The Unofficial Shmup thread

[Omnigamer]

A Shmup (condensed form of Shoot'em up) is a game typically known as a space shooter. The player controls a "ship" (although there are a good number of games where it's actually a person or an animal of some sort) and destroys enemies that come from everywhere and anywhere with various projectiles. It's common for there to be some form of powerup system or advanced scoring system within the game itself. Gameplay is usually oriented in a single-direction horizontal or vertical manner.

Now comes the purpose of this thread. I personally love shmups, and get my hands on new ones as soon as they're available. Shmups have their own community of sorts, not unlike the Fighting Game Community, but having a different purpose in the form of reaching the highest possible score from game to game. Some of the most notable games for this sort of competitiveness are Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun. But things extend far beyond just those two, with many traditional and not-so-traditional shmup schemes.

I'm curious to see if anybody else on this board is interested in shmups, and if so, which ones you're currently playing. As for myself, I recently picked up Psyvariar 2, Zero Gunner 2, and Shikigami no Shino 2 (yeah, a lot of sequels). Other than that, I've played/owned:

• Radirgy
• Ikaruga
• Radiant Silvergun
• Border Down
• Under Defeat
• Gradius III
• Super R-Type
• R-Type Delta
• Trizeal
• Chaos Field
• Giga Wing 1&2
• Gunbird 2

Amongst a few others that I may have forgotten.

I will admit that I'm not incredible or great at any particular game, but I love the games nonetheless and have some decent scores.

So do we have any other Shmupers out there?

 

[supermariopro101]

I've played Heavy Cannon on pogo.com. It's pretty good for an internet game.
Life Force was one of the best shmups for NES along with Gradius. I've also played my share of Galaga (Galaxian).

 

[Omnigamer]

I found a good Dreamcast Shmup article, you can read it here. Provides info and some pics for many of the shooters I have mentioned above.

 

[Crimson King]

I remember Einhinder (or something like that) for Playstation. That game was so bad-***.

 

[Omnigamer]

Ah, Einhander. Never played it myself, but I always wondered what Square's version of a shmup would play like.

On a side-note, you can find videos of high-score and misc. accomplishments in nearly every shmup ever at http://www.super-play.co.uk (I'm fairly certain that's the URL, I'll have to check). Might be a good place to check if you're bored or want to see what kind of system a specific shooter uses.

 

[TheFifthMan]

This thread needs to be revived, because there has only been four posts and no one has mentioned Touhou Project at all. How could you not mention Touhou?

I'm wondering where to get the other games, because I've only played Imperishable Night (and sucked at it, but it's so awesome I want to play it anyway, even when it's hard to play as anyone but Reimu).

And where can I read up on the Touhou fanfiction? My friends are really interested in it, but I haven't been able to really delve into the Touhou fanfiction community.

 

[Omnigamer]

I played Touhou games extensively for a while, even had a few top scores on the leaderboard. Dunno if they're still up, but my replays should still be somewhere on the Touhou wiki. Otherwise, I have some videos on YouTube for the later Shoot the Bullet scenes showing high-scoring methods.

As for the doujin, this site should keep you covered for a while.

 

[petre]

I was recently playing Ikaruga. That game is so addicting, especially playing with a friend.

One game I used to own but dont anymore, but really want to play badly, is Ray Storm on ps2. I loved that game.

Other than those two I've only played Gradius and a neat little game called rRootage.

 

[antimatter]

does geometry wars count? cause i play that all the time on the wii.

 

[legendofme]

Castle Shikigami 2...Acceleration of Sugar....Raiden....R-Type Final..

 

[SonicZeroX]

I played Touhou games extensively for a while, even had a few top scores on the leaderboard. Dunno if they're still up, but my replays should still be somewhere on the Touhou wiki. Otherwise, I have some videos on YouTube for the later Shoot the Bullet scenes showing high-scoring methods.

As for the doujin, this site should keep you covered for a while.

Ohshi that's you??? =O I've seen some of those and I wondered if it was the Omnigamer from smashboards lol. Wow you're good. I can't even 1CC Normal mode. =(

Also "Mainly Sign, SEXY BEAM"

 

[Evee]

My apologies for causing severe thread necromancy as a new user, but I really wanted to get into the discussion and possibly talk to some other SHMUP players.

I'm kind of curious as to why no one has mentioned any games like 1942, Blazing Lazers or Tempest (I believe it's classified as a Tube Shooter, so it's in the category). Do you guys go back to playing some of the older stuff (I.E. 1942 as mentioned) and find yourselves bored after having played Bullet Curtains like Ikaruga and Perfect Cherry Blossom? Or do you find it just as enjoyable despite the lack of seizure-inducing amounts of colors and projectiles?

