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Shmups anyone?

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 9:53 am
by Wrath Oskvro
Anyone here besides myself that's into shmups? If so, what are your favorites, and why do you like them? Why do you like shmups? Feel free to show screenshots too.

To start out, my favorites so far are Lords Of Thunder, Air Zonk (both for Turbografx 16), and the Thunderforce series, which is mostly on the Genesis/Mega Drive. I've played alot of shmups now but none of them stood out to me nearly as much as those did. I didn't grow up with shmups either, I've only started becoming a fan of them maybe 3 years ago. Meaning I don't really care for R-Type or Gradius. I respect them, but..meh. Lords Of Thunder and Air Zonk both I can never put down. Lords Of Thunder had an amazing soundtrack, great graphics for the time, and the gameplay is VERY intense and challenging, though it is possible to beat it. Just takes practice. Also I love the fantasy theme and the huge variety in not only level design, but gameplay elements such as buying upgrades and switching characters/elements. Air Zonk I love just because the art style rocks and..well it also has a very good bit of variety. Awesome weapons too, and you get a little sidekick to shoot alongside you as well. I also want to give a nice honorable mention to Bangai-O. The only one in the series (in my opinion) worth playing is the original, but man is it fun, and very unique. If you like this genre at all, or interested at all, or just want to blow shit up, you owe it to yourself to try it.

So yeah as far as my reasons for liking shmups, it's pretty simple. First of all, to me, it's the closest thing to an arcade experience that you can have at home, especially if you've got yourself an arcade stick like I do. The other one is that I don't always have the most time on my hands, but I still want something fun to play, and shmups are obviously very pick up and play friendly. Third reason is they are damn addictive if you find some you like. Fourth reason is they're always so creative with the gameplay (usually) and definitely the art style.

Another thing I like about shmups are the bullet hell ones. You know the ones that are so difficult and over the top that you'll probably never beat them? Sometimes I like a game that can kick my ass thoroughly just because it's fun to see how long you can last.

Screenshots below.

Thunderforce 6:
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Psyvariar 2:
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Bangai-O:
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Lords Of Thunder (screenshot doesn't do it justice)
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Air Zonk
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For the record, you can find Air Zonk and I think Lords Of Thunder both on the Wii Virtual Console.

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 10:11 am
by mazonemayu
I'm the king of shmup :P
well not really, but I grew up in the arcades of the 80's & early 90's so shmup is prolly my biggest passion in gaming.

I'll play almost any shmup I can get my hands on, but over the years I've gotten to love the complexer stuff like mars matrix (which I played only yesterday),dodonpachi & the touhou stuff, though something like flying shark or twin cobra can still be a challenge at times.

one of my fav shmups (don't ask me why) is saint dragon, it has a special athmosphere to me).

I tend to play a lot of shikigami no shiro 2 as well, I always try to play it through without using a single bullet :biggrin:

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 11:29 am
by Page
Me. Love em! and thanks for a list of new TG16 games to try! I really love bullet hell too, im playing a game called UFO, Unidentified Fantastic Object, made by the same guys that did Perfect Cherry Blossom. Love them both

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 12:12 pm
by INeedFruit
Yup I love my shumps too, i'm looking into getting a hori EX-SE in January which should be a step up from the stick i'm using at the moment, its just to darn loose.

Some of my favourite shumps!

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Ikaruga I think is one of the best, if not the best shump ever made. There was a point at uni when I would wake up, make a coffee and have an hour on it. Best morning routine ever.

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Gradius V
I will always have a soft spot for this beautiful game because it was the first shump I ever tried to play without using a continue, got pretty far but i'm still chasing that one credit run.

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Donpachi I love purely because its the only shump i've played in an actual arcade in Tokyo. Good memories of having a can of coke and a smoke whilst playing this awesome game (the smoking for the record worked against me... believe it or not you do need two hands and your eyes for playing shumps)

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Giga wing!
just becuase its mental. I love the shield system too.

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 1:08 pm
by Kaito-kun
I do like the idea of the shmup, but I've not had much experiance with them. A few Xbox Live trials, a quick go at Touhou multiplayer and, if it counts, periodic obsessions with WarTech: Senko no Ronde.

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 1:12 pm
by IvyRave
I know this may sound stupid but what are Shmups?

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 1:15 pm
by Killer French Bread
I like Gigawing and Psyvariar 2 out of the ones mentioned already. Some other favourites of mine are (and I'm going to join in with the picture linking thing):

Strikers 1945 II
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The scoring system is very basic (you just collect gold when it shines), but the setting and graphics have a cool WWII feel. The bullets are reaally fast and the bosses come at you with three forms, turning into some transformer type thing by the end; it's rock hard and I still haven't beaten it in a credit. Badass game, a great antidote to all this Touhou bollocks people play now.

Zero Gunner 2
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Made by the same company as Strikers, Psikyo. Helicpoters that can spin 360 degrees this time. Starts off easy, but suddenly the bullets start flashing in, and there's no bombs to help you out. Transformer type bosses make a return too. You're quickly exposed if you're crap. No scoring system apart from collecting tokens, which stops it being that little bit better though.

Deathsmiles 2
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I don't normaly like slow Horis. Or this kind of anime thing. But, the scoring system is really fun, you have to collect rings after you power up two seperate meters, you then bait as many suicide bullets onto the screen as you dare before cancelling them. Nice festive Christmas theme too.

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 3:33 pm
by Shadid
IvyRave wrote:I know this may sound stupid but what are Shmups?
Shmups is a short term for Shoot'em ups, which are verical (or in some cases, horizontal) shooters which can be entertaining.

And with that, I actually love shmups too, especially if they are well made. Of course, some of you posted those that I wanted to post, but there is a good example of one:

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Pulstar - I played this on a arcade that was for sale, and damn, it was good. It may seem slow, but it's still entertaining. It's kinda rare, but I'm not sure if it's on the Virtual Console.

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 3:56 pm
by Killer French Bread
Shadid wrote:Shmups is a short term for Shoot'em ups, which are verical (or in some cases, horizontal) space shooters which can be entertaining.
But none of the games I posted are set in space...

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:03 pm
by Shadid
Killer French Bread wrote:But none of the games I posted are set in space...
Fixed. I don't even know why I typed that.