Good bullet hells?

[mehguy]

What are some good bullet hells? I'm mostly into vertical shooters. Name some obscure shmups.

[PAPER/ARTILLERY]

I think it might help to be more specific, what are some of your favourites? Also, you might want to check out the top 25 shmups thread from earlier this year if you haven't seen it already:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=49262

[DestroyTheCore]

Pretty much anything with a Cave logo.

[mehguy]

I think it might help to be more specific, what are some of your favourites? Also, you might want to check out the top 25 shmups thread from earlier this year if you haven't seen it already:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=49262

I like dodonpachi, blazing star, and raiden to name a few

[Vyxx]

Ibara

[EmperorIng]

Ibara

When Battle Garegga exists? Ha.

I like dodonpachi, blazing star, and raiden to name a few

I'd recommend ESPGaluda, Dragon Blaze (or Gunbird 2), and Mars Matrix. All three (four) can be emulated on MAME easily.

[Vyxx]

Ibara

When Battle Garegga exists? Ha.

Ibara is better. If you'd have played it you'd know.

[EmperorIng]

What does Ibara do that isn't as well-done (if not better done) in Garegga? Grazing? Boss milking?

[Blinge]

and raiden to name a few

Umm, wouldn't classify Raiden as Bullet Hell


edit: i might be and idiot

[Captain]

HERRUSINKA

Edit:thanks

[nasty_wolverine]

HELLSINKER

come on captain, you gotta use max fontsize for it...

[Pteriforever]

Luckily, I happen to play lots of obscure vertical bullet hells ^.^

Recommendations, in no particular order:

Kaikan, Ospraid, Crimson Phoenix, Leiria -Stargazer-, Re: Lunacy Star, Concealed the Conclusion, Trigonometry Wars 3 Redux, EX -extra, Evanescent Existence, Laserreimu, Librasphere, My Little Pegasus: Kizuna DoPonyPachi, one-two, Go Beryllium!, Minerva Project, PatriotDark

[PurpleTheGuy]

A lot of what's mentioned here are very good ones to start with (Dang it, I have got to play Hellsinker at some point). From what I would know right about right away that would strike me as bullet hell games, you could also consider trying the Shikigami no Shiro series out, the eXceed series, Danmaku Unlimited 2, Bullet Soul, TWilight INSanity, Trouble Witches (It's a Hori, but lots of fun to play! I should play it more often), Triggerheart Exelica, Alternative Sphere, and the Gundemonium series (Though Gundemonium Recollection and GundeadliGne are horis, Hirogata Happa is a vertical shooter. They are all great, however, so give each one a shot!). Last, but not least, I will recommend the Touhou series.

You could also consider trying certain Touhou fangames, like The Last Comer, Mystical Power Plant, Riverbed Soul Saver, and games made by Len, like Phantasmagoria Trues. There are a lot more Touhou fangames than this, obviously, but these few I would know about immediately.

[Stompp]

As PurpleTheGuy mentioned, the Shikigami no Shiro series and Triggerheart Exelica are great games. I also enjoy Psyvariar and Ikaruga.

[Some-Mist]

What does Ibara do that isn't as well-done (if not better done) in Garegga? Grazing? Boss milking?

I think boss fights in general are a lot more fun in ibara than in garegga, but I honestly prefer garegga.

iirc medal chaining is a little bit more lenient/fun in Ibara especially in terms of dropped medals (I might be wrong though?)
i.e. subsequently generated medals after a dropped medal can still be of the current point value if you still have another medal on screen (i.e. a medal generated from a destructible environment that you let idle on screen).

[ciox]

What does Ibara do that isn't as well-done (if not better done) in Garegga? Grazing? Boss milking?

I think boss fights in general are a lot more fun in ibara than in garegga, but I honestly prefer garegga.

iirc medal chaining is a little bit more lenient/fun in Ibara especially in terms of dropped medals (I might be wrong though?)
i.e. subsequently generated medals after a dropped medal can still be of the current point value if you still have another medal on screen (i.e. a medal generated from a destructible environment that you let idle on screen).

That's how Garegga medals work already.
I dunno, bosses look a lot more rigid in Ibara and later games, nothing compares to Garegga when it comes to individual boss and enemy parts.

[WizardYuuka]

Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream.

You could also consider trying certain Touhou fangames, like The Last Comer, Mystical Power Plant, Riverbed Soul Saver, and games made by Len, like Phantasmagoria Trues. There are a lot more Touhou fangames than this, obviously, but these few I would know about immediately.

Magical Singular Day and MSD Absolution (black label basically). You'll need to add your own music for it though. File names look like this. There's also LASERREIMU.

[Some-Mist]

What does Ibara do that isn't as well-done (if not better done) in Garegga? Grazing? Boss milking?

I think boss fights in general are a lot more fun in ibara than in garegga, but I honestly prefer garegga.

iirc medal chaining is a little bit more lenient/fun in Ibara especially in terms of dropped medals (I might be wrong though?)
i.e. subsequently generated medals after a dropped medal can still be of the current point value if you still have another medal on screen (i.e. a medal generated from a destructible environment that you let idle on screen).

That's how Garegga medals work already.
I dunno, bosses look a lot more rigid in Ibara and later games, nothing compares to Garegga when it comes to individual boss and enemy parts.

hmmm looks like I was wrong then...
but I could've sworn that on multiple occasions I've had my chain start over due to dropping a medal even though I've had high value medals still on the screen.

i.e. the intro section on Factory where you can bomb the "tracks" right off the bat, even though there are medals with 4000/5000 value on the screen.. I've had medals at the top of the track generate at the 100 value because I've dropped a few of the "free hanging" medals that spawn first. And you can't just pick up the 4000/5000 value medals and avoid those 100-value medals at the top because they will count as "dropped medals" and will restart your chain regardless.

