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Shmups Are The Best Genre You Don’t Play

Winkle

Member
Are these available on a hand held? Looking for something to play in work on my breaks. I have a vita and a switch.
 

Neolombax

Member
It's a shame that Cygni got mid reviews, it looked very promising. I always look for variety in shumps, but unfortunately it isn't there according to the steam reviews and some other outlet reviews. I've been waiting for a good shmup on the PS5, it looks like R-type evolved 3 might be it.
 

RaduN

Member
Are these available on a hand held? Looking for something to play in work on my breaks. I have a vita and a switch.

Yeah.

Switch has:

Deathsmiles
Akai Katana
Dodonpachi Ressurection
Mushihimesama
Espgaluda 2
EspRade

All these games have a ton of different game modes (not only in terms of difficulty but also in terms of gameplay and scoring) and each of them is an absolute masterpiece of the genre.
 

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
I've been enjoying Devil Blade Reboot. Remake of an old doujin game from way back, but done in the style of a Sega Saturn game.

 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
IMG-0955.jpg

I really enjoyed Bug Princess.

My daughter recently finished Espgaluda 2. That was interesting. I owned a handful on my phone. Some aren’t playable anymore being that they were 32-bit. I use to play Mushihimesama Futari and that was great. I recently bought R-Type 1 & 2 on Steam. Waiting for R-Type Tactics Cosmos to come out (a different type of game). Deathsmiles is also good.
 
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Gojiira

Member
The rogue like/lite ruins it for me. You can’t hone or perfect a run.

My first session with returnal I was so lucky in drops that I got to beat the first 3 bosses/stages.

Then it took me dozens of hours to get a similar good set up to get past that to finish the game.

Returnal is difficult in all the wrong ways.
Dont agree at all, you absolutely can perfect a run. And persistent upgrades make it so much easier to re-run.
Ngl if you were able to reach the third boss,then it took you a specific setup and dozens of hours to reach the same spot again, thats just a skill issue not a game issue.
 

cireza

Member
NOBODY will ever beat SOUKY on the Saturn or make a better shooter than RAIZING. Also love the likes of RSG and Cotton

The Saturn was the system for 2D shooters and the best Arcade joystick to play them on... To be this good takes SEGA

hNoIOl0.jpeg
This. To this day, Saturn remains the console on which I play shmups. Ports and exclusives were often awesome, I play on CRT, no movement blur, 240p with beautiful scanlines, instant reaction of button inputs. You can't beat this setup with modern TV/consoles.

Dreamcast is my second choice. 480i on CRT so not as pretty to look at, but some of my favorite shmups ever : Psyvariar 2 and Shikigami no Shiro 2.

On modern consoles I recommend M2 Shot Triggers. And Aleste Collection is a favorite of mine, pretty chill games. Love them. SEGA !
 
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Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
The shmups on the Dreamcast were generally more polished and more willing to experiment with unique mechanics, but the feel of shmups on Saturn is unmatched. It's partially the gameplay and partially the aesthetics, but I don't think any console comes close to it.
 

Hudo

Member
NOBODY will ever beat SOUKY on the Saturn or make a better shooter than RAIZING. Also love the likes of RSG and Cotton

The Saturn was the system for 2D shooters and the best Arcade joystick to play them on... To be this good takes SEGA

hNoIOl0.jpeg
That's quite the beautiful picture.
 

John Bilbo

Member
For the past couple of days I've been mainly playing the ZeroRanger demo on Steam. I took the goal of finishing the demo with one credit. So far I've gotten to the third stage.

If I can 1cc the demo I'll buy the game.
 
Pretty convenient timing this thread popped up. Gearing up to giving Natsuki chronicles a go.


Are willing you to take suggestions for those that are available on PS4 too?
For the past couple of days I've been mainly playing the ZeroRanger demo on Steam. I took the goal of finishing the demo with one credit. So far I've gotten to the third stage.

