Couple of n00b questions.

radiant Zion · Post by **radiant Zion** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 10:28 pm

i have a couple of questions.

1st- on the home page. the graphic right above Malc's parting pic...whats the name of the shmup with the guy in the exo/gear/suit thingy? i fondly remember feeding an insane amout of quarters into that damn game...is it available for any consoles?

2nd- im just getting back into shmups (thanks CCC) and im looking to bolster my collection. i recently purchased R-Type Final which rekindled the flame...but kinda left me wanting more. any suggestions? no matter the console, i'll try and get it.

3rd- ...how come i never knew about this site? i want answers damnit!!!

thanks for the time.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 10:36 pm

1. The mecha is from the shooter "Sidearms." There's a PCE/TG-16 version as well as a JP-only PCE CD Sidearms Special with an arrange mode. The recent PSP Capcom Classics Collection also includes the game.

2. If you liked R-Type Final, you'll probably like R-Types (collection of R-Type 1&2) and R-Type Delta for the PS. And Gradius V for the PS2.

3. Because if you don't know what a shmup is, you're probably inclined to think this is a puzzle gaming site. For some time, I skipped past this entry when looking through Classic Gaming's hosted sites since I thought it was some obscure puzzler.

elbarto · Post by **elbarto** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 10:37 pm

EDIT - Beaten to the punch..

dai jou bu · Post by **dai jou bu** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 10:55 pm

Ganelon wrote:2. If you liked R-Type Final, you'll probably like R-Types (collection of R-Type 1&2) and R-Type Delta for the PS. And Gradius V for the PS2.

*gasps* no R-Type III?!

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 11:11 pm

These are my recommendations (taken from the top 25 voting thread)

[50] [Nexzr PCE]
[50] [Soukyugurentai SAT]
[50] [Border Down DC]
[50] [Radiant Silvergun SAT]
[50] [Gradius Gaiden PS1]

[40] [Thunder Force IV MD]
[40] [R-Type III SNES]
[40] [R-Type Delta PS1]
[40] [Gradius V PS2]

[35] [Gradius ARC]
[35] [R-Type ARC]
[35] [Sylphia PCE]
[35] [Spriggan PCE]
[35] [Mars Matrix DC]
[35] [Hyper Duel SAT]
[35] [Battle Garegga SAT]
[35] [Pulstar NG]

[25] [Musha Aleste MD]
[25] [Zanac Neo PS1]
[25] [Soldier Blade PCE]
[25] [Eliminate Down MD]
[25] [Raiden DX PS1]

[10] [Macross Scrambled Valkyrie SFC]
[10] [Gleylancer MD]
[10] [Centipede ARC]
___

Some of those are on the expensive side, though.
Not included here is the recently released Under Defeat for Dreamcast, which is also great and which you should buy before it's sold out.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:47 am

dai jou bu wrote:
Ganelon wrote:2. If you liked R-Type Final, you'll probably like R-Types (collection of R-Type 1&2) and R-Type Delta for the PS. And Gradius V for the PS2.
*gasps* no R-Type III?!

Nah, R-Type III (although an excellent game) would require an SNES, which I'm not sure he has. For immediate guaranteed pleasure, I suggested the PS R-Types, which are generally considered to be better than Final.

But really, the "4th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time!" topic is right at the top of this forum. The rankings for the past 3 years are listed on the first page and accurately depict what the forum feels are the best games. Get those first if you can.

Edge · Post by **Edge** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:59 am

Welcome to the forums, Zion.

First I want to second Gradius V for PS2, this game is amazing.

So the other games would depend on your personal taste, Zion.

If you are just back into the genre than best you start with some horizontal scrolling shoot'em ups and not the bullet hell types.

Hmmm... Einhänder for PS1 is really good and has an amazing style.
And if you have a dreamcast you can get various shoot'em ups there for a cheap price.

scrilla4rella · Post by **scrilla4rella** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 8:06 am

i'm gonna have to emphatically suggest Einhander for PS as well. Played it the day it came out, and it really kept the shmups genre alive in my mind during the RPG-centric era of PSX. My passion and obsession with shmups exploded after I got my hands on Radiant Silvergun, shortly before Ikaruga came out. After those two games it was a non-stop ride of Saturn, Mega Drive and PC-engine game collecting that has only slowed down recently.

