The shmups sales/deals thread

[To Far Away Times]

If it was me I'd just get all of them, but I am not a Darius expert and I don't even know what's in the Consumer/Console version because that doesn't exist on PC for some reason. All of those are technically M2 ShotTriggers games, so the emulation is all basically better than perfect. Don't forget that Darius Gaiden's rank increases every time you press the shot button, so it's probably best to use the internal auto and not spam 30Hz external autofire for the duration of the entire game.

Of the Qute games, Eschatos is the best, and I am assuming that on consoles it comes with Judgement Silversword and Cardinal Sins. If it does, get it because those are probably/possibly better than Eschatos. Ginga Force is most notable for having stupidly good music, really creative stage ideas, and the best dialog in any final boss fight in any game ever, but some people consider it a giant and very smelly turd that's even worse than CrazyBus or whatever. Natsuki is less creative and kind of uninspired in comparison and most of its music is just arranged versions of Ginga Force's music, but it's easier (mostly) and probably a better game despite being less interesting, which is weird if you think about it, but that's how it is.

I am one of those people that considers Ginga to be a giant smelly turd. Natsuki is better but still has that giant smelly turd origin.

But... Eschatos, which predates both and has a lot of similarities to those two aforementioned games, is fucking fantastic.

[Steven]

Natsuki feels very safe compared to the more experimental Ginga Force, which has a lot of cool and creative stages, which Natsuki kind of lacks, so I don't like Natsuki as much, but Natsuki is definitely the better game even if it plays it safe in comparison. Ginga Force has a lot of problems for sure.

The only thing I don't really like about Judgement Silversword is that it could use more music, but when you consider that it was made by only one dude in like a month (and I believe he was a student at the time and therefore could only work on it in his spare time), I can't complain, especially because it's otherwise very good.

[sunnshiner]

Not a shmup, but Half Life is free this weekend on Steam-

https://store.steampowered.com/app/70/HalfLife/

[Sima Tuna]

Sophstar is crazy cheap on the switch. It's under $5.

I bought it and like it quite a bit more than I thought I would. Usually shmups that bill themselves on "that ONE unique mechanic!" or some kind of movement gimmick aren't to my tastes. But I think this game is really good. It definitely occupies that middle ground between full bullet hell and a more Tatsujin or Shienryu kind of game. Some of the ships feel very overpowered in the best way. The lack of a true bomba is interesting as well. Teleporting is more spammable than bombs, but it doesn't clear the screen. You can easily teleport into a no-win situation if you're not careful. The turtle ship has a blackhole bomb, but it also sucks in your own bullets and won't dispatch enemies unless they're standing directly over the bomba. Your ship's secondary shot sometimes clears projectiles, but only in a very limited way and it runs on an energy gauge.

Survival seems pretty easy, although as with Crisis Wing, the temptation to score is very strong. Ignore falling gems? How about ignore deez nuts... And then I run into a bullet because I was chasing gems again.

Cool game.

[NeoStrayCat]

The Steam Autumn Sale is live until the 28th. Check your wishlists if you want that one (or more) STG you want on discount.

(Notable exceptions: Radiant Silvergun, as it came out not too long ago. And...Castle of Shikigami 2, again. The first one is always on sale, but hardly the second.)

[Steven]

GOG is also having a sale, although there aren't many STGs over there aside from R-Type Final 2 and Raiden V.

[Lemnear]

Playstation Network:
Others:
Rolling Gunner + Over Power €8,99 (€29,99)
Breakers Collection 14,99 (19,99)

[Jonpachi]

Some good deal over at Play-Asia for Black Friday

Batsugun Saturn Boosted PS4 - $19.99
Battle Garegga Korean Release PS4 - $29.99

https://www.play-asia.com/sale#fc=s:4,prc:1.0000000000

[dmk1198]

Are they region free?

[Jonpachi]

All PS4 and Switch games are region-free.

[SavagePencil]

Hamster's up with some 50% off sales, at least on Switch, at least in the US:

• Super Volleyball
• Task Force Harrier
• Frisky Tom
• Thunder Dragon
• Penguin Kun Wars
• KoF 2001
• Real Bout 2
• Top Player's Golf
• Zed Blade
• Shock Troopers: 2nd Squad

[Lemnear]

Hamster's up with some 50% off sales, at least on Switch, at least in the US:

• Super Volleyball
• Task Force Harrier
• Frisky Tom
• Thunder Dragon
• Penguin Kun Wars
• KoF 2001
• Real Bout 2
• Top Player's Golf
• Zed Blade
• Shock Troopers: 2nd Squad

Also here
thx for sharing!

