Your 10 Favorite Shooters / Shmups

[mjmjr25]

A dedicated thread for your favorite shooters.

My list changes with some frequency and that's a good thing. A lot of my favorite games were not well liked but as I explored them and sometimes gave them a 2nd deep-dive I appreciated them more. My hope with this thread is to see others who list games that I don't list and might encourage me to try those games again, or for the first time.

My top 10:

1. Deathsmiles - love the art and music, bonus points because I can ALL it.
2. Pro Gear - the first shmup I got good at and really understood. Another masterpiece.
3. Jamestown - I got introduced to this on STEAM, which is not my cup of tea, but another game with incredible music and a neat take on scoring, and stages. The various difficulties and looping give this game incredible replay. I'm highly ranked on a few stages which also helps my competitive streak.
4. Gunbird 2 - a game I rarely improve at, constantly curse at, but everytime I did in I find something new to enjoy.
5. Dimahoo - flawless game and really like the item collection
6. Mushihimesama Futari - my 2nd ALL of a modern-ish SHMUP, gorgeous art and fun enemies
7. Dragon Blaze - the dragon launch makes this game so unique and fun for both scoring and skill play
8. DDP Daifukkatsu - timing the hyper is so important, so much room for intense scoring
9. Mars Matrix - love the mechanic in this one, and another with killer music
10. EspGaluda II - OG and RaDe are both close, but this is my fav in the series

What are yours...and why?

 

[wataru330]

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

Top 5 Hi all, looking for some imput as to what *your* top 5 STGs might be. This isn't an argument thread: just what do you like, and why. It could even be top 5 hori & top 5 vert, if you like shooting as much as I do lol. What I hope this thread does is generate a great batch of 'best ofs'...

www.neo-geo.com

 

[@M]

Not in any kind of ranking order:

R-Type
Darius Gaiden
Phelios
Bio Hazard Battle
Nemesis
Space Megaforce
Elemental Master
Axelay
Gaiares
Lightening Force

Honorable mentions (some people don't consider these shmups because of the behind view):

Starfox
Space Harrier

 

[max 330 mega]

Naming 10 waters down the list.
1. Lords of thunder
2. Strikers 1945 II
3. Air zonk
4. Spriggan
5. Mushihemasama

 

[wataru330]

I *love* the Air Zonk HuCard. There seems something off to me about the CD version; it just doesn’t hit me the same way.
@max 330 mega which one makes your list?

 

[wyo]

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

Top 5 Hi all, looking for some imput as to what *your* top 5 STGs might be. This isn't an argument thread: just what do you like, and why. It could even be top 5 hori & top 5 vert, if you like shooting as much as I do lol. What I hope this thread does is generate a great batch of 'best ofs'...

www.neo-geo.com

Some good responses in this thread. The "why" is far more interesting than the "what".

 

[max 330 mega]

I *love* the Air Zonk HuCard. There seems something off to me about the CD version; it just doesn’t hit me the same way.
@max 330 mega which one makes your list?

Definitely the Hucard. Something is very wonky with the CD version.

 

[herb]

Salamander
Aero Fighters 2
Radiant Silvergun
Darius Gaiden
Espgaluda
Border Down
Deaths miles
Pro Gear
Aero Blasters
Deathsmiles

 

[city41]

I *love* the Air Zonk HuCard. There seems something off to me about the CD version

The CD version doesn't even have parallax, just a ho-hum game all in all.

For me...

DDP DOJ - After beating it I fire it right up again for another round. It's so intense and so hard, but still doable. When really working on a shooter, typically the first two stages get tiresome, but not with DOJ.

Espgaluda - Just the most epic (and fun) final boss fight I've ever seen.

Batsugun - I really enjoy perkin' piggies

R-Type - like DOJ can just play this endlessly. There's just something about it, because Pulstar isn't nearly as fun (but hey, I still like it)

Mushi Futari - The only shooter I've ever seen that really focuses on fast bullets and does it really well. Like DOJ it's intense but doable.

