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 There used to be a shmup thread a while back, but the OP got himself banned and the thread was eventually closed. Since shmups are still a thing of sorts I figured I'd make a megathread for discussions of all kinds. WHAT IS A SHMUP? A shmup (shoot em up) is a 2-dimensional game where you control a plane, spaceship, person flying through some weird power, etc and destroy enemies while trying to set high scores (or simply surviving). They generally come in two flavors: Horizontal (side view) or vertical scrolling (top down view). Sometimes they alternate between the two or try new things like an isometric view. Some shmups are "memorizers" that require knowledge of the stage, others can be "bullet hell" with a small hitbox and loads of enemy shots blanketing the screen. Shmups are NOT first person shooters. Just to clear that up. Here are some examples of some well known shmups: Gradius  One of Konami's best known series, and the first game on the NES to utilize the Konami Code. Fun horizontal scrolling shmup with a power up "bar", ripple lasers, Options (clones of your ship) and sometimes punishing difficulty if you die with full power ups. Konami seems to have abandoned the series as of now, sadly. Gradius Gaiden is probably the best, with some neat twists on the game's formula (you can rearrange the power up bar as you like) and stages (the classic volcano stage now has a black hole that sucks in the volcanoes and your ship's missiles!) Raiden  What started as one company's tribute to Toaplan (see below for more on them) became its own franchise with a kickass red (or blue) ship, fairies, and some pretty outstanding weaponry like the famous purple toothpaste laser. Also has its own spinoff series called Raiden Fighters which awards players for doing crazy stunts like letting tanks survive. R-Type  A slow moving horizontal shmup with an indestructable "Force" pod that requires knowledge of the stage design to get far. Tough as nails but rewarding when you know what to do. R-Type Delta was the series' crowning moment, Final is okay too for the sheer number of ships you can use (101!) Darius  An ultra widescreen horizontal shmup with giant mechanical fish. Later games ditched the wide screen for more cinematic action, but Dariusburst AC recently brought back the feel of the original arcade cabinets. DoDonPachi  Started as DonPachi and is one of the most well known "bullet hell" games from Cave. Has the par for course small hitbox and bullet swathes, and a chaining system that utilizes your ship's shot and laser for big, big points. Also contains a giant loving bee as the true final boss, if you can get that far. Touhou There's a whole thread on it in ADTRW. Relatively popular bullet hell shmup with a predominantly female cast and a bunch of lore behind it. __________________________________ Where do I get shmups? MAME is always an option for most shmup titles, but if you want to buy them, there are a lot of home console ports of arcade shmups out there. The Xbox 360 has had a relatively decent amount of arcade shmup ports and some original titles too, but keep in mind some of those are region locked and will not play on a US 360. Three games I know that will work are Mushihimesama Futari, Eschatos and the upcoming Ginga Force. Other consoles with a relatively large or prominent shmup library: PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16: There are TONS on here. I can't recommend the Star Soldier games enough, and on CD you have stuff like Lords of Thunder, Spriggan and Nexzr. Saturn: Great arcade ports of Batsugun, Image Fight, X-Multiply, Battle Garegga, Rayforce, Darius Gaiden and much more. And of course, you have the outrageously expensive Radiant Silvergun. Soukyugurentai is also awesome (just make sure you get the Otokuyo version if you use an Action Replay for your imports, because the original release has bugs when used with one) Dreamcast: Ikaruga, of course, and also G.Rev has Under Defeat and Border Down on there. NG.Dev Team has been releasing new shmups on there too as well. Oh, and don't forget Mars Matrix and Giga Wing. There are also tons of PC shmups, most of which are independently made and come from Japan. Several have been brought out in English now. Here are a few. Gundemonium Collection: 3 bullet hell shmups by indie dev Plantine Dispositif. Very fun and well worth the price. Ether Vapor: AWESOME shmup that switches between vertical, horizontal and occasionally other views for bonus sections. The version on Steam is the new "Remaster" edition with the ability to play without dialog scenes and some touched up graphics. Alltynex series (Kamui, RefleX, Alltynex 2nd): Out now! These are probably the most prolific indie Japanese shmups out there. They're from a small dev team and Kamui is widely considered one of the best Japanese indie shmup titles. Jamestown: A very cool vertical shmup that offers an alternate take on the 17th century British colonies. If you hate spending money, there are great freeware shmups too. Cho Ren Sha 68k is my go to recommendation, and the boss rush game Warning Forever is pretty awesome too. If you want a good fun Gradius type game for free, look no further than Hydorah. The Freeware Games megathread has a few others too. __________________________________ A few companies who have made mostly shmups: Cave: Makers of Dodonpachi, the "ESP" games (ESPrade, ESPGaluda), Mushihimesama and many others. Toaplan: