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[liminalcadet]

I’m getting back into shooters as I haven’t serious played them since the 90s (my reflexes suck now, sigh).

I’ve got Ikaruga on PS5 and Radiant Silvergun on Switch and before I buy anymore games I’d like to stick to one system. Another consideration is digital vs physical—kinda like the idea of having the in-hand copies but don’t really like the physical games tax from Limited Run, etc. though I guess I could sell ‘em…

Anyway, if I want the best library, not necessarily the largest, from which system should I buy?

 

[Naked Lunch]

Sega Saturn, Sega Genesis, Xbox 360 are the kings of shmups.
PC Steam has a wide variety - and of course mame (which allows for the lowest possible latency setups).

For modern console, I guess Switch - still has quite a few exclusive to the system - beware that some ports are plagued with input lag.
PS4 is right next to switch as well - pretty sure Ketsui is still only on PS4 atm.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

Xbox 360 are the kings of shmups.

I've never been too much into shmups, but by any chance, do you have any idea how the Xbox 360 managed to get those games?
Were those shmups mostly made by western or japanese developers?

 

[Pejo]

If you count emulators, PC can't be beat. Even without emulators, it's probably got the best native support.

Just go into Steam, use the search and sort genre and have a look

 

[liminalcadet]

beware that some ports are plagued with input lag.

Which ones specifically should I avoid?

Pejo Fair enough—hadn’t considered that

 

[Mr Hyde]

Probably Saturn, although it might be expensive to hunt down some of these games. Didn't know Radiant Silvergun was on Switch. I need to delve a little deeper into the Shmup scene on Switch.

 

[I Love Rock 'n' Roll]

PC Engine (card and CD) is by far the best to own for Shoot'em up. Then Megadrive, NeoGeo and SegaSaturn. After that, it's dead... even if PS2 saw lot of ports and collections or even if DC saw some great efforts even after its death.

Modern hardwares all suck hard!

 

[Warnen]

 

[RoboFu]

I’m going to have to go with pc engine with genesis second.

 

[Pejo]

Which ones specifically should I avoid?

Pejo Fair enough—hadn’t considered that

Are you looking for bullet hell type games or sidescrollers or what? Either way, Steam has it all. And for the rarer games that never "officiallly" left Japan, you can use JP sites to buy the games with a little help from Google Translate.

Switch is probably 2nd best, but if I recall there are JP only games you have to make a JP eShop account to purchase.

I had a lot of fun playing R Type on the Steam Deck, but I prefer sidescroller shmups to bullet hell. Depending on the game, it might be tough to play on a handheld with the smaller screen.

 

[Naked Lunch]

I've never been too much into shmups, but by any chance, do you have any idea how the Xbox 360 managed to get those games?
Were those shmups mostly made by western or japanese developers?

Oh the 360s shmups are almost 99% Japanese imports developed by Japanese studios. 360 has nearly the full Cave library for one.
From Mushihimesama Futari, to Eschatos, to Strania, it had Radiant Silvergun exclusive outside of the Saturn for over a decade too - the 360 shmup library is no joke.

I dont have the full info - others would be better than me - but from I recall I thought I read it was the ease of development. I remember they charged an arm and a leg for the ports in Japan to encourage people to still visit the arcades. Plus didnt Sony have some weird policy back then that they didnt want arcade games on PS3 or some crap?
Keep in mind that not all the 360 imports are region free.

The Xbox Series consoles are finally starting to get shmups, stuff like the Psikyo collection, Deathsmiles, Battle Garegga, Batsugun, Metal Black is very nice to see - but its still lagging far behind Switch and PS4. It seems the M2 shottriggers line just disappeared from Xbox - stuff like Rolling Gunner or Psyvariar arent on it either.

 

[Solidus_T]

Xbox 360. Sega Saturn, and PS4/Switch due to those M2 Shot Triggers releases and a sick port of Espgaluda 2 for Switch

 

[Drell]

Windows has every every shmups in existence thanks to emulation. And along with other genres like JRPGs that were exclusives to consoles back then, nowaday, nearly every shmups also get released on Windows via Steam. Not to mention there's also exclusive indie stuff on PC like the Touhou series for example.

 

[Naked Lunch]

I’m going to have to go with pc engine with genesis second.

Im not sure why I brain farted and dissed my beloved PCE in my post.
Love me some Soldier Blade and Sylphia.

 

[anthony2690]

Xbox 360, it's the only platform that has Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 it's the best STG.

 

[nush]

Saturn for a retro system.
PS4 for a modern system.

There's a large amount of shumps that were on Saturn (Arcade ports) that are now on PS4 so I'd go for that and save on the expense and trouble of getting games for the Saturn.

 

[RaduN]

360 and Switch, absolutely no contest.

 

[SF Kosmo]

I usually go for Switch because it's so friendly to playing imports, but I have to admit the d-pad is a nightmare, so I usually use an 8bitdo M30 (the Genesis 6-button style pad) for all my shmups.

