Where are my Arcade shmup fans at?

[snes9x]

Any recommendations for beginners? I've tried to get into a few but nothing has clicked so far. The one I've enjoyed the most is Harmful Park (it's a ps1 game, but still a shmup).

I played Zanac Neo (PS1) a few weeks back and it's a pretty painless 1cc, plus you can save your progress in between stages. I love the weapon system but the game doesn't have a strong identity in the audiovisual department other than a few decent tunes. Still worth checking out. I was halfway hoping it would suck so I could say something like "Zanac? More like Xanax - this shit puts me to sleep!"

 

[Dyne]

I love arcade shooters!
It feels like a largely neglected genre these days, so I was glad to see so many shmup ports go to the Switch. I'm pretty mid skill-wise and I rarely can finish a game without unlimited tries, but its such a fun time.
When you get in the zone and it all just flows... its like the purest form of gaming.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Brainfart moment
Just got a new revelation that EVAC is literally just CAVE backwards

 

[NotGodlike]

Brainfart moment
Just got a new revelation that EVAC is literally just CAVE backwards

So we're literally invading Ikeda's HQ? (if you think about it deep enough)

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

One word: Dreamcast.

The greatest of all Shmup consoles.

Interesting way to spell PC Engine.

 

[snes9x]

Yeah shmups are to the PC Engine as JRPG's are to the PS1, or shovelware to the Wii. Ironically the successor PC-FX only has a single shooter in its library.

 

[Leon]

Yeah shmups are to the PC Engine as JRPG's are to the PS1, or shovelware to the Wii. Ironically the successor PC-FX only has a single shooter in its library.

NEC messed up in general with the PC-FX, expensive as hell for the time for what it offered (around 400$ at launch, in 1995) and it was inferior to the playstation which was going to launch a few months later, nec brought it's fall on itself.
Also i'd argue saturn is still better than dreamcast for shooters, but nothing beats pc engine/ pc engine cd.

 

[NotGodlike]

Also i'd argue saturn is still better than dreamcast for shooters

Impossible to argue, Saturn has far richer arcade and shmup library

 

[Viviana Santos]

Einhänder is very cool, I love its soundtrack

Post automatically merged: Apr 23, 2025

Harmful Park is great and very underrated.

 

[Stare best girl]

these days I was playing often shmups in Saturn

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

I guess it’s a weird take, but it’s down to what I love in shmups. I don’t care for horizontal shooters, prefer bullet hells most of the time, and will praise Ikaruga and games that play like it to high heaven. For my personal tastes regarding the genre, the Dreamcast was a total monster, and I’m including homebrew software heavily in that evaluation, as I’ve always seen homebrew stuff on the same level as indie games for modern platforms: smaller scale games that are still just as legitimate as any piece of software made for the unit.

I admit though: I need to try more horizontal shooters. I need to just buckle down and… uh… “obtain” roms for these games, because the tax of owning them is too darn high for the act of just getting my feet wet with these titles.

 

[DanCalibur]

I haven't played any shmup since I was a kid, but this week I got into Gradius (PCE) and I'm having a blast. The difficulty feels just right and I can see myself getting better and better at it. Still can't go beyond stage 6 but I'm confident I can beat it with some more practice

 

[Leon]

I haven't played any shmup since I was a kid, but this week I got into Gradius (PCE) and I'm having a blast. The difficulty feels just right and I can see myself getting better and better at it. Still can't go beyond stage 6 but I'm confident I can beat it with some more practice

You might want to try thunder force IV on the sega genesis, it's generally considered one of the best shooters of the era.
Another series you might want to try is the parodius games, which are essentially gradius games just made crazy (you fight stuff like cabaret dancers and bunnygirls) and yes i mean they are gradius games, made by the same team.

 

[Theriise]

I fell into this rabbit hole when I fell in love with the Shmup on Retro Game challenge ds that was a parody of star force which led me into researching star force and watching Arino of Game Centre CX explain about how there is a manga about the guy that can shoot fast enough to get past a memorable challenge.
Currently I've started a shmup on the switch, Yurukill. It's also a detective game!
Also the voice clips from Sinistar live rent free in my head.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Currently I've started a shmup on the switch, Yurukill. It's also a detective game!

I kinda liked the demo but my biggest gripe is that if you are a VN fan you have to do shmup levels and if you're a shmup one you wanna skip the VN parts...

I like Zero Escape so I may appreciate the game but sometimes mixing genres doesn't works the best.

 

[DanCalibur]

You might want to try thunder force IV on the sega genesis, it's generally considered one of the best shooters of the era.
Another series you might want to try is the parodius games, which are essentially gradius games just made crazy (you fight stuff like cabaret dancers and bunnygirls) and yes i mean they are gradius games, made by the same team.

Thanks, I'll add them to my ever growing backlog

 

[Dyne]

I fell into this rabbit hole when I fell in love with the Shmup on Retro Game challenge ds that was a parody of star force which led me into researching star force and watching Arino of Game Centre CX explain about how there is a manga about the guy that can shoot fast enough to get past a memorable challenge.
Currently I've started a shmup on the switch, Yurukill. It's also a detective game!
Also the voice clips from Sinistar live rent free in my head.

I absolutely LOVED Retro Game Challenge on DS!
I never see anyone mention that game ever

 

[Theriise]

I absolutely LOVED Retro Game Challenge on DS!
I never see anyone mention that game ever

Yay another Retro game challenge fan! I just about broke my thumbs getting past the ninja gaiden sequence. I'm so thankful that game got me hooked on game centre cx. Have you played the english translation of the sequal? Its a shame about thr third game changing game devs thou.

 

[Dyne]

Yay another Retro game challenge fan! I just about broke my thumbs getting past the ninja gaiden sequence. I'm so thankful that game got me hooked on game centre cx. Have you played the english translation of the sequal? Its a shame about thr third game changing game devs thou.

I didnt know there was a sequel! Now I'll have to find it

 

[Theriise]

I didnt know there was a sequel! Now I'll have to find it

Game Center CX: Arino no Chousenjou 2 (English Patched) DS ROM – RGT Repository

Game Center CX: Arino no Chousenjou 2 (English Patched) DS ROM Download. Languages: English Patched, Japanese. For the NDS.

retrogametalk.com

Behold, the repository has bestowed a blessing.
Also don't look up the third game, the devs that took over didnt have any love and passion that indeeszero had.
I even recommend watching the series that the games are based on(game centre cx), they even have features about how the video games were made.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I should replay the Rayforce trilogy someday.

That and probably Devil Blade Reboot.

 

[Moreno909]

I really like Samurai Aces and Tengai

 

[Tonberry]

I haven't played nearly as many shmups as I'd want to, but I played some Touhou in high school on a friend's computer, and I like Ikaruga a lot, and ZeroRanger is one of my all-time favorite games.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I haven't played nearly as many shmups as I'd want to, but I played some Touhou in high school on a friend's computer, and I like Ikaruga a lot, and ZeroRanger is one of my all-time favorite games.

Nice that you like me... Wait.

I got a question about ZeroRanger: Do you actually

Spoiler

lose your savefile if you die in front of the boss?

 

[bigstinkie]

what would be some shoot em up games you would recommend to someone new to the genre?
the only shoot em up game i distinctly remember playing was gradius iii on the super famicom and that game was pretty neatzors