Where are my Arcade shmup fans at?

[Varyag]

Where's the love for one of the most classic genres of arcade gaming? The venerable "little ship games" the shoot 'em ups, the bullet hells!
From the early days of Toaplan games and Raiden, to Taito, Konami, Capcom and the legendary CAVE! And many more. What are your favorite oldschool shmup titles, your obscure (for this niche genre) gems? Your white whales that you never could clear?

I have to say my favorite arcade shmup to fire up and clear on a chill night, is Batsugun Special (look at my avatar), and I love going around the later CAVE games and usually dying at stage 4. Rayforce, Giga Wing, Mushihimesama, 19XX, Strikers 1945...

 

[fake-kun]

I like Darius Gaiden.

 

[Varyag]

I still need to play more of the Darius series! Gaiden and G-Darius are great.
"I always wanted a thing called tuna sashimi..."

 

[SkunkyBeaumont]

 

[DunkeyKong]

Gradius and Ikaruga! I love the Gradius ports on almost every console it was ported to, even Ikaruga on Dreamcast is great!

 

[Stingy Perry]

Strikers 1945 1 & 2
19XX
Gunbird
Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings by Snk

 

[stealthRUSH]

Here! shoot'em ups are my 2nd favorite arcade style games besides fighting. Amazing devs listed I'd also include Technosoft. My favorite is Image Fight, for niche Down Load, and white whale is Battle Garegga.

Oh and.. ESP ra.de, Shikigami no Shiro I/II (haven't played III yet), Soukyugurentai (+Oubushustugeki), Sengoku Blade I/II, Override, Psyvariar series, Twinkle Star Sprites (+La Petite Princesse).

 

[Jeanfranc]

If we're talking favourites, mine is probably Deathsmiles.
Also, even if can't hold a candle to CAVE's best games, i really like The Cotton series by SUCCESS; the Turbografx CD port of the Arcade Game made me fall in love with the genre: the best ones are Cotton 2 and Cotton Rock 'n' Roll/Fantasy. It's kinda amazing that they are still making Cotton games in 2025.

 

[Yousef]

If we're talking favourites, mine is probably Deathsmiles.
Also, though they can't compare to CAVE's best games, i really like The Cotton series by SUCCESS; the Turbografx CD port of the Arcade Game made me fall in love with the genre: the best ones are Cotton 2 and Cotton Rock 'n' Roll/Fantasy. It's kinda amazing that they are still making Cotton games in 2025.
View attachment 9137View attachment 9138

Both excellent games.

 

[Varyag]

If we're talking favourites, mine is probably Deathsmiles.
Also, even if can't hold a candle to CAVE's best games, i really like The Cotton series by SUCCESS; the Turbografx CD port of the Arcade Game made me fall in love with the genre: the best ones are Cotton 2 and Cotton Rock 'n' Roll/Fantasy. It's kinda amazing that they are still making Cotton games in 2025.

Oooh yeah Deathsmiles is amzing, and I really want to get into Cotton. I grabbed one of the games on the Switch but didn't get much into it. I feel like I can't as into hori shmups as regular vertical ones. With the exception of CAVE horis, apparently.

I didn't even begin mentioning the great console or modern shmups either! Could go on and on about those too. I'll say my current favorite modern shmups, which match or surpass the level of the old classics, are Gunvein, Blue Revolver: Double Action and Crimzon Clover World EXplosion.

 

[RetroLaw]

They're busy being salty because almost every shmump release on modern system has input delay ?

 

[Jeanfranc]

They're busy being salty because almost every shmump release on modern system has input delay ?

You've got me, but it doesn't really matter to me as I don't care for leaderboards that much. RetroArch with RunAhead on a CRT is the best way to play these games aside from the original PCB or an M2 port.

 

[Varyag]

They're busy being salty because almost every shmump release on modern system has input delay ?

yeah the new Dodonpachi SDOJ port is..... very much not ideal.

 

[Leon]

Someone mentioned darius gaiden already, so i'll mention a lesser mentioned one, i have a fondness for a game called gekirindan, a time traveling top-down shooter.

There's also armored police batrider that comes to mind.

 

[tropicalavera]

My 1cc list is fairly short, and most of them were completed nearly 10 years ago - BUT I still love to load up a shmup and let loose. Some great games mentioned already (Armed Police Batrider is one of my faves - great scoring mechanics, huge roster of pilots, lots of gameplay options; that game has it all) but I'll namedrop Batsugun.

Taoplan is the studio that nurtured a lot of the folk that would go on to form the likes of Cave and 8ing amongst others, and this game really feels like the shmup that laid the foundations of what 90s bullet hells would look like. It's not too tricky, has this lovely early 90s anime aesthetic, and is generally a pretty fun ride; whether you're feeding the thing quarters to reach the end, or aiming to complete a 1cc. Highly recommended!

Also, if you can FIND a copy - AIRRADE and its expansion AIRRADE SUMMER are some of the best horizonal scrolling shooters I've played (and I have got Progear on that 1cc list) with lots of pilots, pretty intuitive scoring, and the best implementation of a 'melee' attack in a shmup (sorry Radiant Silvergun) I've encountered. They're silly little doujinsoft but the quality is there.

 

[Leon]

That reminds me, Esp.Ra.De and Espgaluda are also some amazing cave shooters that i love to play from time to time.

 

[moonbits]

DoDonPachi Daifukatsu Black Label

 

[ZEGA ZONIC]

 

[AnonymousCookieMonster]

I've played Tyrian back in the day... and i got my fill from that.

 

[Clork]

I'm not the biggest CAVE fan but I absolutely Adore Ibara and Akai Katana (have yet to try Pink Sweets to complete the Yagawa Trinity but from what I've seen, I'd probably enjoy that one as well). Espgaluda is also pretty fun.

Takumi is probably my favorite Arcade Shmup developer overall - can't go wrong with any of their Shmups, even the lesser known ones (Night Raid is really enjoyable in my view).

 

[χKai]

We ever meet in person, I'll enjoy any shmup with you; like they say, if you played one, you've played 'em all. I can't recall a shmup I didn't like.

Like I said, if we ever meet in person, I can enjoy shmups with you. Til then, ?

 

[ViperAcidZX]

I have some other shoot 'em up games digitally between my PC and consoles but here is my physical collection (of games I suck at) thus far. I'm also still waiting on my physical copy of Ray'z Arcade Chronology for my Switch.

 

[Laura Zonih]

If there are two Gradius that constantly compete in my heart those are the incredible Gradius Gaiden and the excellent Gradius V.

I definitely love STGs thanks to those games.

I'm lazy to make the typical list, besides my adventures in this genre are just beginning and there are so many games of this style that I have to get to know...

 

[AI_Apex_Predator]

Gradius II, Ikaruga, Shikigami no Shiro II, Sengoku Ace, Dragon Blaze, Tatsujin-Oh, Elemental Master, Dodonpachi, Contra Hardcorps (does that count?) Gunbird 2, Esperade, Kingdom Grandprix...

I can go on. Ikaruga is definitely my favorite. I really like Shikigami no Shiro II for the vibes.

I also own Dodonpachi II with those weird Bee people on it.

 

[Ikagura]

Many shmups are on consoles but I would never say no for new arcade stuff.