New shmup or re release of the year 2024

[dmk1198]

If we doin only bi-annual top 25
Is it worth doing game of the year?
Have we ever done this before
And most disappointing release

[To Far Away Times]

Most disappointing would have to be Cygni, right? Finally a shmup with a budget, and published by Konami no less, and it's a fucking Euroshmup turd.

I think the best shmup I played that was released in 2024 was Devil Blade Reboot. Excellent presentation and a very cool game (I love the bullet trails - every game needs this), but not quite a must play because it's difficulty is tuned so low. Even by "easier" shmup game standards, there should still be a little resistance on default settings, ya know? I shouldn't be blind 1CCing it with 6 lives, but even with that bit of a quibble, it's still a very good game and worth checking out just for the sheer production values and solid fundamentals.

[dmk1198]

Yes have to agree with cygni unfortunately, had high hopes

[RobotParking]

Devil Blade and Angel at Dusk were both way up there for me.

[Steven]

Damn, I guess I should hurry and play literally anything besides the Cygni demo so that the Cygni demo doesn't automatically become both the best and worst 2024 STG I played this year and instead only automatically becomes the worst.

[soupbones]

As for anything new, I really like Xelan Force and Crystal Breaker (both on Switch).

[dmk1198]

As for anything new, I really like Xelan Force and Crystal Breaker (both on Switch).

Not heard of xelan £7! Cheers

[AntiramDSR]

Most disappointing would have to be Cygni, right? Finally a shmup with a budget, and published by Konami no less, and it's a fucking Euroshmup turd.

I think the best shmup I played that was released in 2024 was Devil Blade Reboot. Excellent presentation and a very cool game (I love the bullet trails - every game needs this), but not quite a must play because it's difficulty is tuned so low. Even by "easier" shmup game standards, there should still be a little resistance on default settings, ya know? I shouldn't be blind 1CCing it with 6 lives, but even with that bit of a quibble, it's still a very good game and worth checking out just for the sheer production values and solid fundamentals.

indeed it has to be Cygni. not only for beeing a complete mess but also because it was made by the most pretentious and impudent devs i ever saw.

those guys still, to that very day try to sell the neverending story of elitist shmupnerds that never gave them constructive critic or even any chance and rambles about this exact forum just yesterday on their discord.

and that's what they do everywhere and since the very beginning of them collecting feedback here and there:

https://www.reddit.com/r/shmups/comment ... /?sort=new

and still, Cygni could have been so much better... with less arrogant and delusional devs.

also they believe it's totally normal that publishers put a fresh released game on hold for 3 months without greenlighting a first patch to even fix some of the most glaring issues (as they promised).

so yeah, well deserve all the disgrace

[M.Knight]

I'm kinda surprised people are being surprised at Cygni.

It has always been loudly blaring awful euro crap alarms the whole time : Unreal engine wooooo ugly soulless grafixxxx with everything being pitch black except for eye melting neon lasers and bullets, 16:9 vertizontal, devs not in the community with no scores and no 1CCs, movement inertia/physics/acceleration/whatever and fighting tooth and nail on this forum to make devs understand it's a garbage design choice, big budget and publisher deals which mean AAA crap trumps fun for actual shmup players in the game design DNA, "we are going to revolutionize the genre", "the gameplay is strategic", actually getting the mainstream media attention of the same fucking morons that think shmups are too short too easy too hard outdated genre, ugprades and shops, shitty Hollywood music, classic corporate blackmail of "buy our shitty game and make it sucessful so that maybe there'll be a chance we make non-shit in the future even if that logic makes no sense whatsoever since we'd just make more shitty games if they sell like hotcakes", the list goes on.

I guess I'm glad people newer to the scene learned the lesson that others previously learned during the Sine Mora hype days (and if I had to choose between the two, Sine Mora likely remains the least bad pick). I also enjoyed the SpidersSTG analysis on the game ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr20hbn_kek ), it's a very fun watch, likely the best thing to come out of this whole game.