-Einhander
-Thunder Force IV
-Radiant Silvergun
-Ikaruga

*advanced*
-Battle Garrega
-Batsugun

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 11:32 am

THAT is why i love this forum. This guy shows up, asks some questions, and not one person smack talks him. Not one.

I honestly think Shmup games improve people's intelligence. Anyway... back to the discussion.

If you missed it check out G-Darius on PS1. It has mostly twitch gameplay, but there is still alot of memorization required to master the game as in the Gradius and R-Type series.

Spectacle is the word i'm looking for here - the bosses are huuuugggeee and the battles long. The graphics in the arcade version are awesome and i'm fairly sure that the PS1 conversion holds up.

Gameplay is fairly deep for a shmup - you can steal most enemy ships using capture balls and turn the enemy ships to your side. It adds an element of strategy to the game when you learn where the right enemies to steal appear as you can use the larger ones for shielding. Each one has a different attack - and some of them even have special attacks you can learn to set off.

The enemy ships can either be used as a bomb or to power your laser when they start to break. The bosses will fire a similar laser at you and this is when you should have your captured enemy sucked in and ready to fire in retaliation. If you cross the beams and smack the fire button rapidly then your laser will usurp the boss laser's power and become gigantic. When i say gigantic i mean effin' HUGE - filling the entire screen if you're on the right boss.

Not to mention that all this is going on while you're fighting a ten minute battle with some scyscraper sized metal catfish in outerspace.

Weird. Epic. Satisfying. G-Darius.

The music, sound effects, and cg scenes suck though. Too bad about that...

radiant Zion · Post by **radiant Zion** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 4:01 pm

lol. yes. Shmups does increase the intelligence level (and twitch response time) of mere humans (which of course im not, but thats a differnt tale)

Einhander is the sole reason i never forgot about shmups. i remember the first time i layed hands on a demo, my initial thought was 'instant classic'. i must have rented that game for 2 months non stop. the guy at blockbuster would ask "is this the only game you play?"
I have Ein under watch on eBay right now. unless you guys know of a better venue.

the systems i have immediate access to are:

PS1
PS2
xBOX
Dreamcast
GameCube

systems i need to get out of starage (and make sure they still work) are:

SNES
NES
SATURN

thanks for the warm welcome.

PFG 9000 · Post by **PFG 9000** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 5:44 pm

circuitface wrote:Weird. Epic. Satisfying. G-Darius.

I feel the same way about G-Darius. I picked up the game thinking "cool, another shmup to add to the collection" but I was completely blown away with the depth of the gameplay. Then I found out about the alpha/beta beams. Then I found out about special attacks for some enemies. The game just kept impressing me in new ways. I do like the music quite a bit, though I agree it's not as good as something like Gradius Gaiden.

Radiant Zion, I know importing games can be intimidating, especially if you're just getting back into shooters. But if you can get your hands on Gradius Gaiden for the PS1, you might really enjoy it. It's the game that got me into shooters. It has the classic Gradius gameplay with a little added customizability and more depth than most Gradius games. Gaiden is also 2-player co-op, and is a blast if you have any friends who are into shmups. As I mentioned above, the soundtrack is top notch. It's a very well regarded shooter at this board, and I give it my highest recommendation.

radiant Zion · Post by **radiant Zion** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 6:02 pm

ah. one more thing.

anyone know of any good shooters on xbox?

my ps2 is has been hi-jacked by Kingdom Hearts 2 and my roomie. she's obsessed... badly.
i have my xbox in my bedroom and its hooked up to a nice little 21 inch hdtv.

any suggestions? (besides 'accidentally' dropping my set of keys 5 times on the KH2 disk)

chempop · Post by **chempop** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 9:53 pm

Well, first thing I'd do is make sure your old saturn still works. Then I'd get a pro-action-replay4in1 (to play imports). After that get a DC-X (bootdisk for imports for dreamcast). There are various methods for playing import games on these two systems, but those are probably the easiest to my knowledge. There are tons of great shmups popping up on PS2, but they aren't making it to the US, so if you can mod your ps2, that would be sweet.

