Retro Arena: Cute 'em ups

[Leon Retro]

Fantasy Zone - 1985

Parodius - 1990

Air Zonk - 1992

Pop'n Twinbee - 1993

Keio Flying Squadron - 1993

Twinkle Star Sprites - 1996

Here we have six classic cute 'em ups. Which one is your favourite?

[DeathAdder]

Parodius first, the rest nowhere for me, although I haven't played Air Zonk.

Love the Parodius series, apart from the sluggish first one. My favorite is Gokujou Parodius, with Sexy Parodius second. The PSP compilation is essential.

[importaku]

Ooh a toughy, pc denjin easily rivals parodius. I'd say parodius for me with denjin a very close second.

[Leon Retro]

Parodius first, the rest nowhere for me, although I haven't played Air Zonk.

It's a close call between Parodius and Air Zonk for me. I will choose Parodius because I have great memories of buying the Super Famicom version and loving it.

Love the Parodius series, apart from the sluggish first one. My favorite is Gokujou Parodius, with Sexy Parodius second. The PSP compilation is essential.

Yeah, a must-have for PSP owners who love shoot 'em ups. I wish it had also been released for the PS2. It would be great if Konami released a Parodius compilation for the PS4.

Ooh a toughy, pc denjin easily rivals parodius. I'd say parodius for me with denjin a very close second.

Yeah, Air Zonk/PC Denjin easily rivals Parodius. Probably my favourite PCE game.

[QualityChimp]

I've only really played Parodius (I have the SNES JP cart somewhere!), but I like it.
I'll fire up the others tonight if I have them in my Coinops collection.

[wakka]

I haven't played all of them, but I'd say my favourite is honestly Twinkle Star Sprites. Such an original idea and such a fun game, especially in 2 player. Pentel is a beast.

[J0e Musashi]

Twinkle Star Sprites for me, though it doesn't really belong here.

[DeathAdder]

Anyone played Paro Wars, the Parodius-based turn strategy game?

[Leon Retro]

Twinkle Star Sprites for me, though it doesn't really belong here.

It's a hybrid sort of game, but I'd say it qualifies as a 'cute 'em up'.

[J0e Musashi]

It's a hybrid sort of game, but I'd say it qualifies as a 'cute 'em up'.

I suppose so, but it plays vastly different to the five other titles. I'd have chosen a Cotton title over TSS personally. For continuity.

[Leon Retro]

I suppose so, but it plays vastly different to the five other titles. I'd have chosen a Cotton title over TSS personally. For continuity.

I'm not a big fan of the Cotton series, so I wouldn't know which one to choose. I was going to include Star Parodier, but decided against it, as it's quite an obscure game that doesn't get mentioned much. Twinkle Star Sprites at least gets mentioned quite often, so lots of people are fond of it.

But if someone wants to say a Cotton game, or maybe Star Parodier is more their cup of tea, that's fine. I just make these threads for a bit of fun and to create interesting debate.

[_SD_]

Cute ‘em ups are by far my favourite sub-genre

Out of all those Pop n’ Twinbee is obviously the best choice ... and as fantastically cute as Twinkle Star Sprites is, I’d have probably gone for Harmful Park instead. Star Parodier and Magical Chase are pretty awesome too.

[Nico87]

Not listed, but I think my favorite is Star Parodier. The only cute-‘em-ups I currently own are Parodius Da! (GB) and Magical Chase (GBC).

[Leon Retro]

Cute ‘em ups are by far my favourite sub-genre

Mine too. There's something about cute shoot 'em ups that puts a smile on my face.

I’d have probably gone for Harmful Park instead. Star Parodier and Magical Chase are pretty awesome too.

I could easily create another cute 'em up thread.

I've featured Harmful Park before, so decided against it. Star Parodier is great, so I was going to include it. I forget about the excellent Magical Chase. Thanks for reminding me.

[Solar]

I sunk so many hours into Fantasy Zone when I was a kid, it was one of the games that really made the SMS stand out above the NES (for me at least).
I'm sorry to say I've never played any of the others on that list.