What are your favorite shoot em ups?

The_Chosen_One

Buriki One Master
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Feb 4, 2003
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2,241
Outzone - I know all the later companies that the Toaplan guys went to, but NOTHING else feels like an OG Toaplan game. Of those, this one is my favorite. I adore the background art and all the enemy designs. Music is perfect, and gameplay is completely dialed in. You don’t feel like you got lucky or robbed.

R-Type - it’s pretty strict memorization but it does so much so well. Enemy designs, utilizing your weapons/bit at the right time, and it was the first shooter I really remember getting into at the arcade.

Progear - Can’t put it better than Mike, perfect game.

ESP rade - So much good can be said of this game but the one thing I’ll touch on that doesn’t get said enough. Flow. The way the scoring is set up and truly brilliant level design make this the smoothest shooter out there. DDP is the only other game I feel has has flow this good and also probably due to the scoring technique/level design.
 

EvilOtto83

n00b
Joined
Dec 28, 2018
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10
In no particular order:

UN Squadron - SNES
Super Aleste - SNES
Raiden - Arcade
Gyruss - Arcade
Time Pilot - Arcade

NB:

River Raid - Atari 2600
 
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BlackaneseNiNjA

The Fatal Fury Disciple
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In no order:

MUSHA%20-%20Metallic%20Uniframe%20Super%20Hybrid%20Armor%20(U).png

M.U.S.H.A/Musha Aleste: The ability to change the behavior of the extra ships/drones on the fly to suit the situation made this shooter feel more engaging than other shooters that I had played at the time. The awesome music, anime-style presentation, and japanese mech aesthetics also really stood out to me as a kid.

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Lightening Force/Thunder Force IV: The fantastic soundtrack and graphics that I had previously thought impossible on the genesis as a kid, made sure that this game remained a memorable one for me growing up. This game remained one of my go-to favorites for shooters for a long time. Aside from the ability to switch weapons on the fly, having the ability to manually adjust your ships speed to suit the situation or your preferred play-style made the increased difficulty of the latter levels feel a bit more fair the longer I played.

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Sonic Wings 3/Aero Fighters 3: Having multiple ships to choose from with different play-styles made this series feel like it had a ton of replay value no matter how long I played. The series featured a soundtrack that I enjoyed (the drum & bass from Sonic Wings 3 really stood out for me) and the dialog had an offbeat humor that made it feel unique among other shooters I was playing at the time. The 2nd loop here is absolutely brutal and means that there is always more for me to learn in this game.

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Sengoku Blade/Tengai: In what felt like an expansion on the multiple playable character concept from Sonic Wings/Aero Fighters (which made sense once I learned that Psikyo was comprised of former Sonic Wings 1 devs), this game made each playable character feel even more unique and ensured that there was more for me to learn aside from aiming for the 1cc. This game blew me away with it's music, style and the multiple character endings. The game also featured hilarious dialog and character interactions that appealed to me the same way the Sonic Wings humor did. Levels feel shorter here just like the Sonic Wings series, but the random level order (stages 1-4) and random mid-boss fights helped ensure that I never tired of the stages. This one also features a 2nd loop with bullet speeds and tracking retaliatory shots that will provide much to learn even after you've 1cc'ed the initial game.

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Pulstar: I loved the R-Type games when I was younger and this game felt like a cousin to those games. The "option" in this game felt like a simplified version of the "force" option from the R-Type series, but the lack of being able to freely control the option like in those games made this title feel twice as hard since I couldn't rely on the tactics I was utilizing in the R-Type series. The game featured the same paced scrolling and need for memorizing that I had come to love from R-Type, but also featured enemy patterns and bullet spreads that felt absolutely unforgiving. In R-Type, losing your power ups didn't seem to outright ruin a run like it does in Pulstar. Many prefer Blazing Star to Pulstar, and although I love Blazing Star as well, Pulstar's increased challenge keeps me coming back again and again.

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Zed Blade/Operation Ragnarok: What can I say, I love shooters that feature multiple playable characters and great music lol
 
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oliverclaude

General Morden's Aide
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It's a very cool list, especially because Musha Aleste & Thunder Force IV are not arcade ports, hove no clear arcade roots except being inspired by arcade games. I love it when cozy family home consoles strike back as badass as this!

Anyway, that's interesting & debatable:

Many prefer Blazing Star to Pulstar, and although I love Blazing Star as well, Pulstar's increased challenge keeps me coming back again and again.

Pulstar rules out credit feeding and has more stages, but allows for a more predictable 1 credit clear through its strictly methodical level design. The lack of extends in Blazing Star and the fiercer, less calculable bullet patterns sum up to a higher challenge in my opinion. Pulstar also offers a very handy smart bomb plus invincibility time after ignition... but hey, as I said at the beginning, it's debatable.
 

Mendel

Vanessa's Drinking Buddy
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UN Squadron... Love both the Snes and the arcade versions. For snes it was a technical masterpiece with awesome graphics and musics. Not just a simple arcade port but enhanced with ability to choose the mission and to buy new airplanes. Too bad it is single player only.

Arcade version still has bigger sprites, some unique levels and of course the 2 player co op.
I just love everything about this game. It's perfect.
 

