“Blue Rider” has a new 3D-style, but maintains the same old arcade-feeling. DoDonPachi (Arcade, PS1, Saturn – Japan Only): Cave’s most popular shmup of all time and partially responsible for the love danmaku is every bit as great today as it ever was. Moreover, despite having to regularly tangle with crowded screens full of hazards, gamers can take advantage of numerous pockets of wiggle room as they feel their way around, in the form of forgiving survival mechanics: items offering momentary invincibility upon collection, powered-up players being able to take an extra hit before losing a life, and a generous extend (score-based 1-up) rate are frequently there to help you pull through. Moreover, colliding with a baddie (as opposed to a bullet) isn’t an instant kill, your weapon level doesn’t decrease when you do lose a life, and both smart bombs and a temporary “power up” mode can help you to blast past extra-sticky situations; as you get more used to the game, you’ll learn how discriminate use of the latter can amp up your score and tack on a couple of extra lives to bring you within striking distance of the coveted no-continue clear. (Cave – 2012 – iOS/WINM – JP/US) (PSN) - they are being added to the wiki. The third and for-now-final entry, Resurrection Plus, remixes the visuals and music while adding in a handful of additional options and other extras. After choosing your craft (which influences your primary weapon) and its pilot (which determines what manner of smart bomb you drop), you’re ready to wreak some havoc. While Qute took something of a look back in time to lay the foundation for Eschatos, its followup project, Ginga Force (also for the 360, and happily once again region-free to import) takes a more contemporary approach in its mission to widen its player base, sprinkling a smattering of modern gaming amenities on top of a decidedly old-school core to make the crossing easier for latecomers. The Eidolon Post subject: Re: List of the 100+ most influential arcade shmups. (Triangle Service – 2009/2014 – X360 – JP/US/PAL) It’s not as beginner-centric as some of its kin, but Crimzon Clover is widely regarded as one of the best homebrew shooters ever released, so you WILL want to at the very least demo it someday, the sooner the better! Suggested Followup: Does not seek to list every SHMUP on Steam, just the good ones! If you can say one thing for sure about the shmup through the ages, it’s very rarely been accused of overstaying its welcome; to the contrary, much of the criticism leveled its way in recent years has emanated from reviewers who apparently consider a game completely and utterly “finished” for all time, with nothing else to offer, as soon as you’ve seen the end credits roll once (notwithstanding the fact that you had to cough up eighty-seven continues on Easy mode to get there). Two-dimensional shooters are some of the most intense old-school games out there due to the precision, reflexes, and memorization needed to survive these adrenaline rushes. Your tastes in these games, as with most anything else, will likely evolve to some degree over time, but don’t be afraid to let it happen naturally, unforced. Follow. So I’m not sure if it’s good compared to others in said genre. Games which have reasonably good graphics (2d or 3d) with fast, fun gameplay. All of the PS3, PS4 and Vita shmups are eligible, … At the risk of becoming too predictable, I’ll take this opportunity to recommend some of Kenta Cho’s other projects, since they’re just too neat (and, may I repeat, free) to miss: aside from the aforementioned Tumiki Fighters, you might consider Titanion (a tribute to Galaga, with three different modes to affect how “classic” or “modern” the game feels), Parsec47 (an homage to Cave’s Dangun Feveron, featuring zippy ship speed and lots of pickups to collect before they slip offscreen), Torus Trooper (a Gyruss-style “tube shooter”, where the goal is to keep your speed up and earn time extensions to get further), and numerous others, so make haste to his site and get downloading, on the double! 3. This game is so hard; it would actually be easier to go outside in a thunderstorm and try to dodge rain. And they proceed to do battle with the Statue of Liberty. (8ing – 1999 – ARC – JP) Fear not, though: as the years have progressed, fictional extraterrestrial-repulsion technology has made impressive leaps forward, and the upshot is a succession of increasingly fun and forgiving Space Invaders titles, culminating with the two-game (so far) “Extreme” series. A full gauge from top to bottom represents 1, 10, and 100 Spirit. While every player’s preferences are different, and a substantial faction swears by a given system’s plain ol’ pack-in controller (or keyboard), a plurality of shmuppers would suggest considering the acquisition of a more optimized apparatus, possibly in the form of at least one decent arcade-style joystick for your system(s) of choice. Shop for Sonic Wings on Amazon.com. And so your journey continues, as you encounter ever more bullet-happy foes and rise to meet them with