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[heisenbergman]

Raptor: Call of Shadows

omg, blast from the past. I used to play this when I was younger. Like, 15 years or so ago! I should really look for where I can find this game now. Those were fond memories... Raptor, Descent... yeah, I should go look for Raptor now, thanks for mentioning this.

[heisenbergman]

So I've been going balls deep into this genre for the past 10 days. Looking back at the recommendations in the thread:

Cho Ren Sha - Excellent PC freeware shmup.
Dodonpachi - excellent game. Quite difficult though.
Mars Matrix - tried for a while. Didn't exactly grip me.
Hydorah - Played, but controls seem unforgiving. Also, I suck so much more at hori-shooters than verti ones for some reason. Have to give this some more tries.
ESPGaluda - It's okay. Pretty good. It seems like all verti-shooters from Cave are pretty good.
Armed Police Batrider - Really good. It seemed relatively fast-paced compared to other shmups.
Battle Garegga - Action feels "thin" & the projectiles in general are not always clearly visible. Not into it.
Sine Mora - Did not enjoy.
Tyrian - Having trouble getting it to work properly for some reason. Will come back to this.
Progear - Out of all the horizontal shooters, probably my favorite.
RayForce - I know I've tried this, but can't quite remember it.
rRootage - Played on iPhone. Boss rushes & this art style are not my thing. Didn't quite enjoy.

Have not yet tried:
Raptor: Call of the Shadows
Ikaruga
Guxt
Aero Fighters
Gradius series
Dragon Blaze
XOP
Radiant Silvergun
Gunroar
Gynoug
Touhou (I hear they're really hard)
Samurai Aces
R-Type (gasp)
Mushihimesama Futari
Giga Wing
Gunbird
Strikers 1945
VSexy Parodius
Gokujyou Parodius
Sengoku Blade
Raiden Fighters series
Lords of Thunder
Hyper Duel
Bio-Hazard Battle
Gun-Nac
Clean Asia (was hoping to download this but it looks like it's not free anymore. might try the demo)
The Guardian Legend
Darius Twin
Life Force
Gundemonium Collection
Nanosmiles
Val & Rick
Akuchizoku
Ketsui
Guwange
Muchi Muchi Pork/Pink Sweets
Eschatos
Aleste
Axelay
Zero Wing
Thunder Force
1942
Darius
Raiden
Truxton
Noiz2sa
Danmaku Death
Bangai-O Spirits
Blade Buster
Battle Bakraid
Elemental Master
Silpheed
Steel Empire
Thunderforce IV
Genetos
Beekyr
Exp3d
Vapor Trail

[ra51]

Solaris, Atari 2600.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

i want to add another one of my favorites that i forgot about:





don't be put off by the simple graphics, it's actually very challenging and unique

[FK in the Coffee]

i want to add another one of my favorites that i forgot about:





don't be put off by the simple graphics, it's actually very challenging and unique

Strongly second this.  Deceptively simple looking game, but a very memorable experience all-around.

[Plasticware]

Clean Asia (was hoping to download this but it looks like it's not free anymore. might try the demo)

I'm not really sure who's trying to make you pay for this game, when it's a free download on cactus's site. Just go to the 'games' section and click the 'Cactus Arcade' link above its thumbnail.

[heisenbergman]

eXceed Complete Pack currently 50% on Steam due to Capcom's 30-year anniv sale. Has anyone tried it?

[heisenbergman]

Also, I've considered maybe looking at exploring vertically-scrolling arcade shmups on a one-game-per-year basis, and this is the list I've come to, so far:

82 - Xevious
83 - Mega Zone
84 - 1942
85 - Terra Cresta
86 - Scramble Formation [Tokio]
87 - Twin Cobra
88 - Image Fight
89 - Fire Shark
90 - Raiden
91 - Lethal Thunder
92 - Varth: Operation Thunderstorm
93 - Batsugun
94 - Rayforce
95 - Donpachi
96 - Battle Garegga
97 - Strikers 1945 II
98 - Armed Police Batrider
99 - Giga Wing
00 - Mars Matrix
01 - Ikaruga
02 - DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou
03 - Ketsui

^ I started with '82 since that's what I consider the birth of the vertical-scrolling shmup we know today, with the release of Xevious.

