Best shmups you got?(Ship shooters)..

[armonigann]

Sorry in advance if already discussed, but i've been going through a serious shoot em up craze lately.Some standouts from my collection.

2600 vanguard/river raid
7800 plutos/xevious
Coleco defender
NES gun nac/recca
SMS powerstrike/r type
TG16 blazing lazers/side arms
GC ikaruga
360 raiden IV/ fighter aces

whats some of your best shmups?

[Oldskool]

Welcome new guy. I have several shmups, it's my favorite genre. I highly enjoy shmups on the Genesis and Turbografx.

Some that I can think of that I own off the top of my head are:

Genesis:

Thunder Force 2, 3, and 4 (Lightening Force)
Gynoug (Wings of Wor in US)
Truxton
Gaiares (DON'T MISS THIS ONE, BEST SHOOTER ON THE GENESIS)
Daisenpu (Twin Hawk in the US)
Raiden Trad
Air Busters (Aero Blasters)
Insector X (Sleeper Shmup)

NES:

Gradius
Life Force
Section Z

TurboGrafx:

Blazing Lazers
R-Type
Galaga 90'
Space Harrier
Psychosis

Playstation:

Nanotek Warrior (Awesome game BTW)
Tempest X
R-Types (Arcade R-type 1,2)

PS2:

R-Type Final
Silpheed
Raiden III

As you can see I love R-type and the Raiden series.

I am probably missing some more, those were just off the top of my head.

[Aussie2B]

My top faves would be Dragon Spirit (I prefer the NES port), the whole TwinBee series (but especially Pop'n TwinBee), and Gate of Thunder.

[bartre]

I don't know if you've got a dreamcast, but there are some excellent shooters on there, including my favorite - Zero Gunner 2.

there's also:
Radilgy
Trigger Heart Excellica
Karous

as for other systems, i enjoy:
Raiden trad (gen,snes)
Space megaforce (snes)
darius twin (snes)
Salamander (PCE CD)
Cyber Core (TG/PCE)

[tom]

The Tail of Beta Lyrae

[98PaceCar]

Any of the Cave shooters on the 360. Mushihimesa Futari and Espgaluda II are region free, but the rest are locked. Death Smiles got a domestic release and is well worth the $30 to pick it up.

Past that, Axelay on SNES, anything on Dreamcast, and MUSHA on Genesis are some great ones.

[NayusDante]

My favorite to just pick up and play is Gradius Galaxies (GBA). If the 3DS had that and both Metroids built in, I wouldn't see a need to keep my DSs around. That game was in my pocket through most of my junior and senior years of high school.\

There's a bit of an obscure gem for DOS, Overkill, that I particularly liked. It's simple, fun, and relatively short.

As much as I like the shmup genre, I don't find myself playing them all that often. The very arcade-y nature of the genre means that you generally can't save and return to it later, so playing through the whole game in one sitting isn't very attractive when I only have an hour or so free. I wish there were more console-minded shmups, with save points and RPG stats or something. I keep wanting to play through Gradius V, but the need to finish the game in one sitting turns me off to it.

Honorable mention to Castle Shikigami 2 (PS2). Not for its gameplay, but for its translation.

[kupomogli]

Galaga.

I suck at shmups. Badly.

[Buapo]

Darius Gaiden on the Saturn is gorgeous... just picked that up. Though I'm no good at it.

Deep Blue on the TG16 makes me want to kill myself. Ship is slow as molasses, the power-ups are incredibly boring, and you only get one life. Zero continues. Too bad, because I like the underwater theme it has.

