Why We Love SHMUPs/Your Fav SHMUPs

[RegSNES]

I heard someone once say that there wasn't much to the SHMUP genre. That's it's just shooting and dodging. I totally disagree. True, a lot of SHMUPs consist of the aforementioned tactics, but there's a lot more to it than that. This is probably the one genre that pits you against wave after wave of enemies, testing your eyes and your reflexes with different AI or power-up systems. Be it the unique AI of Zanac or the strategic gameplay of R-Type, this is a genre I just can't get enough of. I love shooting down enemies and manuevering through waves of bullets. This is a genre where I feel that it really comes down to my skills as a gamer and not just the weapons I've got.

As for my fav SHMUPs, I'm really fond of these:

Gun-Nac
Ikaruga
Gradius III
Gradius V
R-Type Final
G. Darius
Space Megaforce
Thunder Force III

There are probably others but that's all I can think of right now.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

As for my fav SHMUPs, I'm really fond of these:

That's a damn fine list you got there, dude. I'm a big fan of most of the SHUMPs you listed too and I gotta agree, I love to dodge and maneuver my way through legions upon legions of bullets and obstacles while I'm gaming as well.

As for some other SHUMPs I enjoy:

Parodius series
Lords of Thunder
Aleste series (especially MUSHA)
Lightening Force
Truxton
In The Hunt
Strikers series

[roushimsx]

I really like Dodonpachi. Hell, I like most of Cave's work (Guwange is flat out amazing, if a bit on the easy side)

Takumi's games tend to get a bad rap but i've really grown to love and respect them, especially the Gigawing trilogy.

Raiden DX and the Raiden Fighters trilogy are classics in every sense of the word.

While I'm not big on horizontal shmups, Border Down is fucking brilliant. Hopefully it either gets a reprint or gets ported to another system so more people can enjoy it (hell, if you have a dreamcast and haven't bought it by now, go out of your way to pirate it post haste...the price isn't coming down anytime soon)

I could probably ramble and fill space, but the short version is: I really like vertical shmups and Irem made some incredibly fucking hard games.

[mydjsobad]

The Gradius & Parodius series' are no brainers. But I'm also a huge fan of all the treasure shmups, Ikaruga is a masterpeice as far as I'm concerned. I also love Super R-Type, and as underappreciated as I feel it is, Ordyne is an excellent game as well. Check out Namco Museum vol. 3 for PSX if you haven't played it yet :d

[Haoie]

Since a lot of shumps never get PAL releases, and even when they do, they're very limited, my collection is small on this genre.

My personal fav of what I have, my J version Einhander.

Imperial Capital Sodom, has a nice ring to it.

[RegSNES]

In The Hunt is freaking tight. Never played a SHMUP where you used submarines but man, was it awesome. I played the PSX version so I don't know if the Saturn version was better (probably was). That's another one I gotta add to my collection.

I've wanted to play the Parodius series for a while now but so far I haven't experienced it. That will all change when I buy another SNES and fix it up so I can play Super Famicom games.

Is Raiden Trad any good? I've actually spoted a loose SNES copy and a complete Genesis version for cheap in a store.

And Truxton is good fun. I actually got it for free when a co-worker of mine gave me his Genesis and a bunch of games. Along with the complete copy of Truxton, I got a complete copy of Gaiares and a copy of Steel Empire with the case. My word, Truxton is tough.

A few months back I picked up Lightening Force (Thunder Force IV) for $10. Fun SHMUP but very difficult. I only passed one stage.

[ProgrammingAce]

No love for Radiant Silvergun? Come on!

Einhander
R-Type Final
Raptor: Call of the Shadows
1942

Love 'em all

[RetroYoungen]

For a short while I had this sort of obsession with TwinBee. Simple, direct shoot-everything-that-moves-including-collectables ability, catching stuff, throwing bombs, shooting summore, not too fast (a bit slow, really)...

Fun fun fun!

Oh, and Ikaruga, and the Gradius series, and R-Type Final... gotta love 'em.

[BrokenFlight]

I've only got three in my collection but I love them. They're Zero Wing and Empire of Steel/Steel Empire. I like Zero Wing because it can have unlimited continues. I like Empire of Steel because I've had it since 1993 and it has just the right amount of lives/continues to beat the game. I'm not bothered about scores. My main concern is getting to the end of a game.

