Top 5 shooters (or 10...5 of each OK)

[Some Mist]

1. GAREGGA
2. FUTARI
3. IKARUGA
4. APB
5. KETSUI

this except replace ikaruga with progear and place it at the top. I also want to throw dimahoo, muchi muchi pork, and ibara in there

 

[T. J.ｴs shanty]

for me its mostly Cave and Raizing games too, the list of my favorites is changing constantly though. Right now its:

1. Ketsui
2. Dodonpachi DOJ
3. Battle Garegga
4. Armed Police Batrider
5. Progear

 

[mjmjr25]

1. Deathsmiles - zero real difficulty until the final stage (or the bonus stage), but such a unique audio-visual experience.
2. Pro Gear - gorgeous sprite work, wonderful majestic bosses, the vertizontal stages, enough difficulty but not impossible, enough scoring to scratch the itch but not overly complicated.
3. Under Defeat - unique control options, strategic weapon powerups, strategic use of options, big bosses, just different than everything else out there, but still feels like a legit / difficult shmup.
4. DDP DFK 1.5 - so fun going in hyper, timing is critical, stages 3-5 give such an elation when chained start to finish. Brilliant game.
5. Dragon Blaze - tough to choose between this and Dimahoo, both are quite unique and brilliant in their own right. I really enjoy the dragon launch tactic and the technical finishes so giving the edge to Dragon Blaze. Dimahoo's item collection is one of the coolest things in any shmup, it's def. 5B.

 

[dspoonrt]

Vertical:

Raiden
Strikers 1945 Plus (barely over 1945 II)
Batsugun
Ikaruga
Zero Gunner 2

Honorable mentions: Under Defeat, Galaga '88/'90, Gunbird 2, Truxton, Blazing Lazers

Horizontal:

Blazing Star
R-Type Leo
Fantasy Zone II
R-Type
Darius Gaiden

Honorable mentions: Cotton Boomerang, Sexy Parodius, Gaiares

 

[mr.2jz]

A few Vertical top faves:

Raiden Series
Twin Cobra
Radiant Silvergun
Ikaruga
Spriggan


A few Horizontal top faves:

Thunder Force III
R-Type
Gradius III
Darius Series
Area 88/UN Squadron


There's just sooo many that 5 in each is really tough.

 

[Atro]

PSII does things that just don't seem possible on Master System. The game really is the Recca of the Master System. The fit/finish of the game is incredible for an 8-bit cart...*highly* recommended!

Am I the only one who thinks Power Strike > Power Strike II ?
I have PSII, however, I never found it near as appealing the first one.

As for Master System shmups, you can't really touch on R-Type.
Bomber Raid's cool too.

I will not state a particular order, but the shooters I kinda like a lot are

Layer Section
Raiga Strato Fighter
Thunder Force IV
Axelay
Last Resort
Strikers 1945 Plus
Blazing Star
Final Soldier
In the Hunt
R-Type 2

 

[Zapperkhan]

Sky Shark - NES - First shooter, yeah its got shit graphics compared to the arcade but better Tim Follin music.
Strikers 1945+ - Neo-Geo - Picked this up last year and have had a blast. Still can't get past stage 3 on 1 credit but love the flavors of ships and readability of the bullets.
Guwange - MAME - Love the theme, music and death animations. Is a refreshing departure from shooty bang bang flying ships.
R-Type Leo - Arcade - Had a chance to play this at this past Magfest and really liked it a lot. Enjoyed the smoother difficulty curve after dieing instead of the difficulty wall you have in more traditional R-Types.
Battle Garegga - One of my favorite superplays to watch, awesome music/sfx, beautiful graphics. Love and hate all the little pieces of debris.

 

[alec]

1. Dylan
2. Dylan
3. Dylan
4. Dylan
5. Dylan

 

[Tyranix95]

This is hard only 'cause there are so many good games to choose from.

