What's your favourite platform for Shmups?

grayn

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It has to be the 360.

The Neo and DC have a fantastic selection but games like Akai Katana, Death Smiles, Caladrius,
Muchi Muchi Pork & Pink Sweets, give the 360 the edge, for me.
 

Ip Man

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But the PS1 has Kyukyoku Tiger & Raiden. There's the only TATE version of Galaga, too. I love those classics.

the ps1 also has two-tenkaku which is my favourite ps1 exclusive shooter.
 

oliverclaude

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the ps1 also has two-tenkaku which is my favourite ps1 exclusive shooter.

Interesting and uncommon choice! For me it's Gaia Seed. Together with Harmful Park and, what I'd consider 2.5D's finest hour, namely R-Type Delta & Einhänder, these games rival Saturn's library in terms of originality, obscurity and variety.
 

Ip Man

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r type delta is my second favourite ps1 exclusive shooter. love that game. i remember playing the first level over and over again on a demo from a ps1 magazines back when it was announced. loved the visuals, weapon choices and over all presentation.
 

oliverclaude

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r type delta is my second favourite ps1 exclusive shooter. love that game. i remember playing the first level over and over again on a demo from a ps1 magazines back when it was announced. loved the visuals, weapon choices and over all presentation.

Excellent description. Some games age so well and it's mostly due to their craft/abstraction ratio. Delta has gorgeous 60fps, which make the blocky graphics look artistic, like a cubism painting. Its frame rate dictated a certain graphical reduction, resulting in a timeless minimalism, leading to an abstraction level that will be thought provoking for a long time. The often childish seeming scale of certain objects like buildings, cars or street signs in this game beats the zeitgeist hyperrealism of current generation products by light years.
 

Spycee

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Saturn is of course a good choice, but the prohibitive cost of playing all of them makes that a bit hard to really appreciate what the console has to offer.

XBox 360 is really the best option right now. But PS4 begins to be very interesting !

PC is a good objective choice too, but I'm less interested in what is offered right now.
 

TWE

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If you like Cave shooters the X360 is heaven in a box.
 

Fuckwit1200

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:shiteatingrin: :D
doesn't really need to be said, but amiga, then saturn followed by dreamcast.
there's way too many platforms to choose from, with too few exclusives on them to recall.
coinop versions usually smash the competition, with a few exceptions being an optimized reprogrammed version for the home systems. :p
 

TWE

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Playing those is a lot better option than mame right now.

Yep, plus the arrange modes and training modes are awesome. The HD graphics are rad too. The slowdown isn't perfect, but the games are very playable. And really, are there any truly perfect ports of arcade games on any console? Obviously nothing beats PCBs if you want the real arcade experience, but in terms of consoles the X360 has a great STG library.
 
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oliverclaude

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And really, are there any truly perfect ports of arcade games on any console?

Hard to argue that one, but with the Saturn mode of Hyper Duel (SS), the Smooth mode in OutRun (SS), the Remix mode from Border Down (DC)... certain port-extras are able to make up for it. The Battle Garegga Saturn port is even considered an improvement over the original PCB.
 

J-P

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Hard to argue that one, but with the Saturn mode of Hyper Duel (SS), the Smooth mode in OutRun (SS), the Remix mode from Border Down (DC)... certain port-extras are able to make up for it. The Battle Garegga Saturn port is even considered an improvement over the original PCB.

Solid examples of why the Saturn ports are so respected, in some ways they are better than the arcade (Hyper Duel is a significant improvement). There are shitty ports too though; DonPachi and DoDonPachi were kind of lame on the Saturn vs the PS1 ports - and there are a few standout titles on the SNES and PS1, but neither of those is really a 'shmup machine'; but yeah of course I bought Einhänder, R-Type Delta and Harmful Park.

M2 are doing a really good job with their PS4 ports. But this subject is kind of moot (imho); It really depends on taste and what your particular favorites are. You could do a lot worse than having a Mega Drive, Saturn and PS2 in the house. All of those have excellent shmup libraries. But people who are really into the genre will like own a Dreamcast, 360 and PS4 (if not a supergun and PCB's). With the ACA releases, the Switch is also getting some nice shmup releases that are way cheaper than the overpriced collector items'. A very solid argument could be made for going the flash-card or emu route.

Personal favorites for me though are the Saturn and PS1, from a purely nostalgic level. If I had to buy those games today though -- I wouldn't be spending upwards of $200 for one title. But flashcarts / chipped machines that can play burns are fine by me.
 

-SD-

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The PC Engine... yeah, screens full of Cave’s glowing balls of death are great and all, but I have to be in the right mood for it.

Since the SGX and SSDS3 arrived I’ve been going through the shmup library starting with Winds and Gate of Thunder as they’re two of my favourites. I never played Sapphire before and I’m really impressed by it, great game, looks incredible. Also loving Magical Chase, Twinbee and, currently, Soldier Blade.
 

opt2not

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^yes!

PSX, then Saturn for me!

I'm making an amendment to my choices.

Saturn + PCE. After diving deeper into the library, I gotta the PCE shmups are excellent. Not only the console exclusives, but even the ports are impressive. Galaga '90, Raiden, R-type, Truxton/Tatsujin... all great ports.
 

opt2not

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What's wrong with the Truxton port?

As far as shitty ports go, I noticed that Dragon Spirit is kinda lackluster, missing some of the animated charm in the main dragon sprite, and Strider feels really bad - framerate-wise.
 

Kid Panda

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First off, the Truxton port has TERRIBLE difficulty, there was no excuse to make the game harder than the arcade version. Second, I think the OST is just too harsh sounding on the pce.
 

FilthyRear

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First off, the Truxton port has TERRIBLE difficulty, there was no excuse to make the game harder than the arcade version.

Yes there was - because you werer at home and could play for free.
 
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