SHMUP's~ list of everyone's favorite games?

I'd like to just know a list for the most common systems as a reference to buy when I get the money in the next few years.

so I can finally get into what i've been missing out on for ages.

You could call me a ShooterNoob.
:clap: In the sense that I've only played things like Sonic Wings 1-3, 194X,Strikers 1945, Gradius 1 and Gradius Galaxies , R-type 1, Super Star Soldier, Space Invaders , Galaga and the like.


I apologize if there was a thread like this in the past I couldn't find one with search.:gravedigging:

 

Well, picking my BEST shooter would be impossible but I did complete Thunder Force IV Mega Drive on Hard a few nights back. Had great time doing that.

Yakumo

 

Ah well I meant it more in a way of what games would you recommend type of way.

Hence" favorites"

 

Under Defeat and Zero Gunner 2 on the Dreamcast. Infact, most of the DC shooters are very good or completely awesome. Except for Ikaruga; that's just evil.

Layer Section on Saturn. Gate & Winds of Thunder on PC Engine. If you get the chance you have to play Armed Police Batrider.

 

Uhhh, let's see...Dodonpachi, Layer Section, Giga Wing, the Parodius series (favorites: Jikkyou Oshaberi and Sexy), the Gradius series (favorites: I, II, V, Gaiden) and Salamander 1 & 2, Soldier Blade, Darius Gaiden, Battle Garegga....

 

super aleste/space megaforce.

 

My favorites:

Saturn: DoDonPachi and Batsugun
Dreamcast: Ikaruga and Under Defeat
MegaDrive: Thunderforce IV and M.U.S.H.A (Musha Aleste: Full Metal Fighter Ellinor)
PSX: Einhänder

Newer favorite must be Mushihimesama Futari for the Xbox 360. Still Caves awesome design, but much less hardcore - it's for everyone

 

FC/NES: Abadox, Gradius II, Crisis Force, Recca, Final Mission

PCE: Gate of Thunder, Nexzr, Soldier Blade, Winds of Thunder, Alzadick, many good & cheap arcade ports on HuCard

SFC/SNES: Super Aleste, Macross, R-Type III (haven't played a lot of SFC though ^^)

MD: Gleylancer, VV, Tatsujin, Thunder Force III & IV, Battle Mania Daiginjou, Verytex, Musha Aleste, Elemental Master, MCD: Robo Aleste, Bari-Arm

SAT: 55 shooters for the system, I'd say about 30 are well worth owning if not must-haves. Some of the best exclusives are Battle Garegga, Batsugun, Radiant Silvergun, Cotton Boomerang, Hyper Duel, Layer Section

PS: Harmful Park, Dodonpachi (better than on the Saturn), Zanac X Zanac, Raiden DX, Raiden Project, R-Types & Delta, Gradius Gaiden, G-Darius, Toaplan Shooting Battle

There are also lots of worthwhile compilations that have been released for both, Saturn and PS1. Some of them are:
Arcade Gears series containing XMULTIPLY, Image Fight, Gun Frontier, 3 Wonders, Gradius/Salamander/MSX/Parodius Deluxe Pack, Capcom Generations

DC: Ikaruga (of course), Under Defeat (stunning), Mars Matrix (mercyless bullet hell), Giga Wing, Radirgy

PS2: dodonpachi daioujou, ESPgaluda, Gradius V, Gradius III & IV, Raiden III, Mushihimesama, Ibara, Thunder Cross, Fantasy Zone (best version) and many more

360: Mushihimesama Futari, Shooting Love 200X, ESPGaluda 2, Ketsui Extra, Raiden Fighters Aces, Raiden IV

Arcade-Only: wide field, but some of my favourites are: Air Gallet, Muchimuchi Pork, Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu, Armed Police Batrider, Armed Police Unit: Gallop, OutZone, Dogyuun

 

Delta and Salamander for C64.

Salamander is one of about three Shoot'em'ups I've ever completed and is my all time favorite.

 

Zero Gunner 2 is great fun. So's Ikaruga, and it's really nothing like as tough as a lot of people make out. There are way harder shmups out there.

A few people have raised Super Aleste for SNES and Musha Aleste for Megadrive. If I had to make a pick between them, I'd recommend the former over the latter, and it's a lot cheaper too.

Macross: Scrambled Valkyrie for SFC is amazing, if you can find a copy and an import adapter/SFC.

 

My favorites would be:

MD: Thunder Force IV (Lightening Force).
32X: Kolibri
Sega CD: Bari Arm (Android Assault)
PSX: Einhander
PS2: Castle Shikigami 2
GC: Ikaruga
360: Mushihimesama Futari
Arcade: Galaga

 

As a massive Treasure fanboy I have to say Ikaruga is way overrated just because it's the only shmup anyone knows anymore...too much like a puzzle and too slow paced at least for my tastes. If I had to pick one vertical shooter as my candidate for the best ever, it would probably be Dodonpachi.

 

People should mention Eliminate Down for Megadrive. Incredible game, yet sadly very expensive.

 

Ikaruga can't be compared with the "way harder shmups" you're probably talking about (cave?). Like 7Force said, it's more like a puzzle and the deeper you get into the score system, the harder and yet more rewarding the game becomes.
I played it a LOT over a couple of years and I was pretty good at the end (30,5mio 1cc on normal). I've never destroyed more controllers due to a single game, but it was totally worth it. The game is nowhere near to be overrated, it is the perfect score-pushing experience, very demanding and really artistic at the same time. Few Cave shmups offer that stylish, artistic dimension nowadays. Pretty much all of them offer awesome gameplay, but the themes have become simple fantasy stuff like Pedo Smiles over the years. I would have to say that the last notably artistically valuable Cave shmups were Ketsui, Espgaluda and Daioujou. Ikaruga is different, and most people appreciate that by hyping it to death althought they never played it right, I admit that. But it still remains a super-great game, not the best SHOOTER, though, but definitely the best PUZZLE-shooter of all time!

 

Yeah, Ikaruga IS a great game, but I'm sick of people calling it the BEST SHMUP EVER!!! when it's probably the only one those people have ever played. As a puzzle shooter I can appreciate it, but I prefer more traditional shooters over ones based on memorization like Ikaruga and many bullet hell shmups. As for "artistic values", who cares? They're video games.

 

Thanks so much for the replies guys here is what I have so far

 

Salamander 2 is in the Salamander Deluxe Pack for PS1/Saturn. The Twinbee Deluxe Pack (with Detana Twinbee and Twinbee Yahoo) and the Parodius one (Gokujou Parodius and Parodius Da) are also worth getting, but I'd skip the Gradius one, since it just has I and II.

 

The Gradius DX pack is, apart from a shitty PSP crap collection, the only way to enjoy the original Gradius arcade games, so why would you skip it? They're great games and the NES versions are way worse. The only port that comes close to the original are the PC-Engine and X68k versions, but PCE is still pretty different from the original and who the hell owns an X68k ^^

OutZone and Dogyuun are separate games. Ketsui is not exclusive to the arcade anymore, an excellent 360-port (regionlocked) has been released in Japan. There is no separate "Galaga" for the PCE, only "Galaga '88" and finally, Gaplus has only been released for the PlayStation as part of the Namco Museum Vol. 1-6. Don't ask me which volume though, there's also all other vintage Namco stuff like Skykid etc.

Another great shooter for the Arcade is Cyvern. It's a bit hard to get into, but once you got the grip you'll never stop.

 

Ah, Good to know! Thanks.