Picked up Axelay since it looked pretty neat and I liked the idea of using both vertical and horizontal scrolling levels. I'm really enjoying it, been playing it for a good 3 and a half hours straight! Can't get past stage 5 (the lava area). It doesn't help that I always lose a ton of lives/continues on the previous level. Being able to take 3 bullets but only 1 collision/missile is throwing me off and a little frustrating, though I shouldn't complain since most shmups only allow one hit, right? From the different options I have available/get to I tend to prefer 2, 1, 2.
So, I'm not very familiar with shmups at all. The only one I've played extensively was Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth (the one on N64) when I was a kid. After winning a contest by getting the high score on Neo XYX, I've been really in the mood to play some more shmups. I plan on checking out a lot of the games listed in the OP, but does anyone have any recommendations for games similar to Star Soldier or Axelay?