10th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

[Nifty]

Top 25 Shmups of All Time (through 2012)

Code: Select all

##. Game                                               Score  '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 '09 '10
01. Battle Garegga (AC/SAT)                             7.15    +   +   *   +   +   +   .   .   .
02. Mushihimesama Futari / 1.5 / Black Label (AC/360)   6.72    *   *   *   *   *   *   +   +   +
03. Ketsui ~Kizuna Jigoku Tachi~ (AC/360)               6.11    *   *   *   *   *   *   +   .   +
04. DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou / Black Label (AC/360/etc.)   6.08    *   +   +   +   +   -   -   +   -
05. Armed Police Batrider (AC)                          5.88    *   *   +   *   -   +   .   -   -
06. DoDonPachi (AC/SAT/PSX)                             5.15    -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -
07. Batsugun / Batsugun Special (AC/SAT)                3.86    *   +   +   *   +   +   +   +   +
08. Raiden Fighters Jet (AC/360)                        3.58    *   *   *   *   *   *   +   -   +
09. ESPGaluda (AC/PS2)                                  3.53    *   *   +   +   -   -   -   +   -
10. Mars Matrix (DC/AC)                                 3.43    +   +   -   -   +   +   .   +   +
11. Mushihimesama (AC/PS2/360)                          3.39    *   *   *   +   +   -   -   +   *
12. Gunbird 2 (AC/DC)                                   3.30    +   +   -   +   +   *   *   +   .
13. ESPGaluda II (AC/360)                               3.28    *   *   *   *   *   *   *   -   +
14. Radiant Silvergun (AC/SAT/360)                      3.20    -   -   -   -   -   -   -   .   *
15. Dragon Blaze (AC/PS2)                               3.14    *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   +
16. Strikers 1945 II (AC/SAT/PSX/PS2)                   3.10    -   -   -   .   *   +   +   +   +
17. R-Type (AC/PCE//PSX/etc.)                           3.09    -   -   -   -   *   -   +   -   +
18. Ikaruga (ARC/DC/GC/360)                             3.08    -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -
19. Giga Wing (AC/DC)                                   2.96    *   -   .   -   +   -   +   +   +
20. Battle Bakraid (AC)                                 2.87    *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
21. Soukyugurentai / Terra Diver (SAT/AC/PSX)           2.845   -   -   -   -   +   -   *   -   *
22. Ibara (AC/PS2)                                      2.842   *   *   *   *   *   +   -   .   +
23. DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu/1.5/Resurrection (AC/etc.)   2.78    *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
24. Muchi Muchi Pork! (AC/360)                          2.62    *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   -
25. Gradius Gaiden (PSX)                                2.52    -   -   -   -   -   -   *   -   *

• . denotes the game holds the same position now as the year indicated.
• + denotes the game holds an improved standing compared to the year indicated.
• - denotes the game holds a reduced standing compared to the year indicated.
• * denotes the game was not on the list for the year indicated.