Also, does anyone know if there's word on when Castle Shikigami 3 (or IF it will for that matter) is getting released in the US? I remember they showed something on it at TGS last year but I haven't heard anything about it since.

 

[Gerudo Warrior]

1942??

old school

 

[Deleted member]

Do rail shooters count? Cause I have Star Fox 64 and Sin & Punishment on my Wii.

 

[Evee]

Do rail shooters count? Cause I have Star Fox 64 and Sin & Punishment on my Wii.

Rail Shooters do fall into the SHMUP category, but I'm sure you'll get a Touhou purist or someone of the sort, here and there, that says otherwise.

I just grabbed S&P a few days ago and have been playing whenever I get the opprotunity to. I've got to say that I'm incredibly surprised to this day that it was never brought over to the US for ther 64, given the massive popularity of Starfox at the time. I mean the game is basically the same as playing the Landmaster, I'm sure if it was released back in the day, it would have been loved.

Also, I wanted to bring up another game I'm sure no one else will due to obscurity. Gunsmoke, for the NES/Arcade. The game had some great music and amusing gameplay for the time, so I was wondering if anyone else ever got the chance to play it, if even for a few minutes?

 

[Deleted member]

^^The reason it was never released here is probally because it is set in Japan, for one reason.

Spoiler

Japan is even destroyed.

Second, what are the odds of Nintendo of America releasing a game witha title like Sin & Punishment?

 

[Evee]

^^The reason it was never released here is probally because it is set in Japan, for one reason.

Spoiler

Japan is even destroyed.

Second, what are the odds of Nintendo of America releasing a game witha title like Sin & Punishment?

The fact that it's set in Japan shouldn't really mean anything. With localization they could have just re-dubbed the game and easily changed the setting (It's not like there's anything that will make you go "ZOMG ITS JAPAN 4 SURE!"). That also would go hand in hand with the spoiler, however

Spoiler

you had games back during that time where you could nuke other countries yourself (Command and Conquer for one example), so Japan getting destroyed isn't exactly a hot button topic

.

Also, why wouldn't they release a game called "Sin and Punishment"? I mean the only people it would really have a chance to offend are extremist nutjobs and Jack Thompson (Although Jackie-boy wasn't really in the picture back then). And if worse came to worse, all they would had to do was change the title.

And I mean come on, if NoA allowed (Nintendo of America didn't make Sin and Punishment, Treasure did, just for reference) for Conker's Bad Fur Day to be released on their system, why not S&P?

 

[Firebert]

I too am a huge fan (I own it on N64 and on VC) of Star Fox 64, if that counts.

 

[Deleted member]

Because Conker's Bad Fur Day didn't mention sins in its title.

 

[Firebert]

Because Conker's Bad Fur Day didn't mention sins in its title.

Yeah, and it's just a cute little squirrel... =P

 

[Deleted member]

Despite Conker's hugely inappropriate humor, it doesn't have sin in it's title. And it's a Rare game. Remember the DK Rap:

"He's one helluva guy."

 

[#HBC | marshy]

Gradius 3 for the SNES was amazing, too bad I could never beat it.

 

[Evee]

Because Conker's Bad Fur Day didn't mention sins in its title.

Do you honestly think that just because something has "Sin" in the title, it merits not being released? Do you really think that a game where a squirrel fights a giant pile of crap and spouts obscenities every other second is okay, just because it doesn't say "Sin" in the title?

To be blunt, so what? Yes, it's the word "Sin", it refers to actions that are condemned in the Bible and other Holy books. Unless someone is an extreme religious fanatic, I don't think they'd be too offended just because the game has the word "Sin".

Also please take note that Persona 2: Innocent Sin was released in the US for the PS1 shortly after S&P was released in Japan. I really don't see how your arguement holds up...

 

[Deleted member]

You win, n00b.

 

[Evee]

You win, n00b.

Way to show maturity.

Also a correction to my previous post, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment was released in the U.S., it had slipped my mind that Innocent Sin was not released, however it was due to the fact the game's plot revolved partially around the resurrection of Hitler, not having "Sin" in the title.

Anyways, trying to get back from the derailment of the topic...Does anyone have an oppinion on Verticle/Horizontal SHMUPS? Likes and dislikes about both types?

Gradius 3 for the SNES was amazing, too bad I could never beat it.

Hell yes it was. It's a shame you never were able to beat it though. There's a neat trick in the arcade version (Possibly in SNES too?) where you get eaten on purpose by the last boss and get transported to the first stage of Graius 1. It was fairly amusing.