Wow, that was a quick turnover. Thanks for all the hardwork, Nifty.
I am really surprised that Battle Garage got knocked out of its spot; I thought it had been comfortably settling in as top-shmup dog around here. I can't complain too hard because DOJ hurts so good.
Some curious Cave choices though! Dangun Feveron must be riding off of its PS4 release (that happened, right?) because otherwise it's only made the list twice in over ten years. There must be something others see in it that I do not. Though on the other hand I am somewhat glad to see other obscure Cave titles slide off and make room for some other games.
I likewise can't complain about Strikers 2 and Gunbird representing Psikyo's best, though the loss of Dragon Blaze is sorely felt. And three Taito games (well, 2 and a half?)! Who would have thought? Darius fandom really must have grown over the years to push Gaiden into the top echelon. I love the game for as sloppy as it can be.

Two Gradius games as well, which is a shocker. Gradius V is one of those stalwarts that seems to have been on the list since its release, and Gaiden is the game that everyone loves that I never played. Nonetheless, Konami showing up on the list makes me happy.
I think it's interesting to note that on the whole list, only two games have been released "recently", being Crimzon Clover and DariusBurst. Newer shooters have some pretty stiff competition to muscle their way into the list, with these two examples either clearly aping the DDP formula (and doing it well, apparently), and the other being a mega-collection of shooting stages from a well-established series.
Nifty wrote:
Much to the participants' literal horror and confusion, the other new entries appear to be the two Phantasmagoria PC games.
To
nobody's surprise, because true shooter connoisseurs recognize the genre-bending greatness of the Phantasmagoria PC games!
Pictured: hardcore shmup action the way only Phantasmagoria can provide