What's your favourite platform for Shmups?

Borgeois

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Mine so far is probably the SNES. I feel like it just has a great line up of titles and the gameplay is usually quite smooth.

Dreamcast would be my second favourite platform. It hosts my favourite shmup of all time -- Mars Matrix.

Contra is my favourite run 'n gun series so far, though I have played Metal Slug. I just haven't played Metal Slug on a home console yet, which is probably why I just don't have much of a passion for it. I'm sure it'll overtake the title in that category once I do get to play it though.

I've been collecting shmups for a number of platforms recently and I want to see everyones opinion on the matter. Maybe I've overlooked a certain platform.

What's yours? And why?
 

andsuchisdeath

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Hey, this can be a fun, albeit overdone topic.

Saturn: Plenty of great ST-V ports (Radiant Silvergun, Soukyugurentai, Shienryu, Cotton 2)
The only home to ports of Batsugun, Battle Garrega, Hyper Duel, Kingdom Grandprix
I can't leave out the so-so CAVE ports (Donpachi, Dodonpachi)
Plenty of shooters from Psikyo, Konami, Tecnosoft (Blastwind!), Taito

I have to make mention: I've heard of some crazy program called MAME that can play most of these games for free.
Since I'm pretty hard-headed, my opinion on the Saturn will remain the same regardless.
 
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Borgeois

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Wicked! Saturn is actually one of the very few consoles I don't currently own. To be honest, I've looked over its catalogue for RPGs and other genres, but I never quite thought it would have such a great collection of shmups. You gave that console a second breath of life for me and I'm going to seriously search for one now. Thanks for that.

MAME isn't bad, but I prefer to actually play things on the platforms they were meant to be played on. Call me a lover of old hardware, but you just can't port over the same experience when taking it away from its original console.

Long live Sega. ;)
 

roker

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PS2 for ESPGaluda, some other ports, and some choice PS1 games.

That's about all I need.

The 360 is on it's way to classic status with Mushihimesama Futari, Death Smiles, Ketsui, not to mention Ikaruga and RSG.
 

jekbrown

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saturn is the best of all time. RSG, Soukyu and Battle Garrega are the holy trinity of console shooters. :buttrock:
 

bradtemple87

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Japanese 360 is the rising star, but I think the PC Engine and Saturn are the old standards for homeplay
 

roker

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saturn is the best of all time. RSG, Soukyu and Battle Garrega are the holy trinity of console shooters. :buttrock:

The Saturn is a good Battle Garegga player.

I know I mentioned RSG above, but I'm not a huge fan, but once this goes hi-rez on the 360, there'll be little reason to play the saturn version.
 

jekbrown

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yeah, RSG has a special place in my heart. Not only do I love the game, but I got in on the ground floor. I pre-ordered it via an importer and got it very soon after release. At the time it seemed a little nutty (especially for a college student) to pay $80-ish to get a game for a dying system that I'd never played...but man, the game was soooooo worth it, even if it hadn't eventually become so highly sought after later on. It's always hard to pick a "fav shooter of all time" for anyone who really loves the genre, but if I had a gun to my head, RSG would be it...prolly followed by Viper Phase 1...
 

iluvmonsterz

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saturn is my ruler, followed by xbox 360 and ps2. funny radiant silvergun story: when babbages stopped carrying import games i got a call from a dude that worked there and it went something like this..."hey dude i know you love these import saturn games and we arent gonna cary em anymore so they are havin us clearance em out". me: "oh yea, how much?) him: "99 cents". me: "i ll be there in five minutes". anyways i get there and the ones they have are marvel vs capcom, dungeons and drgagons, castlevania x, and.....radiant silvergun. total cost of purchase=less than five bucks for all four of them!!! proly the second best day of my life!!!
 

Adderall

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my problem is that a lot of ports truly suck when compared to playing them on a real cab. Even the cave games for 360 aren't as much fun and they usually have extra modes and options.

I like the Saturn and Dreamcast for shmup consoles because it's SUPER EASY to burn and play games for free.

Saturn has a ton of strong shooters, my favs - DDP, Radiant Silvergun, Battle Garegga, Batsugun
Dreamcast - ikaruga, Psyvariar 2, under defeat, mars matrix
I also play a lot of gradius II, III, and V on ps2

If you haven't got a saturn yet I highly suggest you go after one.
 

