What is the hardest shooter of all time???

Tung Fu ru · Nov 4, 2005

I've been playing Gradius IV a lot lately, which, at least to me, is pretty hard. But it got me thinking what is the hardest shooter ever? Are there even any shooters that are actually impossible to beat? I'm sure many of you know a lot more about shooters than me, and have played many more as well, since I just recently got bitten by the shooter-addiction-bug. So, what do you guys think is the hardest shooter of all time.

Snuh · Nov 4, 2005

Hmm not sure about the hardest of all time but Radiant Silvergun is pretty hard.

Tron · Nov 4, 2005

Last shooter that i... played that was hard for me is Gradius II Gofer.

Snuh · Nov 4, 2005

Gradius is an awesome series. remember the up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, BA trick?

Bad Boy · Nov 4, 2005

Hm for me its View Point.Its awesome.

Lars :cool:

beh3moth · Nov 4, 2005

Ikaruga is hard, or maybe battle garegga hmmmmm

eastyy · Nov 4, 2005

Always thought the ps2 version of dodonpachi was very hard

Though i think most cave shooters are quite difficult

Vincere · Nov 4, 2005

MMM it's a near impossible question to answer for a simple reason: once you play a shmup, you know it. So it becomes less and less hard to a certain extent.

Say you can't go through stage 2 after 5 attempts, then the game is hard.

Radiant is hard as fuck because it's hyper-long. I personnally still can't pass Stage 2E. Ikaruga is as hard as RS IMO, because it's far less long but more challenging, so it's the same.

For me one of the hardest is Gradius III as it took me 2h to pass stage 1. I never reached stage 3. Ketsui is quite insane too.

eastyy · Nov 4, 2005

I agree thats it a hard question to answer but here is my take

I though contra shattered soldier was hard but as soon as i memorized where enemys came and what weapons to use i could completed the first 5 levels without losing a life

It was the same in radiant silvergun

But when i played a few of the cave games and other shoters such as psyvarier 2 particualy later on there is just so many bullets and pixel perfect moving between them it frankly becomes over whelming my eyes can never seem to keep up.

It makes games like r-type final and gradius 5 seem sedate

oceanfrr · Nov 4, 2005

Thunder force might be, don't recall as haven't played it in a while. Some of them arn't hard but cheap, cause they put too many bullets on the screen, impossible to dodge (like Espgaluda for ps2 plus bosses)

Gamefan · Nov 4, 2005

A difficult shooter for me was Darius Gaiden.

GAMEFAN

Ford · Nov 4, 2005

Radiant Silvergun is my achilese heal of shmups.

Blue Mary Mania 8 · Nov 4, 2005

Pulstar... Really hard. Unlike Blazing Star, which is not difficult at all...

kubrick · Nov 4, 2005

Viewpoint

kernow · Nov 4, 2005

viewpoint indeed,
pulstar
mars matrix? christ

what is it with these new shooters I dunno, I don't play many but they all just look like a whole screen full of bullets nowadays , therefore they'd all be quite hard to me

pattern based shooters are funny though, I mean if you play them long enough you get good at them by just knowing whats coming and exactly where it is .. thing is if you dont play it for any amount of time you get a bit rusty - heh , but I suppose its the same as any title.

pixeljunkie · Nov 4, 2005

Pulstar and Nexzr....Nexzr kicks my ass all over the place.

Takumaji · Nov 4, 2005

Dragon Blaze still gives me big headaches... I've been playing it since the port came out (PS2) but I can't even beat the first loop.

Xenon 2 (Amiga) was a beast as well... a high difficulty is one thing, but large parts of this game are damn cheap.

Then there's Slap Fight, Gaplus... etc... etc...

Many of the early 8bit shmups are tough as nails... Uridium on C=64, anyone?

Thing is, I've learned that there always is someone who can easily beat a game you find impossibly difficult, so I guess there isn't a "hardest shmup of all time", only good, mediocre and bad players.

Tung Fu ru · Nov 4, 2005

Takumaji said:
Thing is, I've learned that there always is someone who can easily beat a game you find impossibly difficult, so I guess there isn't a "hardest shmup of all time", only good, mediocre and bad players.

I see, so I would probably fall under the "bad" category, I should keep practicing so I can get to be "mediocre"

Takumaji · Nov 4, 2005

Tung Fu ru said:
I see, so I would probably fall under the "bad" category, I should keep practicing so I can get to be "mediocre"

Not necessarily, if you find a game very hard, it may be just not your style.

For example, many ppl say 1cc'ing Ikaruga would be doable, but even tho I had lots of practice sessions, I can't seem to beat it, I mostly make it to level four but then it's game over for me.

Then I watched some vids of perfect games on a level-by-level basis and tried to adapt it to my gameplay but it didn't work out. I've more or less stopped practising the game now and spend my spare time with other shmups that suit me more and that I actually enjoy.

I'm not a top shmuper or anything, I rate my personal skills as mediocre-to-bad as well, given the out-of-this-world reaction and skills of some of those perfect game players, I just love the genre.

Kiel · Nov 4, 2005

Dimahoo/Great Mahou Daisakusen

And I'll second Mars Matrix too.

Capt. Lurker · Nov 4, 2005

WOW,
I am surprised nobody mentioned HELLFIRE for the MD. That one was pretty hard for me at least. Even with the 99 lives cheat code.

Another one was the last boss for Verytex that too was a MD game. It was so worth beating that game. The end credits music was prize to say the least.

Ahh...good times.

Randorama · Nov 4, 2005

Ketsui, maybe Mushihime-Sama Ultra mode.

sven666 · Nov 4, 2005

talespin with the controller upside down while getting blown by a busdriver...

Kiel · Nov 4, 2005

Randorama said:
Ketsui

I've completely hit the wall on the first half of stage 5, no matter how much I play I cant get any farther.

pinquotriot · Nov 4, 2005

Mars Matrix or arcade version of 1942. Hard not because the screen is filled, but because you have a slow, giant plane.

What is the hardest shooter of all time???

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