46 replies to this topic

[so_tough!]

?

[goldenegg]

Sega Saturn hands-down. Here's a good list of shmups for the system - http://www.racketboy...ups-2d-shooters

[RJ]

Genesis a close 2nd, though I cant speak of any. Thunder Force series, Biohazard Battle, MUSHA but it's costly.

MetalJesusRocks has a youtube look at some of them.

[MagitekAngel]

Actually, all of Sega's home consoles had worthy shmup lineups.

The PC Engine/TG16 also has a pretty good collection.

[retrorussell]

I never played the Saturn but I heard their shooters are awesome.
Me personally, I loved the Genesis for good shooters.
Insector-X
Thunder Force series
Gunstar Heroes
Gaiares
There's many others I can't think of right now..

[Reaperman]

Genesis: Lightening Force, M.U.S.H.A., Giares
Dreamcast: Giga wing 2, Ikaruga, Mars Matrix

tons more average to good shooters on both of those systems.

NES seems to have a lot of them too, but they're not known for being very good. Recca being the most obvious exception--that game feels strangely modern for such ancient hardware.

And though it's not really on a 'shmup system,' I highly recommend Blazing Star on Neo Geo. A few other solid shmups on it too, but it's pretty much a fighter system.

Edit: Heck, PSX is no slouch either with a ton of exclusives like Einhander, and a few superior ports like Raystorm (aka layer section II on saturn)

Edited by Reaperman, Sat Dec 31, 2011 12:32 AM.

[retrorussell]

Reaperman, on Fri Dec 30, 2011 11:56 PM, said:

And though it's not really on a 'shmup system,' I highly recommend Blazing Star on Neo Geo. A few other solid shmups on it too, but it's pretty much a fighter system.

Definiely.. add Aero Fighters series to the Neo Geo list (I have the third on my 4-slot cabinet). Viewpoint is good too, as is Pulstar. I like the Gunbird games for the arcade.. not just because they're great shooters, but the dialogue between the characters in the cutscenes is funny!

[Eltigro]

Once again, I'm carrying the TurboGrafx flag. The system is known to have a shmup heavy library with excellent shooters such as Raiden, R-Type, Blazing Lazers, Super Star Soldier, Soldier Blade, Gates of Thunder (CD), Lords of Thunder (CD), and Air Zonk.

But also, this generation of consoles had many great shooters including the Thunder Force series and M.U.S.H.A. (Genesis), and UN Squadron (SNES). The Turbo has awesome shooters, but can be difficult (and sometimes expensive) to collect for. If you have a Wii, I recommend using the Virtual Console for more expensive titles.

[high voltage]

Atari 2600

Stargate, Super Cobra, Star Raiders, Cosmic Commuter, Defender, Star Voyager, Starmaster, Beamrider, Laser Gates, Subterranea, Gyruss, Phasor Patrol, Solar Fox, Space Attack, Universal Chaos, Solaris, Spitfire Attack and many more excellent shoot 'em ups.

Edited by high voltage, Sat Dec 31, 2011 8:17 AM.

[save2600]

Atari 2600... yeah, depends on what era of SHMUPS you're talking about.

For the more modern ones though, I'd go with SNES, Genesis and TG-16. Saturn and Dreamcast have some really great games, but they can be a little "too much" at times. Graphically AND spastically. Enough with shitting out of the bullets already!

Edited by save2600, Sat Dec 31, 2011 8:41 AM.

[in the dark]

On the Famicom, my favorites are Crisis Force, Gun Nac, and Zanac. Crisis Force being my favorite.

The Turbo Grafx 16 is my system of choice for shooters. Soldier Blade dominates by staying in my console the most. Blazing Lasors, R-Type, W-Ring, Air Zonk, Sinistron, Dead moon, Dragon Spirit, Raiden, Aero Blasters, Galaga 90, and Side Arms find their way into my TG16 too.

