Where are my Arcade shmup fans at?

[Varyag]

Since the thread is active anyway: I've been playing a lot of Lords of Thunder lately, and some other assorted PC Engine shmups, there are so many good ones on that platform. If you're a retro shmup enthusiast, the two home consoles you need to try, are the PC Engine (with the CD expansion) and the Sega Saturn. Most of the best arcade shmups were ported to one of these two.

And speaking of which, I've decided to give more horizontal shmups a try. Sure, I'll never truly like R-Type, and Gradius is a bit of an old enemy of mine, but there are many cool games in this subgenre that I've never really been able to get into. I'm much more of a vertical (tate) bullet hell kind of player. So, in that interest, I've decided to go out and play the Thunder Force games, alongside Blazing Star from the Neo Geo.

 

[stoicvampirepig]

Since the thread is active anyway: I've been playing a lot of Lords of Thunder lately, and some other assorted PC Engine shmups, there are so many good ones on that platform. If you're a retro shmup enthusiast, the two home consoles you need to try, are the PC Engine (with the CD expansion) and the Sega Saturn. Most of the best arcade shmups were ported to one of these two.

And speaking of which, I've decided to give more horizontal shmups a try. Sure, I'll never truly like R-Type, and Gradius is a bit of an old enemy of mine, but there are many cool games in this subgenre that I've never really been able to get into. I'm much more of a vertical (tate) bullet hell kind of player. So, in that interest, I've decided to go out and play the Thunder Force games, alongside Blazing Star from the Neo Geo.

What about Akai Katana or Progear? I know what you mean, shouldn't be that different but hori-shmups are evil...I do like R-Type though.

 

[Varyag]

What about Akai Katana or Progear? I know what you mean, shouldn't be that different but hori-shmups are evil...I do like R-Type though.

Progear is great! But CAVE bullet hell patterns are already hard to deal with on a vertical screen, even worse when it's flipped, and there's also weirdo bullet cancel mechanics to deal with. It was actually one of the first CAVE games I've played, when I got the Capcom arcade collection on the Switch. One day I might be able to finish it, furthest I've got is start of stage 4?

Akai Katana has the issue of being locked down on MAME by Exa-Arcadia, cursed be their greedy name. It's not even their version of the game. Anyway. Good game too, I have solved that issue with a custom MAME build.

My thing with hori shmups, is that a lot of them are designed completely differently from verticals. They rely A LOT more on memorization, things come at you from way more angles at once, your hitbox tends to be HUGE and your shots pretty piddly at the start of the game. A lot of deaths end up feeling more like developer gotchas and unnannounced traps than an actual mistake on the player's end (that's why I hate R-Type), then there is the "Gradius Syndrome" that a lot of them suffer from, where if you die in an inopportune spot, you just lost your entire run, as it's very difficult or sometimes actually impossible to recover without all your powerups. And lastly, my eyes just aren't as trained to identify and follow bullets in a sideways orientation, I get hit by stuff I'd very easily dodge in a tate game. So, I'm playing more games like this to get used to these things, and learn how to employ them in my advantage instead! Call it a training arc, if you will.

 

[stoicvampirepig]

Akai Katana Shin for the xbox360 emulates well, you might need to do a bit of piracy but it's a Damn good port.

Oh you said you ran it in a custom mame...didn't read it properly.

 

[DragonMals]

mw when I played every single arcade Gradius (and Salamandrer):

yes that includes the mind boggling gradius iii everyone thinks its hard (it is)

 

[Carlnshake Carlnshake]

Bought the ToaplanxPsikyo collection on steam. Pretty much came with every shooter they made. I've been playing a lot of Gunbird as my main "trying to beat" shmup. There is a great gunbird manga that was fan translated floating around out there

 

[DG!]

Ive been playing a whole lot of Dariusburst CS on my end. I did 1CC Gradius 1 in the middle of that (mainly by accident, frankly) but have been a bit tied up since with stuff like Disgaea 3

I should really go back to running some stuff like Devil Blade Reboot, Daioujou DX and RECCA

 

[MonkeyMondays]

My only shmup experience was on the SNES and the ones I played where fun
Axelay
Gradius series
Parodius series
Thunder Spirits
Phalanx
U.N. Squadron (you either need a hack or autofire on Y, since only they know why you constantly had to press Y to keep firing)

 

[stoicvampirepig]

I don't want to sound like some sort of elitist, but you shouldn't need an autofire.

