Where are my Arcade shmup fans at?

[Amakuchi]

I really should get more into Darius myself. I love G-Darius.

Absolutely! I think most of the games strike a good balance of difficulty imo, the newest entry Chronicle Saviours is also really solid and pretty beginner friendly as well. They are much less daunting 1CCs than other shmups.

 

[nattybohman]

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

Ikaruga on the Dreamcast is the best port of the game! It's the closest to the naomi arcade version.

 

[PurpleShoes]

Since last posting, I've gotten super into Batsugun Special and the Touhou games. Last night, and don't ask me how, but I woke up at three in the morning in a cold sweat, got out my arcade stick, and unlocked the special level in Lotus Land Story! I then almost immediately died.

 

[DG!]

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

Fantasy Zone 2 W! It was my personal entry to schmups. Not too hard but not a total walk in the park. That version added widescreen, analog movement which gives it an incredible level of control and included a few extra things (Link Loop Land, The Coin Bank)

 

[Carlnshake]

Since last posting, I've gotten super into Batsugun Special and the Touhou games. Last night, and don't ask me how, but I woke up at three in the morning in a cold sweat, got out my arcade stick, and unlocked the special level in Lotus Land Story! I then almost immediately died.

I should really start using my arcade stick for shmups. I have the Hori one that was released when the newest street fighter came out. Does it make a big difference? I've been using a controller

 

[Varyag]

Since last posting, I've gotten super into Batsugun Special and the Touhou games. Last night, and don't ask me how, but I woke up at three in the morning in a cold sweat, got out my arcade stick, and unlocked the special level in Lotus Land Story! I then almost immediately died.

hell yeah! Batsugun Special is one of my most favorite shmups of all time, and Touhou were the games that got me into this whole business over a decade ago!

 

[PurpleShoes]

I should really start using my arcade stick for shmups. I have the Hori one that was released when the newest street fighter came out. Does it make a big difference? I've been using a controller

Yes and no.
I also feel I should say: I'm still using a Sanwa JLF lever in my arcade stick and I'm by no means an expert. That all said, I totally see it as a matter of what you're most comfortable with. To me, the stick is for the experience just as much as precision. The feel of the buttons, the clicky lever, the heft and weight. I often find my venerable Saturn pad more 1:1 with my intentions if anything, but some swear by sticks. Even more, I find the prospect of playing Shmups on a keyboard horrifying, but to many it's the only way. I think you can get great results with whatever input method you practice. Maybe I'll change my tune when I eventually get a Seimitsu lever.
In my opinion you should totally get a stick, but mainly because it's a lot of fun!

hell yeah! Batsugun Special is one of my most favorite shmups of all time, and Touhou were the games that got me into this whole business over a decade ago!

It was a long wait between knowing of Batsugun Special and actually playing it, and it really exceeded my expectations! I was expecting to simply appreciate the game symbolically for being the first danmaku, but WOW is this game good! The levels are all so well designed and lively, and all three ship types rule! I haven't cleared a full loop yet, but I'm hyped to see what else is in store.
Touhou rules. I got into it because of Japanese Donald McDonald, but it's taught me so much about how to Bullet Hell. AND IT HAS CIRNO!

 

[Carlnshake]

Yes and no.
I also feel I should say: I'm still using a Sanwa JLF lever in my arcade stick and I'm by no means an expert. That all said, I totally see it as a matter of what you're most comfortable with. To me, the stick is for the experience just as much as precision. The feel of the buttons, the clicky lever, the heft and weight. I often find my venerable Saturn pad more 1:1 with my intentions if anything, but some swear by sticks. Even more, I find the prospect of playing Shmups on a keyboard horrifying, but to many it's the only way. I think you can get great results with whatever input method you practice. Maybe I'll change my tune when I eventually get a Seimitsu lever.
In my opinion you should totally get a stick, but mainly because it's a lot of fun!

It was a long wait between knowing of Batsugun Special and actually playing it, and it really exceeded my expectations! I was expecting to simply appreciate the game symbolically for being the first danmaku, but WOW is this game good! The levels are all so well designed and lively, and all three ship types rule! I haven't cleared a full loop yet, but I'm hyped to see what else is in store.
Touhou rules. I got into it because of Japanese Donald McDonald, but it's taught me so much about how to Bullet Hell. AND IT HAS CIRNO!

That does it then, I'll have to try using the stick.

 

[stoicvampirepig]

The purest expression of gaming that there is imo...vertically scrolling shoot em ups are mana from the Gods.

Raiden, ESP Ra de, Donpachi...toaplans entire catalogue, and their final form of Cave.

My skills are waning in recent years, but I still remember when I 2cc'd Dangun Feveron at full ship speed...I still pop up in top tens on RA from time to time but I'll never do that again.

 

[SpcDaicon]

Since last posting, I've gotten super into Batsugun Special and the Touhou games. Last night, and don't ask me how, but I woke up at three in the morning in a cold sweat, got out my arcade stick, and unlocked the special level in Lotus Land Story! I then almost immediately died.

This is EXACTLY how I picture Thouhou players to be. It still baffles me how a niche shmup form a very niche japanese PC got so popular and still is a conerstone of japanese otaku culture and internet meme culture around the world

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

This is EXACTLY how I picture Thouhou players to be. It still baffles me how a niche shmup form a very niche japanese PC got so popular and still is a conerstone of japanese otaku culture and internet meme culture around the world.

Maybe the propagation of Internet, people discovering the insanity of Danmakus and finally the whole moe/cute girl cast is what helped a lot.

 

[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]

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.