What's your favourite platform for Shmups?

BodyHammeR

I quoted Rot., He Went in DRY!
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MSX... Because Aleste 2, Zanac, Space Manbow, 1942, Parodius, Kyokugen, Pleasure Hearts, Hype, etc..
 
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Personally, the Dreamcast is my favorite shooter platform. So many titles to choose from, be it import or not, and there's new stuff being developed for it.

My top 3 in no particular order are: Psyvariar 2, Gigawing 2, and Mars Matrix.

Ikaruga would be up there as well, but I've never played it on the DC. Got my GCN version at launch. :)
 

Scott

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I'm down with the Sega Genesis/Sega CD mostly for the Thunder Force series and Lords of Thunder. Thunder Force IV/Lightening Force in particular just happens to be my favorite shooter period, just edging out Progear. I've learned I'm more into the Horizontal shmups.
 

egg_sanwich

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I'm down with the Sega Genesis/Sega CD

This. So many quality shmups on the Genny - I just picked up Gaiares and am enjoying the crazy weapon upgrade system. And of course the Thunder Force series is timeless.
 

oliverclaude

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can only agree to that. Dreamcast got better over the years, but Saturn is definitely the best shmup-plattform

A tag-team along with the PS1 is a requirement to really deserve the "definitely". But as a stand alone, the Saturn wins of course.
 

Omerta

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It may have been mentioned pages back in this multi-year thread, but one big advantage Dreamcast has over a lot of the competition is the stout homebrew community. There are still several releases on a semi-regular basis. Even with a killer library, the best may still be yet to come.
 

caughdrops

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Really digging the Turbografx. Love the Soldier series and the Aleste games on the Turbo CD in particular! :]
 

Dominance9

Pleasure Goal
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TG16 / PC Engine for me, still working on my PCE collection...theres just sooooooooooo many
 

MySoberCompanion

Formerly the Drunk, known as Tyrandom.,
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In the order:

1) Saturn: Sengoku Blade and Layer Section are my fav ones. Tons of great ports.

2) PCE: suffers the limit in most arcade ports, but it's so ambitious for the time. Soldier Blade and R-Type I + II are the shit.

3) PS1: underestimated, it has some great multiplatform (like Dodonpachi and Soukyugurentai) good at least as the Saturn ones, and amazing exclusives like Zanac X Zanac. Love the Cotton arcade perfect port.
 

Missile

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Honestly I own a Saturn, Jap SNES, and Dreamcast and Neo Geo is the one I play the most now. I just like the 16bit maxed-out graphics, with non-CD sound. The ones I play the most are Blazing Star (one of the best schmups *ever* in my opinion), Alpha Mission 2 (I like how it is old-fashioned and complicated!), Fast Striker (first proper bullet-hell schmup on Neo Geo), and Viewpoint (also superb). Pulstar is also f**king amazing. It's like a work of art, although the pace is quite slow in that game (much like R-Type) so I play it less often.

Consoles like the PS2 and the ones that came after it had lots of those bullet-hell schmups with trance music playing. There are some good ones, but they seem to have less character and less to differentiate them. Also I was never a big fan of Ikaruga and games with weird scoring systems. I really do like Mars Matrix on Dreamcast though. Its industrial and ugly but also somehow beautiful and it plays like a dream. Everyone should own this game!
 
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Wachenroder

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Yeah i'm gonna have to go with the Sega Saturn by sheer volume and quality.

PS2 for Gradius V, Giga Wing the Cave games, and all those Psikyo ports etc...but I still think Saturn stomps it overall.
 

Neo Gold

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Well...i'm old skool & i guess i had the most enjoyment with Shmups on my trusty old Commodore 64!!...
Mega apocolypse,Armalyte,Delta, Retrograde, Katakis, X-out...Sanxion...Cybernoid....to name a few, there were stack loads of quality on the system:)
 

oliverclaude

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What a bliss for all those mentioned that MAME is not a "platform", or... is it?
 
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BodyHammeR

I quoted Rot., He Went in DRY!
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Well...i'm old skool & i guess i had the most enjoyment with Shmups on my trusty old Commodore 64!!...
Mega apocolypse,Armalyte,Delta, Retrograde, Katakis, X-out...Sanxion...Cybernoid....to name a few, there were stack loads of quality on the system:)

Hurray another 8bit lover! (:
 

Tron

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On the retro side of shooters

Saturn
PC-Engine
Genesis:For which i'm getting one soon again.
Dreamcast
Famicom

I got nothing on the modern ones i never got into importing for the PS2 and no 360 here either.
Looking at the list again i still think the same.I will say it's been fun collecting for the genesis again and playing allot of it's own exclusive shooters.
 
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Chempop

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Megadrive, PCE, PS1, PS2, and DC all have a great shmup library.
But if I had to pick 2 consoles, it'd still be 360 and Saturn.

I feel for those who picked SNES and Neo-Geo :lolz:
 

prof

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As long as it's not the US PS2.

While it doesn't have anywhere near the amount of shoot 'em ups as the JPN or PAL markets, the US PS2 still has a few gems. Off the top of my head, Raiden III, R-Type Final and Gradius III & IV are all awesome. Remember that it's back-compatible with the PS1 games as well, and there are plenty of great shoot 'em ups on the US PS1. I wouldn't rate the PS2 as one of the top systems for shoot 'em ups, but it's definitely no slouch, and better than many consoles.
 

JoeAwesome

I survived Secret Santa, It wasn't Easy.,
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Turbo Duo. I still have fond memories of my first 1cc ever, Gate of Thunder.
 
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