If I can 1cc the demo I'll buy the game.
sure 🤘
 
Alright, here's a bunch of lesser known ones (random order):

Raiden V: director's cut
Raiden III: mikado remix
Flutter bombs
Space moth
Psikyo collections
Dimension drive
In extremis DX
Dragon blaze
Shinorubi
Rigid force redux
Dariusburst chronicles
Andro Dunos II
Herodes
Fast striker
Touhou genso rondo: Bullet ballet
Rival megagun
Sol cresta

That should get you going, mate.
 
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Arsic

Loves his juicy stink trail scent
i love shmups! what is the best shmup for the steam deck? any ideas?
On steam deck any cave game is the answer. I like dodonpachi resurrection on there and ikaruga the best. Both very different.

For anyone on console you’ll have more to select from on say PS5 because m2 shot triggers has ported and redone a lot of CAVEs best games. Dodonpachi blissful death re:incarnation is my favorite shmup on console.
 
This. To this day, Saturn remains the console on which I play shmups. Ports and exclusives were often awesome, I play on CRT, no movement blur, 240p with beautiful scanlines, instant reaction of button inputs. You can't beat this setup with modern TV/consoles.

Dreamcast is my second choice. 480i on CRT so not as pretty to look at, but some of my favorite shmups ever : Psyvariar 2 and Shikigami no Shiro 2.

On modern consoles I recommend M2 Shot Triggers. And Aleste Collection is a favorite of mine, pretty chill games. Love them. SEGA !
The Saturn Saturn is not the only best console for shooters, it's still the best console ever made full stop.
 

Paasei

Member
I just don't want the weeb shit in my schmups. The TwinBee game I still have for the SNES is enough of that. Fun game, though.

Also really enjoyed Resogun and Super Stardust Delta. Been looking for a good one I can fire up on the Deck, so I can take it with me. Perfect "holiday" games where you do a lvl or 2 per evening in your hotel room.

I have NeverAwake on my wishlist still.
 
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Have any GAFfers checked out Devil engine? Game is supposed to be fiercely challenging.



I'd wager our local Ikaruga pro, NeoIkaruGAF NeoIkaruGAF , could 1CC it. EZPZ.

I've been enjoying Devil Blade Reboot. Remake of an old doujin game from way back, but done in the style of a Sega Saturn game.


Made by a gamedev (@shigatake) from Vanillaware no less. Hope the guy eventually decides to port it to consoles. Graphically, it looks great.
 
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Crayon

Member
Im playing rayforce and I thought arcade mose would be one of those mild remixes. Anyway I opened the instruction manual for something else and saw that arcade mode is actually tate mode. I couldn't yank the hdmi cable out of the tv fast enough.

I have it playing on a portable monitor right now. It's beautiful.
 
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Codiox

Member
On steam deck any cave game is the answer. I like dodonpachi resurrection on there and ikaruga the best. Both very different.

For anyone on console you’ll have more to select from on say PS5 because m2 shot triggers has ported and redone a lot of CAVEs best games. Dodonpachi blissful death re:incarnation is my favorite shmup on console.
Any new, good games out there? Already played the cave ones to death, love DDP but need something more modern.
 

Arsic

Loves his juicy stink trail scent
Any new, good games out there? Already played the cave ones to death, love DDP but need something more modern.
“New” as in made in the recent years or a “new” port?

Radiant silver gun is fairly new on steam. It’s the game before ikaruga and very different. Good one.

I can also recommend zero ranger. It has a demo as well. Very cool game.

Devil Blade Reboot is the most recent really good title and sometimes overlooked in case you don’t have it already is Akai Katana Shin. Oh and the capcom arcade stadium has THE best horizontal shmup , Progear.
 

John Bilbo

Member
For the past couple of days I've been playing the full version of ZeroRanger. It has been great. I just got my first clear of the game yesterday. But clearing the game is not the end! WTF!!

I really like how they mix up things when comparing the full version with the demo. I think it the differences in the levels made the demo worthwhile to play before transferring to the full experience.

