What you want in a shmup ship

[esreveR]

As my Fantasy Fighter Selection thread is all but dead, I thought I'd try and make a general thread about what kind of shmup plane you'd want for playing a game.

I myself like planes with absolutely no spread in the shot but are fast as heck. Good for precision work (If you need to not kill something, for example) and also excellent for grabbing falling medals. I hate homing weapons with a passion, because in general the first thing they target is exactly what you don't want to hit. Straight-up lasers are the best, too. Just about anything simple works.

Alternatively, weapons like Judge Spear's napalm missiles are actually pretty darn good. Like, they function as normal projectiles (No lag) and only explode, albeit rather large, if they hit something. I like variable-distance bombs, although giant lasers and air support are also good. If I ever did use a homing weapon, it would probably shoot out little weapon pods that target enemies independently, but only shoot if you shoot. Also, weapons that pass through enemies are nice.

If the ship is slow, I prefer something like Fire Barrel's green shot, which is essentially a wide-angle spread of wide projectiles. Something like Raiden IV's Proton Laser would work as well.

In terms of side-scrolling run-n-guns, I'd choose lasers over pretty much anything. Also, I like bombs that have a ton of splash damage, like Metal Slug's firebombs. In a side-scrolling shmup I prefer R-Type II's ship with gray powerups and the third one's double-looped wave cannon, along with missiles, or alternatively R-Type Leo's ship with red powerups. Or that one blue ship in Blazing Star. So many choices.

Feel free to post your own preferences.

[xris]

Medium speed, so I don't run into stuff. Medium spread shot, that's deadly point blank. Homing option to pick up stuff from the sides. Weak bomb, it's no fun to nuke bosses. And, it's black and red.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I want my ship to be up to the job, simple as that.
Raiden III's semi-homing missiles are AWESOME, the "launch and run" tactics work WONDERS at the beginning of Stage 3 (when I need to change straight laser to vulcan); a cool piece of hazardous dogfight right from the start, before the Bologna part begins.

[Momijitsuki]

I'm a medium-everything fan. Nothing too fast, and I like my shots not too narrow but not too wide as well. Oh, and options. I like options.

[worstplayer]

No bomb delay.

[Taylor]

Fast, straight shot, and mai waifu.

[Sasupoika]

Extra fast, narrow shot.

[Riot Zone]

Every shump should have speed options for sure. How much better would Trigon be if you could just make your damn ship a little bit faster!

[apple arcade]

DOJ - B Type - Laser
MF1.5 - PALM - Abnormal
ESP ARRANGE - CHIRIO (or whatever her name is)

These are some of my favorites.

[null1024]

Fast ship, weapons with a narrow spread, but not 100% straight forward.

Great example of what I want: in Dangun, 2nd ship, speed 3, homing [and I only use that for the first 5 seconds when you have the peashooter and on bosses]. I'd choose the penis ship, but it's TOO narrow.

Oh, and black, with orange highlights.

[Klatrymadon]

All I ask is that it should be able to handle the nuances of the game's level design, particularly where there's no choice in the matter. A lot of the ships that seem to handle like baleen whales are more than adequate given the nature of the attacks and patterns they're pitted against, for example, and in those cases disliking them is more a matter of disliking the games generally (or not having given them much of a chance). Personally, I do tend to use relatively slow ships anyway, when given the choice, although I prefer them not to be of the typical "barely mobile/wide shot" set-up, and will usually take a speedier one if that's the case. In games with big trade-offs between offence and defence, I'll usually go for the most offensive options (Napalm Missile in Viper Phase 1, Gravity Bullet in Gradius Gaiden, etc).

[ave]

Very fast while triggering, rather slow when holding it down, Cave I'd say. There should be no bomb delay, the bomb ought to be huge and not limited to certain enemies, it should affect the whole screen. I want to be able to change between a narrow and powerful laser and a powerful spreadshot. Each shots have to become more powerful the closer they are to the object they're hitting.

You might have guessed that I perfectly described the dodonpachi type-a ship, but that's because I consider it the best ship in a shmup ever! So perfect... I love Daioujou

[esreveR]

You might have guessed that I perfectly described the dodonpachi type-a ship, but that's because I consider it the best ship in a shmup ever! So perfect... I love Daioujou

I love Type-A with Shot power-up myself. Another ship I do really well with is Carmine from Giga Wing.

Also, that one blue ship in Blazing Star is awesome, and so is Clark in Metal Slug (At least pointwise, though Eri's awesome simply because she's hot )

[lgb]

nice animations ala Raizing. touhou (ZUN 3rd, anyway) somewhat counts but the player sprites are the only particularly nice looking thing

also my idea of a "polished" game does not look like Crimzon Clover, it looks like a fucking professional game. guwange, for example.

speaking of which I'm getting tired of the psuedo-Takumi look that half of all doujin games take up, thank god touhou doesn't really go down this route or I'd haaate it

[moebinkay]

DDP Delta Sword Kicks A** and remains to do so till DFK

[captpain]

Fast, just shy of being completely out of control.

Powerful, narrow shot, preferably two-mode IE DonPachi series.

[Sturmvogel Prime]

First of all: a sexy anime-style pilot
Weapons: Twin Shot, Free Range, Round Force, and OverWeapons (with TFV style OverWeapon Control)
Subweapons: CRAW, Anchor Units (Selectable)

[ZOM]

I love piloting doragonz like in D.Spirit & D.Saber, but if I have to choose optimal weapon equipment, I'll go with MIYAMOTO. (Aww shucks that's a dragon too...)

First of all: a sexy anime-style pilot

Cho Aniki?

[moebinkay]

Fast, just shy of being completely out of control.

Powerful, narrow shot, preferably two-mode IE DonPachi series.

Errrr Actually I meant type C "Spearhead", dunno how I confused them ...

I like the blue stealth design of the ship

[xris]

I'd like a hitbox that's part of the design that lit up with the proximity to danger. About the size in Raiden 4, which I hate that I can't see. I play like it's bigger than it is sometimes.

[Udderdude]

I like my ships to be completely invincible and autofire infinite screen-clearing nukes that give x9999 score for each kill.

:3

[esreveR]

I like my ships to be completely invincible and autofire infinite screen-clearing nukes that give x9999 score for each kill.

:3

While we're at it, why not make the nukes flatten the level itself, like Raiden DX did? I loved that bit of detail. It's a shame I've never seen sprite graphics that wonderful again.

In other news, it would be pretty funny if we got Devastator with more speed and DUAL VULCANS



You could put four of them on Eraser, but that would begin to sound like Udderdude again.

[orange]

[x] its graphic is not a flying anime

[Pirate1019]

A ship with a sprite that makes it easy to tell where the hitbox is.

[mesh control]

fenders and spoilers

[Plasmo]

[x] Underaged male pilot in panties

Cave Style!

[bkk]

Huge guns. That are full of ammo.

[null1024]

[x] Underaged male pilot in panties

Cave Style!

Uh, that would be something G.Rev would do.

[emphatic]

A clearly defined hitbox, auto fire rate that can be adjusted by tapping manually and NO FUCKING LAG.

[spadgy]

Propellers, a straight narrow shot, slow, with a hitbox that is marked subtly by the vehicles design.

Oh, and I want to wear Halcyon goggles and have a long white piece of silk coming from my helmet and billowing in the wind.