your rapidly-expanding bag of tricks (and a generous stock of lives and bombs) from all corners of scrolling shooter history: some of your later evolutions can actually vary depending on your in-game actions, so one play-through you might equip a Rayforce-style homing laser, on another you’ll brandish powerful energy blades a la Radiant Silvergun, and yet another time a bullet-reflecting shield right out of Giga Wing will wind up at your disposal. The venerable Raiden DX can wear its “followup” designation from earlier in the article with pride, but the long-running series it hails from deserves an additional tip of the hat as one of the paths of least resistance to take when it comes to genre introductions, especially if you’ve got friends whose tastes lean in a more traditional, old-school direction. These are the best SHMUPS I have played and own. Finally there’s “Time Attack”, in which your lives are unlimited but every mistake costs seconds from a constantly-depleting “Game Over” timer. The “Neo” version of the game improves the graphics, adds extra characters (only one of which is paid DLC), and tweaks the aspect ratio to fill up widescreen displays, not to mention tacks on a few extra modes and local co-op (oh, and some hilariously awful English voice acting too, though you can switch to the original Japanese if/when it becomes too much). Suggested Followup: One of these, rRootage, is this section’s focus, and it’s an especially dandy pick for newcomers to set their sights on if they’re seeking to expand their repertoire. Each one boasts different movement speeds, weapons, and a unique helper critter that floats around and provides supporting fire a la Deathsmiles; most crucially, your familiar can make limited use of a protective magic circle, which slows down enemy bullets it catches. Once the brand hit the SNES with “Pop’n Twinbee” in 1993, not only were the onscreen shenanigans suitably jazzed up (colliding with your fellow player now sends him careening unstoppably around the playfield, knocking out enemies in his path), but a nifty why-didn’t-anyone-else-think-of-that “couple mode” option has been added, which causes enemies to focus most of their attacks on Player 1; if you know a friend who’s curious but apprehensive about stepping into the shmup arena, sign ’em up as Player 2 and do the heavy lifting until they’re more at ease. The gauges represent decimal values of Spirit gains. Have you ever had the good fortune to, completely by accident, discover a game that, for lack of a better term, just “works”? There’s also the fantasy-themed Gunbird, which pits a young witch, a robot, an old guy on a flying bicycle and others against a goofy band of pirates in a race for wish-granting treasure. Oh, and of course that one’s a freebie too. As its illustrious Wonderswan ancestors were, the player craft is equipped with a powerful straight-ahead shot, a wider-covering spread gun, and a frontal shield: you’re free to utilize all three (plus a “speed adjust” button) throughout the entire game, but can only deploy one of them at any given time. Feel free to provide feedback or share any games that you think should have made the list. Suggested Followup: Shop for Parodius Series on Amazon.com. Once again, do not by any means consider this a “definitive” or “must-play” list, but in terms of titles and categories which aren’t likely to strain new players TOO terribly, these are, at the very least, some of the first names likely to come up if you take a survey of the shmup community. Blast an enemy with one of those and you’ll score special “star” coins, which are the key to keeping the score tally climbing. By and large the games aren’t a heckuva lot easier to conquer than their “normal” counterparts (if you consider Froot Loop-spitting Easter Island heads normal, I suppose), but it’s tough to get too bent out of shape when the official cause of your demise is “William Tell Overture-Accompanied Chicken Stampede”: that said, the console-exclusive Jikkyo Oshaberi Parodius is probably the least taxing of the bunch challenge-wise, though Gokujyo Parodius and Sexy Parodius (which isn’t R-rated, but does crank up the cartoon cheesecake factor considerably) are generally considered the most memorable in terms of pure comedy. The NES hardly wanted for arcade ports scaled down to fit its hardware, and while many were little more than markedly inferior riffs on the originals, the best-remembered, like Dragon Spirit, brought something more unique to the table, an experience deliberately tailored to the home console environment. The whipped cream and sprinkles to go with that cherry? This connection is often established in a manner difficult, if not impossible, to adequately quantify. You do have to hand it to the buggers: even after all these years and all the enhancements (not to mention Square-Enix’s acquisition of original developer Taito), Space Invaders still succeeds at remaining true to its roots while feeling fresh and friendly to newcomers. Shop for Dragon Spirit: The New Legend on eBay We aim to represent