Where are my Arcade shmup fans at?

[Grumpy_Old_Man]

The Konami Parodius series, "Forever with me" is my favorite.
The already mentioned Tyrian.
R-Type Leo.
Sigma Star Saga.
Macross scrambled valkyrie.

 

[fishboneKiller]

a lot of people love ikaruga but im personally a little more partial towards radiant silvergun, treasure's other shmup that they made before ikaruga. it has a cool weapon fusion system where pressing two buttons at once will merge the projectile styles, i really like that. also, this one isn't strictly an arcade shmup, but rym 9000 is a pretty sick (if not flashy) shmup on steam, i really liked my time with it

 

[Gin]

One of my favorite genres, and except for Touhou, I have played Ikaruga (which I did not beat), Espgaluda (which I did not beat), Dodonpachi Daioujou (which I did not beat), Mushihimesama (which I also did not beat!) and those are the ones I remember, I like them, I like that they are difficult, but I did not advance too much in them.
oh, I also played karous (guess).

 

[dr grim]

Here ! i love shmups ( and arcade ones ) even if i still suck at it.

much more a fan of the mid era ( between the one shot dead restart the whole level and the bullet hell craze )

 

[Ikagura]

a lot of people love ikaruga but im personally a little more partial towards radiant silvergun, treasure's other shmup that they made before ikaruga. it has a cool weapon fusion system where pressing two buttons at once will merge the projectile styles, i really like that. also, this one isn't strictly an arcade shmup, but rym 9000 is a pretty sick (if not flashy) shmup on steam, i really liked my time with it

While Ikaruga's ink art style has some "chic minimalism" going on to it (with only five levels, bosses and only two mini-bosses) I understand that Radiant Silvergun, being longer and having many more bosses like Alien Soldier and Gunstar Heroes, is more appealing to some.

Gunstar Heroes' shmup stage had the DNA of RS and Ikaruga after all.

much more a fan of the mid era (between the one shot dead restart the whole level and the bullet hell craze).

I cannot properly pin-point the era you're speaking of because shmups were doing that a lot.

 

[RanmyakuIchi's iconRanmyakuIchi]

Love me a good Shmup! Definitely a comfort genre for me, even if I'm a little hit and miss at them. I can 1cc SNES Gradius 3 with my eyes closed, at least lol.

 

[dr grim]

While Ikaruga's ink art style has some "chic minimalism" going on to it (with only five levels, bosses and only two mini-bosses) I understand that Radiant Silvergun, being longer and having many more bosses like Alien Soldier and Gunstar Heroes, is more appealing to some.

Gunstar Heroes' shmup stage had the DNA of RS and Ikaruga after all.


I cannot properly pin-point the era you're speaking of because shmups were doing that a lot.

I call mid Era but it's mainly shmups from the 90s. A lot on screen but not as much as cave ones. Id say 4th - 5th console gen shmups..

 

[Moreno909]

Samurai Aces
Tengai
Progear
Vimana
some of my favorites

 

[RetroSTG]

I just recently started playing P-47 aces on mame and I think it's fantastic.

Post automatically merged: Feb 2, 2025

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

The music in Espgaluda is epic.

 

[Ikagura]

I'd love to see Ketsui coming to PC.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24]

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

One word: Dreamcast.

The greatest of all Shmup consoles. Basically half the library is shmups.

 

[DjQuick2008]

The arcade shmup scene is great have quite a good lot saved as favourites on my handhelds. love 1944 and 19XX kinda stuff aero fighters etc.

 

[DeeboDeebo's icon]

I tried to get more into shmups a while back and found some of Cave’s titles really cute and charming in a way that stood out

 

[trickybus]

 

[Graw]

I never really got into a lot of shmups but I had the snes port of Gradius 3 when I was a kid and I really loved that game. The music was cool and I really liked the trippy organic sci-fi aesthetic. It was tough though. I've never beaten it. I also had 1943 on the nes which I played a lot. I never really played much in arcades though. My parents didn't really like us playing in them, they thought they were a waste of money. Which, honestly, emulating arcade games with Mame as an adult, they were kinda right. I blew through what would have been like $20 in a few minutes with some of those games.

 

[Mago]

I love the late 80s Irem trilogy that was R Type, Dragon Breed, and X Multiply. At least to me they feel like an unofficial trilogy of sorts.

Also a huge fan of Radiant Silvergun though I play the Saturn version.

Also i'm horrible at all of these :D

 

[PurpleShoes]

I've only gotten into Shmups recently, but I am in love! Right now my favorites are Crimzon Clover, DoDonPachi, Gunbird, and Mushihimesama!
I have a Seimitsu LS-40 lever coming in the mail soon!

Post automatically merged: Apr 7, 2025

Also i'm horrible at all of these :D

So am I, and imo that's part of the fun! This great feeling of triumphing over ridiculous odds. One time, I got a 1-CC on the first three levels of Crimzon Clover's Arrange Mode by total accident and it was the greatest moment of my life!

 

[Varyag]

I've only gotten into Shmups recently, but I am in love! Right now my favorites are Crimzon Clover, DoDonPachi, Gunbird, and Mushihimesama!
I have a Seimitsu LS-40 lever coming in the mail soon!

Post automatically merged: Apr 7, 2025

So am I, and imo that's part of the fun! This great feeling of triumphing over ridiculous odds. One time, I got a 1-CC on the first three levels of Crimzon Clover's Arrange Mode by total accident and it was the greatest moment of my life!

Crimzon Clover is so freaking good, absolute kino game. The dev absolutely understood the assignement of coming up to the standards set by CAVE. All your other mentions are hailed as classics for a reason too.

I had an "accidental" 1CC on Mushihimesama Novice Maniac (after getting the dodge of my life in stage 5) and base Novice of DDP Ressurection on Steam.

 

[Jambhala]

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).

 

[groundbeef]

1942. Raiden. Batsugun. Layer Section. DonPachi. Soukyugurentai. Darius. Thunder Force. Gaiares. Dangun Feveron. Mars Matrix. Giga Wing. Sky Shark. Fire Shark. Truxton

On and on and on forever.

Capcom. Cave. Technosoft. Renovation. Treasure. Toaplan. Raizing. Seibu Kaihatsu.

 

[PurpleShoes]

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).

 

[Varyag]

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 may have a ton of personal recommendations, but I'd suggest you check out this video by ShmupJunkie where he goes through several good games with reasons for each. My favorite out of the bunch that he recommends is easily Batsugun (Special) though.

In the end though, you should really just go for whichever game really caught your eye. If you like the game a lot, you won't really mind how hard it may be to learn.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

DO DO DO DO DO
DO DON PACH!

 

[stealthRUSH]

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'd suggest Arrow Flash on Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. It's a great shooter for beginners.

 

[fake-kun]

DO DO DO DO DO
DO DON PACH!