Penguin Kun Wars 100%
not sure about Zed Blade mmm...is worth?
Thunder Dragon? I know that the 2 is good.
Obviously not for the price, but for "the time".

[Lemnear]

Oh...(PSN)
Raiden III X MIKADO Maniax (-25%)
Raiden IV X MIKADO Remix (-33%)
Raiden V: Director's Cut (-60%)

Again, worth? Never player a modern Raiden.

[m.sniffles.esq]

Shooter Adjunct Dept:

8Bitdo Arcade Stick for PeeCee/Xbox $75

[Steven]

Oh...(PSN)
Raiden III X MIKADO Maniax (-25%)
Raiden IV X MIKADO Remix (-33%)
Raiden V: Director's Cut (-60%)

Again, worth? Never player a modern Raiden.

Raiden IV is probably the best Raiden. I had never played Raiden the first time I met Raiden series composer Sato-san, so I asked him what I should play and he said Raiden IV. I bought it on both PS4 and Switch and liked it so much that I later got him to sign both and they are currently the only games that I actually have on display in my house.

It is a very difficult game and the scoring is kind of broken, but it's fun and has a beautiful soundtrack. The original soundtrack is the better one; most people don't like the Mikado arrange that much. The Go Sato Band stuff in the Mikado arrange soundtrack is really damn good, but the Heavy Metal Raiden stuff sounds like they tried too hard and overproduced it. Love the Go Sato Band stuff, though.

[Lemnear]

Oh...(PSN)
Raiden III X MIKADO Maniax (-25%)
Raiden IV X MIKADO Remix (-33%)
Raiden V: Director's Cut (-60%)

Again, worth? Never player a modern Raiden.

Raiden IV is probably the best Raiden. I had never played Raiden the first time I met Raiden series composer Sato-san, so I asked him what I should play and he said Raiden IV. I bought it on both PS4 and Switch and liked it so much that I later got him to sign both and they are currently the only games that I actually have on display in my house.

It is a very difficult game and the scoring is kind of broken, but it's fun and has a beautiful soundtrack. The original soundtrack is the better one; most people don't like the Mikado arrange that much. The Go Sato Band stuff in the Mikado arrange soundtrack is really damn good, but the Heavy Metal Raiden stuff sounds like they tried too hard and overproduced it. Love the Go Sato Band stuff, though.

Good to know, i noticed that is rarely on sales.
For now the priority is to build my IREM Collection Volume 1 with Hamster like everone else has already done here.
Somehow it hurts to skip an entry of a series, and with Raiden IV is the same...damn!
Wait a second...why/how do you meet so many developers/composers/designers/director's everytime ???

[Steven]

R-Type Final 2 and all of its DLC except the B-99 is 50% off on GOG.

[Lemnear]

R-Type Final 2 and all of its DLC except the B-99 is 50% off on GOG.

Also on PSN.
So it's a 29,99$/€ game (with the first DLC Pass) + 9,99 + 9,99 for the other 2 passes. 50 bucks for a game that costs a total 99,99 eurodollars (ignoring the extra ship).
The question is: is it worth it for that price? It's probably the most expensive modern SHMUPS in any store.

[Steven]

R-Type Final 2 and all of its DLC except the B-99 is 50% off on GOG.

Also on PSN.
So it's a 29,99$/€ game (with the first DLC Pass) + 9,99 + 9,99 for the other 2 passes. 50 bucks for a game that costs a total 99,99 eurodollars (ignoring the extra ship).
The question is: is it worth it for that price? It's probably the most expensive modern SHMUPS in any store.

There are two answers to this question.

If you are an R-Typer, you need it... but most R-Typers probably have this game already, so I'm guessing not.