As for me, I am not sure I played that many 2024 shmups if at all, but the Rainchaser demo ( https://kornodd.itch.io/rainchaser ) was fun and pretty promising! Distinctive and cool art style, excellent music, lots of personality, fun setpieces, pacing that manages to make a 10 minute stage feel somewhat breezy, and a toolset that's not just boring shot laser + limited bombs that the scoring forbids you from using anyways.

[Steven]

The only thing surprising about Cygni('s demo) is that it was worse than anticipated; did anyone actually expect it to be good or just varying levels of bad?

Sine Mora was one of the first STGs I ever played. Or, rather, its demo was; even with my only prior experience with the genre being a single credit of a game that I can't remember (90% sure it was Galaxian) a decade and then some earlier and some PS1 R-Types, it was very obvious that Sine Mora was worthless. I guess I missed a bunch of stuff with the Sine Mora devs coming here and doing some stuff or whatever.

In any case, glad I at least used my money wisely in the case of both games. I tried to get Cygni for free but Epic Games wouldn't give me a thing to verify that my account wasn't a child account, so I gave up and deleted the account because I was too lazy to try to fix it.

[AntiramDSR]

I also enjoyed the SpidersSTG analysis on the game ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr20hbn_kek ), it's a very fun watch, likely the best thing to come out of this whole game.

100% this! it's a masterpiece! also his Sophstar-Highscore-attempt made me stop sleeping on this gem... skipped it too long for no reason.

[Lemnear]

What are ALL the 2024 releases and re-releases?

[Lander]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr20hbn_kek

Alright, where's Steven...
I played it and I hate it.

Oh yes, give me those sweet farm in-jokes superb video recommendation; love a good bit of analysis, and something this incisive is a real treat.
The video-audio-text triple stream of information is a fascinating style of editing too - demands attention, and rewards it accordingly.

I really dig the social / info theory framing; great salve to the alarms you mentioned. Particularly the dive into Shibboleth and idea of 'gatekeeping'; a back-and-forth circus between refining ideas that have been studied to the point of provable goodness within their domain, versus the external luddism of the domain should come to me on my terms, study be damned.
It's nice to come inside from the industry-narrative bombardment and settle down to some cosy intellectualism, you know?

[Steven]

Did they ever put the colorblind options that I asked for into the game? I certainly hope so.

I am suddenly reminded of when I used to play Battlefield, and how colorblind options aren't necessarily just for colorblind people; there was at least one game (can't remember which one) where my non-colorblind self used colorblind stuff because I found that it improved visibility. Visibility in most of the post-BF2 games was pretty poor to begin with, but it helped a little.

[Some-Mist]

Devil blade reboot
Blue revolver double action

And while it’s not fleshed out, Star Waspir in the ufo 50 bundle kept my attention for a solid chunk of hours

[Steven]

Oh damn, does Double Action count? I was there on launch day. Eh, fuck it, it counts if I want it to count, so I say it does.

best = Double Action
worst = Cygni demo

[Some-Mist]

I feel like it should, Elden ring dlc counted for the disappointing vga nominees

if we got a real new rad arrange from something like out zone I’d feel inclined to post it

[Ms. Tea]

For me best has *got* to be Radirgy 2. Most fun I've had with a shmup in ages. I was really surprised how different the sword-centric gameplay felt from the previous Radirgy games, and really from anything I've played in awhile. The flow is just so exhilarating, and when I get into the zone it's like nothing else.

[marus]

I feel like 2024 was an incredibly strong year for shmup releases:

• Blue Revolver Double Action is easily the standout for me. It's basically Blue Revolver but better - better stage 5, more characters, and fun new missions. What's not to like?
• Devil Blade Reboot ranks highly too, although tbh I've only knocked out some quick 1ccs so far and haven't dove into scoring yet.
• Radirgy 2 is fun and unique, with cool weapons and controls. Though it's not really structured like a typical arcade shmup, and tbh I have no clue what's actually going on
• I still need to give Angel at Dusk a spin too

If demos count, then Rainchaser and Touhou Forlorn Souls of Wicked Past are both super promising as well.