Honourable Mention

Code: Select all

Game                                                    '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 '09 '10
Akai Katana / Shin (360/AC)                               +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +
Blazing Star (AC/NG)                                      .   +   .   .   .   .   .   .   .
Cho Ren Sha 68K (PC/X68)                                  +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   .
Crimzon Clover (PC)                                       +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   .
Cyvern: The Dragon Weapons (AC)                           +   +   .   +   +   +   +   +   + 
Dangun Feveron (AC)                                       +   .   .   .   .   .   -   -   .
Darius Gaiden (AC/SAT/PS2/etc.)                           +   +   .   .   .   .   .   .   -
Deathsmiles / Mega Black Label (AC/360)                   +   +   +   +   +   +   .   .   -
Dimahoo / Great Mahou Daisakusen (AC)                     +   .   .   .   +   +   +   +   .
DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu Black Label (AC/360)               +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   .
DonPachi (AC/SAT/PSX)                                     -   -   -   .   .   .   .   .   .
Einhänder (PSX)                                           .   .   -   -   -   .   .   .   .
Eschatos (360)                                            +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +
ESP Ra.De. (AC)                                           -   -   -   -   -   -   -   .   .
Fire Shark / Same! Same! Same! (AC/GEN)                   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +
G-Darius (AC/PS2/PSX)                                     +   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .
Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou (AC/SAT/FC/etc.)               +   .   .   .   +   .   +   +   .
Gradius V (PS2)                                           +   +   -   -   -   -   -   -   -
Guwange (AC/360)                                          -   -   .   -   .   -   -   -   -
Hellsinker (PC)                                           +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +
Imperishable Night [Touhou 8] (PC)                        +   +   .   +   +   +   +   +   .
Perfect Cherry Blossom [Touhou 7] (PC)                    +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   .
Pink Sweets ~Ibara Sorekara~ / Arrange (AC/360)           +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   .
Progear no Arashi (AC)                                    +   +   +   .   .   -   -   .   .
R-Type Delta (PSX)                                        .   .   -   -   -   .   +   .   .
Raiden DX (AC/PSX)                                        +   +   -   -   -   .   -   .   -
Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive (AC/360)           +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   .
RayForce/Layer Section/Galactic Attack/Gunlock (AC/etc.)  +   -   -   -   -   -   -   .   .
Recca [Summer Carnival '92] (FC)                          +   +   .   +   +   +   +   .   +
Strikers 1999 / Strikers 1945 III (AC)                    +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   .
Thunder Force III (GEN/MD/SAT)                            -   -   -   -   -   -   .   .   .
Thunder Force IV / Lightening Force (MD/GEN/SAT)          -   -   -   -   -   -   .   +   .
Twin Cobra / Kyukyoku Tiger (AC/PCE/etc.)                 +   .   +   +   .   .   +   +   +
Undefined Fantastic Object [Touhou 12] (PC)               +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +
Under Defeat (DC/AC)                                      +   +   +   +   -   .   .   .   .

• . denotes the game was also on the HM list for the year indicated.
• + denotes the game was on neither the HM list nor the top 25 for the year indicated.
• - denotes the game was in the top 25 for the year indicated.

What Dropped from 2010's Top 25:

• Darius Gaiden (SAT/AC/PS2/etc.)
• Deathsmiles / Mega Black Label (AC/360)
• Raiden DX (AC/PSX)
• Gradius V (PS2)
• Guwange (AC/360)

What Dropped from 2010's Honourable Mentions:

• Gokujou Parodius (AC/SAT/PSX/etc.)
• Gradius / Nemesis (AC/NES/etc.)
• Raiden IV (AC/360)
• Shikigami no Shiro II (AC/DC/PC/GC/etc.)
• Zero Gunner 2 (AC/DC)

Breakdown by Developer

Code: Select all

                   Top 25         Hon.M.          Overall
Cave                 10               9             19
Raizing               4               1              5
Psikyo                3               1              4
Treasure              2               1              3
Seibu Kaihatsu        1               2              3
Toaplan               1               2              3
Taito                 -               3              3
Team Shanghai Alice   -               3              3
Takumi                2               -              2
Irem                  1               1              2
Konami                1               1              2
Technosoft            -               2              2
Famibe no Yosshin     -               1              1
G.rev                 -               1              1
Kaneko                -               1              1
KID                   -               1              1
Qute                  -               1              1
Ruminant's Whimper    -               1              1        
Squaresoft            -               1              1
Yotsubane             -               1              1
Yumekobo              -               1              1

Breakdown by Original Platform

Code: Select all

System             Top 25         Hon.M.          Overall
Arcade                24             22              46
PC/Windows             -              5               5
PlayStation            1              2               3
Mega Drive/Genesis     -              2               2
PlayStation 2          -              1               1
Famicom/NES            -              1               1
X68000                 -              1               1
Xbox 360               -              1               1

Miscellaneous Stats:

• Number of Counted Voters: 103*
• Number of Games Voted For: 404
• Games Supported by at least half of voters: 5
• Games Supported by at least 1/4 of voters: 24
• Number of Honourable Mentions: 35
• Top 25 Score Spread: 2.515 - 7.152
• Honourable Mention Score Spread: 1.261 - 2.513
• Total Score Spread: 0.068 - 7.152

*Because everyone was able to fix their ballots in a timely fashion, not a single vote had to be discounted this year. Thanks to you all for the cooperation.



