old computer shmups .... how good do people think they are

[Enemy]

possible that this has been posted already, but i fondly remember delta and armalyte on the c64 and hybris, zout on the amiga. with the event of post games (bullet hell etc) do people still see them as classics or was I wrong all along?

[trap15]

They're all terrible.

[ptoing]

There are some which are pretty good. Uridium on the C64 is good. Katakis is pretty decent as well for what it is.
On the Amiga Apidya is pretty good as well. SWIV too.
Ports were in general pretty meh on old computers from what I remember. I guess the 1942 ports are mostly servicable.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Pippols (MSX) is where it's at.
MSX sidescrollers, on the other hand, are... barely playable to watch them, never mind "play them".
"Hybris" is one rad name alright.

[davyK]

Jeff Minter's games are probably still pretty playable. Gridrunner on the C64.

Archer Maclean's Dropzone on the Atari 8bit is probably still great too.

The BBC micro played host to solid ports too; especially those by Acornsoft which were effectively 1st party games. It got a very good version of Defender called Planetoids.

[Rex Cavalier]

PC98 touhous are pretty good, better than windows ones!

[Jeneki]

MSX Aleste is still good fun.

[system11]

They're all terrible.

Ignore this man.

[CStarFlare]

edit: I'm wrong on this

[Jonst]

I remember delta and armalyte to be fun and also hades nebula on the c64.

[antares]

Apidya is one of the best shmups ever

Wings of Death and Lethal Xcess are still very good too.

[Nick420]

I play knightmare on msx from time to time.
I think it's a pretty damn fun little game. The power up system is a bit frustrating but other than that it's great

[Formless God]

PC98 touhous are pretty good, better than windows ones!

Double Spoiler exists so this statement is blatantly incorrect.

[Kino]

the poster below me does backflips over hairy sweaty men while listening to clay aiken

[Formless God]

Shoot the Bullet also exists, making it two (2!) games instead of one.

(take this shit to /jp/, seriously)

[Herr Schatten]

A select few of them are really good (Apidya, Z-Out, Uridium 1+2, and Katakis C64 being personal favourites), but the overwhelming majority is not. Also, as has been mentioned before, ports were pretty much all pants.

[Ed Oscuro]

MSX sidescrollers, on the other hand, are... barely playable to watch them, never mind "play them".

I think Konami's MSX compatibles in the Gradius genre are actually pretty decent, even with the chop-chop.

[ptoing]

Yeah, Gradius 2 is pretty good on the MSX I think.

[hanasu]

I like Battle Squadron, but it's certainly nothing to write home about.

[ciox]

A few ZX Spectrum shmups that are playable: Xecutor, Zynaps, Dark Fusion (cool platformer with shmup segments inspired by R-Type)
A good port is R-Type, there's also a good borderliner I remember called Cybernoid, flick-screen instead of scroll but great otherwise

[Mortificator]

Nemesis 3 and Space Manbow are some of my favorites.

The Atari 8-bit port of River Raid is probably the best version of that fine game.

[Strikers1945guy]

Space Manbow!
Love that game.

[blackoak]

Timely thread--I just got an MSX2+ actually, might start a little "msx musings" thread in OT sometime. The only shmup I've played so far is Aleste, which actually kind of blew me away for how sophisticated it was, all things considered. There was often a lot of slowdown, but it contributed to the hypnotic long-form experience. Great, great music too. On-sight 1cc but I might return to it for score and whenever I want to zone out.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Never played the primordial Zanac, but if I had an actual MSX, I'd know wich Compile shmup should grace it first.
Would anyone here recommend Final Justice, Guardic and Blaster Burn?

[Enemy]

I posted this topic thinking it wouldn't see much discussion. To my surprise i check back and see that there has been a lot of discussion for and against the old computer shmups. A lot i havent heard of and will try. Is it nostalgia or will they stand up? Who knows but i will have fun finding out ... thanks guys

[Ed Oscuro]

Never played the primordial Zanac, but if I had an actual MSX, I'd know wich Compile shmup should grace it first.

Aleste 2 is still the only Compile title I have for that system.

[Damocles]

No X68k love? Shame.

[Stealthlurker]

Enjoyed the port of Silkworm quite a bit on the Amiga

[Ed Oscuro]

No X68k love? Shame.

Thought it was too self-explanatory to mention. Besides, it doesn't really qualify as an "old" system IMO

[hoopy]

I'm nostalgic as the next guy about the old shot-em-ups I used to play, and still enjoy playing them from time to time, but I'm under no illusions they stand up to comparison with modern shooters.

When I was growing up in the 80s & 90s, I remember always being disappointed by arcade conversions to the home computers of the time. They just weren't powerful enough to reproduce anything like the quality of the original arcade games. The shooters that impressed me on home machines tended to be original titles like Xenon 2, Zynaps, SWIV, & Uridium. It was only when I got my Sega Saturn that I finally felt you could actually play arcade quality games at home.

I think you could argue that modern bullet hell shooters are a bit too hardcore and manic for more casual or younger gamers. So in that respect I think older shooters do have value beyond just nostalgia. I picked up a copy of Under Defeat HD recently, and I'm really enjoying it, even though it's was originally a 2005 game.