Shmups with helicopters in space.

Drum · Post by **Drum** » Sun Sep 26, 2010 11:21 pm

I am compiling a list and I'd like your input.

So far I have:

Strike Force (Midway, 1991)
Bakuretsu Breaker (Kaneko, 1992)
Eight Forces (Tecmo, 1994)
Gekirindan (Taito, 1995)
Sonic Wings Limited (Video System, 1996)
R-Type Final (Irem, 2003)

Anything else?

Dragonfly10 · Post by **Dragonfly10** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 12:55 am

I think you might want to add Gekirindan (Taito 1995) to your list since it has a helicopter-type ship in it and there are space levels.

Drum · Post by **Drum** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 1:09 am

Dragonfly10 wrote:I think you might want to add Gekirindan (Taito 1995) to your list since it has a helicopter-type ship in it and there are space levels.

Thanks - good pick. Bonus points as it's a playable space helicopter. Added.

saucykobold · Post by **saucykobold** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 3:22 am

The older Raidens qualify (but just barely). I and II have one space level w/ enemy helicopters, DX has two.

Jockel · Post by **Jockel** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 7:46 am

Isn't that just awesome?

Helicopters flying in space

ZacharyB · Post by **ZacharyB** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 8:39 am

Hey, it could work if the rotor medium is something other than air.

How about a "gravity tornado" that pulls upward instead of pushing air downward? It's spacetime... might even be able to parse the fifth dimension.

Obiwanshinobi · Post by **Obiwanshinobi** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 11:51 am

Wasn't the helicopter stage in Blood Money somewhat spacey?

Drum · Post by **Drum** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 3:31 pm

Obiwanshinobi wrote:Wasn't the helicopter stage in Blood Money somewhat spacey?

I thought about that one, but I don't think it qualifies - the level select tells us it definitely takes place on the surface of a planet, but the level appears to be inside some gigantic fortress. It's not clear that there is an atmosphere, artificial or otherwise ... though it's possible that gravity is funky on this world, as the walker enemies can walk on the ceiling. Anyway, I'm not adding it because the evidence is inconclusive.

In Mr Heli the final level takes place on a lunarscape, but again it's not clear if there's an atmosphere or not - it could just be night time. Same with Choplifter on the Apple II, though that is a clearer cut issue as the flag on your base is definitely waving in some sort of breeze. Unless ... Choplifter is a hoax?!??

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 3:36 pm

Drum wrote:In Mr Heli the final level takes place on a lunarscape, but again it's not clear if there's an atmosphere or not - it could just be night time.

Mr. Heli is selectable in R-Type Final, and there are certainly space stages in that game.

Xexyz · Post by **Xexyz** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 5:21 pm

Explosive Breaker has a digitized desert attack chopper as the first stage mid-boss, and it's in outer space.

ShmupSamurai · Post by **ShmupSamurai** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 9:24 pm

Ah, shmups....

giving realism and physics the middle finger(well, most of the time)

esreveR · Post by **esreveR** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 9:47 pm

ShmupSamurai wrote:Ah, shmups....

giving realism and physics the middle finger(well, most of the time)

Under Defeat and Raiden tried their best to avoid this.

Speaking of which, what the hell is Raiden doing on this list? There are NO helicopters in Raiden. Those funny Sniper Chopper things (I believe their official name is SA-01) are VTOL aircraft, and the funny bomb things are probably operating in an artificial atmosphere of some sort. Besides, bombs are meant to fall anyway. Cranassians aren't stupid.

Also, Strikers 1945 had piston-powered aircraft in space, if that helps at all.

saucykobold · Post by **saucykobold** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 2:01 am

esreveR wrote:Speaking of which, what the hell is Raiden doing on this list? There are NO helicopters in Raiden. Those funny Sniper Chopper things (I believe their official name is SA-01) are VTOL aircraft

Huh, you're right. I've always thought of them as helicopters, for whatever reason. Mea maxima culpa!

