Shmups Catch All

garion333 wrote:

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

Everyone who likes the genre every a little bit needs to buy this. It's an incredible game! I'm planning to grab the Vita version as well when it arrives.

Do Flash games count? If so, I suggest everyone play Death vs. Monstars and the released recently sequel. They're very unique, and offer a difficulty that's challenging enough to be fun without being frustrating.

http://armorgames.com/play/3307/deat...
http://armorgames.com/play/14073/dea...

Didn't know there was an HD version coming out. The Dreamcast import is actually right in front of me. Really fun co-op game.

Anybody else excited about Underdefeat HD? I want it so bad and it will be here next year in the US.

So I managed to pick up Sine Mora from GreenManGaming for $6.75 using their latest coupon code. It's a fairly decent port. There's no resolution option which is a shame and I'm not sure what resolution it runs in but the art still looks superb and when turned up to Ultra detail, it seems a little sharper than on the 360. This is a straight port. Same achievements, same content, nothing extra. But it's still a fantastic game and while the port could have used a couple more features, it's much better done than it could have been. For even full price of $10, it's a no brainer for shmup fans.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

So I managed to pick up Sine Mora from GreenManGaming for $6.75 using their latest coupon code. It's a fairly decent port. There's no resolution option which is a shame and I'm not sure what resolution it runs in but the art still looks superb and when turned up to Ultra detail, it seems a little sharper than on the 360. This is a straight port. Same achievements, same content, nothing extra. But it's still a fantastic game and while the port could have used a couple more features, it's much better done than it could have been. For even full price of $10, it's a no brainer for shmup fans.

I really wish they'd hurry up with the Vita port then (it'll have an extra character, can't remember if it's a PS3 cross-buy though).

Picked Sine Mora up for $3.37 on Steam. Not bad! Any more suggestions out there for shmups? Actually compiling a list of shmups across multiple platforms.

MaxShrek wrote:

Picked Sine Mora up for $3.37 on Steam. Not bad! Any more suggestions out there for shmups? Actually compiling a list of shmups across multiple platforms.

It's been mentioned before, but Jamestown is a fantastic PC shmup.

cheesycrouton wrote:
MaxShrek wrote:

Picked Sine Mora up for $3.37 on Steam. Not bad! Any more suggestions out there for shmups? Actually compiling a list of shmups across multiple platforms.

It's been mentioned before, but Jamestown is a fantastic PC shmup.

Yes, Jamestown is absolutely fantastic.

For shmups, I defnitely fall into the "Love 'em, but not so good at 'em" category. Here are some of my favorites/recommendations, several of which have been mentioned already:

R-Type Final - When all is said and done unlocked, this game has over 99 ships to play!! Admittedly, they're all variations on the normal "R-9A Arrowhead" R-Type theme, but there are some really neat designs, wave cannons, and force devices. The game is plagued by awful slowdown on some stages, but it's still one of my favorites.

Almost any shmup by Treasure - Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga, and Gradius V are my favorites of theirs, but I love almost every Treasure game I've played (including their non-shmup, Gunstar Heroes, Silhouette Mirage, and others)

Jamestown - Echoing what many have already said, Jamestown is fantastic! It's is a blast to play, and I love its soundtrack as well. Four player co-op is sooo much fun (I've only been able to try it once), and has an interesting continue mechanic. As Itsatrap mentioned, it's too bad there's no non-local co-op.

Jets'n'Guns - A sidescrolling shmup with insane weapons, a crazy story, and an excellent (if you enjoy chiptune-infused metal music) soundtrack by Machinae Supremacy. This is one of those "stop & shop" shmups where there's a break between levels to purchase items and advance the story, so those who are primarily into arcade shmups may not enjoy it as much.

Tyrian - This is one of my all time favorites from the mid-90s! Tyrian could be played as either a stop & shop or arcade shmup (you choose this when you start the game), which was a nice touch. It has quite a number of levels (including some branching paths), a great array of weapons and ships, and a diverse array of environments and enemies. A Windows-compatible version was released as "Tyrian 2000" a while back, but it doesn't (to my knowledge) natively work in current versions of Windows.

...and my all time favorite:

Einhänder! - I bought the same day as my used PS1, and have loved the game ever since: the gameplay, the setting, the weapons, the outstanding bosses, and Kenichiro Fukui's exquisite soundtrack. Although I still have the PS1 version, I will gladly fork over money to SquareEnix and Sony as soon as they add it as a PSone Classic to the US PlayStation Store.

There are many more that I enjoy and recommend (including Kenta Cho's Tumiki Fighters, the beautiful Sine Mora (as many have mentioned!), and even the shmup portions of Turrican II (the rest of the game being awesome as well)), but these are the first few that came to mind!