Zero Wing may come to mind, but they also made Truxton/Tatsujin, Batsugun, Fire Shark, V-Five and Dogyuun. Eventually split up and formed into Cave, Gazelle, Takumi, and Raizing/8ing. Raizing/8ing: Created the Mahou Daisakusen series, Battle Garegga, Battle Bakraid, and Soukyugurentai among other titles. Known for insane "rank" (difficulty) that would adjust based on multiple factors like how much a player fired or got powerups. Takumi: Created Mars Matrix and the Giga Wing series...and that's it. Oh, they also made Night Raid, which was sort of a precursor to the two aforementioned games with a strange "hot/cold" scoring system. Seibu Kaihatsu: They made their mark with Raiden and the Raiden Fighters series, but they also made a game called Viper Phase 1 which is pretty awesome and its ship, the Judge Spear, is in the Raiden Fighters series. Compile: Not just the guys who did Puyo Puyo, they also made Zanac, the Aleste series and several other shmups you probably didn't know they had a hand in like Blazing Lazers. Zanac is notable for its AI controlled enemies which in turn inspired Raizing's rank system. Zeether fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Jun 24, 2013 |
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Dec 4, 2012 23:00
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I remember my first (and last) shmup. Tyrian 2000.  What a game and it's free on gog.Is there one that's similar to it and one that I preferably don't have to download any emulators for?
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Dec 4, 2012 23:06
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Play DoDonPachi yall, it will change your life. Also, might as well say it at the top, but Treasure's Shmups suck as Shmups and should not be talked about in this thread 
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Dec 4, 2012 23:08
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Pr0phecy posted:I remember my first (and last) shmup. Tyrian 2000.
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Dec 4, 2012 23:11
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Obligatory mention of Raptor: Call Of The Shadows https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYa2g9_5Ss4  There's a '2010 version' (which offers support for higher resolutions than the native 320x200, available cheaply on GoG.com. This was my childhood introduction to shmups. I love the way you can blow up one section of a building, and watch the whole thing ignite before your eyes
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Dec 4, 2012 23:25
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Pr0phecy posted:I remember my first (and last) shmup. Tyrian 2000. Give Raptor a try. It's on GoG as well, and it's aged pretty well from the last time I played it. I'm on a bit of a shmup kick lately, and I've been playing a ton of Xevious on my 3DS this week. Are any of the sequels worth checking out? I honestly can't believe I flat-out ignored this game as a kid  edit: that's what I get for being slow on the draw, I guess  edit again: The best part of Raptor is that you ultimately get more money for causing more horrible environmental disasters. gently caress wildlife.
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Dec 4, 2012 23:26
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Tyrian is probably my all time favorite, but I have a soft spot for Guwange, R-Type, Mars Matrix and of course Dodonpachi.ZackHoagie posted:Also, might as well say it at the top, but Treasure's Shmups suck as Shmups and should not be talked about in this thread Ehhh I kind of feel you here but Gunstar Heroes, while not quite a shump is still fun as hell.
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Dec 4, 2012 23:28
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Hey, I love Treasure, hell I even thought Wario World was pretty good, but I'll be damned if I give Radiant Silvergun any credit. And Gunstar Heroes is a Run-and-Gun, and while awesome, is exempt from this thread.
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Dec 4, 2012 23:32
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Bovineicide posted:I'm on a bit of a shmup kick lately, and I've been playing a ton of Xevious on my 3DS this week. Are any of the sequels worth checking out? I honestly can't believe I flat-out ignored this game as a kid 
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Dec 4, 2012 23:33
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I played Gradius on the NES until the cartridge literally fell apart. Then I wasted too many quarters to count on Aero Fighters 2 at the local video rental joint when I was 14. Good times.
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Dec 4, 2012 23:33
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Hey, don't forget Compile! Their magnum opus Zanac X Zanac is a must-play and my vote for one of the best shmups ever made.Zeether posted:Raizing/8ing: Created the Mahou Daisakusen series, Battle Garegga, Battle Bakraid, and Soukyugurentai among other titles. Known for insane "rank" (difficulty) that would adjust based on multiple factors like how much a player fired or got powerups. This is the poo poo right here. Normal shmups are great, but these guys make games where you have to stop yourself from doing too well because the game will scale up its difficulty to kick your rear end if you do. It's more fun than it sounds - you're doing a sort of balancing act while you play.
