Shmup Related Questions That Don't Deserve a Thread

[Steven]

Raiden (1990): graphically impressive for a 1990 game

Wait until you see Out Zone.

[001]

Another "i can`t remember that 90s SHMUP"

Hello and here`s the story:
In the 90s when I was a child, I remember playing a specific shoot 'em up game at a local european arcade and over the years I kept trying to find his name but without success.

The only memories I have of him are these:

- it was a vertical-scroller type SHMUP
- it had 2 helicopters (if you played a 2 player game), one red and one blue
- it had different colored powerups with letters inside that described what they were (one of the powerups was a line of rockets from one corner of the screen to another, one had homing missiles, one was shooting in a cross pattern up down left right around the helicopter)
- the final bosses were huge, often they didn't fit completely on the screen

And....that`s it unfortunately, i can`t remember more.
I searched with google after this description several times, I searched through images, forums but....nothing. I found many similar games but not exactly this one.
The game is vaguely similar to Blackhawk Striker but not with such modern, partially 3d graphics.

If someone could help me identify it, I would be grateful, it is among the last unidentified childhood games for me.
Thank you in advance!

[Starfighter]

I've been diving in to flash games again lately, and a question suddenly emerged. Are there any good* flash-shmups?

* = I kind of expect the quality to be fairly low but you know what I mean, surely? Good as in "better than a pure joke shmup with stolen assets and broken controls".

[Steven]

How good/accurate is the emulation of Batrider and Bakraid on MiSTer?

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I've been diving in to flash games again lately, and a question suddenly emerged. Are there any good* flash-shmups?

There's a few, but they're a rarity. Flash as an engine can be a bit clunky, so genuinely good action games are a relative rarity and can be prone to slowdown. Check out Frantic, Frantic 2, Danmaku Legend II found here. You'll need to click on the page then View Source to get the link to the SWF file so you can download it and play it locally on a copy of Adobe Flash player.

There were also some good Java based shmups, namely the Area Flat games (three in total) but again, because Java support is dead I'm not sure the best way to play them (is there a standalone Java program that can run JAR files?).

I also highly recommend Monster's Den: Book of Dread as a dungeon crawler. There's actually a Steam release now for it which improves things like handling of custom portraits.

[Starfighter]

There's a few, but they're a rarity. Flash as an engine can be a bit clunky, so genuinely good action games are a relative rarity and can be prone to slowdown. Check out Frantic, Frantic 2, Danmaku Legend II found here. You'll need to click on the page then View Source to get the link to the SWF file so you can download it and play it locally on a copy of Adobe Flash player.

There were also some good Java based shmups, namely the Area Flat games (three in total) but again, because Java support is dead I'm not sure the best way to play them (is there a standalone Java program that can run JAR files?).

I also highly recommend Monster's Den: Book of Dread as a dungeon crawler. There's actually a Steam release now for it which improves things like handling of custom portraits.

Thank you so much! I found them all in Flashpoint! You're wording your post as if you don't know about Flashpoint so I'm a bit excited to tell you about it, it's pure gold in situations like these; You know how all the games made for older platforms that aren't readily available in mainstream browsers anymore (like flash, java, shockwave etc) are gone or at least very tricky to find/play? They're available and playable in Flashpoint. There, you know all you need to know.

Edit: Well, they're not ALL available through Flashpoint, but if you know a title that's missing chances are it'll be added sooner or later. It's a community project with close to 200 000 added games.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Cool, I'll check it out. I'm used to saving SWF files for Flash games I've wanted to preserve, but there's some Java games I've wanted to play that I've had no way of accessing, would be nice if they were available there.

[splitt442]

Who do I need to sacrifice for an M2 port of Sokyugurentai?

[Lemnear]

Curiosity: what was the first SHMUP/STG/Shooter to have more than 1 selectable ship?

[Bassa-Bassa]

Who do I need to sacrifice for an M2 port of Sokyugurentai?

Clearly the City Connection guys is a good start. I can't see M2 caring about S. Gurentai if an S-Tribute of it is around.

Anyway I suspect the STV hardware is a bit too powerful for M2's emulation demands. Their usual runahead-like techniques to reduce latency doesn't seem to be possible there on something like the Switch at least.

[Rastan78]

Anyway I suspect the STV hardware is a bit too powerful for M2's emulation demands. Their usual runahead-like techniques to reduce latency doesn't seem to be possible there on something like the Switch at least.