[Pantechnicon]

Galaga
Ikaruga (DC)
Steel Empire (Genesis)

[maxlords]

I'm a shmup lover too Here are some of my favorites that I own:

NES/Famicom:
Recca (repro)
Crisis Force (complete)

SNES:
Macross Scrambled Valkyrie
Space Megaforce

N64:
Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth

GC:
Shikigami No Shiro 2
Star Soldier

Wii:
Ultimate Shooting Collection

Master System:
Power Strike
Scramble Spirits

Genesis:
Advanced Busterhawk Gleylancer
Undead Line
Thunder Force III

Sega CD:
Robo Aleste

Saturn:
Donpachi
Galactic Attack
Panzer Dragoon I and II (not really SHMUPS tho)

Dreamcast:
Under Defeat
Border Down Sega Direct LE
Zero Gunner 2
Mars Matrix
Rez (not really a SHMUP tho)

PS1:
Raystorm
Gekioh: Shooting King
R-Type Delta

PS2:
Gradius V

TG16/Duo:
Image Fight
Image Fight 2
Download
Download 2
Sylphia
Soldier Blade
Final Soldier
Super Star Soldier
Nexzr

XBox:
Xyanide
Panzer Dragoon Orta (still not REALLY a shmup)

360:
Death Smiles

PSP:
Star Soldier

Arcade:
Progear No Arashi
Dogyuun
Psyvariar Revision
Brave Blade
R-Type
R-Type Leo
Soukyugurentai/Terra Diver
Guardian Force
Blazing Star
Pulstar

The list goes on and on...especially for arcade shmups

[Tron 2.0]

Sega Saturn
Radiant Silvergun
Darius Gaiden
Sexy Parodius
Galatic Attack
Salamander Deluxe Pack

Dreamcast
Ikagura
Under Defeat
Trigger Heart
Mars Matrix
Gunbird 2

Pc-Engine
Gina Fukei Densetsu Sapphire
Lords of Thunder
Gate of Thunder
Blazing Lazers
Sylphia

Famicom
Crisis Force
Gun-Nac
Zanac
Tetra Star

Neo-Geo
Blazing Star
Pulstar
Last Resort
Captain Tomaday:Hey it's a good twinbee clone.
Strikers 1945 Plus
Prehistoirc Isle 2

[Leo_A]

River Raid

[exit]

It's more of a Adventure/Shmup hybrid, but I really enjoyed Guardian Legend, although I was unable to beat the final shmup level boss since I suck at them. Oh and Stinger. Needless the say, I'm not a very big shmup fan.

[RPG_Fanatic]

MUSHA & Thunder Force III for the Genesis are the best ones.

[Gooch3008]

No love for Einhander?

[wingzrow]

I remember Gradius 5 being awesome, what with treasure making it and all. Hard as hell though.

[123►Genei-Jin]

NES/Famicom:
Formation Z
Gradius
Gradius II
Hector '87
Salamander

PC Engine:
Dragon Spirit
Dragon Saber
Parodius Da!
R-Type 2
Side Arms

SuperGraFX
Battle Ace

Genesis/Megadrive:
Aero Blasters
Arrow Flash
Battlemania Daiginjou
Elemental Master
Gaiares
Gynoug
Phelios
Space Harrier II
Super Thunder Blade
Tatsujin
Thunder Force 4
Whip Rush

Sega CD:
Dennin Aleste
Keio
Shilpheed
Sol Feace

SNES:
Darius Twin
Space Invaders
Super Aleste

Neo Geo (MVS)
Ghost Pilots
Sonic Wings 3

Saturn:
Darius Gaiden
Panzer Dragoon
Panzer Dragoon II Zwei
Parodius Deluxe Pack
Sexy Parodius
Sonic Wings Special
The Super Dimensional Fortress Macross

PS1:
Parodius - Deluxe Pack
Parodius - Forever With Me
The Double Shooting (simple series Vol.75) (Raystorm & Rayerisis)


DC:
Ikaruga

[kupomogli]

It's more of a Adventure/Shmup hybrid, but I really enjoyed Guardian Legend.

This too. Amazing game.

[Scissors]

I'm not very good at shmups, but they're pretty enjoyable if I'm in the right mood. My favorites are:

Fantasy Zone (SMS)
Einhander (PS1)
Galactic Attack (Saturn)
G Darius (PS1)
Gekioh Shooting King (PS1)
The Guardian Legend (NES)
Ikaruga (Gamecube)
Internal Section (PS1)
Nanotek Warrior (PS1)
Shooter: Starfighter Sanvein (PS1)
Silpheed (Sega CD)
Tempest X3 (PS1)