Of course, there are two stages taken from the arcade game that you can play provided that you unlock the second one by reaching the final Doom boss on the Death Label difficulty setting. Even with all twenty lives given to you when playing this selection, it is insane with the danmaku (bullet hell) thrown at you. I personally still have yet to clear or even reach Doom and take it on. ^_~

There are three game save slots to save your best KDL runs for posterity. Plus, some cool FMV clips of the actual Ketsui PCB with a skilled Japanese ace player doing the impossible. Most NDS games don't utilize FMV clips but KDL is an special exception. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[kengou]

Ketsui Death Label is by far the best. Might be tough to find a copy now, though.

I also recommend Big Bang Mini, which released last year. It's entirely stylus-controlled but I thought it was very creative and well-designed. Bangai-O Spirits is great too, but some might not consider that a shmup.

[cj iwakura]

There's Nanostray 1 & 2, though I hear 2 is much better?

[ZOM]

Pretty much everything on the system has been mentioned except Space Invaders Extreme - awesome game.
Other than that, there's really not much you can find shmup-wise on the DS.
Personally, I got myself an R4(yes I found an original R4 just a month ago) and put Mega Drive, Master System and NES emulators on the SD card along with some games. Perfectly emulated and they look *way* better than on a PC emulator. Especially stuff that doesn't need rescaling like, for example, Heavy Unit.

There's Nanostray 1 & 2, though I hear 2 is much better?

horrible, horrible games. Both of em. The music's good tho.

[MathU]

Haven't played Space Invaders Extreme 2 yet, but the first one is definitely the best shooter on the system. Ketsui Death Label is hardly a full game.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Haven't played Space Invaders Extreme 2 yet, but the first one is definitely the best shooter on the system. Ketsui Death Label is hardly a full game.

The Japanese DS version of Space Invaders Extreme 2 is a solid sequel to it's earlier counterpart. North American DS owners won't have to wait too much longer for the official SIE-2 release shortly. And yes, it has support for the cool optional Taito DS rotary controller as well. Why didn't Square-Enix release this DS controller Stateside? ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[TodayIsForgotten]

There's warhawk. That wasn't too bad for a homebrew.

[Malc74]

There's Nanostray 1 & 2, though I hear 2 is much better?

horrible, horrible games. Both of em. The music's good tho.

I actually had quite a bit of time for Nanostray 1 - not that it was great or anything. The sequel was one of my biggest disappointments of last year, though. Awful stuff, and it managed to have even worse collision detection than the original.

[monkeyman]

I thought Nanostray was fine. Nothing special by any means but it looked and sounded nice and played ok.
It's just a shame about the controls. Whichever idiot decided to shoehorn touchscreen controls for weapon changing whithout giving the option to use face buttons (of which there were a few unused) should be shot.

Never tried 2 however, not sure it even got a UK release.

As people have already pointed out however, it's not like there's a great deal of competion on thr DS for Shmups.

[ZOM]

Yes, agreed that Nanostray 1 isn't as horrible as the sequel but, like already mentioned, touchscreen weapon switching was a very dumb move - put me off before I could even find something to like about the game.
The perspective was the other problem, I have no quarrels with Raystorm, but hell, if you put in a scoring system which requires you to pick up coins at least don't make it possible to destroy enemies off-screen.
No wait, DO NOT throw a "pick up items to score" system in a Raystorm-like shooter!

[fumanchu]

[quote="ZOM"]Pretty much everything on the system has been mentioned except Space Invaders Extreme - awesome game.
Other than that, there's really not much you can find shmup-wise on the DS.
Personally, I got myself an R4(yes I found an original R4 just a month ago) and put Mega Drive, Master System and NES emulators on the SD card along with some games. Perfectly emulated and they look *way* better than on a PC emulator. Especially stuff that doesn't need rescaling like, for example, Heavy Unit.

you should also put neogeo on your ds,download an emu called neods,it emulates the neogeo really well believe it or not.
vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s20YQLFDF8

blazing star and pulstar play great on this emu.

[Gespenst]

Ketsui: Death Label is the best so far.

Damn hard, too.
Then Space Invader Extreme

There are three game save slots to save your best KDL runs for posterity. Plus, some cool FMV clips of the actual Ketsui PCB with a skilled Japanese ace player doing the impossible. Most NDS games don't utilize FMV clips but KDL is an special exception. ^_~

And the 'Teach me! IKD san!!' thingies looks good, although I don't understand anything else.
It's a loop 2 superplay, it seems, and other various tutorials.
And the thing that made this game awesome is the EVAC report.