Probably the same would go for later Cave games like Ibara. Although when they were still doing Sega Ages stuff they claimed to have an unnamed Naomi title already running on Switch. If we're going to sacrifice Laggy Connection to the gods why not pray for ShotTriggers Border Down HD?

[Sumez]

If M2 can port Futari like they did on X360, I see no reason to resort to emulation for the likes of Ibara and other CV1000 titles.

[Bassa-Bassa]

There're people still hopeful that Border Down HD will eventually happen by Grev themselves.

Then they recall the Exarcadia is a thing too.

[Rastan78]

If M2 can port Futari like they did on X360, I see no reason to resort to emulation for the likes of Ibara and other CV1000 titles.

Yeah but they don't seem to do anything that's not emulation now. Or maybe I'm wrong. The Futari port is going to be pushing 15 years old before long, and I'd imagine Cave footed the bill for development costs and publishing. I would love to be proven wrong but would be surprised if they take that approach within the ShotTriggers line.

Take this with a grain of salt bc I read this a long time ago and won't bother to find the link. IIRC M2 staff were saying in an interview they view emulation as a much more efficient way to get total accuracy with less bug fixing and uncertainty.

[Steven]

I wonder if Mega Drive Fantasy Zone is a port from the original source code (I doubt it somehow) or if they remade the game for the MD. That's definitely not emulation, though. Well, it is because the only way to play it is on a rather expensive emulator box, but the ROM itself would run on a Mega Drive if it wasn't encrypted.

[Rastan78]

Well for example GG Aleste 3 was developed and runs on a GG emulator even though it's a brand new game. They talked about how it's much easier to get things up and running to test with an emulator than it would've been in the day developing directly for the GG hardware.

[Sumez]

I wonder if Mega Drive Fantasy Zone is a port from the original source code (I doubt it somehow) or if they remade the game for the MD. That's definitely not emulation, though. Well, it is because the only way to play it is on a rather expensive emulator box, but the ROM itself would run on a Mega Drive if it wasn't encrypted.

I doubt the original source code still exists, but the game was definitely made in assembly, so the machine code as it is should be easily readable and portable.
MegaDrive and System16 both use a 68K CPU, so I'd be surprised if many of the game's routines weren't reused as-is to ensure accuracy (and save work).

[Starfighter]

Are there any horror shmups? (Other than the gothic halloweeny stuff.)

[Bassa-Bassa]

http://akiragoya.sakura.ne.jp/game/

[Lemnear]

Who's the second in term of quality/gadget/accuracy after M2 ??? Isn't there anyone other than M2 and Hamster? is a huge hole in terms of content (not quality) between them.

[Nahar]

Are there any horror shmups? (Other than the gothic halloweeny stuff.)

Seconding this question. I'm really interested.

[Steven]

Are there any horror shmups? (Other than the gothic halloweeny stuff.)

Are there any horror shmups? (Other than the gothic halloweeny stuff.)

Seconding this question. I'm really interested.

R-Type

[xxx1993]

Are there any horror shmups? (Other than the gothic halloweeny stuff.)

Are there any horror shmups? (Other than the gothic halloweeny stuff.)

Seconding this question. I'm really interested.

R-Type

This. Especially Delta.

[XoPachi]

What am I supposed to do with these replay.bin files that Universe saves after a run?

[BIL]

Who's the second in term of quality/gadget/accuracy after M2 ??? Isn't there anyone other than M2 and Hamster? is a huge hole in terms of content (not quality) between them.

It's just M2 and Hamster worth a fuck, these days. I say that as someone who put his entire dick and balls into console ports. I just can't be arsed with PCBs currently. Maybe later, when the kids are out of the house, and I can truly go Full Shump like I was fifteen again, y'know?

At some point, the competency and passion you'd expect of professional developers became a rare quality, and M2 and Hamster are the only ones who have it. I've not seen anyone else that does, at least not consistently. Respect 2 Capcom Belt Action Collection's Final Fight, that one's good people.

But given M2 specialise in boutique super deluxe releases, and Hamster specialise in streamlined obscurities, it works out better than it sounds. Garegga and Kyuukyoku Tiger and DaiOuJou every six months or so, Trigon and Thunder Dragon II and Gun Frontier and Daioh much the same. Getting decent ALLs in those will take you years, and you'll have the biggest swinging dick on the forum, in doing so!