1. Mars Matrix
2. Dimahoo
3. Progear

Cause Q-Sound is so yummy and these games are just wild and tons of fun.

4. Any SPI Raiden Fighters or Viper Phase 1 board, and
5. Any Strikers 1945 or Dragon Blaze board.

But mostly RF:OHD and VP1:USA, and S1945 III and DB. The SPI boards have wicked sound, and medal-chaining and tech-bonusing is lots of fun too.

 

[ShootTheCore]

My top 5 - although it was awfully hard to whittle it down to just 5. Composing this post made me realize that music is a huge factor in how much I enjoy a schmup.

5) Thunder Force 3: fun gameplay, excellent level variety, moody music-on the Genesis no less!

4) Soul Star: the controls can be a bit floaty, but the developers at Core Design did an amazing job matching the music in the game to the action. Probably my favorite music in any schmup.

3) Starfox: The original wireframe SNES game, not the 64. Good level and gameplay variety, and again fantastic music. A Retron 5 makes this game look pretty decent on an HDTV.

2) Radiant Silvergun: full access to all your weapons from the start, huge variety in bosses and their patterns. Cool leveling up system for the weapons.

1) Gradius V: my favorite shooter bar none. Gorgeous graphical design, fantastic music, and again a ton of variety in the levels, bosses, weapons, and patterns. Try running it in HD on a PC PS2 emulator-you'll be amazed at how good a PS2 game can look.

Honorable mentions: Darius Gaiden, RayStorm and Axelay.

 

[andsuchisdeath]

My top 5 - although it was awfully hard to whittle it down to just 5. Composing this post made me realize that music is a huge factor in how much I enjoy a schmup.

5) Thunder Force 3: fun gameplay, excellent level variety, moody music-on the Genesis no less!

4) Soul Star: the controls can be a bit floaty, but the developers at Core Design did an amazing job matching the music in the game to the action. Probably my favorite music in any schmup.

3) Starfox: The original wireframe SNES game, not the 64. Good level and gameplay variety, and again fantastic music. A Retron 5 makes this game look pretty decent on an HDTV.

2) Radiant Silvergun: full access to all your weapons from the start, huge variety in bosses and their patterns. Cool leveling up system for the weapons.

1) Gradius V: my favorite shooter bar none. Gorgeous graphical design, fantastic music, and again a ton of variety in the levels, bosses, weapons, and patterns. Try running it in HD on a PC PS2 emulator-you'll be amazed at how good a PS2 game can look.

Honorable mentions: Darius Gaiden, RayStorm and Axelay.

So, two of the five are rail shooters (thanks for clearing it up that it wasn't starfox64. I get them so confused!)

What is schmup?

 

[FilthyRear]

1. Dylan
2. Dylan
3. Dylan
4. Dylan
5. Dylan

I SPIT HOT FIRE



In no order:

Thunder Force III
Raiden series
Viper Phase I
Ikaruga
Rapid Hero
Truxton/Tatsujin

 

[ShootTheCore]

So, two of the five are rail shooters (thanks for clearing it up that it wasn't starfox64. I get them so confused!)

What is schmup?

Schmup is my awful slang for shoot-em-up. I picked it up from the Internet somewhere ... Like herpes.

Most people assume first-person-shooter these days when you call a game a "shooter". Uncultured peasants.

And wireframe SNES StarFox is so much better than StarFox 64. <soapbox>They remade the wrong one on 3DS I tell you. THEY REMADE THE WRONG ONE!</soapbox>

 

[mjmjr25]

Schmup is my awful slang for shoot-em-up. I picked it up from the Internet somewhere

I don't think you did.

 

[SNKorSWM]

1. Dolan
2. Dolan
3. Dolan
4. Dolan
5. Dolan

 

[kraquepype]

I SPIT HOT FIRE



In no order:

Thunder Force III
Raiden series
Viper Phase I
Ikaruga
Rapid Hero
Truxton/Tatsujin

 

[ebinsugewa]

 

[andsuchisdeath]

Schmup is my awful slang for shoot-em-up. I picked it up from the Internet somewhere ... Like herpes.