I forgot to download Cygni when it was free on Epic. Until I play it I can only assume it's as good as the critics say.

[FunktionJCB]

It was a good year in terms of releases, but for me the highlight was, easily, Devil Blade Reboot.
Really fun, solid, shmup, with great production values (sound design, soundtrack, graphics, ...), and addictive score mechanics. I liked it a lot.

I'm happy to see so many users mentioning it as well.
Since there was barely any talk about it around launch, and ever since (I mean, just compare the thread about the game to the one for... Cygni), I was under the impression the game didn't have much "impact" with fellow forum users. I'm glad I was wrong.

[Lander]

I've yet to touch it myself, but everything I've seen of Devil Blade Reboot looks insane. Presentationally, it's like a melange of STG best-bits that shreds a sick nostalgia solo (R-Type 3 HOTAS, Delta / Ikaruga title screen vibes, Treasure-y multijoint bosses with extra heavy industry heft, list continues...) while somehow not losing any of its own identity to derivation- WEEDLYWAOWW.

[Nugs]

I've really enjoyed Crystal Breaker and Angel at Dusk.

I've still got to get to Devil Blade Reboot.

[jehu]

Radirgy 2, Angel at Dusk, Blue Revolver: Double Action, and Devil Blade Reboot are all great signs of life for the scene. Cygni flopped like a lobotomized carp. All is well.

However, controversial or not, I think history is going to look back at 2024 and crown an exA Arcadia game as the greatest the year had to offer.

FixEight exA Label - which I did find an opportunity to play, and at some length - is my personal nomination for best of the year. It is an absolute triumph over the original, which was plagued by poor play mechanics and absolutely infested with bugs. From the added gameplay mechanics and revamped balancing to the killer new OST, redrawn art, and widescreen implementation, FixEight exA is the successful realization of the OG's promise. It is several degrees better than I could have imagined. Even Outzone is sonned by FixEight exA. If you can, find a way to play it.

And, even then, on the horizon is the arcade revamp of Vagues Games' marathon masterpiece, Cambria Sword. CS: Another Cry is still in loctest, but all signs point to it being the most ambitious work to emerge from the genre in years. It takes the titanic ambition of the original, amplifies it, and tunes it to the arcade: tighter gameplay, branching pathways with something like 80 bosses and unique TLBs at the end of every route, better bullet patterns, heavier metal. Again, with a little bit of historical perspective - when broader swaths of the community get a chance to engage with it - I'm willing to bet it easily rises above this year's competition.

They don't pay me; I just love their shit. Incredible work from that camp.

[dmk1198]

FixEight exa arcade only , no where in blighty I assume?

Ordered radirgy 2 & under defeat hd from jap store today so easy with play Asia gift cards

Will buy Blue revolver double action
And devil reboot Xmas with vouchers from kids x

Cheers guys onwards n upwards

[Bassa-Bassa]

Any positive general consensus on this one?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3198 ... adeCannon/

Somehow seems to be the year's most overlooked STG?

[Daytime Waitress]

It was a good year in terms of releases, but for me the highlight was, easily, Devil Blade Reboot.
Really fun, solid, shmup, with great production values (sound design, soundtrack, graphics, ...), and addictive score mechanics. I liked it a lot.

I'm happy to see so many users mentioning it as well.
Since there was barely any talk about it around launch, and ever since (I mean, just compare the thread about the game to the one for... Cygni), I was under the impression the game didn't have much "impact" with fellow forum users. I'm glad I was wrong.

I was also a bit surprised that it wasn't evangelised as much, but I'd just put that down to two factors.