OMFG

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Aside from the arcade, I'd have to go with PC Engine. I've been playing a lot of the ports on the PC Engine and comparing them to their arcade counterpart. I've found that Ordyne and Air Buster are pretty fun and still retain a lot of the gameplay, music, and fun of the arcade originals.
 

wataru330

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Aside from the arcade, I'd have to go with PC Engine. I've been playing a lot of the ports on the PC Engine and comparing them to their arcade counterpart. I've found that Ordyne and Air Buster are pretty fun and still retain a lot of the gameplay, music, and fun of the arcade originals.

Word up to the above^...& I'll add PCE Darius II (T's music son!) & Mr. Heli as well.
 

Lite

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Pretty much everyone is going to say PCE/Saturn/Dreamcast. Every shooter I can think of on the Saturn and Dreamcast were arcade ports, albeit exclusive most of the time to those consoles when they came out, but the PC-Engine had a lot of great original titles like Air Zonk and Soldier Blade.
 

Darkneo

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Pretty much everyone is going to say PCE/Saturn/Dreamcast. Every shooter I can think of on the Saturn and Dreamcast were arcade ports, albeit exclusive most of the time to those consoles when they came out, but the PC-Engine had a lot of great original titles like Air Zonk and Soldier Blade.

Yep i agree :-)

I play alot of my shooters on my Pce/Sega Satrun/Dreamcast. I only got a couple on my ps2 and xbox 360. I play alot the classic ones on my pce, But yeah The ss & Dc has got alot of arcade perfect ports.
 

Electric Grave

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Saturn and PS2 have the shooters I like the most. The 360 is creeping up there with the two though. MAME is still the best from a practical point of view, regardless of anything 'cause is free, it's upgraded continuously and it's repertorire of games only keeps getting bigger and bigger. Playing on a computer can be awesome if it's set up right. J-Pac is your friend, def worth a shot.
 

rcantor77

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Japanese 360 is the rising star, but I think the PC Engine and Saturn are the old standards for homeplay

:up:This.
The Saturn and PC Engine are definitely the best Home Consoles for Shooters, both with a vast catalogue. If you don't have them yet, best get them on your shopping list.

Incidently though, out of the 16-bit generation I think the SNES has got the worst lineup of Shooters. The Megadrive spanks it hands down.
Although the SNES does have Area 88, Gradius III, Twinbee and R-Type III

I would also add the Dreamcast in there too, as there are some of the greatest Arcade shooters on it... Zero Gunner 2, Under Defeat, Border Down, Ikaruga and LOADS more.
 

Tarma

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For me it's the Sega Saturn, it's had so many good shooters released on it, many of which have already been named in this thread.

Playstation 2 comes close second, seeing as you can also play PSX games on it, therefore giving the system a wide selection of top shmups - Einhander, In The Hunt, Thunder Force VI, Do Donpachi Dai Ou Jou, Espgaluda etc etc

The Dreamcast has a good, but comparitively small selection of quality shooters against the PS2 & saturn.
 

Electric Grave

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Great minds think alike, we're just too cool for school, Tarma. :emb:
 

Lite

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Playstation 2 comes close second, seeing as you can also play PSX games on it, therefore giving the system a wide selection of top shmups - Einhander, In The Hunt, Thunder Force VI, Do Donpachi Dai Ou Jou, Espgaluda etc etc.

Wouldn't that technically make my fat PS3 even better since it plays all three?
 

wataru330

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Wouldn't that technically make my fat PS3 even better since it plays all three?

Hmmm. I'm not hip to dat 'triple.

Can you run 21 PIN JPN RGB leads out of it? W/out any weird scaling or dithering issues?

Gettin' that 240p CRT tate goodness out of PSX & PS2 has been reason enough for me to keep both pieces of kit.

Native resolution FTW!

;^)
 

SNKorSWM

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Incidently though, out of the 16-bit generation I think the SNES has got the worst lineup of Shooters. The Megadrive spanks it hands down.
Although the SNES does have Area 88, Gradius III, Twinbee and R-Type III

You have got to try Axelay. =D
 

Tarma

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Wouldn't that technically make my fat PS3 even better since it plays all three?

Not really. I cannot recall off the top of my head any noteworthy shmups on the PS3, and unless you've got an early model, there is no backward compatibility! I'm sure I remember there being an issue with the PS3 not being totally compatible with all PS2 software as well... but I may have made that up! :loco:
 

Lite

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Nah its an old PS3 with the PS2 hardware in it, but screw the PS3's game library.
 
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