MetalSlugVet

Another Striker
10 Year Member
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Nov 13, 2012
Posts
323
Need to bump off truxton on my list and replace it with twin Hawk (mega drive). I’ve beaten it a few times recently and enjoy the tank/boat/vehicle only enemy gimmick.

I think Toaplan shooters are top notch, I’ve been enjoying fire shark as well..
 

oliverclaude

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Twin Hawk's music from the first level is one of my all time favorites. It has that insatiable/unexpected cruelty.
 

wataru330

Mr. Wrestling IV
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Sep 16, 2003
Posts
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Hori: DownLoad2

Vert: Aero Fighters 2

2good
+2be
____________
4gotten

Fuck what you think. My choices are fueled on music, nostalgia, and GamePro ¡FunFactor! scores...not any sort of shumps.com tier knoitallism.

*honorable mention to
Zed Blade & Phelios sega genesis version.
 
Joined
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Posts
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If I had to put only 3 places I would say:

OutZone - Toaplan - Pcb Jamma
Dodonpachi - CAVE - Pcb Jamma
R-Type 1 - IREM - Pcb Jamma

:glee:
 

city41

Gal Ageise's Demon
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Dec 27, 2010
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DoDonPachi - got a burned copy of it on the Saturn way back in the day and it blew me away. My first exposure to modern shooters. It's just the right level of difficulty, beating the first loop is a nice challenge but it's not insane like newer games.

Espgaluda - love the final boss fight, so epic, every form is fun, and getting in the groove on her final form is so satisfying. Also just really like the premise and style of the game.

Gate of Thunder - such an impressive game on the Turbo and you really can just get in the zone so easily.

R-Type - my favorite slow and methodical shooter. The giant ship on stage ... three? (it's been a while) is so fun

Super R-Type - yeah everyone hates this game. The slow down never bothered me much and the soundtrack is so so good.

Batsugun Special - similar to Gate of Thunder you can just get into the zone on this one for the first loop. Then the second loop on is a nice challenge. The pigs are great.
 

oliverclaude

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Super R-Type - yeah everyone hates this game. The slow down never bothered me much and the soundtrack is so so good.

An amazing soundtrack! Usually the poor quality sfc samples are garbage, but in this case, even the NPG horn section in 5th stage works for me. Second stage offers another highlight. Technical flaws aside, the gameplay still remains its perfection, so in short: definitely an under appreciated game.
 

Zak

WWJCVDD?,
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Rapid Hero - It's epic on every level! Incredible soundtrack too.
 

MrRobotFactory

Kuroko's Training Dummy
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From the top of my head. In no particular order. Just had a fun time with these:

Twinkle Star Sprites - Played this at the arcades constantly back in what was it, 1995-96? Had to have the Dreamcast version. Later on I got the mvs cart for my cab.

Mars Matrix - I felt Capcom perfected the reflect shield concept from the Giga Wing series in Mars Matrix. My shmup co-op buddy and I was having a blast with this on the Dreamcast back in the days. Awesome soundtrack as well.

Gradius V - Absolutely loved this shmup. Got that Treasure flavour to it which made it all better. The music and Visuals were fantastic as well.

RayForce - Another shmup I love and played a ton at the arcades back in the 90's. This and DonPachi was the two first shmups I got for the Saturn.

Raystorm - The very reason and first game I bought for the Playstation. Lost count how many times I 1CC this game.
 

oliverclaude

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RayForce - Another shmup I love and played a ton at the arcades back in the 90's. This and DonPachi was the two first shmups I got for the Saturn.

Raystorm - The very reason and first game I bought for the Playstation. Lost count how many times I 1CC this game.

Try Under Defeat, you'll feel right at home.
 

oliverclaude

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Might have to give it another go one of these days.

I recommend you do, it's one of the best examples of less is more. You don't have to bother with upgrades for your gun, for there aren't any. You don't have to worry about speed, cause it's perfectly fixed. Hell, you don't even have to contemplate on score for survival, since there are no extends. It's just the simple beauty of dodging endless bullet waves, one after another, adding but a drop of Bemani rhythm game mechanic to keep your sidekick timely fed. The tilted perspective reminds me of Viewpoint, so does the easy to grasp, hard to resist gameplay, and the tranquility at the beginning of the last stage? It's so Taito all Darius fans will get goosebumps. Rotate. Die. Repeat.
 

TK86079

Mr. Big's Thug
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Mar 24, 2019
Posts
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1. Last Resort (all Time Favorit)
2. Alpha Mission 2
3. Pulstar
4. Blazing Star
 

xb74

Gai's Trainer
10 Year Member
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Mar 6, 2012
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No order:

Raiden D/X
Gigawing
Mars Matrix
Gunbird 2
R type 1&2
 

Jeneki

Enemy Chaser
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Jan 22, 2013
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The ACA NeoGeo release of Last Resort is really trolly with the last achievement/trophy. You need 400k points, which is well into the second loop unless there's something I don't know about.
 

Kid Panda

The Chinese Kid
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The ACA NeoGeo release of Last Resort is really trolly with the last achievement/trophy. You need 400k points, which is well into the second loop unless there's something I don't know about.

There's not, that trophy is pretty much telling you to 2 loop it.
 
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