Top 5 shmups for the MEGADRIVE

[GRUSS]

Recently got thunder force 4 and super fantasy zone for the Megadrive. Also got solfeace for the MEGA-CD.

What's the top 5 shmups of all time!?

Does anyone recommend the arcade stick as well?

[stryc9]

Thunder Force III is also excellent. Slap Fight is a classic, Hell Fire is solid and so is Zero Wing.

It's too hard to do a top 5 MD shmups, but I guess you can have fun trying

[Neorebel]

I am a fan of these:

Musha
Truxton
Thunderforce III
Lightening Force
Fire Shark

[chempop]

Yikes, choosing only 5 megadrive games is not easy...

MUSHA
Gley Lancer
Undeadline
Thunderforce 4
Gaiares

Honorable mention:

Fireshark
Elemental Master
Slap Fight
Gynoug (wings of wor)
Darius 2
Eliminate Down
Raiden Trad
Thunderforce 3
Twinkle Tale (borderline)
Crying (Biohazard Battle)
Hellfire

There are a bunch others I'm not thinking of at the moment...

[Skykid]

Slap Fight MD is godly.

[Jonst]

Darius 2 and grind stormer are also pretty good.

[heisenbergman]

Well, if you go by the full results of the latest annual top shmups poll, these are the titles in order:

Thunder Force IV / Lightening Force
Fire Shark / Same! Same! Same!
Thunder Force III
MUSHA Aleste / M.U.S.H.A.
Thunder Force II

Just bubbling under is Advanced Busterhawk Gleylancer, and a bit further down is Battle Mania Daiginjō.

[chempop]

Just remembered a few I added to my lists.

I haven't played Dangerous Seed or Battle Mania 2 yet, but they are supposedly good.

[BPzeBanshee]

Well, if you go by the full results of the latest annual top shmups poll, these are the titles in order:

Thunder Force IV / Lightening Force
Fire Shark / Same! Same! Same!
Thunder Force III
MUSHA Aleste / M.U.S.H.A.
Thunder Force II

Just bubbling under is Advanced Busterhawk Gleylancer, and a bit further down is Battle Mania Daiginjō.

To be honest those are exactly the ones I'd recommend. Fire Shark's Arcade version is better though, so for original games (not ports) I'd put Gleylancer in its place for my top 5 with Battlemania 2 as my Runner-up.

[dunpeal2064]

Thunder Force IV
Gaiares
Eliminate Down
Gleylancer
Battle Mania 2

[Sugar Rush Games]

Well, if you go by the full results of the latest annual top shmups poll, these are the titles in order:

Thunder Force IV / Lightening Force
Fire Shark / Same! Same! Same!
Thunder Force III
MUSHA Aleste / M.U.S.H.A.
Thunder Force II

Just bubbling under is Advanced Busterhawk Gleylancer, and a bit further down is Battle Mania Daiginjō.

That's actually not bad for a Top 5 Genesis list, though there is no way that Thunder Force II deserves to be in the Top 5 (the overhead levels really bring down the experience).

Other than Thunder Force II, I only own a couple shmups on the Genny (Truxton and Bio Hazard Battle) but I enjoy them both!

[Damocles]

Undeadline
Thunder Force III
Elemental Master
Slap Fight
Thunder Force IV


The ones that aren't the best but are unique:

Wings of Wor
Bio Ship Paladin
Dangerous Seed

[To Far Away Times]

1. Thunderforce III
2. M.U.S.H.A
3. Thunderforce IV
4. Elemental Master
5. Gleylancer

[Captain]

The thunder force couple.
Eliminate down.
Dangerous seed. (its vertical for crying out loud)
and.......gaiares

[SuperDeadite]

Undeadline
Battle Mania 1 & 2
Twinkle Tale
Musha Aleste
Slap Fight MD

[Sinful]

What, just five?! Hmm, guess I can't list all ThunderForce games (yes, part II as well)...