If anyone would strongly suggest a different title for a particular year, I'm all ears.

[Türbo Bröther]

I'd go for either Dogyuun or Truxton 2 instead of Varth because you'll probably fall asleep playing the latter because it's so long (and boring). It's like, what, forty stages long? Yyyaaawwwwnnn.

EDIT: Or Fixeight. It doesn't auto-scroll but you do have to walk north to get to the end of each stage. Be careful though because it's ridiculous difficulty level will bite you in the arse. Seriously, that shit is insane.

[heisenbergman]

whoa I looked up Dogyuun and it looks really pretty.....

[KaleidoGames]

I have my list of the games I remember that are good. Im missing a few, I'm sure!

1984 - Beamrider (for MSX, very addictive! [avoid other versions])
1985 - Valkyr (for MSX, very hard!)
1986 - Zanac (for MSX)
1980s & 1990s - Parodius (MSX, Arcade, SNES)
1992 - Project X (Amiga)
2001 - Ikaruga (DC)
2012 - Sine mora (PS3)
2013 - Strumwind (DC, not played it yet but looks awesome))
2013 + Beekyr (Android, and Steam soon, is very hard and we made it, please download it: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.kaleidogames.Beekyr)

2014 - We'll be making more shot em up hard games...I'll put them in this forum.

[Sved]

Some shmups on sales on Groupees: http://groupees.com/doujin2

[heisenbergman]

Insta-buy! Thanks! That's a solid shmup-heavy bundle.

[Tanner]

hellsinker is like noah's favorite game or something.

[heisenbergman]

There are so many things going on in that Hellsinker interface. I tried it once, was overwhelmed, and I am now afraid to launch the game again.

[Krux]

I am not really a fan of shumps but I had a lot of fun playing "cho ren sha" it is freeware. Nice music, many beautiful bullet patterns and most important Bosses that pull out much bigger weapons after you destroy their outer hull of weapons.

[crowe]

The best ones are the Sonic Wings games and also Raiden

[Capitalism and Death]

I'd like to share some more:

• Sky Banger - a smartphone shmup exclusively about dogfighting
• Gamma Bros. - early neoretro indie shooter, faithful to Galaxian
• Barrage Ballad! - a mellow game with ancient mysticism and low key, expansive bgm
• 
  
  - a crude, wild shmup about bickering witches

[Kolba]

This documentary about the history of the shmup may be of interest:



I recall, about 5 years ago, spending a year working my way through every available MAME shmup. Afterwards I composed a list of my 25 favourite shmups (not all are arcade releases).

Radiant Silvergun
Thunderforce 3
Astro Flash (a.k.a Transformer)
Darius Gaiden
Gradius 2
Silk Worm
Guwange
Andro Dunos
19XX: The War Against Destiny
1942
Sexy Parodius
ESP Ra.De.
DoDonPachi
DonPachi
Samidare
Giga Wing
Mars Matrix
Dangun Feveron
Darius 2
Battle Garegga
Dragon Blaze
Salamander 2
Vasara 2
Blazing Star
Air Buster

Radiant Silvergun is my stand out favourite. It has so much flair and bombast. The game consists of stunning set piece after stunning set piece.

[gamepopper]

Shmups are my favourite kind of games. I've played loads, and so I have quite a lot of recommendations.

Here are some of mine (no particular order)

• R-Type Series (R-Type Alpha is my favourite, as well as R-Types)
• Gradius Series (Gradius II and Gradius V being my favourite)
• Ikaruga
• Radiant Silvergun
• Psyvariar (1 and 2)
• Parodius (Sexy Parodius in particular, but any really because they are hilarious)
• Ketsui
• DoDonPachi Revolution
• Any Tohou Game
• Jamestown
• Scoregasm
• Star Soldier
• Ether Vapor Remaster
• Space Invaders Extreme
• GigaWing
• Metal Torrent
• RECCA
• Akai Katana