Shmups Catch All

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Is there already a shmup thread? I couldn't find one. If so, please delete/combine so I don't clutter up the boards.

Sine Mora, the new bullet-hell shmup on the XBLA, is pretty good. It doesn't have the ultra-polished feel of a classic Cave shmup. Everything is a bit too fast, and I don't feel as though I have a good grasp on where my hit-box is; this is especially true since you change ships frequently, thus you don't have the time to get used to the hit-box. I also feel as though the controls are just ever so overly touchy.

The bullet patterns are pretty good, but again I think they're a little fast, and so the game relies too much on the speed-up mechanic. I think the bullets are a little small as well - in this regard the game is far more like the Raizing/Eighting shmups than it is the Cave stuff, and while I liked some of their games (Armed Police Batrider), I always preferred Cave's stuff.

I do like that there are environmental dangers, but the levels so far are not as well-designed as R-Type Delta's are.

I've got Sine Mora queued up to download and am stoked to try it later today.

I'm really happy that the shmup genre seems to be mounting a small comeback in North America. Cave dove into mobile hard and apparently they're looking at releasing several of their games untranslated on Xbox Games On Demand and we seem to get a decent shmup on XBLA or PSN every few months now. Nyu Media is also doing some pretty kick-ass stuff on Steam. I think this is another genre like adventure games that publishers won't touch but that there is a profitable market for that digital distribution will make possible. I really hope so. I'm not very good at these games but something has always hooked me about them.

I would love Sine Mora to come to PC. Any word on if this is planned?

There's been no word yet but it wouldn't surprise me. Digital Reality brought their last game SkyDrift over to Steam. Microsoft Studios is publishing it on 360 so there's probably a timed exclusivity or some such. I'm really enjoying Sine Mora, even though the story doesn't make much sense to me so far.

After a few more play-sessions, I can safely say that I do not like Sine Mora. It simply doesn't have the polish of a shmup from a established developer like Cave or Treasure. There are parts where you have to rely on the slow-down mechanic to escape the bullet patterns, and it just lacks the precise feel of a great shmup. Switching ships all the time during the story mode is completely counter-intuitive to the genre. Each ship has its own smart bomb, so the first thing you have to do when starting a new level with a new ship is use the smart bomb to see how it reacts.

It's a good effort, and I hope the developer continues to make shmups.

My favorite Shmup has been "Everyday Shooter" (PC) for a long while now. Anyone have suggestions for other PC Schmups?

mrwynd wrote:

My favorite Shmup has been "Everyday Shooter" (PC) for a long while now. Anyone have suggestions for other PC Schmups?

Jaynestown if you haven't tried it. It's Cave level of good.

I've really been digging Jamestown (PC), but I wish it had non-local cooperative play.

Jamestown is awesome. One of my favorite shmups.

This is timely - King Of Fighters: Sky Stage is on sale on XBLA this week, and I hovered over the Buy button for a couple of minutes before deciding against it. The demo was underwhelming, and even for $5, I decided to pass.

Trouble Witches Neo is also on sale for $5, and that's actually pretty good, with a couple of caveats:

1: Annoying kawaii-nonsense is turned up to 11, and the voice-acting is so bad you wonder if it's supposed to be tongue-in-cheek.
2: Harder difficult levels are just absurd. I'm not shmup-ninja, but I'm talking die-every-9-seconds-absurd. On the flip side, infinite continues, so it's sometimes fun to just throw yourself against the wall of bullets repeatedly.

Yes. This thread. My peoples.

I'll put this one out there: Warning Forever is a freeware shmup (that's a link to a download from Cnet's download.com (be careful: the installer has some toolbar install in it (just say no to it))).

The game is nothing but timed boss battles, and the bosses "evolve" depending on how you kill them. For example, if you shoot from the front a lot then bosses will have more guns/armour on its front. It's a tiny game so any computer will run it. I play it on my netbook all the time.

Registering my interest in this thread.

I've found Sine Mora to not be so bad.

1) I'm a big fan of bosses with destructible parts, which is the case here every time.

2) I love the voiceover. Something about it makes it sound really enjoyable.