[LordHypnos]

...I mean, I pretty much say that in every thread, don't I? FWIW, though, it seems like Mars Matrix often appeals, more than conventional bullet hells, to people who are more accustomed to old school shooters (Not sure if that's you though, because you didn't really give any guidelines).

For more obscure stuff, try Hatenkou (freeware hori bullet hell, 1998), or Direct X (not actually sure if this counts as bullet hell, but it's also horizontal) on the X68000. Those are pretty much the most obscure stuff that I'm familiar with. They are fairly enjoyable and I like that Direct X is only like 10 minutes long and incredibly hard. Hatenkou has an interesting scoring system that seems to be sort of a proto-Giga Wing type thing (though pretty different, really).

You also might be interested in V . V (Arcade, 1993), which is a proto-bullet hell designed by Toaplan (even earlier than Batsugun!). It uses Gradius-type power up system, but with less punishing respawns (still checkpoints, though). Also there's a Mega Drive port which is flickery, pastel colored, and designed for a horizontal screen, but otherwise seems fine.

[shmuppyLove]

Crimzon Clover, obviously.

[trap15]

What does Ibara do that isn't as well-done (if not better done) in Garegga? Grazing? Boss milking?

I think boss fights in general are a lot more fun in ibara than in garegga, but I honestly prefer garegga.

iirc medal chaining is a little bit more lenient/fun in Ibara especially in terms of dropped medals (I might be wrong though?)
i.e. subsequently generated medals after a dropped medal can still be of the current point value if you still have another medal on screen (i.e. a medal generated from a destructible environment that you let idle on screen).

That's how Garegga medals work already.

No it isn't. Garegga medals reset as soon as you drop a medal, and are set to last value+1 when you pick one up. Ibara medals only change value when it's the last medal on screen.

[waiwainl]

Luckily, I happen to play lots of obscure vertical bullet hells ^.^
Kaikan, Ospraid, Crimson Phoenix, Leiria -Stargazer-, Re: Lunacy Star, Concealed the Conclusion, Trigonometry Wars 3 Redux, EX -extra, Evanescent Existence, Laserreimu, Librasphere, My Little Pegasus: Kizuna DoPonyPachi, one-two, Go Beryllium!, Minerva Project, PatriotDark

Interesting, haven't heard any of these before
Probably going to cost me another weekend or 3

[DestroyTheCore]

Luckily, I happen to play lots of obscure vertical bullet hells ^.^
Kaikan, Ospraid, Crimson Phoenix, Leiria -Stargazer-, Re: Lunacy Star, Concealed the Conclusion, Trigonometry Wars 3 Redux, EX -extra, Evanescent Existence, Laserreimu, Librasphere, My Little Pegasus: Kizuna DoPonyPachi, one-two, Go Beryllium!, Minerva Project, PatriotDark

Interesting, haven't heard any of these before
Probably going to cost me another weekend or 3

I googled 'My Little Pegasus: Kizuna DoPonyPachi', and it was lol worthy.

[Some-Mist]

No it isn't. Garegga medals reset as soon as you drop a medal, and are set to last value+1 when you pick one up. Ibara medals only change value when it's the last medal on screen.

that's what I thought :O

not that it's a gigantic difference and I wouldn't say it necessarily makes Ibara better by any means... but it's still (imo) a more enjoyable and lenient medal chaining system. others might actually prefer the strictness/masochism of the bat trilogy medal chaining system.

[ciox]

Yeah I gotta learn to read, I thought you meant the medals worked in Garegga like they did in less forgiving games like G-Stream, and in Ibara like in Garegga, oh well.
Ibara definitely seems cool, it just didn't have that obsessive attention to detail during development that Garegga had, which seems to have made a difference in the long run.

OP, definitely give Psyvariar a shot, though you'll need a PS2 or PS3 (there's a really cheap digital download version for PS3) to really play it hassle-free.

[clogue923]

Psyvariar 2. Not sure if it'd be considered bullet hell though. The boss fights definitely are.

[Lord Satori]

The Crisis/ Divider series. If you DO manage to get your hands on them, post some youtube playthroughs. There's literally NO complete footage of those games at all!

Also the two XOP games by Udderdude. Get them while they're free because he frequently alternates between selling them or not.

[Kaspal]

The Crisis/ Divider series. If you DO manage to get your hands on them, post some youtube playthroughs. There's literally NO complete footage of those games at all!

Also the two XOP games by Udderdude. Get them while they're free because he frequently alternates between selling them or not.

Just got Xop Black Ultra... i havent played tht one... really good game.

[mehguy]

The Crisis/ Divider series. If you DO manage to get your hands on them, post some youtube playthroughs. There's literally NO complete footage of those games at all!

Also the two XOP games by Udderdude. Get them while they're free because he frequently alternates between selling them or not.

Just got Xop Black Ultra... i havent played tht one... really good game.

I've played XOP. But why aren't their any continues?

[Lord Satori]

I've played XOP. But why aren't their any continues?

Because Udderdude is never satisfied and constantly feels compelled to remove features of his two greatest games that are always going to be better than the rest of his stuff. Seriously, the very first version of the original XOP had awesome features like unlockable levels, an award system for each of the levels in score attack, options to randomize the bullets, and more randomized enemy placement (as opposed to the horridly robotic way the enemies in the organic area are now laid out). He also changed the boss music of the gray world in favor of a much less suitable song, but that's more of a personal issue. The list goes on...

Though to be fair, having no continues isn't a huge issue because you can play each level (except for the secret level in XOP Ultra) in score attack anyway.