If you are not an R-Typer, this probably won't make you one. It plays like it should: classic memorizer, chunky big 80s hurtbox, checkpoints and therefore checkpoint recovery, methodical strategic gameplay, and all of that, so it's basically perfect in those regards, but the first half of the original course is kind of uninteresting. Fortunately the custom stage order thingy lets you fix that by letting you swap those first few stages out for more interesting ones, and you can just play a different course if you want because there are like 4 or 5 of them now, but you have to buy those separately unless you get Final 3 Evolved, which comes with the original Final 2 course and the Final 3 Evolved exclusive course. I think it's supposed to come with the entire first DLC course, but mine didn't and I am not sure if they ever fixed that.

It's nowhere near as vicious as R-Type II or even the original R-Type, but if you don't like those games, you'll probably still hate this. I consider it to be one of the best new STGs released in the past few years despite the rough first half.

[professor ganson]

Looks like the sale ends tomorrow in NA. Need to think this through!

[Lemnear]

R-Type Final 2 and all of its DLC except the B-99 is 50% off on GOG.

Also on PSN.
So it's a 29,99$/€ game (with the first DLC Pass) + 9,99 + 9,99 for the other 2 passes. 50 bucks for a game that costs a total 99,99 eurodollars (ignoring the extra ship).
The question is: is it worth it for that price? It's probably the most expensive modern SHMUPS in any store.

There are two answers to this question.

If you are an R-Typer, you need it... but most R-Typers probably have this game already, so I'm guessing not.

If you are not an R-Typer, this probably won't make you one. It plays like it should: classic memorizer, chunky big 80s hurtbox, checkpoints and therefore checkpoint recovery, methodical strategic gameplay, and all of that, so it's basically perfect in those regards, but the first half of the original course is kind of uninteresting. Fortunately the custom stage order thingy lets you fix that by letting you swap those first few stages out for more interesting ones, and you can just play a different course if you want because there are like 4 or 5 of them now, but you have to buy those separately unless you get Final 3 Evolved, which comes with the original Final 2 course and the Final 3 Evolved exclusive course. I think it's supposed to come with the entire first DLC course, but mine didn't and I am not sure if they ever fixed that.

It's nowhere near as vicious as R-Type II or even the original R-Type, but if you don't like those games, you'll probably still hate this. I consider it to be one of the best new STGs released in the past few years despite the rough first half.

mmh, i like only the first R-Type.
Better that i didn't take it because the new sale are far way better:

30% for the Ray'z Collection // RayStorm x RayCrisis HD Collection // RayForce/Galactic Attack S-Tribute.
40% on EVERY City Connecton games (also on Batsugun and Psikyo games)
50% for VASARA Collection
50% for Ikaruga
75% Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol.2
80% for Contra Anniversary Collection.

[Leander]

Loads of shmups on sale for the Steam Winter Sale. The Indie Shmup Bundle is at a historic low (I think), 5 games for $33.52

[Steven]

Also on PSN.
So it's a 29,99$/€ game (with the first DLC Pass) + 9,99 + 9,99 for the other 2 passes. 50 bucks for a game that costs a total 99,99 eurodollars (ignoring the extra ship).
The question is: is it worth it for that price? It's probably the most expensive modern SHMUPS in any store.

There are two answers to this question.

If you are an R-Typer, you need it... but most R-Typers probably have this game already, so I'm guessing not.

If you are not an R-Typer, this probably won't make you one. It plays like it should: classic memorizer, chunky big 80s hurtbox, checkpoints and therefore checkpoint recovery, methodical strategic gameplay, and all of that, so it's basically perfect in those regards, but the first half of the original course is kind of uninteresting. Fortunately the custom stage order thingy lets you fix that by letting you swap those first few stages out for more interesting ones, and you can just play a different course if you want because there are like 4 or 5 of them now, but you have to buy those separately unless you get Final 3 Evolved, which comes with the original Final 2 course and the Final 3 Evolved exclusive course. I think it's supposed to come with the entire first DLC course, but mine didn't and I am not sure if they ever fixed that.

It's nowhere near as vicious as R-Type II or even the original R-Type, but if you don't like those games, you'll probably still hate this. I consider it to be one of the best new STGs released in the past few years despite the rough first half.

mmh, i like only the first R-Type.
Better that i didn't take it because the new sale are far way better:

30% for the Ray'z Collection // RayStorm x RayCrisis HD Collection // RayForce/Galactic Attack S-Tribute.
40% on EVERY City Connecton games (also on Batsugun and Psikyo games)
50% for VASARA Collection
50% for Ikaruga
75% Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol.2
80% for Contra Anniversary Collection.