I've recently gotten Otomedius Excellent on 360 - its an homage to Konami shooters of old, with the powerup mechanic pretty much lifted directly from Gradius.

It's balls-hard, as anything with a lineage from Gradius should be.

Jonman wrote:

I've recently gotten Otomedius Excellent on 360 - its an homage to Konami shooters of old, with the powerup mechanic pretty much lifted directly from Gradius.

It's balls-hard, as anything with a lineage from Gradius should be.

A friend of mine picked this up and really enjoyed it. I don't have a 360 *grumble360exclusiveshmupreleasesgrumble* so I haven't tried it, myself. I'm going to visit him this weekend, though, so perhaps I'll have the opportunity to play a bit!

BunbyHeri wrote:

Einhänder! - I bought the same day as my used PS1, and have loved the game ever since: the gameplay, the setting, the weapons, the outstanding bosses, and Kenichiro Fukui's exquisite soundtrack. Although I still have the PS1 version, I will gladly fork over money to SquareEnix and Sony as soon as they add it as a PSone Classic to the US PlayStation Store.

You certainly pass my fan test, you typed in the ä character. I've had a shortcut to the little windows utility "Character Map" for years now because of that name.

My second favorite is go play U.N. Squadron (SNES).

Heh, I need to use the proper spelling when possible, after all! My method is usually to do a quick web search without the umlaut, then copy/paste the properly spelled name.

Thank you for the recommendation/reminder to play U.N. Squadron! It somehow escaped my radar when I played my SNES, and I just never got around to firing it up on an emulator afterwards. The only time I've played it was at a challenge booth at MAGfest, where the challenge was to beat the final boss with the weakest ship (with no power ups); it wasn't exactly a fair introduction to the game .

BunbyHeri wrote:

Heh, I need to use the proper spelling when possible, after all! My method is usually to do a quick web search without the umlaut, then copy/paste the properly spelled name. :)

Haha! That's what I did before the shortcut to Character Map.

Thank you for the recommendation/reminder to play U.N. Squadron! It somehow escaped my radar when I played my SNES, and I just never got around to firing it up on an emulator afterwards. The only time I've played it was at a challenge booth at MAGfest, where the challenge was to beat the final boss with the weakest ship (with no power ups); it wasn't exactly a fair introduction to the game .

No kidding. I haven't even made it to the last boss yet. It's on my to do list. For years I had an old magazine where one of the articles gave tips & tricks for the levels (this is SNES so it's probably older than Tips & Tricks magazine). I was introduced to the game during summer vacation because a kid at our campground brought his SNES. Good times.

One of the great things about Einhänder is that some people can play through it without ever firing a shot. Definitely youtube it. It will blow your mind.

cheesycrouton wrote:

One of the great things about Einhänder is that some people can play through it without ever firing a shot. Definitely youtube it. It will blow your mind.

Consider my mind already blown That's incredible! I'll definitely have to check it out.

I tried out a little of U.N. Squadron last night, and definitely enjoyed it! Since you can purchase other ships and weapons, does the initial pilot selection have any bearing as the game goes on? I didn't do very well (and didn't play for very long), but next time I should try it with an actual game pad instead of un-customized keyboard controls .

RolandofGilead wrote:

I was introduced to the game during summer vacation because a kid at our campground brought his SNES. Good times.

Nice Gotta love great gaming memories like that

I was finally able to play some Otomedius Excellent with two good friends this weekend (the three player co-op was a welcome feature)! The graphics were gorgeous (even if a little busy/distracting at times) and the Gradius powerup system (including the pre-game powerup selection options) worked well. The only thing that stopped us from thoroughly enjoying the game was (what felt like) control lag when you move up and down. The hitbox may move right away, but the fact that your ship briefly stays in the same location as your sprite "tips" in the direction you're moving felt awkward.

The reserve lives mechanic during co-op was something that I hadn't seen before, though that probably just means I need to play more shmups . It appeared that (please correct me if I'm wrong, Jonman!) only the first player had a life count. The other players could die repeatedly, but only if the first player lost all three of their lives would the game end (and it would end right away, regardless of the status of the other player's ships).

BunbyHeri wrote:

I was finally able to play some Otomedius Excellent with two good friends this weekend (the three player co-op was a welcome feature)! The graphics were gorgeous (even if a little busy/distracting at times) and the Gradius powerup system (including the pre-game powerup selection options) worked well. The only thing that stopped us from thoroughly enjoying the game was (what felt like) control lag when you move up and down. The hitbox may move right away, but the fact that your ship briefly stays in the same location as your sprite "tips" in the direction you're moving felt awkward.

The reserve lives mechanic during co-op was something that I hadn't seen before, though that probably just means I need to play more shmups . It appeared that (please correct me if I'm wrong, Jonman!) only the first player had a life count. The other players could die repeatedly, but only if the first player lost all three of their lives would the game end (and it would end right away, regardless of the status of the other player's ships).

