Shmups recommendations for a few old systems?

[Synnae]

Hello, I'd like to hear from you guys some shmup recommendations for those systems:

1) Genesis/Mega Drive

2) Sega CD/Mega CD

3) PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16/SuperGrafx

4) PC Engine CD/Turbo Duo/TurboGrafx CD

5) SNES/Super Famicom

[Sugar Rush Games]

I only really have experience with the SNES / Genesis, so here's what I'd recommend:


Genesis / Mega Drive
-Bio-Hazard Battle - A neat, two-player hori, with great atmosphere and some interesting mechanics. Also, it's cheap!
-Thunder Force IV / Lightening Force - Arguably the best shmup of the 16-bit era. Great challenge, music and graphics.
-Truxton - Classic Toaplan vertical. Lots of loops and a great challenge. It's old and it feels that way, but it's still great.

SNES / Super Famicom
-Gradius III - A fantastic game with one fatal flaw; absolutely crippling slow down. Quite common and cheap.
-R-Type III - Probably my favourite R-Type game and my favourite SNES shmup. Very difficult, yet it keeps me coming back.
-Super R-Type - Suffers from both slowdown and a lack of checkpoints. Other than those (big) flaws, its both solid and cheap.

[CStarFlare]

Lords of Thunder and Gate of Thunder are good picks for the PCE CD. Lords was also on the Mega CD - I don't know if it has any other shooters?

I've got a soft spot in my heart for Magical Chase on the PCE as well. If you're asking for suggestions on what to buy, MC is probably not for you, though.

[BulletMagnet]

Space Megaforce (aka Super Aleste) on the SNES is an old favorite of mine: lots of neat weapons to tool around with, and while it's not too challenging on "Normal" there are four difficulty settings above that to try.

[hecheff]

Super Aleste

Would you recommend MUSHA Aleste as well?

[Fudoh]

Mega CD - I don't know if it has any other shooters?

Denin Aleste, Bari Arm, Keio, Sol Feace, Sylpheed (if you want to count it)...

[BulletMagnet]

Would you recommend MUSHA Aleste as well?

I only have limited experience with that one myself, but it's pretty well-regarded around here.

[hecheff]

Would you recommend MUSHA Aleste as well?

I only have limited experience with that one myself, but it's pretty well-regarded around here.

Cool. That's nice to know.

Back when I only had the Mega Drive, most of my shmup memories of it involved playing a mix of Zero Wing, Darius II and MUSHA Aleste.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Hello, I'd like to hear from you guys some shmup recommendations for those systems:

1) Genesis/Mega Drive

Eliminate Down (better try it out emulated first).

3) PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16/SuperGrafx

GunHed/Blazing Lazers.

4) PC Engine CD/Turbo Duo/TurboGrafx CD

Seirei Senshi Spriggan (especially the Caravan modes).

5) SNES/Super Famicom

Bio Metal (preferably Japanese for the music) and Caravan Shooting Collection.

[BrianC]

MD/Genesis:
Fire Shark
Thunder Force III
Thunder Force IV
MUSHA
Super Fantasy Zone

SNES:
Gradius III
Pop 'n Twinbee
Axelay
Super Aleste

Sega CD:
Silpheed

[Ed Oscuro]

PCE Super CD has Spriggan, too. Neat for its caravan mode at least!

[o.pwuaioc]

A few things that haven't been mentioned yet:

PCE:

1943 Kai
Aero Blasters
Galaga 88
Soldier Blade
Super Star Soldier
Tiger Heli

Genesis:

Gleylancer
Grind Stormer
Phelios

SNES:

Darius Twin
Phalanx
Syvalion

[Kollision]

Considering a somewhat budget boost in your playing/collection, I'll suggest 3 for each:

Genesis/Mega Drive
Thunder Force III
Wings of Wor / Gynoug
Raiden Trad

Sega CD/Mega CD
Silpheed
Android Assault / Bari-Arm
Sol-Feace

PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16/SuperGrafx
GunHed / Blazing Lazers
Gradius
Darius Plus

PC Engine CD/Turbo Duo/TurboGrafx CD
R-Type Complete CD
Winds/Lords of Thunder
Gate of Thunder

SNES/Super Famicom
Axelay
Macross Scrambled Valkyrie
Biometal

If you can also go for the priciest stuff, definitely take a look at Eliminate Down (MD), R-Type III (SNES), Nexzr and Sapphire (PCE CD).

