Jump to content

Shmups and the crazies who love them


Battra92
 Share

Recommended Posts

So I beat Jamestown today and it was a great game. However, now I have a taste for some more shmups. So what are your favorites? Any gen, any platform, any vintage.

 

My favorites are:

Space Invaders

Galaga

The Space Invaders Extreme series

Ikaruga (the first game to teach me about how maddening Bullet Hell can be)

Raiden Fighters (dropped WAY too many quarters in the arcade in Wilton NY playing this one. Now I have the 360 version.)

 

So what's your list? Also do you have any recs for good inexpensive (yes I want Radiant Silvergun for my Saturn but don't want to pay for it :P)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

*looks*

 

*looks harder*

 

*looks harder*

 

How is Touhou Project not in here!?

 

It is now!

 

I always disliked 2D shoot em' ups, but Touhou got me hooked. Before that, I figured bullet hell was just for maniacs who could juggle 20 balls while riding a unicycle through a bike trials course while dodging arrows, etc. I'm one of the ones who found it via "Marisa Stole the Precious Thing" and was so confused I needed answers... then I started noticing Touhou fans popping up all over the place and figured "well, I don't like any games like this so far, but it can't hurt to TRY them..."

 

So while I'm not good at them (got a few easy mode 1ccs... no normal mode completions, dammit!) I love the Windows Touhou games, though I rarely play PoFV, UFO, STB, or DS. Having a great time with Fairy Wars and Ten Desires though! My faves are SA and MoF with their "so what, you died. Continue, but do it from the start of the stage!" system. It also thrills the Pokemon centers of my brain trying to memorize and correlate character songs and titles to names, appearances, profiles, and which part of which game they appear in. I pity the newest fans coming in fresh! I'm pretty good at it now though, with the exception of ones from PoFV, IaMP, SWR, and other odd offshoots.

 

Branching from Touhou, I've gotten into rRootage - mostly on iOS. Also on iOS, Espgaluda II, Dodonpachi Resurrection, Mushihimesama Bug Panic, Danmaku Unlimited, It Shoots You Dodge, and Space Invaders Infinity Gene... I have a danmaku folder on my iPhone now. :unsure2:

 

On the PC, I also enjoyed Genetos, and Warning Forever. I've thought about trying the Seihou games, but haven't really felt the need. Tumiki Fighters was neat, but I didn't get far. I also grabbed Castle Shikigami II after seeing the AMAZING dubbed PS2 version. That is truly one of the worst dubs ever - they read their directions aloud, read each others' lines - the works.

 

On PS3, I liked Everyday Shooter - very nice and original, but also very hard sometimes - and PixelJunk Shooter - very easy but lots of fun. I started PixelJunk Shooter 2 and it tried to murder my wrists so I stopped... and got Gundemonium Recollection.

 

On the 360, I have the DeathSmiles LE box (actually two, by a weird miscommunication. I'll sell one much later when it's rare I guess!) It's a fun little bullet hell romp that doesn't overwhelm unless you ask it to. It makes me think of Touhou + Castlevania (if it had gone the opposite way from

and didn't really bother with spell cards...)

Triggerheart Exelica was short, cute, fun, and had a cool mechanic with grappling, swinging and flinging enemies around.

I got Ikaruga. Damn. That game is just flat out impossible. (Why have a cramped box maze on level TWO??? It killed the fun for me, sadly. It reminded me of the cramped stage in Castle Shikigami II, but 10x harder. I guess it's for people who 1cc everything else on the first try? For me it's just beating my head against a wall.)

I also picked up Shoot 1UP which was an interesting variation on the genre, and You Will Die - which is a harder clone of Warning Forever.

Finally, I have Space Invaders Extreme, which isn't bullet hell, but it is a shmup. Great game. I actually had it on PSP already, but wanted it on the big screen at a decent resolution. I really want it on disc 10x more, but this winter I'll probably Cave (ha!) and buy DeathSmiles II on XBLA.

 

Oh, and I also liked Ketsui Death Label for DS, yet another Cave game. No stages, but it was a nice boss challenge game before iOS got a decent library of bullet hell on it. Very accessible, actually and crammed with tips and features.

 

But apart from an occasional infatuation with Galaga, I owe this all to ZUN's Touhou series. Thanks ZUN, for getting me hooked on a whole genre I missed, and for showing me some of the craziest music I've ever heard!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've played a bunch in my time, from bullet hell stuff like DoDonPachi and Pink Sweets, to the more mainstream stuff like Gradius and R-Type. From the 16-Bit generation of gaming, my favourites are likely:

 

- Parodius

- Elemental Master

- Thunder Force IV

- Super Strike Gunner

 

But these ones are more scrolling shooter traditional than bullet hell.

 

But beyond that, I do like DoDonPachi even though I find it a little too hard at times. Cyvern is okay, and the Raiden series too. Trigger Heart Excelica is good as well. A bit more casual.

 

I kinda had a dip in playtime for the genre until I got my iPhone. Once I got a chance, I downloaded a bunch of Cave's games onto it and all I can say is - best controls ever. Seriously, touch controls are the way forward to scrolling shooters. Touhou is available too, which is a bonus.

