What your fav Doujin shmups

[TrevHead (TVR)]

With Crimson Clover finally getting a web beta trail release plus Genetos and Eden's Ageis i would expect that some of the guys from this forum would be feeling some doujin love atm. So i thought i would be a good time to ask folk what their top 5 doujin shmups are.(make it a top 10 for those of u who are doujin nuts)

While im expecting allot of ppl to mention just the major doujin shmups like Kamui, Hellsinker and Samidare im also hoping to see some not so well known titles getting posted since I would like ppl to not just think of just the biggest names but to remeber those not so well known titles that might not be as technecally great as say Touhou but are still very fun to play and also addictive. For me such a title would be Keim's Nolmtest (an addictivly simple score shmup) or Acrannacra Black Label (a flash/java shmup that while very hard to 1cc had me playing for months)

I do know that this question is alittle generic but If u do like doujins i hope u do put forward 5 games since what questions ive seen about doujin shmups are just asking what good games are out there to play and not a top 5 list which for the past 6 months ive been in this forum ive yet to see. Also ive made a little poll for everyone since at times ppl descussing doujin games can get a bit small, so im curious as to weather u play doujins or not

PS ive yet to play crimson clover and edens ageis which i will today and post my top 5 tomorro (im guessing 1 of those games might be in the list)

[linko9]

I think that despite the hate it gets, Touhou is still the best of the doujin shmups. My personal favorites are EoSD and PCB. Some of my other favorites are Patriot Dark and the x.x games.

[Ebbo]

I'm probably the only one who prefers RefleX over Kamui. But can't help it, I simply love RefleX's atmosphere and the music is some of the best I've heard in any shmup.
If the amount of playtime is any indication, my favorite doujin shooter would be Fraxy, although I spend more time messing with the editor than actually playing it.

[EinhanderZwei]

The only doujin I've played seriously is probably Genetos. There are also Trouble Witches and Touhou, but I've never launched them for any reason but 'to check out' Not that I hate doujins, but I just rarely play on PC...

[Darkseed]

I'm probably the only one who prefers RefleX over Kamui. But can't help it, I simply love RefleX's atmosphere and the music is some of the best I've heard in any shmup.

+1

Reflex is my favorite Siter Skain game.

Didnt some company ink a deal to bring some doujins to the Playstation Network?

[nintenthe3rd]

Doujin games are pretty awesome, my favorites are: Touhou, Trouble Witches, Bike Banditz, and BWR (and all of x.x game room's shmups). I would love to give Samidare a try though.

[kengou]

I like a bunch of doujin games but in general I think commercial shmups are better. The best doujin game I play is Eden's Aegis right now, but everything X.X puts out is great.

Still, I play commercial shmups much more.

[NR777]

I like x.x's games quite a bit, but I am not at all a fan of Touhou. Patriot Dark looks fun, but I haven't played it yet.

[MathU]

Cho Ren Sha 68K is the best.
As long as we're talking PC doujin shooters.

Might wanna define "doujin" a little better for this thread.

[lgb]

subterranean animism is probably the best touhou game

[EinhanderZwei]

subterranean animism is probably the best touhou game

'Dojinshi' is the Japanese term for 'fan-made'. Easy

[lgb]

"doujinshi" (in its original form) is the term for the actual products produced; "doujin" (in its original form) refers to the people who create the former

[Elixir]

Uhh, doujinshi means fan-made comics.

Doujin games are just called doujin games.

[Exarion]

Doujinshi can now refer to any amateur production, though it most commonly refers to manga. Normally, if you are only refering to one medium, you say doujin x.

I also play almost exclusively doujin shmups, partially because I'm still largely new to the genre, and have a US 360, so I can't import anything except mushihimesama, which I haven't. I've most recently been playing genetos, though everything made by x.x and kenta cho is exemplary.

[Goshi]

I generally play more doujin shmups than commercial ones nowadays. The doujin scene has some really great ones (RefleX, Hellsinker, TWilight refrAIN...)

While im expecting allot of ppl to mention just the major doujin shmups like Kamui, Hellsinker and Samidare im also hoping to see some not so well known titles getting posted

Well I'm pretty sure AngerAze 2 and noiz2sa haven't been mentioned yet. I also got Phantasm though I haven't played much of it so I'm not sure if I can recommend it =/

[cj iwakura]

For a fanmade game, the leap in quality from the early Touhou games to the later ones is astounding.

That said, my favorite is probably Imperishable Night or PCB.

[beam]

On the shmup front I play more doujins than commercials because there's a shortage in the commercial ones (and it's easier to try a doujin pc shmup than one made for an hardware without trials and freewares). The only currnet commercial shmup I play is Mushimime 1.5. Sometime I dig the old megadrive carts or some other old hardware but having to plug everything before playing is boring.

current top 10 :

- Solid State Survivor
- Soldier Force
- The One Case
- Reflex
- Yakouga Taiken 4
- Cho Ren Sha 68K
- Nomltest
- Flying Red Wine Barrel - A Diary of Little Aviator -
- Hitogata Happa
- Zen-Ichi

[EPS21]

subterranean animism is probably the best touhou game

Seconding this, none of the other games prompted me to play the extra stage more than 1000 times as this one has.

I don't really play many doujins these days though, more into the latest 360 offerings or anything with actual tate support (I don't understand why doujin developers are so averse to supporting tate, and with 99% of them defaulting to 640x480 or fake, upscaled resolutions that look like complete ass on any decent resolution, they assume only NEET's with ancient PC's play them...)

[Goshi]

Ah, it seems no one has mentioned any of Eikyuu Loop's games (TWilight INSanity, TWilight refrAIN, Alternate Sphere). I would recommend those. Especially if you're a Touhou fan, since the games formulas are somewhat based off it.