[Herr Schatten]

Genesis/Mega Drive
Bio Hazard Battle
Gynoug
Thunder Force III

Sega CD/Mega CD
Keio Flying Squadron
Bari-Arm
Lords of Thunder

PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16/SuperGrafx
Mr. Heli
Soldier Blade
Galaga '88

PC Engine CD/Turbo Duo/TurboGrafx
Gate of Thunder
L-Dis
Cotton

SNES/Super Famicom
Super Aleste
R-Type III

[Bydobasher]

Genesis/Mega Drive
Eliminate Down
Gaiares
Gley Lancer
MUSHA

Sega CD/Mega CD
Robo Aleste

PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16/SuperGrafx
Blazing Lazers (a.k.a. Gunhed)
Final Soldier
Salamander (my favourite version of Salamander)
Soldier Blade
Super Star Soldier

PC Engine CD/Turbo Duo/TurboGrafx CD
Gate of Thunder
Image Fight II
Rayxanber III
Winds/Lords of Thunder (also available on Sega CD)

SNES/Super Famicom
Axelay
Gradius III
R-Type III
Space Megaforce (a.k.a. Super Aleste)

[evil_ash_xero]

Mega Drive
Battle Mania II
Thunder Force IV
MUSHA

PC Engine
Soldier Blade

PC CD
Spriggan
Gate Of Thunder

Super NES
R-Type III

Just some of my favorites.

[professor ganson]

In case you like cute-em-ups:

Super Fantasy Zone
Magical Chase
Twinkle Tale
Cotton
Detana Twinbee

[professor ganson]

Space Megaforce (aka Super Aleste) on the SNES is an old favorite of mine: lots of neat weapons to tool around with, and while it's not too challenging on "Normal" there are four difficulty settings above that to try.

Just revisited this today, and it really does have a nice variety of weapons. It's only a shame that the SNES doesn't have more to offer of this quality. A sober reminder:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=1796

[gs68]

PCE Gradius II is a fantastic port.

[Spyke]

For Mega-Drive/Genesis, Hellfire is a must.
Darius II is a nice solid shooter.

Gaiares is very hard and time-consuming, though I still bought it as it's a sort of niche classic and very well produced.


Ant

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I'd recommend these classic PC Engine shmup titles:

Magical Chase (the TTI version of MC is just a tad bit different but nevertheless, a fun shmup romp from beginning to eventual end).

The PCE Super CD-Rom2 shmup title of Kiadan 00 has a cool opening intro complete with a cool Japanese opening theme song.

If you have access to an Arcade Card Duo or an Arcade Card Pro, then a copy of Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire is a must have as it's the only Arcade CD-Rom2 shmup title from the likes of Hudson Soft back in late 1995.

Also if you use an Arcade Card Duo with an PCE Duo-RX with the Compile shmup title of PCE CD-Rom2 Spriggan, the opening intro and in-game engine will be sped-up indeed. Discovered that neat little trick by accident.

The cheapest way to play the uber-rare TTI produced Magical Chase (released on December 31st, 1993 in limited quanities for the USA TG-16 marketbase -- most American speciality video game retailers never got ahold of their alloted TTI MC stock to sell {i.e. Software Etc., Babbages, Electronics Boutique, Funcoland, etc.} but the American based Toys-R-Us chain did in early 1994 & was selling them for a mere $19.99 USD brand new...there was never any indication/clue/hint that it was to be the very last TTI game to be released at retail beside the TTI release of Legend of Hero Tonma released on that very same date as well), is to get one of those slick Turbo Everdrive flash carts and load up on your favorite PCE & TG-16 shmup game roms. Easy as pie. So no need to spend upwards of $1,400-$1,500+ USD for a super mint TTI variant MC complete boxed set anyways.

Plus, by using an Turbo Everdrive on a stock unmodded PCE or TurboGrafx-16/Turbo Duo console, there's no need to resort to using a Hu-Card or Kisado convertor to play PCE imports or USA TG-16 TurboChip cards on a PCE/PCE Duo/Duo-R/Duo-RX console setup. How cool is that? The TE will double as a CD Bios card to boot up as earlier firmware revisions if it needed be but can't be used as an Arcade Card Duo or Arcade Card Pro upgrade since it doesn't have any on-board RAM whatsoever.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Spyke]

Even as a non-PCE owner that sounds impressive! So that explains your user name...

Ant