An old shmup my dad used to play

[TurtleShell]

I have been trying to find this arcade game that my dad played for years now and concider it lost media, so I thought why not try on this forum
balkans, definetly from 1990 or before:
maybe graphically somewhere around double dragon (double dragon was also at the same place)
you were above some planets
there were ground turrets
you were piloting a space ship
there was a boss that took up a lot of the screen
whats really unique is, on the ground you could enter this shop, buy power ups or one of 2 types of shield, one is an orb that rotates around you and one is a shield that you can buy to protect you from 1 side
when you exit the shop all the bullets on the screen would unload
it is a tate game
at this point I've got no leads to it, but he is certaint this is how it went
due to how presistant he is that *these* are the details, I think that this should mostly be correct

[To Far Away Times]

Is it Forgotten Worlds?

Doesn't fit exactly, but the graphics are kinda like Double Dragon, in game shops, late 80's arcade game. Or perhaps he's mixing up two different games?

There aren't many shmups with in game shops, and that goes double for arcade games.

[Jonpachi]

Fantasy Zone?

[SavagePencil]

Varth?

[Lord British]

Fantasy Zone?

Ordyne?

[M.Knight]

Wonder Planet fits a lot of these bullet points : before 1990, TATE, flying over planets, ground turrets, shops with bullet despawn, purchaseable rotating orb shield and side shields.
The only things I'm not sure of are the Double Dragon visuals (Wonder Planet is a lot more colorful, not gritty) and whether the game had any distribution outside of Japanese arcades.

[TurtleShell]

I showed him all of these
He is certaint its TATE
He said its very similar to Wonder Boy but that its too childish and that graphically it looked more like Varth
Thats something I guess.
Thanks for the help so far guys!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I have been trying to find this arcade game that my dad played for years now

Did he play it in an arcade or on a home computer? Does he remember how many buttons it had?

TATE games with shops are actually quite few in number.

[TurtleShell]

I have been trying to find this arcade game that my dad played for years now

Did he play it in an arcade or on a home computer? Does he remember how many buttons it had?

TATE games with shops are actually quite few in number.

Its an arcade game

[Lord British]

I showed him all of these
He is certaint its TATE
He said its very similar to Wonder Boy but that its too childish and that graphically it looked more like Varth
Thats something I guess.
Thanks for the help so far guys!

When you say TATE I assume you're saying horizontal scrolling, yes?

What throws me off if that you say "you were above some planets" which sounds like it's vertically scrolling (to me).

Also Wonder Boy (and Double Dragon) has nothing to do with Varth.

[Mero]

Tate means vert. I'm guessing he meant to write Wonder Planet instead of Wonderboy?

[Lord British]

Tate means vert.

Yes, I just want to understand what the OP understands.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Could it be something like Alpha Mission II where the shop is in-between levels?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldAwHRwcQq0

[TurtleShell]

I showed him all of these
He is certaint its TATE
He said its very similar to Wonder Boy but that its too childish and that graphically it looked more like Varth
Thats something I guess.
Thanks for the help so far guys!

When you say TATE I assume you're saying horizontal scrolling, yes?

What throws me off if that you say "you were above some planets" which sounds like it's vertically scrolling (to me).

Also Wonder Boy (and Double Dragon) has nothing to do with Varth.

Yeah, I meant like, you were above a planet landscape. In that way.
I mentioned double dragon in the original post since the place where he was at also had double dragon, so it is probably around the time that double dragon was out. And he also described the graphics quality to be around double dragon and the same, more rough, pixel art vibe. Hope that explains it!

[TurtleShell]

Could it be something like Alpha Mission II where the shop is in-between levels?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldAwHRwcQq0

No, the shops were on the background, and you could enter them from there

[Jonpachi]

There's a chance here that Dad's just wrong. This was 40 years ago of course. Memory is fragile, things get combined/mixed in our memories.

[Imhotep]

Plus Alpha?

[TurtleShell]

There's a chance here that Dad's just wrong. This was 40 years ago of course. Memory is fragile, things get combined/mixed in our memories.

I fully know that, but if I search for something similar maybe I could find it? Thats my thought.

[Starfighter]

Perhaps it's worth a shot watching one of those "here's every vertical shmup on mame"-videos on youtube? Here's one (broken up into two parts, here's part 2) you can skip through pretty fast!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I fully know that, but if I search for something similar maybe I could find it? Thats my thought.

It really should be your dad searching as if he remembers, him seeing it may jog his memory. He may have some of the details wrong and mixed up with another game, and seeing the actual game he's looking for will make him remember. Watching compilation videos of shmups as others suggested here is a good idea.

There's also https://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmyjoystick

[TurtleShell]

I fully know that, but if I search for something similar maybe I could find it? Thats my thought.

It really should be your dad searching as if he remembers, him seeing it may jog his memory. He may have some of the details wrong and mixed up with another game, and seeing the actual game he's looking for will make him remember. Watching compilation videos of shmups as others suggested here is a good idea.

There's also https://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmyjoystick

Tried tip of my joystick like twice, no success yet.
This game is either really neiche or my dad forgot it entierly, and just remembers details from it.
Ive watched some compilations with him, I could give it another go.

[Sengoku Strider]

Don't give up, farm. I want Balkan dad to find his game.

[Lord British]

At least I learned about Wonder Planet!

[1KMS]

It sounds more like Major Stryker or Xenon 2: Megablast than any arcade game I'm aware of. Maybe Alpha Mission 2? Based on the details, I'm pretty sure it's an amalgamation of different games in his memory.

[BrianC]

Liberator?
Bermuda Triangle?

[Acid]

Tyrian 2000.

[neorichieb1971]

Shop shmups are not that popular so its bound to be obsure if you haven't worked it out yet.

Orbs says to me things like Gradius 5, Delta on C64. I've never played an arcade TATE game with orbs, let alone one with a shop in it as well.

[Sengoku Strider]

It sounds more like Major Stryker or Xenon 2: Megablast than any arcade game I'm aware of. Maybe Alpha Mission 2? Based on the details, I'm pretty sure it's an amalgamation of different games in his memory.

Actually now that you mention it, the original Xenon was an arcade game, it has you switching between air and ground, has orbs that follow you around, large bosses and a tate playfield. The only thing missing is I don't believe the original had shops:

https://youtu.be/3xfin5uNa_s?si=6NTJenX4n8B0iVUm

[TurtleShell]

Yeah idk, at this point my only option is to probably go ahead and sit down with my dad to watch some "Shmup complitations arcade" or something on YouTube.

Thanks for the help guys!