Most people assume first-person-shooter these days when you call a game a "shooter". Uncultured peasants.

And wireframe SNES StarFox is so much better than StarFox 64. <soapbox>They remade the wrong one on 3DS I tell you. THEY REMADE THE WRONG ONE!</soapbox>

Ughh

 

[famicommander]

Just a general top ten, all SHMUP subgenres:
Radiant Silvergun (vertical)
Galaga (fixed position)
Star Fox 64 (rail shooter)
Tempest 2000 (rail shooter)
Geometry Wars: Galaxies (multidirectional)
Metal Slug (run and gun)
Judgement Silversword (bullet hell)
GORF (fixed position)
DoDonPachi (bullet hell)
Raiden (vertical)

If you asked me next week you might get 4-6 different games entirely, though.

 

[andsuchisdeath]

^

Sorry, but only like 5 of those count.

Not that I have high expectations from you, but I didn't think you'd take cues from that ignoramus that wrote post #88.

 

[wataru330]

What's up w/ people forgeting that RIF? Peep the OP. Don't like the rules of the thread? Maaaaaaaake yooooooooor owwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

 

[WoodyXP]

Here's my five.

1. Life Force (NES) - My favorite version of the game. Great level design, bosses, music, art, etc.

2. 1943 (NES) - Great port of the arcade game. The attribute system was a nice touch and is what put this port over for me.

3. Sexy Parodius (Arc/SAT) - I love parody games, this is my favorite from the Konami line-up.

4. Star Parodier (PCE) - Another parody game, this time mocking the Hudson games. A nice, relaxing shooter.

5. Image Fight II (PCE) - I enjoyed the original, but it was too damn hard. This lets up on the difficulty a bit and is a lot more enjoyable.

Honorable Mention: Border Down (DC) - I love the Border System. Can't play the same game twice.

 

[Takumaji]

Five of each category (vert/hori), in no special order:

- Vertical -

Strikers 1945 II (one of my all-time faves, almost perfect mecha-style shmup)

Ibara (excellent (though a bit mean) scoring system and weaponry)

ASO II (once you've mastered the armor system, the game really opens up)

Psyvariar 2 (love the buzzing/spinning thing)

Slap Fight (I have a soft spot for this game ever since I first played it at the arcade in the 80s)


- Horizontal -

Thunder Force V: Perfect System (wonderful game, great visuals, cool weapons, tricky enemies and very good soundtrack)

R-Type Final (one of my hori obsessions together with Border Down, heavily underrated, tons and tons of gameplay)

Border Down (cool, stylish, gets very difficult in later levels, the border system works great, aaah, how I love it. Addictive scoring system)

Deathsmiles (just loads of fun, good graphics and presentation)

...and a tie between the original Salamander and Gradius Gaiden.

Honorable mentions go to... uhm, a shit ton of other great hori and vert shmups (too many to mention).

 

[Tw3ek]

Top 5 for tate/yoko in no particular order:

Tate
1. Tatsujin Oh (FMT/ARC)
2. Batsugun (ARC/SAT)
3. Raiden Densetsu (FMT)
4. Armed Police Batrider (ARC)
5. Dogyuun (ARC)

Yoko
1. R-Type (PCE/X68000/ARC)
2. Deathsmiles (X360/ARC)
3. Gradius II (PCE/X68000/ARC)
4. Cotton (PCE/X68000/ARC)
5. Thunder Force 4 (MD)

 

[MattBlah]

My top 5 would change, but trying to think of my most played/enjoyed in the last few years I'd have to go with:

Batsugun
Blazing Star
Dodonpachi
Sexy Parodius
Giga Wing 2/Gunbird 2 (I can't decide which of these two to put on my list so I've cheated and put them both).