Tips for a 2D shooter novice ?

[Junko]

2D shooters have been a genre that Ive completely over looked during my years of playing games,well other than Galaxian dunno if that counts

What titles can you recommend to a 2D virgin any advise would be greatly appreciated

Cheers Pete

[Tom Salter]

Here's a few for you:

Dreamcast:

Ikaruga (MUST BUY!!)
Mars Matrix

Ikaruga is very hard at first, but it's almost perfect in the way the more you play, you can actually sense yourself improving. Some call it a glorified memory test though. Soon to be Psyvariar 2 as well.

Playstation2:

Psyvariar (MUST BUY!!)
Dodonpachi DaiOuJou
Shikigami no Shiro

Psyvariar is insanely fun. Dodonpachi is really hard, but damn satisfying.

Xbox:

Not a lot on here except Shiki.

GameCube:

Shikigami no Shiro 2
Ikaruga

Take your pick of any of them, you can't really go wrong

[Junko]

Cheers for that Boogaloo

[Geoff D]

I think all of the titles Boog suggested have been reviewed on this site, so check out those for further details - they're all fab in their own way

[Tom Salter]

Is it me though, or are the older games like 1945 and Shienryu (recently re-released on PS2) ****ing ****e?

Retro shooters that are good:

Radiant Silvergun
Super Aleste
R-Type (any really, although some say Leo was ****e)
Sexy Parodius (MUST BUY!! Funniest game ever!!)

I found Layer Section completely crap though

[XE-1]

A pc engine with galaga 88 is a beautiful thing.

For nice simple shooters I would start on the pc engine, megadrive and snes, there are some great shooters on those...I'm sure there are threads listing those shooters.

After that period, I thought shooters in general got a too bit manic with bullet filled screens.
I still buy them even though I cant complete most of them on one credit.

Out of the recent releases, I found these 2 enjoyable:

Cubic Star soldier on GC/PS2 is nice.
Not too hard and it's an enjoyable game while it lasts.

Ikaruga is amazing too, training the brain to interpret the different coloured bullets can take some time tho.

[Geezer]

Battle Garegga Saturn/Arcade
Guwange Arcade only (or be cheeky and play it on an emu)
Donpachi Saturn/PS1/Arcade
Dodonpachi Saturn/PS1/Arcade
Mars Matrix DC/Arcade
Giga Wing DC/Arcade


If you want to play a wide range of shmups the Saturn is your best bet I'd say, over 50 shmups

[charlesr]

DC: Zero Gunner 2, Border Down
C64: Armalyte
PC: Mame + DC arcade stick + joybox (to let you use DC stuff on PC)

[Chaser]

Megadrive: Biohazard

Snes: Axelay

PS1: Einhander


Look out for Parodius games, they are really mad and enjoyable.


All the above games are not hardcore shooters. They are just excellent experiences and are relatively easy, compared to stuff like Ikaruga.

[Greng]

Bern D has a superb article which more or less covers all theory of shooting games over at http://shmups.com/beepreying/

In particular, be sure to read this article...

http://www.shmups.com/beepreying/old/stgtools.txt

Be sure to try out a good variety of titles and appreciate that some titles take a good while to get to grips with and can seem uninspiring untill you begin to understand the structure of the game. Whatever games you start off with, give them a good amount of time, and play aggressively. Challenging your performance and scores is the most enjoyable part of shooting games.

[darkangel]

PS2: Psyvariar revison, Buzz mode is fantastic, just ask saur
DC: Psyvariar 2: The will to Fabricate, out on 26th feb I think.

Also if you consider getting a 3D shooter get REZ for DC.

P.S Download warning forever for P.C a great shump JP Homebrew game. Just search for it on google.

Hope that helps.

[Junko]

Yep I already got Rez on DC , one of my all time favorite games

Will check out those links , thanks everyone

[Chaser]

PS2: Psyvariar revison, Buzz mode is fantastic, just ask saur
DC: Psyvariar 2: The will to Fabricate, out on 26th feb I think.

Also if you consider getting a 3D shooter get REZ for DC.

P.S Download warning forever for P.C a great shump JP Homebrew game. Just search for it on google.

Hope that helps.

Wow! I just got ' Warning Forever ' and its a cool experience. I like ther style and the sound effects are real old skool arcade.

Cheers for the heads-up.

[Valken]

Super Aleste on the Super Famicom
Star Soldier on the GC

Simple shooters but prob the most enjoyable I've played

Battle Garegga and Layer Section on the Saturn

My all time favourites

[Junko]

Today I went and purchased my first ever shooter , Psyvariar , for a tenner in Game . I think that Im liking shoot em ups alot

Need more MWHAHAHA evil greedy must buy more games laugh

Thanks Chaps