 

[ggallegos1]

No particular order, and always change with these awesome SOTM threads:

Darius Garden
Dodonpachi
Raiden Fighters Jet
Aero Fighters 2
Blazing Star
Ikaruga
Radiant Silvergun
Galactic Attack
Gunbird 2
Akai Katana

 

[kernow]

Unsure if I can do 10

Ibara
Ketsui
Espgaluda II
Batrider
Maybe galuda 1

All on pcbs obvs

 

[terry.330]

Pork- Fav Cave game and fav Yagawa game
Progear
Batrider
DOJ/BL
Deathsmiles/MBL
ESPrade- This one is tied with Garuda, which is the better game but I enjoy the setting and characters in Rade more
Ketsui
Thunder force III, IV and V- V may not look good but it updated the gameplay and retained the TF feel very well
Layer Section- This is one I can just play for casual fun and take in the music and art
Soukyugurentai- Same as above

 

[mjmjr25]

Unsure if I can do 10

Ibara
Ketsui
Espgaluda II
Batrider
Maybe galuda 1

All on pcbs obvs

I enjoy all of these save Ibara. I am so bad at this one and could not improve. Never saw stage 4.

 

[kernow]

I could get to the end of stage 5
It's brutal, and superb

Stage 3 is probably the easiest stage
That's really not saying much though tbh

 

[opt2not]

UN Squadron/Area 88 (SNES)
- huge improvement over the Arcade version. Love the “choose your path” level selection, the upgrade store, the music, and the de-coupling of pilots and planes.

R-type
- classic. This game still holds up. Not many games can still maintain my repeated play, but this one has.

Raiden DX
- I’m trash at this game. Couldn’t decide if 2 or DX should be on my list, but DX has the extra play modes and more secrets. The intro takeoff sequence and the medal gameplay was great (and frustrating).

Einhänder
- this game fucks. Cinematic shoot-‘em-up. Presentation is through the roof. Gameplay is very cool with the weapon pickups and switching. Square-Enix needs to remaster this game.

Gradius Gaiden
- best version of gradius IMO. Great art and music. Classic gradius play but your choice of 4 different ships.

Dragon Blaze
- hard and beautiful. Probably Psikyo’s prettiest game. Gameplay is punishing but cool with being able to detach from your dragon.

1943: Kai
- this updated version of 1943 has a much better weapon system, gameplay is frantic, I like the fact if you fail to kill the boss the game makes you replay that level. No cheesing your way through by timing out.

Gyruss
- fucking classic tube shooter. Galaga meets Tempest. Music is great and classical. Each wave gives that feeling of getting closer to earth, and holds complex patterns in enemy spawns.

X-Multiply
- Irem’s answer to Lifeforce/salamander. Alien art, creepy looking enemies and levels. Very neat play on Rtype pods but instead you have arms that dangle and move a certain way you handle your ship.

Under Defeat
- excellent heli-shmup. The rotation mechanic is cool, being able to rotate and lock your orientation. The pods are cool and add a lot of strategic situational gameplay. Love the music and the presentation.

 

[sirlynxalot]

I've played them all so much I'm not sure if I get any fun out of them anymore, but here are the ones that feel like alltime classic status for me.

DDPDOJ (perfect game)
Ketsui (closest thing to DDPDOJ that's not DDPDOJ)
Mars Matrix dreamcast version (I have more fun with separate buttons for rapid fire and power shot amd you can actually hear the music)
Zero Gunner 2 (its something different for the shmup formula, and its fun)
Wing Force (was surprised to find this one, it ticks a lot of boxes for me and does the whole Raiden thing better than Raiden 1)
Raiden Fighters Jet (I like the fast pace and the ship designs)

Honorable mention to Garegga, Batsugun, everything else CAVE made, and all those 3D Naomi shmups like Ikaruga, Psyvariar, Under Defeat, Chaos Field, Karous, etc. When they were new I thought those Naomi shmups were pretty great, but they aren't what I like to play anymore.