There's also Sol Feace on the Mega CD. I think it's pretty good but the moving gun positions threw me off at first. I couldn't understand how my guns would randomly change direction. I should get back into that game.

I played my friend's U.N. Squadron on the SNES and it wasn't very good in comparison.

[Sosage]

Takumi's games tend to get a bad rap but i've really grown to love and respect them, especially the Gigawing trilogy.

It might not be a surprise to some (since I always praise this damn game), but Mars Matrix is my absolute favorite shmup. It is the pinnacle of Takumi's work imo and although it uses a similar system as Gigawing, it surpasses that entire series by leaps and bounds. I really hope it wasn't just a happy design accident.

I agree with a lot of your other choices also. I couldn't get into Border Down, but I should probably give the disc another spin.

I'm also a fan of Kenta Cho's Parsec 47. I think it is cool how the game is semi-random, but can keep the pattern and tracked projectile mixtures from being impossible (well...most of the time).

Too late to list off anything else right now. =P

[poloplayr]

Love anything by Cave or Psikyo.

[roushimsx]

Is Raiden Trad any good? I've actually spoted a loose SNES copy and a complete Genesis version for cheap in a store.

Worst version of the game available

Also, the Playstation version of "In the Hunt" is actually the best version to get (less slowdown than either the arcade or Saturn versions)

[TurboGenesis]

I love shooties! Good, challenging, quick fun! Soo many shooties that I like I can't pick one. I pretty much like them ALL! Some are better than others but I find enjoyment in them all. Some times I'll play like 4 different shooties in a matter of a few hours. Last night I was playing Biometal(in mute) and some Souky & Blast Wind(saturn). The other day I had some tate action going on with Under Defeat and Psyvariar 2.

I guess I'll list some favorites:

Batsugun
R-Type(TG-16)
Hyper Duel(satun mode)
Ibara
Mushihimesama
Twinkle Star Sprites(saturn-though all are great)
Thunder Force series(never played first one-rest are good)
Keio Flying Squadron
Gradius series
Darius series
Aleste series(MUSHA, Space Megaforce, etc)
Zanac(original and Neo)
Andro Dunos
Recca(famicom rom)
Harmful Park
Soukyugeranti(saturn)
Magical Chase
Border Down
plus all other mentioned

Too many to list--Like I say I love ALL shooties!

Is Raiden Trad any good? I've actually spoted a loose SNES copy and a complete Genesis version for cheap in a store.

SNES version is not the best version, the Genesis is better quality but is easier than say the TG-16 version.

No love for Radiant Silvergun? Come on!

I gots love for RS right here!

It might not be a surprise to some (since I always praise this damn game), but Mars Matrix is my absolute favorite shmup. It is the pinnacle of Takumi's work imo and although it uses a similar system as Gigawing, it surpasses that entire series by leaps and bounds. I really hope it wasn't just a happy design accident.

I think its Takumi's best as well. I spent weeks playing this to buy more stuff. Total fun!!!

Love anything by Cave or Psikyo.

These guys keep shooties alive in the 21st century! Got to love them!

[FullCircle]

I don't really like this style of game, but I do like playing the Cho Aniki series for obvious reasons.

[XYXZYZ]

I'm a beginner shmup whore, here's what's grabbed me so far-

LORDS OF THUNDER!!!
DoDonpachi
Batsugun
Kingdom Grandprix
Gunbird
Sengoku Blade
Sylphia
Sapphire (Bootleg)
Star Soldier
Super Star Soldier
Burning Angels
Spriggan
Twin Cobra
UN Squadron
Raiden
1943
Life Force (NES)
Gradius III

[Rabid Peanut-Butter]

Here are my favorites:

Einhander (The sole reaon I wanted an original playstation).
Ikaruga
R-Type Final
Castle Shikigami 2

[CosmicMonkey]

Mmmm, shmups; certainly one of my favorite genres.

It's hard to pick favorites from such a large selection, but atm, I'd have to go for:

Winds of Thunder (PCE)
Gate of Thunder (PCE)
Harmful Park (PSone)
Blazing Star (MVS)
Pulstar (MVS)
Last Resort (MVS)
Under Defeat (DC)
Zero Gunner 2 (DC)
Thunderforce IV (MD)
Gleylancer (MD)
Layer Section (Saturn)
Soukyrugurentai (Saturn)

There's lots more, but these are the shooters I've either been playing the most lately, or immediately pop into mind.