The Genesis has a lot of games that hold my attention. Thunder Force series, Bio Hazard Battle, Fire Shark, Truxton, Gunstar Heroes, Arrow Flash, Atomic Robo Kid, Burning Force, Gaiares, Grind Stormer, Gynoug, Hell Fire, Sagaia, Task Force Harrier EX, Zero Wing, Steel Empire, Darwin 4081, Sol-Deace, Trouble Shooter, Twin Cobra, and what seems to be the Holy Grail of the MD which is MUSHA. There are also the rarities of Eliminate Down, and Gley Lancer.

[Sonic R]

here's some consoles that haven't yet been suggested…

PS2: first this covers PSX games too
some games:
PS2
Mushihimesama
Ibara
ESPGaluda
DoDonPachi Dai-Oh-Jou
Gradius 3&4
Gradius V
Gunbird 1&2
Sengoku Blade&Ace
Dragon Blaze/Sol Divide
Giga Wing Generations
Homaru
Raiden III
Trizeal
Radirgy
Psyvarier Complete 
Trigger Heart Exelica
Strikers 1945 1&2
Castle of Shikigami/Mobile Light Force
Castle of Shikigami 2/Shikigami no Shiro 2
Silpheed: The Lost Planet

PSX
Einhander
Raystorm
Raycrisis
Thunder Force V
Xevious 3D
Philosoma
Raiden Project
R-Types
R-Type Delta
In The Hunt
G.Darius 
Gradius Gaiden
Zanac X Zanac
Toaplan Shooting Collection
DonPachi
DoDonPachi
Gaiaseed
Harmful Park
Soukyugerentai
Cotton 100%
Raiden DX
Gradius Deluxe Pack
Salamander Deluxe Pack
Parodius Deluxe Pack
Sexy Parodius


then… the Xbox 360 has a massive library of shooters!

Mushihimesama Futari
ESPGaluda II
Death Smiles
Death Smiles II
Akai Katana
Muchi Muchi Pork/Pink Sweets
Ketsui
DonDonPachi Dai-Oh-Jou Black Label
Raiden IV
Shikigami no Shiro III
Radirgy Noah
Shooting Love 200x
Otomadius
Raiden Fighters Aces
Bullet Storm
Eschatos (also has Judgement Silversword)
Mamoru-kun
Under Defeat

and on XBLA:
Guwange
Strania
and many more!!!

[8th lutz]

The Atari 2600 is the king of pre-1985 shooters. Atari 7800 though is a system to keep an eye for early eraof SHMUPS because of there is still shooters being programed for the 7800. Since 2006, Asteroids Deluxe, Space Duel, Space Invaders, Meteteor Shower (known as Astroblast for 2600) and Moon Creasta has been released for the 7800. There also is an early era SHMUP for the 7800 that currently in development that the 2600 doesn't have.

In terms of the modern Shmups, Sega Saturn, Tg-16/pc engine, and Sega Genesis are the best.

With the Sega Saturn at the moment, I have to say Panzer Dragon Panzer Dragon Zwei, Darius Gaiden, Soukyugerentai and DoDonPachi based on what I have. The Saturn has a lot of iimport shooters and they are not the cheapest to get.

Edited by 8th lutz, Sat Dec 31, 2011 1:39 PM.

[so_tough!]

Some of you guys keep talking about tg16, but forget pc engine is the same system! Anyway, I agree, pc engine/tg16 is great for shooters. Megadrive aswell. I was too lazy to write anything last night, apart from "?" I was tired!

Eltigro, Gates of thunder/lords of thunder looks brilliant! I really have to get a pc engine cd system!

Edited by so_tough!, Sat Dec 31, 2011 1:47 PM.

[so_tough!]

retrorussell, on Sat Dec 31, 2011 2:48 AM, said:

Reaperman, on Fri Dec 30, 2011 11:56 PM, said:

And though it's not really on a 'shmup system,' I highly recommend Blazing Star on Neo Geo. A few other solid shmups on it too, but it's pretty much a fighter system.

