Any SHMUP recommendations to play

[DjQuick2008]

Turned 40 on wednesday so time to deep dive into games i may have missed growing up.

Vertical shooters are my thing think aero fighters, capcoms 1940s shooters and super aleste.

 

[Carlnshake]

Anything by Toaplan, Psikyo, or Cave. Gunbird is good. Batsugan is good. Dodonpachi. I've been on a bit of a shmup binge myself.

 

[Zerohour2k12]

Currently playing through Angel at Dusk PC and Sonic Wings PS1. I'd recommend
Drainus
Gigawing
Sine Mora
Ikaruga
Radiant Silvergun
Deathsmiles
Mushihimesama
Shikondo
The Raiden Series
Raystorm and RayCrisis
Einhander.

 

[A man on a computer]

Mars Matrix.
Philosoma. (But it switches different perspectives, so I don't know if it counts.)
Silpheed & Silpheed - The Lost Planet.

Also Happy Birthday!

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

Anything by Toaplan, Psikyo, or Cave. Gunbird is good. Batsugan is good. Dodonpachi. I've been on a bit of a shmup binge myself.

Seconding this. Toaplan, Psikyo, and Cave are all good places to look. The Turbographx-16 library also has a ton of great Shmups too.

 

[Alleway]

I remember playing a lot of 'Varth: Operation Thunderstorm' in the arcades. Good old style shooter.

 

[Glimbo]

Zanac x Zanac (PS1 by Compile)
Layer Section / Galactic Attack (Saturn by Taito)

 

[Dyne]

If you want something different, try Minishoot' Adventures.
Its like if a SHMUP was also a 2d Zelda game. I thought it was really fun

 

[Ren96]

Espgaluda on PS2.
Air Zonk on PC Engine/Turbographx-16.

 

[DjQuick2008]

some great recommendations there thanks all definitely get playing tomorrow its after 3am here

 

[soulsas]

Mushihimesama

 

[Amakuchi]

Raiden & the Raiden Fighters trilogy are awersome picks
The Strikers 1945 trilogy
Battle Garegga
The Mahou Daisakusen trilogy
Cho Ren Sha 68k
Musha Aleste
The Giga Wing trilogy
19XX is a great sequel to the 1942 series

 

[gwardojones]

Cave is my go to for shmups. Mushihimesama and Dodonpachi are

 

[thanonyx thanonyx]

Try Lords of Thunder for the Turbo CD and Sega CD. Side note: The soundtrack to this game KICKS ASS!

 

[JackNoir413]

Currently playing through Angel at Dusk PC and Sonic Wings PS1. I'd recommend
Drainus
Gigawing
Sine Mora
Ikaruga
Radiant Silvergun
Deathsmiles
Mushihimesama
Shikondo
The Raiden Series
Raystorm and RayCrisis
Einhander.

has anyone who recommends einhander actually finished a run on it? i remember getting like halfway through thinking "damn i was probably near the final boss" and no i actually had like 20 minutes left to finish it. thats when i gave up. im not learning a full hour of patterns i dont have the mind for it. a practice mode would've been nice.

 

[Carlnshake]

has anyone who recommends einhander actually finished a run on it? i remember getting like halfway through thinking "damn i was probably near the final boss" and no i actually had like 20 minutes left to finish it. thats when i gave up. im not learning a full hour of patterns i dont have the mind for it. a practice mode would've been nice.

My shmup skills are like my fighting game skills, enthusiastic but ultimately not very good. Lmao

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

The Xbox 360 has a nice little nest egg of Shmups that often get overlooked. A few highlights are:
- Akai Katana
- Bullet Soul 1 + Infinite Burst
- Deathsmiles 1 + 2
- Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu Black Label + Daioujou Black Label EX + Saidaioujou
- Espgaluda 2
- Guwange
- Muchi Muchi Pork & Pink Sweats
- Mishihimesama 1 + Futari
- Otomedius Excellent + Gorgeous
- Radiant Silvergun
- Trigger Heart Exelica

 

[Carlnshake]

The Xbox 360 has a nice little nest egg of Shmups that often get overlooked. A few highlights are:
- Akai Katana
- Bullet Soul 1 + Infinite Burst
- Deathsmiles 1 + 2
- Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu Black Label + Daioujou Black Label EX + Saidaioujou
- Espgaluda 2
- Guwange
- Muchi Muchi Pork & Pink Sweats
- Mishihimesama 1 + Futari
- Otomedius Excellent + Gorgeous
- Radiant Silvergun
- Trigger Heart Exelica

Not to mention your namesake is a kick ass shmup too.

 

[cave hermit]

I'd also add the Gradius series; V on the PS2 is a particular standout as a more modern take made by Treasure. You can't really go wrong with any of the Gradius games, although III (arcade version) and IV are considered absurdly brutal, even by shmup player standards.

The turbografx-16/PC engine shmups are also fairly low difficulty compared to most arcade titles, so they might be good starting points.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

Not to mention your namesake is a kick ass shmup too.

lol of course. Pretty tough though, they don't call it "expert" for nothing.

 

[Carlnshake]

I'd also add the Gradius series; V on the PS2 is a particular standout as a more modern take made by Treasure. You can't really go wrong with any of the Gradius games, although III (arcade version) and IV are considered absurdly brutal, even by shmup player standards.

The turbografx-16/PC engine shmups are also fairly low difficulty compared to most arcade titles, so they might be good starting points.

Also the Darius series!

Post automatically merged: Jun 5, 2025

lol of course. Pretty tough though, they don't call it "expert" for nothing.

I started playing it a week or so ago, I can get up to the third boss reliably (those three ships) and then get rocked by them or fuck up shortly after

 

[Scarlet Devil]

I strongly second Zanac x Zanac. Its such a fun game to learn.

For no particular reason I feel compelled to recommend the touhou series. Id try out 7, 10, or even 18 for a first entry. It is bullet hell but easy or even normal mode are easier to get a hang of than you would think.

 

[JackNoir413]

I strongly second Zanac x Zanac. Its such a fun game to learn.

For no particular reason I feel compelled to recommend the touhou series. Id try out 7, 10, or even 18 for a first entry. It is bullet hell but easy or even normal mode are easier to get a hang of than you would think.

i think 6 is a good starting point cause the first three levels are pretty easy to learn.
the only downside for a starter is that remilia has two spellcards that are bullshit.(namely mountain of a thousand needles and scarlet meister).

other than that i think th9 is a fun one to start with plus shiki eiki has one of THE BEST themes in all of touhou

 

[Carlnshake]

I strongly second Zanac x Zanac. Its such a fun game to learn.

For no particular reason I feel compelled to recommend the touhou series. Id try out 7, 10, or even 18 for a first entry. It is bullet hell but easy or even normal mode are easier to get a hang of than you would think.

For anyone out there, don't make the same mistake I did. It's hard to find the ones not on steam and I ended up giving my computer a virus in my search to so, be extra careful. Only other solution is to buy an old windows CD of them from Japan.

 

[Scarlet Devil]

i think 6 is a good starting point cause the first three levels are pretty easy to learn.
the only downside for a starter is that remilia has two spellcards that are bullshit.(namely mountain of a thousand needles and scarlet meister).

other than that i think th9 is a fun one to start with plus shiki eiki has one of THE BEST themes in all of touhou

6 also has some rather nasty randomized spells and a very harsh difficulty spike with its stage 4. At least relative to the other ones I've played. It is a classic though just rough around the edges imo. For those reasons I find it a little hard to recommend even though it was my first touhou game as well.

But hey at least its not 15. Im not sure if there is a worse "first touhou game" than that one.