And I might as well take every opportunity possible to go on about how great Under Defeat is. Really, what a game! Everything about it is, imho, absolutely bang-on. It's not very often I'm actually surprised by graphics, but I'm in awe at UD. Absolutely amazing looking and sounding.

The 3 best NeoGeo shmups are also games that graphically amazed me. The first time I played Blazing Star I watched the intro, played the first couple of levels and then had to sit down, have a joint and immediately phone a couple of my mates to explain the wonders I had just witnessed to them. My eyes nearly popped out upon firing up Pulstar and Last Resort too. Thing is, these are also truly fabulous games as well. I like R-Type, but Pulstar really is Hyper R-Type Special Edition Super EX+.

I also have a great love for Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun, but it's on an entirely different level to my love for 16-bit shooters. I really have to be in the right frame of mind to play these two.

Any other Cute 'em Up fans here? I'm a bit of a fan of this sub-genre. Harmful Park is absolute classic. I also like the Cotton series, Star Parodia, Magical Chase, Air Zonk, Twinbee etc. Shooting things in a spaceship is great, but blasting dancing girls and easter-island heads is just pure entertaining Japanese craziness.

[TurboGenesis]

And I might as well take every opportunity possible to go on about how great Under Defeat is. Really, what a game! Everything about it is, imho, absolutely bang-on. It's not very often I'm actually surprised by graphics, but I'm in awe at UD. Absolutely amazing looking and sounding.

I was truely amazed with the detail put into this game! The smoke effects, explosions, just the way the trees sway and move....this game is absolutly beautiful...

Any other Cute 'em Up fans here? I'm a bit of a fan of this sub-genre. Harmful Park is absolute classic. I also like the Cotton series, Star Parodia, Magical Chase, Air Zonk, Twinbee etc. Shooting things in a spaceship is great, but blasting dancing girls and easter-island heads is just pure entertaining Japanese craziness.

I love cuties! Keio, Magical Chase, Harmful Park, Cloud Master, Twinkle Star, Cotton, they are all great! Would we put Mushihime here too--yeah its a manic cutie!

[tanda]

I'm a big Cave fan, my two picks from them are DoDonpachi and ESP RaDe. I can play both for hours; just great intensity and excitement to these games. Great thread.

[B - Mark]

My favorites SHMUP games:

- R Type ( multiplataform )
- 1941 ( multiplataform )
- 1943 ( multiplataform )
- Terra Cresta ( multiplataform )
- Forgotten Worlds ( multiplataform )
- Tiger Heli ( multiplataform )
- MUSHA Aleste ( Mega Drive / Genesis )
- Truxton / Tatsujin ( Arcade, Mega Drive / Genesis and PC Engine )
- Vapor Trail ( Mega Drive / Genesis )
- Sol Deace ( Mega Drive / Genesis )
- Twin Cobra ( Mega Drive / Genesis )
- Trouble Shotter / Battle Mania ( Mega Drive / Genesis )
- Gaiares ( Mega Drive / Genesis )
- Phelios ( Arcade and Mega Drive / Genesis )
- Gleylancer ( Mega Drive / Genesis )
- Thunder Force II ( Mega Drive / Genesis )
- Thunder Force III ( Mega Drive / Genesis )
- Thunder Force IV ( Mega Drive / Genesis )
- V.V / Grind Stromer ( Mega Drive / Genesis )
- Aerial Assault ( Master System )
- Power Strike ( Master System )
- Sonic Wings / Aero Blasters ( Arcade and Super NES )
- Sonic Wings 2 / Aero Blasters 2 ( Neo Geo )
- Sonic Wings 3 / Aero Blasters 3 ( Neo Geo )
- Strikers 1945 Plus ( Neo Geo )
- Ghost Pilots ( Neo Geo )
- Twin Bee ( NES )
- Macross ( NES )
- Gradius III ( Super NES )
- Pop em Twin Bee ( Super NES )
- Super R Type ( Super NES )
- Macross Scrambled Valkyre ( Super NES )
- Area 88 / UN Squadron ( Arcade and Super NES )