2D shmups - What would you like to see?

[CMcK]

Even though I do enjoy bullet hell shooters I would like to see a return to the era of games like Batsugun and Raiden Fighters. Plenty of bullets on screen and a slightly larger hit box. Also keep the scoring hooks but nothing overly complicated. I do like the Psyvariar style "buzz" which offers a good risk / reward mechanic.
Of course any modern shooter should have awesome high resolution 2d art and FM music.

[eastyy]

psyvariar 3

Got to say i used to enjoy shooters for just blowing stuff up but now it needs to have a really good hook (like psyvariar and gigawing did )

[briareos_kerensky]

I'm with Ikobo on wanting something like R-Type. I prefer "calm" shoothers like R-Type or Gradius V to bullet hells, and I care little about the scoring system unless I really enjoy the game: if I continue to play a shooter is usually to try to 1cc it (something I'm completely hopeless at) but never really aim to fully use scoring mechanics.
Something I don't really care about shoot'em'ups is the story or character backgrounds, I skip them entirely. But if the shooting patterns aren't shown on the selection screen, or all available patterns look like spreaders, I go for the coolest looking character, being it an aircraft or character; and in a mixed group of characters, I normally go for the girls.
I tend to get annoyed by squeaky voices in other games, but I don't seem to mind in shooters, probably because interactions are kept at a minimum and you don't have time the develop an opinion on available characters, but only on the way they move and shoot.

[Kieran76]

I'm with Ikobo on wanting something like R-Type. I prefer "calm" shoothers like R-Type or Gradius V to bullet hells, and I care little about the scoring system unless I really enjoy the game: if I continue to play a shooter is usually to try to 1cc it (something I'm completely hopeless at) but never really aim to fully use scoring mechanics.
Something I don't really care about shoot'em'ups is the story or character backgrounds, I skip them entirely. But if the shooting patterns aren't shown on the selection screen, or all available patterns look like spreaders, I go for the coolest looking character, being it an aircraft or character; and in a mixed group of characters, I normally go for the girls.
I tend to get annoyed by squeaky voices in other games, but I don't seem to mind in shooters, probably because interactions are kept at a minimum and you don't have time the develop an opinion on available characters, but only on the way they move and shoot.

This pretty much sums up what I want in a shooter. When I was younger games like Gynoug, Hellfire etc were never far from my Megadrive. I feel too old to cope with the modern bullet hell games.

[Anpanman]

I'm with Ikobo on wanting something like R-Type. I prefer "calm" shoothers like R-Type or Gradius V to bullet hells, and I care little about the scoring system unless I really enjoy the game: if I continue to play a shooter is usually to try to 1cc it (something I'm completely hopeless at) but never really aim to fully use scoring mechanics.

This is me too, also like blowing stuff up on the ground and seeing the animation of it happening or pressure waves from bombs etc.

The attraction in games like this is to see what the designers have done 'look-wise' in the later levels, something I just don't appreciate as much when I cannot see the background due to the amount of bullets.

Would also like to see something really simple, for me Galaxians is my all time favourite, great simple reward scheme in that game but probably won't see anything that basic since there is so much more that can be done nowadays.

If I won the Euro's then I'd fund one without any doubt (already have an idea) - not arsed about owning a red sporty car made in Italy, funding your own game is the way to go for me.

[gordon]

I want a new version of Defender with all the old sound effects intact.

Failing that, the last shooter that really blew me away was Gradius V. I absolutely stonkingly loved that game. And the one before that was Ikaruga, because of its beautiful simplicity, great music and unique scoring mechanic. And its sodding hard last level.

So more of those kind of things, please.

[danholo]

Hmm... Aren't those both Treasure games from the same era? Wikipedia states that Gradius V was developed both by Treasure AND G.Rev. For some reason I think the menu chimes in G5 and Ikaruga are roughly the same. Those are my favorite shmups as well... Mainly also because they were accessible at the time (PS2, GC). The other games were way overpriced or Japan only releases IIRC (except maybe Raiden 3)

[charlesr]

I never really found Ikaruga accessible. I was too busy trying to chain to actually enjoy it
If I went back to it now, I'd try it again but just in survival mode - chaining sends you down an almost exact set path for the entire game which kind of sucked really.

[Pikate]

Not really a genre I ever got on with but Twinkle Star Sprites - La Petite Princess has the best name for a video game ever, would love to play that

[gordon]

chaining sends you down an almost exact set path for the entire game which kind of sucked really.

That's one of the things I liked about the game: you could ignore the chaining and the S-Ranks that went with it, and just concentrate on survival, which was tough enough. Then when you got better, you could try the puzzle /chaining element of it.

[Charlie]

Cave have wrung everything there is out of the 2D shoot 'em up in my opinion, and I love them for it, though hopefully they'll prove me wrong. But I'd much rather see a shift to 3D shoot 'em ups. I can't think of a genre that current technology is better suited to, or a genre that is so ignored. It's baffling.

[CMcK]

Not really a genre I ever got on with but Twinkle Star Sprites - La Petite Princess has the best name for a video game ever, would love to play that

No that honour belongs to the DS game Little Red Riding Hoods Zombie BBQ.

[charlesr]

Cave have wrung everything there is out of the 2D shoot 'em up in my opinion, and I love them for it, though hopefully they'll prove me wrong. But I'd much rather see a shift to 3D shoot 'em ups. I can't think of a genre that current technology is better suited to, or a genre that is so ignored. It's baffling.

What's a 3D shmup? Do you mean like Afterburner? Or just like a normal shmup but with polygons?

[Baseley09]

I like story parts in shooters, i.e. like Download where you can buy into the world and what's going on, or even the standard Earth invasion malarkey like Silpheed 3 or Ray Storm.

Like others have said, the bullet patterns in these sort of games is more conducive to fun like the PC Engine days instead of not being able to see the graphics in bullet hell affairs. It's mainly about the designs and music for me.

[nakamura]

Had a shooter session last night as Strider brought his Saturn over to mine. Games like Strikers 1945, Tiger II Plus and Hyper Duel were frantically enjoyed. Hyper Duel in particular is fantastic, a proper meaty shooter with old style mechanics and lovely ideas.

I have zero interest in bullet hell games. I can appreciate how well made they are but I find them dull.