the best of all genre's, we try to limit the number of sequels included to allow more underrated games to shine, and also tend to avoid games that have been ported from earlier … Hi! Pending: Sky Force (PSN), Dezaemon Kids! (Sega – 1986 – SMS/iOS – JP/US/PAL/BR) The most Shazamed tracks in the world this week. There’s even a semi-hidden “easy mode” – if you lose the game’s first introductory boss battle, you’ll play as a powered-up dragon through a shorter stage progression to get yourself ready for the “normal” game. If a particular pal of yours isn’t really big on shooters but does enjoy the cute and comedic bits that Twinbee flaunts so proudly, perhaps an introduction to the world and characters via Rainbow Bell Adventure (an SNES platformer) or Twinbee Taisen Puzzle Dama (a PS1 puzzler) would be just the catalyst you need to break the ice, though both of those are also Japanese exclusives. Once you’ve absorbed enough historical enrichment you’ll find a shooter unabashedly constructed around gaming with friends, though unfortunately only local co-op is supported; before long you’ll have unlocked four playable ships, all of which perform quite differently, with strengths and weaknesses designed to be balanced out by the others, to the point that playing by oneself can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming (though not impossible to adjust to, certainly). Since every entry varies in its approach a bit, here’s a (very) quick summary: the original DonPachi, Cave’s first release, is a bit more “old-school” than the rest, so if you prefer your screen not quite so clogged with bullets it might be up your alley. Come on, chaps, those should probably only crack a top 100. The game is certainly no cake walk, but it does feature a unique training tool: most enemy bullets are bright blue, but when one is on a collision course with the player it turns red, which makes prioritization and focus considerably more intuitive when you’ve got a screen full of unpleasantness bearing down on you. Anyway, Deathsmiles not only serves as a pivot point for Cave’s gradual shift away from wartime/mechanical-themed settings to more character-oriented narratives, but more importantly remains their most beginner-friendly release down to this day. I had to stop for a second when I was first typing up this paragraph, just to let it register that it had taken this long to give a bona fide “cute-em-up” a full-fledged entry on the list; heck, you’d expect this particular article to be chock full of them, seeing as the whole idea behind their cute and/or comedic schtick is to put players at ease who might be intimidated by cold steel and fiery death. If all you’re seeking is a handful of more “general” recommendations for a shmup-friendly interface, however, in most cases it’s strongly suggested that you utilize digital controls (i.e., the input switches will only register as “active” or “not active” instead of analog (varying amounts of input pressure can be detected for varying onscreen results), so as to get a better feel for constant, reliable movement and reaction speeds, though some more recent games are specifically built with the latter in mind. Suggested Followup: I almost – almost! Shop for Harmful Park on eBay Look closely at their onscreen multiplier indicators: baddies dispatched with “heavier” shots (which reduce your movement speed when active) surrender more points, but the sparkly loot they leave behind is worth more if you’re using a “light” shot (or no shot at all) when you pick it up. One could also opt to take on some other graduates of Toaplan’s “old-school” era, though you might want to approach their more famously challenging titles with caution; Fire Shark (aka Same! The fourth game, DDP Dai-Fukkatsu (localized in Europe as “Resurrection”), tones the overall challenge down some (mostly thanks to an auto-bomb) but adds extra mechanics that take some additional time to learn, whereas the final entry, DDP Sai-DaiOuJou, blends together many of the previous games’ best features but stands as possibly the toughest nut to crack of the bunch. If you take a quick trip into the Options menu you’ll notice that the game defaults to “Easy” mode, and offers a fairly relaxed degree of opposition; “Normal” isn’t too bad either, with a bit of practice. While Hydorah is a fair challenge (and you can’t argue with the price), be advised that it’s not aimed quite so squarely at new players: this one’s more for those who not only remember but relish the struggle for dominance embodied by the venerable shmups of days gone by. Super Fantasy Zone : I really do love Fantasy Zone games, everything about them just seems to work, the look, the weapons, and especially the game play which eschews the usual scroll forward firing you usually get with shmups and goes for a more non-linear style, this one even has a melodramatic story of revenge! May I suggest a detour to the wild and secret-rich “Violent City” of Armed Police Batrider: it’s a bit less forgiving in nature than Bakraid, but still showcases a boatload of