You should be firing all those bullets manually, it's the only way to effectively bond with the game. :)

 

[Zerohour2k12]

The only ones that I remember playing on an actual arcade cab

Ones I played through on PC recently
Astebreed
Raiden Series
Drainus
Sine Mora
Angel at Dusk
Ikaruga
Radiant Silvergun
Kobayashi-san Dragon Maid
Pocky & Rocky Reshrined
Sky Force Anniversary
Squad 51 vs The Flying Saucers

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I don't want to sound like some sort of elitist, but you shouldn't need an autofire.

You should be firing all those bullets manually, it's the only way to effectively bond with the game. :)

I don't want to suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome early.

 

[Varyag]

This. I set up autofire on every emulator I play (when it's possible, RetroArch's autofire sucks ass) when I hit one of those shmups that require mashing. I can be okay with it if I can tap slowly and still get full bullets but I'm not ruining my hands for a high score. I want to continue being able to play these games when I'm old too!

Post automatically merged: May 21, 2025

The only ones that I remember playing on an actual arcade cab
View attachment 71513
View attachment 71514
Ones I played through on PC recently
Astebreed
Raiden Series
Drainus
Sine Mora
Angel at Dusk
Ikaruga
Radiant Silvergun
Kobayashi-san Dragon Maid
Pocky & Rocky Reshrined
Sky Force Anniversary
Squad 51 vs The Flying Saucers

Giga Wing and Blazing Star! Two excellent games and some of my favorites too!

Drainus! That game is really good, it made me see that I can actually enjoy a Gradius-like. And it has a pretty good story too, something shmups usually don't have at all.

 

[nobitakun]

Not arcade, but two of my favourite ones (that are not the common favourite ones):

Apidya:

Disposable Hero:

I have to admit this genre is love & hate for me, because I don't like games too difficult, and shmups tend to be difficult even in normal modes.

 

[DG!]

I do agree with the sentiment that autofire is just needed in some games. I feel its use is even more justified nowadays seeing how every schmup port nowadays includes it with no punishments (ie stuff like getting excluded from online leaderboards and so on.

 

[Joshbong]

Hell yeah, shooters are awesome! I played them a bunch on TG16 as a kid and got back into them a few years ago after playing and beating R-Type Delta. There's so many good shooters out there and if anyone is interested in getting into the genre the TG16, Genesis, and Saturn are a must with NES, SNES, and Dreamcast also being pretty key. A few of my personal favorites are R-Type Delta, R-Type Final, Blast Wind, Gate of Thunder, Danmaku Unlimited 3, and Aero Fighters.

 

[Carlnshake Carlnshake]

Not arcade, but two of my favourite ones (that are not the common favourite ones):

Apidya:
View attachment 71543

Disposable Hero:
View attachment 71546
I have to admit this genre is love & hate for me, because I don't like games too difficult, and shmups tend to be difficult even in normal modes.

I like the idea sometimes of going on a linear skill based journey. No getting lost or looking for shit, just see if you can survive (I usually can't lmao)

 

[514lorn]

Been playing an unreal amount of RayForce lately. One of the coolest games of all time. I still legitimately tear up at that ending.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Been playing an unreal amount of RayForce lately. One of the coolest games of all time. I still legitimately tear up at that ending.
View attachment 74901

This is control, take left turn, over.

 

[Varyag]

I like Rayforce so much, I should finally get back to trying to 1CC it.

 

[DjQuick2008]

Ive been playing a whole lot of Dariusburst CS on my end. I did 1CC Gradius 1 in the middle of that (mainly by accident, frankly) but have been a bit tied up since with stuff like Disgaea 3

I should really go back to running some stuff like Devil Blade Reboot, Daioujou DX and RECCA

I want that dariusburst CS

 

[stealthRUSH stealthRUSH]

 

[funkyrol]

I have a few of them on various systems and handhelds, here's pics of some I got for the 360, PS3 and PS2. I shared this in the Shmups FB group years ago. "Shooting Love 200X" (bottom left most game of 1st pic) is still sealed.

 

[DjQuick2008]

 

[OverTheMoon]

I do love Gradius and I'm generally trying to find more of these games as they're really fun.

A lot of interesting looking titles in this thread, thank you everyone!

 

[Pinballbuzzbro]

I will forever be this game's no 1 ride or die fan until I die

NMK REALLY deserve to be talked about with the same reverance as Cave, Toaplan, Compile etc. because EVERY shmup they made is an absolute treat start to finish, and they also have a more accessible difficulty curve which makes them great for beginners to get into as well!