Random Comments:

• Crowd favourites Mushihimesama, Radiant Silvergun, Soukyugurentai and Gradius Gaiden have returned to the Top 25 after an extended years' vacation spent refreshing their minds and ship stock.
• Gradius V, once a champion and genuine contender for the high placings, has alarmingly failed to even rank this time. Advisers are now suggesting it shouldn't have tried playing with checkpoints on. Similarly, Annual T25 titan Ikaruga has fallen to its lowest ever finish. Their former rival DoDonPachi was seen laughing, until it realised the same was also true of it, at which point it walked away muttering something about a musician.
• After a decade of campaigning, Battle Bakraid has finally garnered enough support to make the shortlist, commenting to reporters that its detractors should go and kill themselves. DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu also appears for the first time, making for an increasingly confusing awards ceremony.
• A steadily growing number of doujin titles are sneaking into the Honourable Mentions. Experts continue to deny that this could be evidence of a demographic shift, stating that "Little girls have always been popular".
• Accounting for the fact that the Mushihimesama Futari vote was split last time, the score table can once again be seen to be dominated by the same six games. This severe polarisation means that the weighting for all the others is pushed down, resulting in not a single other title scoring over a 4.0 and a continually extending HM list. Perhaps we should be thankful; less variety in one manner has caused more in another.
• The discussion thread for this year's poll is here.
• The votes for this year's poll can be found here.
• The full results are now over here.

Extra big thanks to incognoscente for running the numbers and helping me find where I'd made errors, and to Ghegs & the site staff for allowing me to host this.

[Hagane]

I expected Cyvern and Strikers 1999 to get in the top 25 with all the votes they got. Also Blade didn't make it to the HM. I'm sad.

[chum]

3 Touhou games in the honourable mention vs 19 Cave games in top 25 and honourable mention. What an unjust world (site)

Ikaruga, Ketsui, DDP, Mushihimesama, Giga Wing... hard for me to see the appeal.

HM is more varied and interesting, even though I can't figure out what DonPachi, Progear, Crimzon Clover or Cyvern are doing there!

I been playing a bit of Cyvern lately and It's so bad, even the awesome medal system can't save it

[Hagane]

I can't figure out what [...] Progear [...] and Cyvern are doing there!

I can't, either. They should be at the top 25!

[1up]

I have no problem with this list. I hate Battle Garegga, but that's because I'm shit at it, but my fave is #2. This list is a depiction of the 25 best games voted by 'some' of the users on THIS forum. All 25 lists, everywhere, is the top25 of that individual. If you look at the whole thing, Top25 + Honorable Mentions, it's a pretty goddamn good list. Take all those games and make your own list. Either way it's full of awesome games.

Top 25 lists are never going to be perfect, in your eyes, unless you make it yourself.

[Eaglet]

HELL FUCKIN' YEAH

[Friendly]

I think the Honourable Mention list is more interesting than the Top 25.


And where the hell is Border Down? For shame!

Glad to see Eschatos at least made it to the HM list.

[trap15]

After a decade of campaigning, Battle Bakraid has finally garnered enough support to make the shortlist, commenting to reporters that its detractors should go and kill themselves.

Laughing so incredibly hard

[Kollision]

Well, as expected, no big surprises there.
Am I finally getting used to this place?

[KAI]

Radirgy is #1 in my heart, fuck this list, you all suck.

[Mortificator]

I notice this year's Franken-list has the fewest horis ever, just one each from the two biggest series. sorry Darius and Thunder Force

[MrChiggins]

Glad that Souky's back in the Top 25 and it's good to see Eschatos and Hellsinker in the HMs.

I'm easily the most bummed that no Fantasy Zones made the cut.
Zanac Neo and Harmful Park would've added some nice diversity as well.