3) It's not super polished, but it's not as though we get a ton of these games coming down the pike either. I probably won't ever one-credit it (haven't even really dug into arcade mode yet), but it's a fun distraction and I am happy to support its existence. =)

So, all-time favorite shmup?

I have to go with R-Type Delta.

D_Davis wrote:

So, all-time favorite shmup?

I have to go with R-Type Delta.

It hasn't aged gracefully, but I had a giant shmup boner for UN Squadron back in the day. Also Gynoug on the Genesis, which is still surprisingly good today.

Don't know that I've really played enough latter day shmups to have a favorite. I like the Raiden series, but that's more by virtue of the fact that they're available on 360, where competition is pretty thin.

UN Squadron was great.

Never played, nor have I even heard of Gynoug. I'll have to look it up.

D_Davis wrote:

UN Squadron was great.

Never played, nor have I even heard of Gynoug. I'll have to look it up.

The reason you've probably never heard of it is that it was called Wings of Wor for the US release. I played an imported Japanese version back in the day.

I'm sure these are horrible choices, but I spent a lot of time on Einhander and Sol Divide.

I'm pretty good with the Strikers games too, or anything else by Psikyo.

necroyeti wrote:

I'm sure these are horrible choices, but I spent a lot of time on Einhander and Sol Divide.

I'm pretty good with the Strikers games too, or anything else by Psikyo.

Einhander is one of the best games Square ever made.

I like the Strikers games a lot, too, and Psikyo's games in general are a lot of fun.

No love for Zanac?

Dezlen wrote:

No love for Zanac?

Tons!

I also liked The Guardian Legend, simply for the fact that it merged a Y-axis scrolling shooter with a 3/4 view action / adventure / rpg.

Dodonpachi!

Shmups are awesome!

I'd say my favorite shmup is Raiden II just for nostalgic reasons. It's the first shmup I got really into and replayed several times trying to get better. Even though I had other gems like Thunderforce III and IV, M.U.S.H.A Aleste and Super Aleste before it.

Every once in a while I'm tempted to get a US 360 just for the fact that Raiden IV is region protected and will never see an EU release Thankfully there is Raiden III on the PS2 which is not that great. Playing that usually cures me from dumping 400 EUR in a single game

Somehow I prefer vertical scrolling shmups, so Sine Mora will probably have to wait for a deal to find a place on my 360.

DoDonPachi Resurrection HD on iOS is pretty awesome even for a whopping 10,99!

I'd throw in for Guwange, Mars Matrix, and Warning Forever & Infinity Danger.

D_Davis wrote:

So, all-time favorite shmup?

*cough* rRootage *cough*

Just finished Pixeljunk Sidescroller. The checkpoint system kept me going and seeing all of the content, which was welcome. I still felt like I was overcoming challenges, but without the usual punitive way I play these games (1 credit get as far as I can). The soundtrack is great (more new remixes of the Shooter 1 soundtrack, just like Shooter 2 was)! Definitely recommended for shmups fans.

Sine Mora is coming to PS Vita!
http://www.shacknews.com/article/744...

Looking at a video, it reminds me of Einhander, which is a terrific feeling. (although I still own Einhander and haven't beaten hard mode yet)

Einhander and UN Squadron are my favorite shmups.
Also Raiden Jet Fighters.

also good are
And Thunderstrike V.
and G. Darius
and Strikers series.
Ray-Storm/Crisis/Force
Shooter Space Shot was a neat little title. $5 bucks on a psx, only five levels.
I enjoy huge beam weapons. Hey, there's a sig!

Yes! I believe it's also on its way to PCPS3 so I'm going to be playing this game all over the place.

Sine Mora gets incredibly hard and the story is both weird and disturbing but it's a fantastic shmup, especially since it's from a company that's never made anything of the sort before. Have it on 360, buying it again on Vita without question.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

Sine Mora gets incredibly hard and the story is both weird and disturbing but it's a fantastic shmup, especially since it's from a company that's never made anything of the sort before. Have it on 360, buying it again on Vita without question.

I've had the trial for Sine Mora since the day it came out and finally fired it up tonight. It is great. And beautiful! Once I get my first paycheck from my new job I'm going to buy some MS points and grab this and Mark of the Ninja.

Sine Mora coming to PC on November 9th. Woot!

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