I've not played any co-op, so I can't speak to the reserve mechanic.

On the hitbox, it took me a while to figure out where it even was. Even now, I'm a little unusure. I've been playing bullet-hell (Trouble Witches Neo, Deathsmiles, Raiden IV) shooters recently, with teeny-tiny hitboxes, and it seems like the hitbox in Otomedius is waaaaaay bigger than I'm accustomed to.

I just saw (from Blondish83's posting in the PS+ General PSN Game Talk thread) that horizontal scrollers Söldner-X and Söldner-X2 are on sale this month on PSN. Have you played them before, and if so, what did you think of them?

I really liked them both, though they are structured fairly differently. If you only want one, get X2 for sure but if you have the means, I recommend them both.

My favorite shump is Deathsmiles. Unfortunately, it and it's sequeal are only on the 360, so I can't play it anymore.

I really like Sine Mora, but I found it a little easy. I'm not a huge fan of the time mechanic either, but since it was so easy it didn't bother me too much.

Holy crap!
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013...
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013...
Also, it came out previously for iOS and Android, but I had no idea.
I hope that dotemu place takes USD.
I also have a sudden desire to build an arcade cabinet for some reason; can't imagine why.
I'd be bummed about Raiden II not being on there (cause it's better than Raiden I), but I still have my Raiden II CD!

360 was the dominant shooter console for its generation, no comparison. Granted, you need a Japanese 360 to enjoy most of them (or however else people get imports working on their 360), but it's a worthy investment for those that love a good shooter.

Deathsmiles was by far the best shooter of its generation, I'd argue. Plays like a vert more than a hori. Great art, great scoring system, multiple paths, good music. It's one of my favorite shooters of all time. Deathsmiles 2 was a disappointment by comparison, but you can't win 'em all. Deathsmiles was released stateside as well.

Most of the Cave shooters are hard to ignore. ESPGaluda II, Muchi Muchi Pork / Pink Sweets, and Mushihimisama Futari are all region-free and are all stellar shooters. The PAL version of DoDonPachi Resurrection works on NTSC as well. On the non-Cave front, Bullet Soul and Eschatos are both region-free. Neither are great, but Eschatos is pretty interesting. It has a good scoring system and the two weapons and shield reminds me of Radiant Silvergun. It also includes the WonderSwan's Judgement Silversword, which is a lot cheaper than getting the real thing (though less portable). As for the Japanese-only releases, Ketsui Extra would probably be my strongest argument for a imported console. It's an incredible shooter. Mamoru-kun plays like a hybrid of a vert and an arena shooter. It's really unique, and G.Rev makes great shooters. Shooting Love 200X is bizarre, but interesting. It actually features shooting "tests". I wouldn't import a 360 for it, but it's worth trying if you have one.

XLA also has some incredible games. Besides the obvious choices like Ikaruga (which contrasted to Deathsmiles, plays like a hori more than a vert) and Radiant Silvergun, Guwange is another legendary shoot 'em up that was never released to console prior. Triggerheart Excelica saw a Dreamcast release and later got the HD treatment. It's a really solid shooter with an interesting mechanic where you pick up enemies and fling them into other enemies.

As for other consoles, Under Defeat HD is the only thing to come to mind as a standout.

For anyone intersted in picking up Sine Mora for PC, it's included in the current Humble Weekly Sale for $1 or more!

This may be old news to some of you, but I just saw that R-Type Dimensions is now available on the PS3! It's an HD remake of R-Type I and II that was originally released in 2009 on XBox Live Arcade for the 360, and released in May 2014 for the PS3. It features 3D graphics and a remixed soundtrack that can be toggled on and off on the fly (I didn't see mention of a remixed soundtrack for the 360 version, so perhaps that's only for the PS3?), co-op mode (local only for the PS3, but local and online for the 360), and an "infinite" mode which respawns your ship right where you die (blasphemy! ) and provides unlimited lives.

I haven't yet played either the 360 or the PS3 version, but the still shots look great, and both versions have garnered positive reviews

It's currently $9.99 on PSN.

I totally forgot about Raiden Legacy being out, anyway, bought it and Raiden III today because RPS posted about a sale they're having, plus there's a 30-day money back guarantee.
http://www.gog.com/game/raiden_legacy

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Forbes has a rather long article about the latest Darius game, which just came out a couple weeks ago.

The $40-$60 price tag is much too high for my passing interest, but it sounds like DariusBurst Chronicle Saviours is perhaps the ultimate package for Darius fans.

A similar article was posted on Eurogamer a few days ago. Looks like S-E invited a bunch of writers to pay Pyramid a visit.

First console release since PS1, so I imagine this is a huge release for them.