Drum · Post by **Drum** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 3:04 am

saucykobold wrote:
esreveR wrote:Speaking of which, what the hell is Raiden doing on this list? There are NO helicopters in Raiden. Those funny Sniper Chopper things (I believe their official name is SA-01) are VTOL aircraft
Huh, you're right. I've always thought of them as helicopters, for whatever reason. Mea maxima culpa! :P

>:(

Okay, Raiden is off the list. I haven't played Raiden 2/DX as it's not available on MAME (unless it is and I am doing it wrong?)

esreveR · Post by **esreveR** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 4:21 am

Drum wrote:
saucykobold wrote:
esreveR wrote:Speaking of which, what the hell is Raiden doing on this list? There are NO helicopters in Raiden. Those funny Sniper Chopper things (I believe their official name is SA-01) are VTOL aircraft
Huh, you're right. I've always thought of them as helicopters, for whatever reason. Mea maxima culpa!
>:(

Okay, Raiden is off the list. I haven't played Raiden 2/DX as it's not available on MAME (unless it is and I am doing it wrong?)

You can play it through a PlayStation emulator.

Speaking of which, is Raiden DX for the PlayStation pretty much the same graphic-wise as the original? Because I noticed the Sniper Choppers, for example, do not have rotation frames when looking through PSX VRAM. It must be provided by the PlayStation instead, does the Raiden II hardware do this?

EDIT: Oh crap I'm derailing again.

Drum · Post by **Drum** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 4:43 am

esreveR wrote:EDIT: Oh crap I'm derailing again.

I wouldn't worry about it - this thread has a big yellow sticky on its back saying 'derail me'. Thanks for the tip about Raiden emulation!

ChurchOfSolipsism · Post by **ChurchOfSolipsism** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 10:58 am

I barely dare to ask, but - why?

pooch · Post by **pooch** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 12:19 pm

ChurchOfSolipsism wrote:I barely dare to ask, but - why?

Surely shmups with helicopters in space is its own justification. THE ULTIMATE JUSTIFICATION.

D · Post by D » Thu Sep 30, 2010 1:10 pm

Sonic Wings Special has a playable Helicopter aircraft and there are space levels, right?

Drum · Post by **Drum** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 5:08 pm

Yup, good call. Fuck the 'come get me' powerups in that game, though.

TomuS · Post by **TomuS** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 6:06 pm

Eight Forces (Tecmo, 1994)

Helicopter as playable ship + space levels.

Drum · Post by **Drum** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 6:13 pm

Ugh, I should totally have got that one - I love Eight Forces (even though it sucks).

Jeneki · Post by **Jeneki** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 10:26 pm

This is why Gunbird needs an outer space level. Unprotected pilot + manually pedaling a helicopter frame + outer space = ULTIMATE WIN.

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » Mon Nov 15, 2010 6:03 am

Not sure or this is a shmup, but fort apacolyps, on the commodore 64.

Could use a HD remake for xbl or psn. Would be fantastic.

Obiwanshinobi · Post by **Obiwanshinobi** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 9:37 am

Strike Gunner S.T.G. - now that is a shmup with helicopters in space if I ever saw one.

Bizarre game this one. Difficult to believe it actually made it to the arcades. 1991? Really?
The SNES port is more fleshed out (this isn't saying much), but bizarre nonetheless. I guess they wanted to make a Fun Weapons™ game pretty badly but didn't have a clue how to get there.

Post by **nZero** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 4:12 pm

Got a better screenshot? That looks more like a forest than space.

Obiwanshinobi · Post by **Obiwanshinobi** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 4:32 pm

Maybe they meant forest but admit it - your opinion is influenced by the SNES version where it's clearly a forest. On MAME it just looks like poor man's space (I believe they did intend to do something about backgrounds, but ran out of resources and released it in a shape rendering everybody's judgement what the hell it is supposed to be as good as everybody else's).

TrevHead (TVR) · Post by **TrevHead (TVR)** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 5:36 pm

It looks more like its inside the matrix to me

ZOM · Post by **ZOM** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 5:40 pm

It's a forest in space inside the matrix. duh!

NzzpNzzp · Post by **NzzpNzzp** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 6:17 pm

Obiwanshinobi wrote:Maybe they meant forest but admit it - your opinion is influenced by the SNES version where it's clearly a forest. On MAME it just looks like poor man's space (I believe they did intend to do something about backgrounds, but ran out of resources and released it in a shape rendering everybody's judgement what the hell it is supposed to be as good as everybody else's).

I've never played any version of that game, but it looks like a forest to me. Turned my monitor brightness up and it's green as hell. And kinda bushy.

shmups.system11.org

Shmups with helicopters in space.

Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.

Re: Shmups with helicopters in space.