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Dec 4, 2012 23:33
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Was Ikaruga really as bad as all the shmup grognards made it out to be? Never played it but it did seem like the color changing gimmick would make it stupid easy.
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Dec 4, 2012 23:35
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If you're going to suggest MAME in the OP can you add really good freeware shmups and/or older shmups? I've been playing Hydorah, and it's just so sexy I have a hard time not talking about it. I've also been playing a Galaga machine at work because it's loving Galaga, and it's actually still kinda good.
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Dec 4, 2012 23:38
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Ludicrous G. Gibs posted:This is the poo poo right here. Normal shmups are great, but these guys make games where you have to stop yourself from doing too well because the game will scale up its difficulty to kick your rear end if you do. It's more fun than it sounds - you're doing a sort of balancing act while you play. I added Compile to the list. Can't believe I forgot them, MUSHA is one of my favorite Genesis games despite being a bit easy. blowingupcasinos posted:If you're going to suggest MAME in the OP can you add really good freeware shmups and/or older shmups? I've been playing Hydorah, and it's just so sexy I have a hard time not talking about it. I've also been playing a Galaga machine at work because it's loving Galaga, and it's actually still kinda good. As far as older arcade shmups go, Xevious is pretty fun if you can stand the background music and Star Force is also great. Juno First is one I came across recently that I really like too. Zeether fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Dec 4, 2012 |
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Dec 4, 2012 23:39
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I feel like Jamestown should be in the OP if only because its a pretty recent game and is a great intro shmup game along with being awesome in general.
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Dec 4, 2012 23:42
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voltron lion force posted:Was Ikaruga really as bad as all the shmup grognards made it out to be? Never played it but it did seem like the color changing gimmick would make it stupid easy. It's a pretty good puzzle game, but it's a bad Shmup.
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Dec 4, 2012 23:43
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Just dropping by to say Soldier Blade is still my favorite shmup of all time, but probably only because we owned a Turbo Grafx 16 and I played the poo poo out of it when I was a kid. Final Soldier was cool too cause you could shoot bubbles but Soldier Blade was cooler in design  I even bought Soldier Blade on PSN so I can take it with me on the go on my Vita.
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Dec 4, 2012 23:44
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ZackHoagie posted:Also, might as well say it at the top, but Treasure's Shmups suck as Shmups and should not be talked about in this thread Hey, Gradius V is a perfectly fine horishmup.  (as are both Sin & Punishments, but that's outside the scope of this thread)Seconding the recommendation for Jamestown as a great western shmup that avoids euroshmup tendencies. Also, I think Psikyo should be added to the company list. (Gunbird, Strikers 1945; really short stages, really fast bullets) I put a lot of time into Strikers 1945 III/1999, and saw more of it in arcades than anything Cave. waddler fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Dec 4, 2012 |
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Dec 4, 2012 23:44
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voltron lion force posted:Was Ikaruga really as bad as all the shmup grognards made it out to be? Never played it but it did seem like the color changing gimmick would make it stupid easy. I remember loving it. However, it was really the only one I liked, which maybe makes it baby's first "hard" shmup? It did become easy and was about memorization of patterns, so it could be mastered quickly. Does Geometry Wars count, or do you actually need a scrolling background to be considered in this genre?
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Dec 4, 2012 23:44
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Geometry Wars and Robotron are sort of borderline shmups. You don't need a scrolling background to qualify as one, stuff like Space Invaders counts and some top down run and gun games like Outzone are technically shmups too.
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Dec 4, 2012 23:51
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I dabble in shumps occasionally. I love that they're pretty much a distillation of pure gameplay - reflexes, concentration, etc. They're completely on the opposite end of the spectrum from my other favorite genres (mainly anything heavily narrative-based). It's the yin and yang of gaming. Anyway, just wanted to give a shout-out to the awesome Cave shooter, Dangun Feveron. Underneath the kaleidoscopic of disco imagery and technicolor bullets is a really interesting "capture" system. Enemies release disco men when they're defeated. You must collect all of these before they vanish in order to keep your score multiplier going. That collectible aspect forces you to utilize the playing field in very different ways than the typical shooter. Initially Dangun is definitely one of Cave's easier shmups - playing it attempting to collect every one of those ricocheting disco man makes it fiendishly difficult. And the music is pretty disco-wacky to boot. futurememory fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Dec 4, 2012 |
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Dec 4, 2012 23:55
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What does Gyruss qualify as? Because I spent many an hour listening to 8-bit Bach and screaming words at a 19" TV that my mom didn't want me to say.