ThunderForce IV
Darius II/Sagaia
Eliminate Down
*anything Toaplan*
Bio-Hazard Battle/Crying

... Guess that seems about right for now? Looks pretty well rounded except the major horizontal bias... But hey, I'm just in a hori mood right now. (Pretty weird that my mood between these two go back and forth like crazy? Why I have two rom folder separating both at all times now. But overall I think I prefer horizontals the most? ... Though just a few weeks ago I couldn't touch anything buts verts...)

[BrianC]

Super Fantasy Zone
Thunder Force III
Thunder Force IV/Lightening Force
Fire Shark
MUSHA

[Sugar Rush Games]

What, just five?! Hmm, guess I can't list all ThunderForce games (yes, part II as well)...

ThunderForce IV
Darius II/Sagaia
Eliminate Down
*anything Toaplan*
Bio-Hazard Battle/Crying

... Guess that seems about right for now? Looks pretty well rounded except the major horizontal bias... But hey, I'm just in a hori mood right now. (Pretty weird that my mood between these two go back and forth like crazy? Why I have two rom folder separating both at all times now. But overall I think I prefer horizontals the most? ... Though just a few weeks ago I couldn't touch anything buts verts...)

The Genesis shmup library is heavily weighted to horis, so it makes sense that a "a best of" list would feature mostly horis.

Outside of MUSHA and the Toaplan games, what were the notable vertical shmups on the system?

[louisg]

OK, for me it's these:

Thunderforce III
Thunderforce IV
Elemental Master
Fire Shark
Granada (borderliner )

These are the ones I personally like the most. Eliminate Down is amazing, Gleylancer isn't bad if you've already played the Thunderforces to death, Twinkle Tale is solid, Gaiares is excellent (but frustratingly difficult), Battle Mania 1 & 2 are neat, and MUSHA is good if you dig compile style (but IMO is way too easy even on hard). And I spent a lot of time with Bio Hazard Battle. It's mostly well done and is unique.

No honorable mention of Atomic Runner?

[Captain]

I was wrong. This is the real list.

1. Divine sealing
2. Divine sealing
3. Divine sealing
4. Divine sealing
5. Divine sealing

[evil_ash_xero]

Thunder Force III and IV
Musha Aleste
Battle Mania Daiginjou
Gley Lancer

[drauch]

I was wrong. This is the real list.

1. Divine sealing
2. Divine sealing
3. Divine sealing
4. Divine sealing
5. Divine sealing

Finally played Divine Sealing last week. My infatuation with all things 2D perversion couldn't even save that one.

[Liquid Snake]

Gynoug
Thunder Force III & IV
GLEYLANCER
MUSHA
Battlemania 2

[FRO]

Well, if you go by the full results of the latest annual top shmups poll, these are the titles in order:

Thunder Force IV / Lightening Force
Fire Shark / Same! Same! Same!
Thunder Force III
MUSHA Aleste / M.U.S.H.A.
Thunder Force II

Just bubbling under is Advanced Busterhawk Gleylancer, and a bit further down is Battle Mania Daiginjō.

How did TF2 make the top 5? There are a number of other shmups on the system that are superior. Oh well, that's how the chips fell, I guess. I'd put Gleylancer, Eliminate Down, Android Assault (aka Bari Arm), Gaiares, and even Robo Aleste above TF2 in terms of quality, especially considering that both TF3 and TF4 are on the list, and they are superior to TF2 in most all respects.

[Drum]

Gynoug
Hellfire
Biohazard Battle
Thunderforce IV
Zero Wing

Atomic Runner probably doesn't count but it's super great.

[railslave]

Thunderforce II (yep)

Nothing else in the universe matters when your playing Thunderforce IV

Grindstormer (V-V mode)

Battlemania 2

I personally really love Verytex, back to basics fun

Not an easy choice..tbh

[OdiousTrident]

I really have a thing for Whip Rush... but that may be because I like plenty of games I could never beat.

Battlemania 2
Thunderforce IV
MUSHA
Steel Empire (better with reduced slowdown)
Hellfire and Sol-Deace compete for the last slot. Hellfire has better gameplay but Wolf Team makes so many original design choices I have to love it.

I would list Gley Lancer but I have trouble seeing some bullets at times. I also think the flow of the gameplay can get erratic... but that's the case with many of these titles.