- Hitogata Happa

The Gundemonium games don't get enough love. Sure they look pretty primitive compared to other games. But that doesn't stop them from being fun. Plus it has half naked girls! Can't go wrong with that!!!

[Observer]

Agreed on Eikyuu Loop. While the games might have 'annoying' treats (ie: horrible enemy design, comprised mainly of barrels, eyes or random objects), they are quiet nice. And Alternative Sphere uses HDR effects, probably a first for a fully released doujin shooter.

Others make good use of effects as well, like Cloudphobia or Ether Vapor. They also have all these quirks and attempts at implementing different, daring mechanics. Sometimes they can ruin the game, but sometimes they prove to be quite nice. And they keep trying. Not all the games output at 640x480. Diadra Empty's native res is 1024x768... and your computer suffers it when there are 7k+ objects on screen. Exception (by i-saint) uses a plethora of effects and tries something nice by actually not using bullets per se but cubes and physics.

I've also been playing way more doujin shooters than commercial ones although the equation inverted one month ago when I start playing RayCrisis seriously and went back to RayStorm and G-Darius. Now I'm back at doujins again.

A short top five (in no particular order) would include:

Kamui (Siter Skain)
RefleX (Siter Skain)
Imperishable Night (ZUN/Team Shanghai Alice)
Hellsinker (Ruminant's Whimper)
Diadra Empty (icewind/frozenorb)

But one special spot will be made for Crimzon Clover too.

[CptRansom]

I really enjoy Blue Wish Resurrection (Plus or regular), Kamui, Genetos, rRootage, ChoRenSha, XOP Black, Touhou (PCB/IN... I don't really care for the others), Samidare, and Ether Vapor off the top of my head.

Hellsinker is one of those games I really want to love, but I just can't figure it out for the life of me.

Since I'm still pretty new to shooters, I have a bad habit of going nuts with doujin games, MAME, SNES/Genesis emulators... not to mention Futari, Raiden IV, Ikaruga, etc. on Xbox 360. I need some damned focus instead of constantly bouncing from game to game on an almost daily basis.

[ROBOTRON]

[undamned]

Thanks for starting this thread, TVR! Whenever these discussions pop up I seldom venture out to sample said games, but w/ the Crimzon Clover excitement brewing, I think I'm primed enough to snap up a few more
-ud

[CIT]

Doujinshi can now refer to any amateur production

No.

doujinshi = 同人誌
誌 = magazine

doujin game = 同人ゲーム

[Zaarock]

Hellsinker is definitely the one I've gotten most into so far. I better set up my PC and try Crimson Clover and other newer games soon.

[TMR]

i love Genetos lots and lots right now, and i've always had a soft spot for Ifrit... there's more but nothing i've played recently and my memory isn't good enough to offer suggestions right now. =-)

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Thanks for starting this thread, TVR! Whenever these discussions pop up I seldom venture out to sample said games, but w/ the Crimzon Clover excitement brewing, I think I'm primed enough to snap up a few more
-ud

the good thing about doujin / indie is that there's shmups made for every type of player from the noob friendly shooters like Blue Wish Resurrection and Wrath to super hard Hellsinker and Radio Zonde or simple but addictive freeware shmups like P47 and Warning Forever to full on arcade, Crimson Clover and Kamui.

For me personally most of the doujin games ive spent time with have tended to of been the simple freeware type / noob friendly and because my skills do need to go a long way b4 i can 1LC a stage from Radio Zonde i do tend to spend longer then most ppl with a shmup b4 ive finished it. So tbh ive still to play many of the doujins i consider to be the best titles out there therefore my list is made up of the games ive spent alot of time with. Just because theyre simple doesnt mean theyre not fun, infact it can be because they are so simple that makes them so addictivly fun like Nomltest.

In no perticular order
1 Kamui
2 Nomltest FS
3 Blue Wish Resurrection
4 Arcanacra Black Label
5 Zillion Beatz
6 Zen-Ichi
7 Cho Ren Sha
8 Demolition Gunner ISAD
9 P47 (i mean parsec47)
10 Wrath

Like observer ive been playing only retro console shooters this year so its high time i got back to doujins im thinking of playing G-Type since im going through a Gradius phase atm. Does any1 recomend any good doujin / indie Gradius or retro horizontals? like G-type and Ifrit

[Observer]

The obvious choices would be Storm Assault and Hydorah.

Mmm, I admit RayCrisis is old but... it doesn't feel like it to me, lol. I think it's one of the few where the 3D actually resisted the evil march of time, mainly because of the "digital world" style of the game. But, yeah, nowadays I'm usually rediscovering PSX and Saturn shooters with occasional touches of DDP-DOJ and Espgaluda.

But this is about doujins, let's not forget of Fraxy! The "construct-your-own-stuff" shooter.

And the eXceed series. A solid one, quite high quality but, overall, I only like the 2nd because it uses the Ikaruga colour changing but actually makes it a bit nicer to play. The third is okay but nothing to write home about and the first, what little I tried, was decent too.

Another point for ChoRenSha 68k. It doesn't get any better when it comes to old-school doujin verts. Pity the background can make you dizzy at times

[Gespenst]

Reflex and BWR all the way. But I haven't tried these (I'm going to get them shortly): Hellsinker, Zen-Ichi, Zillion Beats, and Samidare

[Davey]

I wasn't going to bother mentioning Parsec47 since I've already blown my e-load over it dozens of times in similar threads. But nobody brought it up so far, so I'm obligated to recommend it. I also need to start playing it again... I haven't touched it in over a year and haven't seriously played it in probably 3+ years. Even so, I'd probably still list it as my favorite shmup, free or commericial.