And my IT'S NEVER GONNA HAPPEN BUT I STILL WUV YOU Award goes to:

Kingdom Grandprix

[DJ Incompetent]

Thanks Nifty

[Vyxx]

Decent list, nice to see Bakraid finally make the top 25.

Also a sweet justice seeing DeathSmiles drop from the top 25.

[Ed Oscuro]

Not an "interesting" list, but not really the kind of list you throw a bottle at, either. Not buying that Cave (and 3 Touhou games) are better than everything else out there.

Rather pleased that Raizing got so many (relatively) mentions, though. More than Psikyo, which is surprising.

[AntiFritz]

Decent list, nice to see Bakraid finally make the top 25.

Also a sweet justice seeing DeathSmiles drop from the top 25.

It'll be back next year, just like radiant silvergun was.

[Ed Oscuro]

Wait a second, what is this nonsense about Treasure being twice as good as Toaplan / Seibu / Irem?

One Treasure game was enough...two games, though, and

[Bananamatic]

Where is Mazinger Z

[Zaarock]

No Taito or G.Rev games? Rayforce defence force letsgo

[angrycoder]

Previous years:

9th annual
8th annual
7th annual
6th annual
5th annual
4th annual
3rd annual

[EmperorIng]

For shame on shmups forum for dropping Darius Gaiden.

Rayforce defence force letsgo

RFD is no match against the LGDF, the Little-Girl Defense Force.

[nasty_wolverine]

A steadily growing number of doujin titles are sneaking into the Honourable Mentions. Experts continue to deny that this could be evidence of a demographic shift, stating that "Little girls have always been popular".

This is good news for new shmup developers... like me and everybody else who hangs around the development district...
I hope Hellsinker ranks in next time
is minogame even a loli??

[Keith]

is minogame even a loli??

Minogame is a ???.

[Herr Schatten]

Very solid list. Shame about Shiki II, though.

[system11]

Thanks to MrNifty and Incog for running this and gathering the results.

The votes were all wrong though. RFJ over RF2? Mars Matrix charting at all? No R-Type Delta in the top 25? Espgaluda over the vastly superior sequel?

Crazy.

[Annoyboy]

My only problem with this list is that Gunbird 2 is way too high.

[soupbones]

Great to see Rtype still in the Top 25 - but a little disappointed it's so Cave heavy.

Radiant Silvergun on the top 25 list? Yuck.

All in all, good list - but was really hoping for more surprises.

[chempop]

In my eyes there should be a cave only list and everything else list. It's nearly pointless seeing which few oddball games get mixed up by chance. Seems like anything oldschool or hori just isn't very popular these days. Understandable, but also sad. Sure the honorable mention has some decent non-cave games.. oh why not:

The non-CAVE ver.

1 ) Battle Garegga
2 ) Armed Police Batrider
3 ) Batsugun
4 ) Raiden Fighters Jet
5 ) Mars Matrix
6 ) Gunbird 2
7 ) Radiant Silvergun
8 ) Dragon Blaze
9) Strikers 1945 II
10 ) R-Type
11 ) Ikaruga
12 ) Giga Wing
13 ) Battle Bakraid
14 ) Soukyugurentai
15 ) Gradius Gaiden
16 ) ... crap, I was going to add honorable mentions, in order.. but they aren't ordered by ranking it seems, just alphabetically.

[jepjepjep]

I'm easily the most bummed that no Fantasy Zones made the cut.

I'm right there with you. The original Fantasy Zone is a classic in my eyes, would be a nice honorable mention at least. Although Batsugun is definitely deserving of its spot, it would've been nice to see some of the old-school Toaplan games make it onto the list.

[jepjepjep]

Gradius V, once a champion and genuine contender for the high placings, has alarmingly failed to even rank this time. Advisers are now suggesting it shouldn't have tried playing with checkpoints on. Similarly, Annual T25 titan Ikaruga has fallen to its lowest ever finish. Their former rival DoDonPachi was seen laughing, until it realised the same was also true of it, at which point it walked away muttering something about a musician.

, these comments were hilarious. It's pretty surprising how far Gradius V has dropped. Was it a case of over-hype at the time?