[Sinful]

The Genesis shmup library is heavily weighted to horis, so it makes sense that a "a best of" list would feature mostly horis.

Outside of MUSHA and the Toaplan games, what were the notable vertical shmups on the system?

Yes, looking at my rom folders for Genesis (with a number after each folder of how many shmups are in it), vert VS hori at about a ratio of 2/3. The PCE alone is very close to a 3/3 (still a slight more hori). While the SNES, sadly, is like a 1/2 ratio (again more hori). So hori's ruled the 16 BIt era. Only time it ever did probabaly too? ... Course I exclude total crap shmups like unlicenced (which Genesis has quite a few), and totaly bogus ones like from Pack in Video & that Divine Sealing shmup (any shmup that most likely has most of it's cart space dedicated towards naked chicks, is not worthy of being in my shmup rom folder). Though games like X - Dazedly Ray are fine enough. ... Funny thing is, that even some pretty poor shmups I still find pretty playable for the Genesis & PCE. But for the SNES, I just... can't... stand them! Anyone else like this?

How did TF2 make the top 5? There are a number of other shmups on the system that are superior. Oh well, that's how the chips fell, I guess. I'd put Gleylancer, Eliminate Down, Android Assault (aka Bari Arm), Gaiares, and even Robo Aleste above TF2 in terms of quality, especially considering that both TF3 and TF4 are on the list, and they are superior to TF2 in most all respects.

Even if you can't stand the overhead levels, the hori ones do seem really great from what I've played of that game? And there seem to be enough hori levels in that game, plus one more on the Sharp X 68000 version, to make a full hori only ThunderForce game, no? Plus I hear folks can beat them overhead levels in record time too. So, you can get them to like almost not even seem like they're there...

I personally really love Verytex, back to basics fun

Yeah, I don't get the hate this game kinda gets? It's seems very fine to me. Heavily reminds me of the PCE Star Soldier series + GunHed which feels like a part of that series to me also.

[DMC]

I have been quite dissappointed by the megadrive shmup library. Quantity is great, and I think there are many mediocre or slightly above average shooters, but there are few top-notch games. My general complain is that the games generally represent style over substance - showing off some visually impressive effects (at the time) at the expense of playability. Now that the visual effects aren't as impressive anymore I feel that the catalogue is a bit dated. My favourites, however, are the usual suspects; toaplan conversions (particularly Fire Shark, Truxton) which contrast well relative the other games, followed by Thunder Force III and Eliminate Down (like many others they feel cheap and euro at times but these have enough style to compensate the substance problems). Then I think the top-down walking around STGs follows, paticularly because they work well on a console platform and this together with the typical megadrive aesthetics they have make them feel representative of the console and make its catalogue stand out.

So my top 5 is:
Fire Shark
Eliiminate Down
Truxton
Thunder Force III
Twinkle Tale

HM:
Elemental Master
Twin Cobra
Undeadline
Thunder Force IV
Super Fantazy Zone
MUSHA Aleste

[Captain]

I have been quite dissappointed by the megadrive shmup library. Quantity is great, and I think there are many mediocre or slightly above average shooters, but there are few top-notch games. My general complain is that the games generally represent style over substance - showing off some visually impressive effects (at the time) at the expense of playability. Now that the visual effects aren't as impressive anymore I feel that the catalogue is a bit dated. My favourites, however, are the usual suspects; toaplan conversions (particularly Fire Shark, Truxton) which contrast well relative the other games, followed by Thunder Force III and Eliminate Down (like many others they feel cheap and euro at times but these have enough style to compensate the substance problems). Then I think the top-down walking around STGs follows, paticularly because they work well on a console platform and this together with the typical megadrive aesthetics they have make them feel representative of the console and make its catalogue stand out.

So my top 5 is:
Fire Shark
Eliiminate Down
Truxton
Thunder Force III
Twinkle Tale

HM:
Elemental Master
Twin Cobra
Undeadline
Thunder Force IV
Super Fantazy Zone
MUSHA Aleste

I'm quite sure Fire Shark is in there only for the novelty value of it.