The first being that I'm a bit of a Casual Kelly and so whilst it blew *my* socks off, I got to thinking that maybe more experienced players had already seen everything it had to offer. Whenever discussion about it did surface, that discussion tended to center around how only Inferno mode actually had any teeth. And so from that I deduced that, whilst Jaimers punched out a stupid-good WR the day after the game's release (what the actual fuck), analysis of the scoring system might take a while to surface. Hell, I only got my first 1CC on Darius Gaiden this year thanks to over two decades worth of community discussion and dissection, three decades after its release! I don't view the absence of intense analytics or hagiographies on launch as an absence of love or appreciation, merely the potential for their arrival in the future :3

The second was that it's just plain easier to shitcan something than it is to rhapsodise about it. Human nature, internet culture, whatever you want to peg it on: it's oftentimes easier to spew negativity than it is to express *why* something good makes you feel the way it does. For example: Selaco was hands down the most enjoyable thing I played this year, but whenever I talked/posted about it to anyone, I pissed and moaned about all the things that weren't the game's combat, despite the fact, on the whole, they strung the combat together well. Bu they weren't the combat. And the combat was fucking amazing.

I already posted my thoughts on Devil Blade Reboot in the thread itself, and I'll leave it to more experienced vets to discuss the actual meat-and-potatoes of the differences between it and the original, but I do have to reiterate how this has become my gold standard of the term "reboot" - a phrase that has been maligned and abused and prostituted to the point of meaninglessness across all of pop-culture, let alone just in gaming itself. It's not an entirely new producer or marketing team slapping an old name on a new product - both aesthetically and in terms of gameplay, you can *feel* how much more experience the designer has, and how they've applied that knowledge years later. An absolute triumph.

Honorable mention goes to Zakesta-Z. It stands in stark contrast to DBR in terms of being an update - I don't know if it genuinely got anything new beyond being able to be launched in Steam - but it's such a frenetic "Compile at MAXSPEED MAXVOLUME, all the time" romp that, to be honest, it doesn't need anything else. Very surprised by how much I enjoyed the soundtrack changes, though - there were definitely some tunes that I thought would be inseparable from the experience, but good choices were made all 'round.

Most disappointing?
Gotta go with Aleste Branch, or the home port of Senjin Aleste.
Because they didn't happen.

[Sima Tuna]

Just played Angel at Dusk. Holy shit is it good. I'm still kinda blown away. My only problem with the game so far is there are stutters on the Switch version whenever messages pop up on the screen. Either remove the messages or fix the stuttering because that's not acceptable performance.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Just played Angel at Dusk. Holy shit is it good. I'm still kinda blown away. My only problem with the game so far is there are stutters on the Switch version whenever messages pop up on the screen. Either remove the messages or fix the stuttering because that's not acceptable performance.

Try playing Angel at Dusk on Steam as it's regarded as the "definitive version" to play -- it's quite perfectly playable on a Steam Deck setup as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Hyperspace]

As for anything new, I really like Xelan Force and Crystal Breaker (both on Switch).

You should get Viper Phase 1 on the switch.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Any positive general consensus on this one?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3198 ... adeCannon/

Somehow seems to be the year's most overlooked STG?

Thanks for that link Bassa-Bassa,

First time hearing and learning about this newfangled stg from developer Machine Code. That link to the "Sorcerial Blade Cannon" stg is an interesting romp -- it takes place in the far future, hence the date depicted just before the start of a session along with it's overall cyberpunk visual flair going on throughout the entire game itself. Is presented entirely in yoko and tate is nowhere to be found. The entire stg itself is only a mere 138.66mb d/l as it is and is perfectly playable on a Steam Deck setup if you have access to one (and runs just fine without the need for a Proton loader app necessary).

SBC strongly reminds me of a Cave stylized type of stg as developer Machine Code was aiming in that particular direction as the main source of inspiration. Sure would be nice if tate was included from the "get-go" though as it'd truly benefit from a larger overall screen "real estate" space-wise, indeed. No "on-line" leaderboard support is present but it does save your highest scores for both AC and EX modes nevertheless for posterity and safekeeping purposes. No replay saving functionality is available either.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~