Da jitt et nix zo kriesche! ("There's nothin' to cry about!") - last words of Konrad Adenauer

It could be a lot worse. ;3

[Lemnear]

Who's the second in term of quality/gadget/accuracy after M2 ??? Isn't there anyone other than M2 and Hamster? is a huge hole in terms of content (not quality) between them.

Spoiler

It's just M2 and Hamster worth a fuck, these days. I say that as someone who put his entire dick and balls into console ports. I just can't be arsed with PCBs currently. Maybe later, when the kids are out of the house, and I can truly go Full Shump like I was fifteen again, y'know?

At some point, the competency and passion you'd expect of professional developers became a rare quality, and M2 and Hamster are the only ones who have it. I've not seen anyone else that does, at least not consistently. Respect 2 Capcom Belt Action Collection's Final Fight, that one's good people.

But given M2 specialise in boutique super deluxe releases, and Hamster specialise in streamlined obscurities, it works out better than it sounds. Garegga and Kyuukyoku Tiger and DaiOuJou every six months or so, Trigon and Thunder Dragon II and Gun Frontier and Daioh much the same. Getting decent ALLs in those will take you years, and you'll have the biggest swinging dick on the forum, in doing so!

Da jitt et nix zo kriesche! ("There's nothin' to cry about!") - last words of Konrad Adenauer

It could be a lot worse. ;3

Related question, are modern shmups good as M2 games? or their ports are even more responsive than a modern/recent game?

[BIL]

Related question, are modern shmups good as M2 games? or their ports are even more responsive than a modern/recent game?

As always, it depends on the dev. Qute is a safe bet! Eschatos (originally on 360)'s PS4 port (great game, includes the absolutely sublime Judgment Silversword and Cardinal Sins) is ultra-sharp. And while I've not played either game in-depth, their Ginga Force and Natsuki Chronicles seem just as responsive.

Ikaruga's PS4 port is excellent, too, as is Raiden III x Mikado. I'd say the same about Raiden IV x Mikado, but sadly, it has a slight but noticeable framerate hitch, for some reason... (the AC hardware is 60hz). Even then, the last is more than playable.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

What am I supposed to do with these replay.bin files that Universe saves after a run?

Delete them? Nothing? It sounds like it's autosaving the replay file if you want to watch it again. A lot of games autosave the input replays that way (Kaikan and Vastynex come to mind), and name it like Replay1.bin, Replay2.bin as they're produced.

[Lander]

Related question, are modern shmups good as M2 games? or their ports are even more responsive than a modern/recent game?

In theory they should be as good at baseline, if not better, on account of being native code that doesn't have to spend CPU time passing through an emulation layer.

In practice... Few modern studios have the technical craft of M2, or of the OG developers whose games they port. Easy-to-use-hard-to-master engines have lowered the barrier to entry without meaningfully raising the average on tech-savviness, so there are more games, but they're not necessarily better-made.

You'd hope that modern engines would eventually refine themselves to the point where it's more difficult to make mistakes, and 'just work' on whatever hardware without the user having to learn a bunch of quirks and best practices; programming languages have started moving in that direction, adding extra machinery to say "don't do this it will be slow and rubbish and / or crash" long before the code is run.

Unfortunately, engines are complex things, so much of what's out there is well behind the technical curve. Unreal is probably the worst for it - beautiful cutting edge graphics tech balancing on top of a rickety decades-old framework. And the more things you balance on top, the harder it becomes to fix the foundation without binning the entire thing and starting fresh. Easier and more profitable to employ a bunch of tech support staff and offer them as a premium service.

Which is a very long winded way of reiterating BIL's point: It depends

[Lemnear]

Related question, are modern shmups good as M2 games? or their ports are even more responsive than a modern/recent game?

As always, it depends on the dev. Qute is a safe bet! Eschatos (originally on 360)'s PS4 port (great game, includes the absolutely sublime Judgment Silversword and Cardinal Sins) is ultra-sharp. And while I've not played either game in-depth, their Ginga Force and Natsuki Chronicles seem just as responsive.

Ikaruga's PS4 port is excellent, too, as is Raiden III x Mikado. I'd say the same about Raiden IV x Mikado, but sadly, it has a slight but noticeable framerate hitch, for some reason... (the AC hardware is 60hz). Even then, the last is more than playable.

Curious about the input lag of all them, i wish to have some sort of archive or building one by myself .