And the full version has three different game modes / campaigns! Oh this game just keeps on giving!
 

Kruza

Member
Pretty convenient timing this thread popped up. Gearing up to giving Natsuki chronicles a go.


Are willing you to take suggestions for those that are available on PS4 too?

Natsuki Chronicles is an awesome game! Fantastic side-scrolling shmup! I need to get back to playing through Extreme mode myself.


Thunderforce should make a comeback....

I would buy a Thunder Force collection in a heartbeat!
 
Natsuki Chronicles is an awesome game! Fantastic side-scrolling shmup! I need to get back to playing through Extreme mode myself.

(...)
Yeah man, its pretty nice. Playing through extreme mode atm.

Its one shmup I could recommend to anyone whose curious about trying out the genre. The progression system makes it approachable and lends a "safety net" for newcomers/beginners. Its not super punishing nor very forgiving either (on easy and normal modes). Feels like Qute meticulously adjusted the difficulty to be "just right". I wouldn't recommend someone new to the genre to play it on extreme mode until they get fully acquainted with the game and level layouts though.
 
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Yeah.

Switch has:

Deathsmiles
Akai Katana
Dodonpachi Ressurection
Mushihimesama
Espgaluda 2
EspRade

All these games have a ton of different game modes (not only in terms of difficulty but also in terms of gameplay and scoring) and each of them is an absolute masterpiece of the genre.
ESPRaDe is only available as an import from Japan. It never came to the west.
 

John Bilbo

Member

Komplex LCG

Neo Member
Have it on preorder for PS5. Watched a preview video this morning and it looks awesome.

Seems to be doing things a little different - which is nice for a change. The genre could use a little mix up once in a while imo.

Hoping it’s good!


this game is a masterpiece. visuals, imaginary maximum rate ... music ... too much synphonic japan ...but it's their game.
 

RaduN

Member
this game is a masterpiece. visuals, imaginary maximum rate ... music ... too much synphonic japan ...but it's their game.
It may be a masterpiece visually and in some other ways, but in terms of gameplay and programming, it's a piece of shit. It's a completely broken game with zero thought behind its mechanics.
 

Akuji

Member
100% agreed.
shmups are the greatest test of gaming skill.
The best shmup games will never get old, never get boring - and will always be exciting to play.
Nah, they are really great at having some aspects driven to the Max.

But rts with the multiplayer complexity Bonus is imo harder.

If you Set ur goal to be as good as Flash in his prime in starcraft brood war u could also set a goal to be as good as Jordan in Basketball or zinedine Zidane in football. Just insane what humans can do. And rts just pushes so many diffrent kinda skills.

But some shmups are so hard i just give up as well,lol.
 

gunstarhero

Member
It may be a masterpiece visually and in some other ways, but in terms of gameplay and programming, it's a piece of shit. It's a completely broken game with zero thought behind its mechanics.
Yeah…unfortunately, after getting thru the first 3 chapters, I can see a lot of this game’s mechanics are pretty busted and nonsensical.

A real shame - but once you see the cracks in the shield/weapon system, you can’t unsee it.
 

RaduN

Member
Nah, they are really great at having some aspects driven to the Max.

But rts with the multiplayer complexity Bonus is imo harder.

If you Set ur goal to be as good as Flash in his prime in starcraft brood war u could also set a goal to be as good as Jordan in Basketball or zinedine Zidane in football. Just insane what humans can do. And rts just pushes so many diffrent kinda skills.

But some shmups are so hard i just give up as well,lol.

Not to take the shine away from any other incredible achievements (in or out) of gaming, but I wouldn't minimize the difficulty and complexity of a (competitive) shmup.

It's probably the most deceptively complex genre, from the intricate scoring to mind numbingly complex route planning and pixel perfect dodges (and i mean pixel perfect dodges).
It is the perfect mix of anticipation and improvisation, risk and reward.


This was played live in front of an audience, by the top (non asian) Mushihimesama Futari player in the world:



It takes a decade of daily practice to get to this level, at least.
 
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