courses, options, codes, secret challenges, and (believe it or not) an even larger playable roster, assuming you’ve enabled them all (again, check online for the appropriate prompts). m9715: Check out Zanac x Zanac on PSN - it was Compile's last. Bakraid, however, is different; while it may not immediately stand out from the dozens upon dozens of other military-themed airplane shmups out there, a few minutes at the cabinet will put apprehensive players at ease. Suggested Followup: Especially as a newcomer to the genre. Gaiden is a near-foolproof first choice for prospective Vic Viper pilots, but while they’re getting familiar with the series canon they might want to keep an eye out for a few others; one of them is actually the very first Gradius, which hit the arcades in 1985. the stick doesn’t have to be pushed very far from its “neutral” position to activate), which is conducive to more immediate and accurate evasive maneuvers. Liking what you see of Raizing’s style but aren’t quite ready to tackle the likes of Battle Garegga or Dimahoo just yet? Once you’re into the nitty-gritty it shouldn’t take too long to find your groove, as each ship has a standard shot, a special ability, and a temporary shield/weapon power-up called the “vaunt”, which can be activated after picking up some gold from defeated enemies. In addition to a heavier focus on story and characters than you usually see in a shmup (all in Japanese, of course, so you’ll probably have to look up a translation if you’re interested in that part), there’s plenty of customization to be done, from your craft’s weapons to its speed settings to its shield to an eclectic batch of special abilities and bonuses you can purchase (with in-game currency, don’t worry) and use to construct your ideal star fighter piece by piece, though you’ve got to knuckle down and conquer various courses and difficulties to gain initial access to them all. Download the demo for semi-abstract shooter ring^-27 (yes, that’s its actual name) and see if it’s worth the couple of bucks for the full download: if you’re ready for a bit of digital boot camp you’ll certainly get your money’s worth. Sure, you may have encountered the name here and there in your travels, but were never curious enough to inquire further, until one day you meandered face-first into a download link and said “eh, what the heck.” Once the sucker is finally up and running, you figure “not bad, I’ll keep going for a couple more minutes”…and the next time you glance up, hours have passed. Of course, the main draw for many in the phone-gaming camp will be the intuitive touch-based controls: just slide your fingertip anyplace on the screen and your craft will move relative to it, allowing you to transition from precision bullet-weaving to “holy crap get me out of here” speed in the blink of an eye (not to mention pop in close to baddies when you can, which nets you more points). Though all of the selectable aircraft from across the series sport some satisfying guns, your most potent weapon is always the standard-issue “reflect force”, which as its name suggests creates a temporary barrier around your ship to send unfriendly shots right back where they came from. Few names resonate amidst the shooter faithful like Konami’s groundbreaking Gradius series does; heck, the sheer tonnage of cameos that the iconic Vic Viper ship and its kooky Moai antagonists, among others, have made across the company’s various properties over the years speaks to just how important they are to Konami’s identity, even if it has been too long since a proper new series entry was headed our way (hint, hint). Quality SHMUPS. (Toaplan – 1987 – ARC/NES/GEN/TG16/PS1/etc. This special, serendipitous sequence of events, repeated many times over, is the stuff that cult classics are made on, and the humble Cho Ren Sha is second to none as its conduit; many a devoted shmupper was first ushered into the fold, and its PC sector in particular, by this little freeware gem, and it’s a safe bet that more than one or two readers will soon be following in its hallowed vapor trail. Suggested Followup: Recommended June 25, 2016 … Just as these all-too-common hardware blasphemies could render a spent credit essentially worthless no matter which game you were trying to play, so an ill-suited control setup can make getting into shooters, which sport pixel-by-pixel precision as a badge of pride, a fair deal harder than it needs to be; while there is solid equipment to be found if you know where to search, these days few major manufacturers are aiming their products at shmuppers straight out of the box, so a little extra time and effort spent on the physical end of the gaming experience is likely to prove worth your while. On the surface, again, nothing seems too different; you fly, you shoot, you make stuff explode in pleasing ways, you (not-so-)occasionally die. In recent years stages offer branching paths, too, so it ’ can. A spectacle to watch top 100 shmups very enjoyable to play go with that cherry character,!! 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