Definiely.. add Aero Fighters series to the Neo Geo list (I have the third on my 4-slot cabinet). Viewpoint is good too, as is Pulstar. I like the Gunbird games for the arcade.. not just because they're great shooters, but the dialogue between the characters in the cutscenes is funny!

I have viewpoint, I don't particularly like it though....

[16BitMan]

Depends on the type of shooters really but the Saturn, PC Engine, Atari 2600 and Megadrive are all fantastic in different ways.

On the 2600 you have the classic arcade shooters like Space Invaders, Galaxian, Phoenix, Gorf, Demon Attack, Defender 2 and Gyruss.

The PC Engine has perhaps the best quality with stuff like Blazing Lazers, Lords Of Thunder, R-Type, Sidearms and Galaga '88.

The Saturn introduced bullet hell shooters from people like Cave (Radient Silvergun, Dodonpachi etc.) while still having improved versions of games from the 16-bit era like Darius and Parodius.

The Megadrive probably has the biggest selection and my favourites for this machine are Gynoug, Mercs, Xenon 2, Air Buster, Bio Hazard Battle and the Thunderforce games.

[zylon]

I'd put Genesis/MD before Saturn, but it's very close, IMO.

[high voltage]

save2600, on Sat Dec 31, 2011 8:40 AM, said:

Atari 2600... yeah, depends on what era of SHMUPS you're talking about.

Atari 2600 shooters era is 1977 - 1992

Edited by high voltage, Sun Jan 1, 2012 1:46 PM.

[BillyHW]

SNES: Axelay and Space Megaforce (Super Aleste in Japan). Better than anything on Genesis.

[NinjaWarrior]

Genesis, Master System, Saturn

[keilbaca]

It depends on the generation.

For my kind of shooters, Sonic R pretty much nailed it on the head.

I'd recommend that you list which ones are region locked (Like Ketsui).

The only other suggestion I have is the Dreamcast, which has great shooters such as:

Zero Gunner 2 (my favorite shmup on the dreamcast, its a 360 degrees 2D shmup, where you rotate the helicopter with a button not with another analog stick)
Ikaruga
Under Defeat
Giga Wing 1 and 2
Mars Matrix
Cannon Spike

Not to mention the homebrew disc that someone so graciously put together, of all the great shmups with their emulators on it, from MAME to the SNES/Genesis. That doesn't really count though being its emulation.

[Metal Jesus]

This is a video I created for the Genesis. I don't own Musha, so sadly it's not on the video...but lots of other great shooters!

I'd also have to tip my hat to the Dreamcast. I love Mars Matrix and Gunbird 2

[AtariLeaf]

BillyHW, on Sun Jan 8, 2012 8:41 PM, said:

SNES: Space Megaforce (Super Aleste in Japan).

Yea if you love Blazing Lazers on the TG-16, Space Megaforce is a must on the SNES. Its not really a sequel but an excellent unofficial followup to Lazers.

[BillyHW]

AtariLeaf, on Mon Jan 9, 2012 5:51 PM, said:

BillyHW, on Sun Jan 8, 2012 8:41 PM, said:

SNES: Space Megaforce (Super Aleste in Japan).

Yea if you love Blazing Lazers on the TG-16, Space Megaforce is a must on the SNES. Its not really a sequel but an excellent unofficial followup to Lazers.

Not sure what it has to do with Blazing Lazers, But here's a video:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3TtfjDHYjvU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Okay, so how do I embed a YouTube video? Others seem to have done it.

Edited by BillyHW, Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:33 PM.

[Austin]

BillyHW, on Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:31 PM, said:

AtariLeaf, on Mon Jan 9, 2012 5:51 PM, said:

BillyHW, on Sun Jan 8, 2012 8:41 PM, said:

SNES: Space Megaforce (Super Aleste in Japan).

Yea if you love Blazing Lazers on the TG-16, Space Megaforce is a must on the SNES. Its not really a sequel but an excellent unofficial followup to Lazers.

Not sure what it has to do with Blazing Lazers, But here's a video:

It shares many of the same elements, including firepower styles, and the way you can destroy ground objects. Both games were developed by Compile.