 

[kernow]

DOJ is not perfect, why do you think BL came out so quickly? People complained about a lot of stuff with that game

 

[Tarma]

In no particular order:

Battle Bakraid
Zero Gunner 2
Harmful Park
Star Parodier
Thunder Force IV
Gate of Thunder
Gleylancer
Flying Shark
Fire Shark
Twin Cobra

 

[city41]

Gate of thunder is just so chill. Great game.

 

[joeX]

A dedicated thread for your favorite shooters.

My list changes with some frequency and that's a good thing. A lot of my favorite games were not well liked but as I explored them and sometimes gave them a 2nd deep-dive I appreciated them more. My hope with this thread is to see others who list games that I don't list and might encourage me to try those games again, or for the first time.

My top 10:

1. Deathsmiles - love the art and music, bonus points because I can ALL it.
2. Pro Gear - the first shmup I got good at and really understood. Another masterpiece.
3. Jamestown - I got introduced to this on STEAM, which is not my cup of tea, but another game with incredible music and a neat take on scoring, and stages. The various difficulties and looping give this game incredible replay. I'm highly ranked on a few stages which also helps my competitive streak.
4. Gunbird 2 - a game I rarely improve at, constantly curse at, but everytime I did in I find something new to enjoy.
5. Dimahoo - flawless game and really like the item collection
6. Mushihimesama Futari - my 2nd ALL of a modern-ish SHMUP, gorgeous art and fun enemies
7. Dragon Blaze - the dragon launch makes this game so unique and fun for both scoring and skill play
8. DDP Daifukkatsu - timing the hyper is so important, so much room for intense scoring
9. Mars Matrix - love the mechanic in this one, and another with killer music
10. EspGaluda II - OG and RaDe are both close, but this is my fav in the series

What are yours...and why?

Terra Cresta
Raiden
Aero Fighters 2, 3
Raptor- Call of the Shadows (PC)- some strategy involved, with buying powerups.
Alpha Mission II

 

[Tarma]

Terra Cresta
Raiden
Aero Fighters 2, 3
Raptor- Call of the Shadows (PC)- some strategy involved, with buying powerups.
Alpha Mission II

What a fucking awful selection of games from the genre. You're either not particularly schooled in shmups or they're just not your thing.

BTW, you did know that shmups are games where you shoot things... usually with a little space ship or helicopter, right?

 

[joeX]

What a fucking awful selection of games from the genre. You're either not particularly schooled in shmups or they're just not your thing.

BTW, you did know that shmups are games where you shoot things... usually with a little space ship or helicopter, right?

I was just doing a list of games that were fun to play. Not necessarily the best shooter ever made. The OP said list your favourites.

 

[Lach]

1. Ketsui
2. DoDonpachi
3. Batsugun
4. ESP Ra.De.
5. Batrider

I'm shit at all of them but the music, stages, action keeps pulling me back to them no matter the frustration. I only really got into shooters like a year or so ago and primarily due to the SOTM threads, as a result I have realised I don't give a fuck about fighters anymore.

I think I might have to tate my vewlix permanently.

 

[wyo]

If you just post games without reasons I am going to assume ur gay

 

[wataru330]

Here go my top 10…

Tate:
•SDF Macross, Macross +, Thunder Dragon 2-because NMK

•SkyShark-because my 1st love of golden era/pizza shop/middle school memories

•Gyruss-because it is the first one that really ‘bit’ me…even more so than Space Invaders, and all these years later it gives me a rush

•Mushihimesama Futari BL-brought me back to the genre after a long layoff. I cared fuck all about ‘modern gaming’ in 2009. This game is why I bought a 360.

Vertazontal:
•Aero Fighters 2-my love for RoboKeaton knows no bounds. The most played neo game w/ friends and my kids

•Flying Hero-sublime control, this game is 100x better than it has any right to be. My favorite SNES jam

Yoko:
•DownLoad2-because FUCK Hitler, and T’s music is the greatest
•Macross (Saturn)- the chemtrail missle symphony launched via trigger buttons is one of the biggest stokes in gaming. Cut scenes and fan service are tip top.