The shmup thread

[Family Fry]

I have fallen away from the genre a bit I must admit, I remember hitting the zone with Ikaruga on DC with my arcade stick, seriously enjoyed that to the max and got really good at it. Think it's because I don't own JPN 360 and they all seem to be on that platform.
First experience of shmup was more than likely R-type in the arcades and that sparked an interest in all things horizontal.
I was always more of a horizontal fan than vertical, had more memories with the horizontals so I always bought/played them.
Gradius on NES. Gradius III, R-Type 3, Parodius, UN Squadron on SNES. MD Gynoug, Hellfire (one of the first games I imported) Darius II, Gaiares, Thunderforce series (V on saturn was fantastic) Project-X, Blood Money, Menace and more on Amiga too. Einhander PS1.
Naming these games is now making me sad, so I will stop myself. All the memories have come flooding back and now I want to play them again

[dvdx2]

i have been playing shooters since my arcade days in 1982; time pilot/84, nemisis (which i 1cc'ed), afterburner etc etc etc great memories#

Still give the ps1/ps2 a bashing with all the jpn favourites!

[ShadowDancer]

Can claim to have bought Gradius on the Nes in the day and beating it on one ship/man

I first connected with the shmup genre when life force/salamander was shown in a early issue of Club Nintendo.

Sadly, I don't own a Jpn 360 also, and my skillz ain't nowhere near as good.
Intrepid as a kid, this emotion/feeling has gone!

[Gradius]

Fair to say Gradius/Nemesis is a pretty important part of my history. I played it in the arcades on release in 1985 and have played it since.

Having loads of the pcb's is a childhood dream come true for me.



This is my desert island game

[dvdx2]

Fair to say Gradius/Nemesis is a pretty important part of my history. I played it in the arcades on release in 1985 and have played it since.

Having loads of the pcb's is a childhood dream come true for me.



This is my desert island game

thought you would be a bit biased, with aforum name like that!

[kernow]

Borrowing a deathsmiles PCB at the minute, played it at a few shows but its nice to have time to get into it properly.

[Vince]

I love the genre and have since I was a boy standing on an upturned milk crate playing arcades like Galaga.I'm not very good at them, mainly due to lack of time practicing, but they give me immense pleasure, there is something about the aesthetics of Shmups that really gets me.

I'm more of an old school fan though, I prefer Toaplan and Raizing games to Cave, but I also love all things Gradius. Currently I'm playing Gun Frontier as I picked up the PCB recently and its good fun. One of the best gaming decisions I ever made was to get a cabinet. For me it makes the games a lot more enjoyable, plus it has a feeling of nostalgia and I enjoy the authenticity of it.

[Spooky Mulder]

For me personally, there were two purple patches for shooters...the early 80's, when Williams hit their stride with Robotron 2084, Defender, Stargate, and Sinistar. Seeing a master Defender player at work was almost hypnotic, and the skill involved with the need to master multiple buttons and a stick was amazing...Plus games from other manufacturers, such as Phoenix, Galaga, Centipede and Space Firebird lit up the local arcades!

Then there was the mid to late 80's when great games like Gradius, Salamander, Side Arms, and R-Type hit these shores...just simply sublime

[eastyy]

has anyone played senko no ronde duo ? i quite liked the first game but still unsure if to get the sequel i would like to know whats new

[Kubrick]

Yes, I've played it and for my money its better than the original.

[chopemon]

I have just been reminded how fantastic the music in Raiden is.

[monel]

I miss shootemups, I would love to get into some of the modern ones, but I don't have a j360 and I don't really like bullet hell. I did play Guwange once and liked it though, also Deathsmiles looks amazing. Would anyone recommend it considering my aversion to bullet hell shooters?

[Kubrick]

DeathSmiles is awesome. I'm really looking forward to playing it all over again with the PAL version even though I've already got the JP and US editions.

Given that it's only ?18 or whatever, you should give it a shot. It's definitely more approachable than Cave's vertical-scrollers.

[monel]

Ok, I probably will pick it up.

I always preferred hori shootemups for some reason, anyway.

Deathsmiles looks sooo nice, what little I've seen of it, but the bullet hell thing makes me cautious.

It's the sensory overload I can't handle, and scooping up all the bullets in certain games.

[charlesr]

Deathmsiles isn't bullet hell (much). And is not that hard in comparison to most (on level 1 difficulty).