Now for the fun part, start shopping! Instead of getting a whole bunch of games at once, you should just get a couple by different developers. Learn those first games well, go for the 1CC. There are tons to choose from, read some reviews and check some screen shots or videos.

Here are a few highly recommended titles that you should look into, these are just very popular for good reason, they all kick ass.

GradiusV -PS2 (just buy this first chance you get)
Castle Shikigami 2 (shikigami no shiro 2) -PS2
Mushihimesama -PS2(JPN)
Ibara -PS2(JPN)
ESPGaluda -PS2(JPN)

Under Defeat -DC(JPN)
BorderDown -DC(JPN)
Zerogunner2 -DC(JPN)
Gigawing2 -DC
MarsMatrix -DC
Gunbird2 -DC

Soukyugurentai (white cover version) -SAT(JPN)
Dodonpachi -SAT(JPN)
Battle Garegga -SAT(JPN)
Layer Section -SAT(JPN)
Strikers1945part2 -SAT(JPN)
Batsugun -SAT(JPN)

Well, xbox does have Metal Slug 3, and Metal Slug 4+5, both excellent choices for run and gun fans. I don't know of any domestic released shmups though

Most people here probably use their xbox for a Mame arcade setup, maybe you should look into that as a method of previewing games to buy (they usually don't run as well on Mame, or have sound issues).

Also, do you know about Tate positioning for you monitor/TV? This is very important, but there is plenty of info about how to do it properly.

radiant Zion · Post by **radiant Zion** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 4:37 pm

im in friggin heaven right now!

i started my shmuppin' renisance with a purchase of R-Type final
then monday i recieved my copy of einhander *boner*
and yesterday...i got Silpheed *
soon, ill have Gradius III & IV in my possesion.

do i need to say how much my girlfriend hates me right now?
HA! NO KINGDOM HEARTS 2 FOR YOU WENCH! IT'S SHMUPPING TIME!

im going to go broke with my new addiction.

SAM · Post by **SAM** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 4:58 pm

radiant Zion wrote:im going to go broke with my new addiction.

You surely will.

Do you know how many years I have propond my retirement to acquire this stuff?

Just keep your hands off acrade cabs & PCBs and you would be fine.

**************************

BTW, dispite the game industary think shmups is out, it is strange that shmups games seems to be having a much better values in the 2nd hand market.

That is...
shmups > Pertform Jump > Fighting > RPG > Puzzle > Strategy
(in terms of 2nd hand market values in general)

dai jou bu · Post by **dai jou bu** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 7:50 pm

SAM wrote:BTW, dispite the game industary think shmups is out, it is strange that shmups games seems to be having a much better values in the 2nd hand market.

Well, the more underappreciated a genre is, the higher the value its titles go for. And this philosophy tends to apply to the Western markets for the most part.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:30 pm

circuitface wrote:THAT is why i love this forum. This guy shows up, asks some questions, and not one person smack talks him. Not one.

Ah we start the (good-natured) smack talk once the newbies become regulars

And you have my belated welcome to the forum.

radiant Zion wrote:do i need to say how much my girlfriend hates me right now?
HA! NO KINGDOM HEARTS 2 FOR YOU WENCH! IT'S SHMUPPING TIME!

Excellent!

sjewkestheloon · Post by **sjewkestheloon** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 9:01 am

are you the guy (radientzion) that i pointed to these hallowed pages from the gamefaqs gradius v board? if so i'm glad you came btw.

Post by **system11** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 9:36 am

What Ganelon said. Gradius V and R-Type Delta - essential games that represent the best of each series, although Gradius Gaiden is exceptionally nice too.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 1:58 am

Hey radiant Zion, welcome to the forum.

You have a Dreamcast, well get the four shoot 'em ups that was release here in the States:

Mars Matrix
Gunbird 2
Giga Wing
Giga Wing 2

These games might cost you some money, but hell they are worth it. Giga Wing 1 and 2 will make you feel like you're in HELL!!

radiant Zion · Post by **radiant Zion** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 4:33 pm

sjewkestheloon wrote:are you the guy (radientzion) that i pointed to these hallowed pages from the gamefaqs gradius v board? if so i'm glad you came btw.

yep. thats me. thanks for the directions.

shmups.system11.org

Couple of n00b questions.

Couple of n00b questions.

Re: Couple of n00b questions.