 

But anyone looking to get into the genre a little, and has access to an iPhone (I'm not sure if they are on Android yet), download a Lite version (Demo) of one of Cave's games. I would especially recommend Espgaluda II; it's probably the easiest so it's an even better introduction into the genre.

 

I'm hoping to see more games come to the touch platform, and I'm also looking to see if they can for it on the Vita. It's well suited, especially if held vertical. The Wii U is a whole new area of potential in this, but I have high hopes for the genre's mainstream appeal and growth, now that it seems to have found a very natural method of play.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does R-Type count? If so I quite enjoyed R-Type when younger. My uncle had it, used to play that n Abes Oddyssey when we were around at his. Was reminded of it earlier today by Joystiq pointing out a port is coming to Android soonish (Which is a bummer cos tbh unless it's the Play most touchscreens suck for stuff like that)

 

Most other Shmups I'm not a fan of. Too much at once to be concentrating on. They can have some snazzy music n visuals though.

 

(Oh there was some "X-plane" on my old old old samsung. i.e pre-colour phones days. Used to play that a ton)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Touhou is not free, though it's traded like it is. Torrents are pretty available. There are free translations for pretty much every game though. I buy mine at Paletweb. They're around $20-30 each which would buy you up to half of a Cave shooter if we're talking about discs.

 

Genetos on the other hand, is totally free and there's an official English version. It's even a good primer for bullet hell games since it's so forgiving.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Bumping this old topic with some more info:

 

Lately I've been in a bit of a SHMUP mood. I picked up the Gundemonium collection from Steam and have been hooked on it. Here's a question for you PC Shmup players: What's your preferred control method?

 

Personally I prefer a Game Pad but none that I have tried have ever been perfect. I've tried a PS3 controller and it's alright but not great. Ditto on the SNES controller (crappy D-Pad) What do you use to get your shmup on?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some swear by keyboards for max accuracy. I use a Logitech Rumblepad II or a Logitech F310. I really cannot blame the controller for any deaths I face (aside from the odd time with my Saiteks where I'd coast an inch too far left in Touhou 6...)

 

Gundemonium is sure fast... I have Gundemonium Recollection on PSN and it was fun, but I hit a wall fast.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gundemonium is sure fast... I have Gundemonium Recollection on PSN and it was fun, but I hit a wall fast.

 

I didn't even realize Gundemonium was on the PSN but I bought it on Steam. Oh well, it's all good. And yes, it does seem to come at you fast. I have yet to beat it, even with continues.

 

I still need to get the Touhou games. What's a good place to start with them?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still need to get the Touhou games. What's a good place to start with them?

 

Most would tell you to start at 8 (Imperishable Night). I definitely think of it as a classic that got a lot right. For one thing, bosses in the Windows games attack with "spell cards" which are like timed attack formations that you can either "capture" (shoot the enemy down to an hp quota, don't bomb, don't die, and you get bonus points) or just let them time out after a minute or so. TH08 lets you practice individual spell cards. TH13 (Ten Desires) also brought this back, and some also recommend it as a starter because it's easier than many - but it does also add newer challenges like curving lasers and an odd special attack mode you have to collect orbs to fuel.

 

Many say 11 (Subterranean Animism) is really hard, but on easy, it was the first one I beat without continuing so YMMV. I like 10 and 11 because they remove bombs as items and make them take 1.0 firepower away (typically you max at 4.0 - it varies by character) so it's easy to regain when you use them. There are ways to bomb right though 10 (Mountain of Faith) whenever it gets challenging and win. Also, in these two, when you lose your last life, you can ALWAYS continue at the start of the current level with a preset firepower level. I found that really useful for learning. In most games, you have a few continues that drop you back in where you died, but when they're used up, it's game over.

 

6 (Embodiment of Scarlet Devil) and 12 (Unidentified Fantastic Object) are brutal. If you start with 6, you'll get a lot of memes and know who recurring characters are, but unlike later games, you can NOT see your hitbox when in slowed movement "focus" mode, and it adapts its difficulty to get harder if you play better. It also, like many games in the series, has a level 4 boss that changes their approach depending who you play as. Fairy Wars is a fun little game, but not QUITE a normal Touhou title - the core mechanic is quite different. Same with Shoot The Bullet and its sequel, Double Spoiler - these games are for maniacs. If the others are too easy for you, these are a good choice. Basically they take the Super Meat Boy route - very short challenges that are savagely hard, but you can retry each independently until your sanity breaks. You have normal movement, focused movement, and an extra slow movement, and the goal is to get really close to each boss and take "photos" of them at close range while they dump denser than usual clouds of bullets out. Immaterial and Missing Power, Scarlet Weather Rhapsody and Hisoutensoku are 2D fighters, and Phantasmagoria of Flower View is a 2D side by side vs game - like Puzzle Fighter, but with bullet hell.

 

TL;DR, you're probably safe starting with 8 or 13. The bulk of fanmade stuff seems to draw on 6, 7, and 8 if that aspect is important to you, though of course newer ones are slowly cementing into canon/fanon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks, I still haven't had the extra cash to pick one up yet.

 

I have been playing the shit out of Satazius (thanks to GOH and Saturnine :D ) as well as the various Gundemonium games. I think the PC is slowly becoming my new shmup machine (before it was my Wii and 360)

 

Also, last night I had some fun with an old CRT TV and my Gamecube ...

ikaruga.png

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...