[Jack Burton]

Bangai-O Spirits is great too, but some might not consider that a shmup.

That's my pick (if it is considered one). Awesome game. Perfect for short gaming sessions. Buy without hesitation.

[ZOM]

you should also put neogeo on your ds,download an emu called neods,it emulates the neogeo really well believe it or not.
vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s20YQLFDF8

blazing star and pulstar play great on this emu.

Wow! Just gave it a go: not bad, not bad - Both games run somewhere between 42-60 fps, Andro Dunos stays at a steady 60(some sound channels missing tho) and ASOII 55-60 fps.
I'm pleasantly surprised. Thanks for the suggestion man.

lol @ DS can run blazing star as good as my Pentium4 PC. made my day

[Hydeux]

Warhawk !!!
This is a homebrew, a remake/re-creation of a c64 game. Much better and much more fun than ANY other shmup on DS !
You'll find it here : (you need a linker)
http://www.headsoft.com.au/index.php?category=warhawk

[spadgy]

I'm currently in love with the Twinbee port on DS compilation Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits. Super cheap to buy too.

Wasn't Xevious on some compilation on the DS too?

[Herr Schatten]

Ketsui Death Label is very good. The two Space Invaders Extreme games are utterly awesome. I love them.
The Nanostrays are okay-ish. The second one could have been great if it wasn't for the annoying bosses.

[Ghegs]

The Nanostrays are okay-ish. The second one could have been great if it wasn't for the annoying bosses.

Aye, the sequel's only problem are the bosses that take waaaaaaaaaay too long to kill. Other than that it's perfectly fine.

[KidQuaalude]

If you are including arena shooters 'Geometry Wars : Galaxies' and 'XG Blast' are both worth checking out.

XG Blast - http://www.risingstargames.com/games/xg-blast-nds.html

[guigui]

If you are including arena shooters 'Geometry Wars : Galaxies' and 'XG Blast' are both worth checking out.

XG Blast - http://www.risingstargames.com/games/xg-blast-nds.html

I support Geo Wars, but not XG blast. Stylus control on XG ruins the game since action takes place on the... touch screen

[KidQuaalude]

I wouldn't recommend stylus control on either of those games tbh, DPad and buttons is much more comfortable to play.

[Super Laydock]

I can only comment on games I've actually played and I'll say this:

Avoid Nanostray 1. (it's beautiful but has horrible invisible borders on the screen, stupid weapon selection and just isn't fun).

Nanostray 2 however is just great. Superb production values (music/graphs are top notch) and very fun to play. Lots of extras. Only grip is that I'd have liked all the stages to be horizontal instead the mix it is now.
I'd say get it: it's cheap and well worth the money.

[jefflev13]

Some of the other games mentioned are fine, but there's no question that the best shmup on DS by a long shot is Ketsui Death Label.

[jonny5]

DSi

Aa Mujou Setsuna / Arika / DSiWare

i enjoyed it much more than ketsui DL

very fun scoring system

[neist]

DSi

Aa Mujou Setsuna / Arika / DSiWare

i enjoyed it much more than ketsui DL

very fun scoring system

Ugh. I really need to import a DSi for this.

But this is off topic.

[Xtincthed]

wow thanks for the advice guys!

i'll be getting most of these next weekend to try them out

i did play space invaders extreme btw (didn't consider it a shmup) and i loved it.. the music is hypnotizing

[PC Engine Fan X!]

wow thanks for the advice guys!

i'll be getting most of these next weekend to try them out

i did play space invaders extreme btw (didn't consider it a shmup) and i loved it.. the music is hypnotizing

There is the Space Invaders Extreme Original Soundtrack (OST) music CD to get if you dig it's cool music. It is presented in crystal clarity afforded by it's 44kHz sampling ratebit. I dig the BGM tunes on the Space Invaders Extreme 2 as well. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[guigui]

I wouldn't recommend stylus control on either of those games tbh, DPad and buttons is much more comfortable to play.

In both games, stylus control is mandatory since it controls the direction of your shots while the movements of your ships are controlled by the D-pad.

The problem is that, in XG, the action also takes place on the touch screen, leaving the non touch screen empty all the time... In Geo, the action takes place on the other screen, which you can actually SEE since your hand is not permanently rubbing it in order to direct your shot. Seeing the screen is important in shooters, isn't it ?

[SFKhoa]

Ketsui Death Label without a doubt. For me, anyway.