PS4 is probably the better overall library in terms of shmups, though.

 

[cireza]

Sega Saturn, Sega Genesis

Great first answer. Was going to answer this. And PC Engine of course. In RGB with a CRT if possible.

A few notable games on SEGA-CD. Bari Arm, Robo Aleste, Keio, Shilpheed, Sol Feace, Soulstar, Night Striker. All worth playing.

 

[BossLackey]

My setup is an Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PC on a monitor arm for TATE and a fight stick.

You can play most shmups worth playing on this and TATE + stick is heavenly.

 

[Fart Knight]

I've never been too much into shmups, but by any chance, do you have any idea how the Xbox 360 managed to get those games?
Were those shmups mostly made by western or japanese developers?

 

[deriks]

Today you can pick a Series S and emulate everything, and works nice

 

[liminalcadet]

Thanks for all the replies; I hadn't considered XSS either. Glad to see I have tonnes of options for getting into it.

Much appreciated.

 

[Black_Stride]

Or An Xbox Series S.

 

[Unknown?]

Windows has every every shmups in existence thanks to emulation. And along with other genres like JRPGs that were exclusives to consoles back then, nowaday, nearly every shmups also get released on Windows via Steam. Not to mention there's also exclusive indie stuff on PC like the Touhou series for example.

If you're going that route, you don't even need windows, any OS will do.

 

[Captain Toad]

Housemarque is the best in business today, imo.

 

[RAIDEN1]

I guess we'll never get a definitive Thunderforce collection......arguably that series was up there with all the other big-hitters from the 90s....

 

[RobRSG]

1. A good PC with Final Burn Neo will get you most of the shmup classics from the arcades running well enough to dismiss a FPGA solution, and you can get most of the newer ones on Steam.

2. Both Sega Saturn and X360 are great deals when it comes to Shmups.

3. PS4 has some awesome Cave M2 enhanced ports, such as Ketsui Deathtiny, Battle Garegga and espRADE.

4. The Switch has a lot of ports, but it is a worse deal because but you play nearly all games with higher input lag, if the same game is available on any other platform.

 

[Drell]

If you're going that route, you don't even need windows, any OS will do.

But non-emulated ports are Windows only so, while you can play them with a Linux distro or on a mac with Wine, native ports will always be better.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

But non-emulated ports are Windows only so, while you can play them with a Linux distro or on a mac with Wine, native ports will always be better.

Is that waifu from some Ys game?

 

[Drell]

Is that waifu from some Ys game?

Fire Emblem 4. But the artwork is from FE: Heroes.

 

[Dane]

I've never been too much into shmups, but by any chance, do you have any idea how the Xbox 360 managed to get those games?
Were those shmups mostly made by western or japanese developers?

Different staff, the early Xbox 360 era people cared about bringing much games as possible and increase their presence in Japan, the irony is that the smaller niche games were praised while the AAA games they tought it would be worldwide hits were mostly criticized, that's how the next people dropped the ball on the support.

 

[SeraphJan]

In terms of retro console I would say PC-Engine

For modern system, PC has the largest library

 

[liminalcadet]

3. PS4 has some awesome Cave M2 enhanced ports, such as Ketsui Deathtiny, Battle Garegga and espRADE.

4. The Switch has a lot of ports, but it is a worse deal because but you play nearly all games with higher input lag, if the same game is available on any other platform.

I’ll check those out on PS5. Thanks!

So the Radiant Silvergun Switch port is subpar? Sigh… How’s DodonPachi Resurrection on Switch?

 

[SpiceRacz]

Turbografx. Nearly every shmup on the console is somewhere between above average to exceptional.

 

[Beechos]

Xbox has tons of them some of which i didnt knew even existed and they go on sale pretty often. Most of them are 360 bc games.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I dont know how widely available these games are without needing to go retro and get it on that system/format or easily downloadable on an e-store, so I can only suggest some of my fav franchises.

- Thunderforce
- Contra
- Axelay
- Einhander
- Twin stick shooters from Radian Games or XONA Games (you might have to go PC for these since many of them were launched on XBLIG which is dead)

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

PSP is filled with shooters, almost everyone has forgotten that. GBA has a decent library too but doesn't look as clean.

 

[Pasta la Vista]

NeoGeo has quite a few, pretty sure all of them are on the Arcade Archives (ACA) line of downloadable titles.

 

[RobRSG]

I’ll check those out on PS5. Thanks!

So the Radiant Silvergun Switch port is subpar? Sigh… How’s DodonPachi Resurrection on Switch?

You’re welcome! I just read what wrote again, and need to correct. Garegga is a Raizing game, not Cave.

Radiant Silvergun on the Switch and Xbox Backwards Compatibility has 5 frames of input lag. Chances are that the Switch version of DDP Ressurection is also 1 frame more than the X360 release, it felt a little heavier in my testing.

On X360 it has 4 frames of input lag.

On Saturn it has 3. So it is my preferred way of playing even without the bells and whistles of the X360 port.