I'd take Final 2 over all of those except Contra and Ray'z, although that's at least partially because I already have Ikaruga on Dreamcast. Not sure about that Fatal Fury collection, but I'd consider paying the extra cash and getting them on Arcade Archives, where they are guaranteed to be perfect. It seems that Vasara has nearly Shitty Connection levels of input lag, which is too bad.

[Lemnear]

There are two answers to this question.

If you are an R-Typer, you need it... but most R-Typers probably have this game already, so I'm guessing not.

If you are not an R-Typer, this probably won't make you one. It plays like it should: classic memorizer, chunky big 80s hurtbox, checkpoints and therefore checkpoint recovery, methodical strategic gameplay, and all of that, so it's basically perfect in those regards, but the first half of the original course is kind of uninteresting. Fortunately the custom stage order thingy lets you fix that by letting you swap those first few stages out for more interesting ones, and you can just play a different course if you want because there are like 4 or 5 of them now, but you have to buy those separately unless you get Final 3 Evolved, which comes with the original Final 2 course and the Final 3 Evolved exclusive course. I think it's supposed to come with the entire first DLC course, but mine didn't and I am not sure if they ever fixed that.

It's nowhere near as vicious as R-Type II or even the original R-Type, but if you don't like those games, you'll probably still hate this. I consider it to be one of the best new STGs released in the past few years despite the rough first half.

mmh, i like only the first R-Type.
Better that i didn't take it because the new sale are far way better:

30% for the Ray'z Collection // RayStorm x RayCrisis HD Collection // RayForce/Galactic Attack S-Tribute.
40% on EVERY City Connecton games (also on Batsugun and Psikyo games)
50% for VASARA Collection
50% for Ikaruga
75% Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol.2
80% for Contra Anniversary Collection.

I'd take Final 2 over all of those except Contra and Ray'z, although that's at least partially because I already have Ikaruga on Dreamcast. Not sure about that Fatal Fury collection, but I'd consider paying the extra cash and getting them on Arcade Archives, where they are guaranteed to be perfect. It seems that Vasara has nearly Shitty Connection levels of input lag, which is too bad.

For now i get Batsugun because i love it.
The input lag on PS4 is noticeable but the game is mooore than playable (until loop 3 at least).
What bothers me about the game are other little things like:
1) They used that horrible title screen artwork instead of the physical cover of the game (relegated just as a wallpaper-background).
2) The other one is that, despite the presence of remixed OSTs (so lovely Sonic The Hedgehog style) there are no volume option.

So, i'm more annoyed about how they scuttle their own add-ons to the game, because outside of this (and a training mode maybe), the pack isn't so bad.

The next is Ray'z Collection, but i'm not sure if i'm good enough for them, and if i can play with 3D dual-layer graphics but Taito stuff are so elegant, also there are few games that appeared on both PS1 and Arcade (with that Sony ZN-1//PS1 hardware).

I have had Ikaruga since 2018.

[pieslice]

Crisis Wing is -50% off during the Steam Winter Sale until 4th of January.

[Lemnear]

Cannon Dancer -70%

Spoiler

GO PLAY CANNON DANCER

[again]

CounterAttack: Uprising 50% off on Nintendo Switch eShop

Ends (US/EU) Feb 7th (JP) Feb 9th

https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/produ ... ng-switch/

[Klatrymadon]

Ginga Force and Natsuki Chronicles are on sale for next to nothing:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/1 ... ollection/

Edit: the same deal can be had on PS4, too. I hope this sudden slash with no fanfare isn't the sign of an imminent delisting.

[To Far Away Times]

I called Ginga and Natsuki giant smelly turds at the top of the page but you can’t go wrong for $0.99 each, if for no other reason than Qute’s prior shmup, Eschatos, is one of the GOATs.

[NeoStrayCat]

The Steam Spring Sale is live until the 21st. Check wishlists and legit key sites like Humble, Fanatical, etc. (along with sites such as IsThereAnyDeal for a game's price history) to find an STG you want cheaper.

This time, Radiant Silvergun gets one and the usual ones too. (Yet again, Shiki 2 doesn't...except on the E-shop sometimes.)