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Dec 4, 2012 23:55
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So are there any good shmups on iOS?
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Dec 4, 2012 23:59
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Funktor posted:So are there any good shmups on iOS? You can get versions of Dodonpachi, Mushihimesama and Darius on there amongst many others. The controls make it hard to have any sort of precision in my experience, especially if you're trying to play it on a tiny phone screen. They're not bad for killing a little time on the train and such though.
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Dec 5, 2012 00:01
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Breaky posted:What does Gyruss qualify as? Because I spent many an hour listening to 8-bit Bach and screaming words at a 19" TV that my mom didn't want me to say. Speaking of which, Viewpoint is a good example of an isometric shmup. It has some pretty great music too, the boss theme has James Brown samples in it.
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Dec 5, 2012 00:01
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waddler posted:Hey, Gradius V is a perfectly fine horishmup. Gradius V is an amazing game, and I really want it to come back as part of an HD Gradius collection. I'd also like an HD remake of Einhander, and a blue Bugatti while I'm at it.  Recently picked up the Under Defeat HD Deluxe Edition off of Amazon. Probably not the wisest purchase, but I'm having fun with it. Wish it was a bit longer (other than a new loop).
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Dec 5, 2012 00:01
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Jamestown really is a great game, even if you don't normally care too much for bullet hell shooters. Also, does anyone else find they do better with an arcade-style joystick? I tend to spaz more on a controller and run into poo poo
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Dec 5, 2012 00:02
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futurememory posted:I dabble in shumps occasionally. I love that they're pretty much a distillation of pure gameplay - reflexes, concentration, etc. They're completely on the opposite end of the spectrum from my other favorite genres (mainly anything heavily narrative-based). It's the yin and yang of gaming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHJk9UY2TyA  I need to track this down loving stat. Getting a really strong Truxton vibe on top of all of the funk.
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Dec 5, 2012 00:04
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Dangun is definitely fun. I love the voice when you get a certain number of flying disco men. "Bring it on down!" The true last boss is kind of a joke though, you're completely invincible during the fight unless you use a bomb Zeether fucked around with this message at 00:08 on Dec 5, 2012 |
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Dec 5, 2012 00:06
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waddler posted:Also, I think Psikyo should be added to the company list. (Gunbird, Strikers 1945; really short stages, really fast bullets) I put a lot of time into Strikers 1945 III/1999, and saw more of it in arcades than anything Cave. Love me some Dragon Blaze. Basically just a fantasy Gunbird reskin but the environments are great and it has a little 3D animation thrown in.    e: pics MMF Freeway fucked around with this message at 00:10 on Dec 5, 2012 |
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Dec 5, 2012 00:07
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The DoDonPachi & RS discs practically lived in my Saturn full time. Sadly I can't really play shmups any more as my eyes just can't focus/process everything fast enough. Dizzy city. For those with $$$ Cave is releasing a collection on XB360. Japan only of course. http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00AE12R1K/liveod3-22/ref=nosim/
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Dec 5, 2012 00:08
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Ohgod I just remembered how much of my young life was wasted playing 1943. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZwD1yGsG7A The irony of a Japanese game company making a game about American planes shooting Japanese ones was not lost on me as a child.
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Dec 5, 2012 00:09
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Ludicrous G. Gibs posted:Hey, don't forget Compile! Their magnum opus Zanac X Zanac is a must-play and my vote for one of the best shmups ever made. I was just planning on finally picking Zanac X Zanac up since it JUST got a release on PSN TODAY! http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/12/04/grab-6-gungho-psone-imports-on-psn-today/ luncheon meat posted:For those with $$$ Cave is releasing a collection on XB360. Japan only of course. http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00AE12R1K/liveod3-22/ref=nosim/ Wow - that translates to about $300 US. Jesus. Xbox 360 has a bunch of good Cave games - may of them released locally or available region free. I paid almost $90 for Mushihimesama Futari and it was well worth it! You can get it for like half that now and it's region free. Really fun game with plenty of different modes. Also - I think the US release of Akai Katana is usually only like 15 or 20 on Amazon, if you want some Cave Hori-action that isn't as creepy as Deathsmiles. Honestly though - everyone should play Deathsmiles if you can get over the embarrassing bits. Really fun and not as Brutal as some other games - plus its very inexpensive. pvax fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Dec 5, 2012 |
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Dec 5, 2012 00:29
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voltron lion force posted:Love me some Dragon Blaze. Basically just a fantasy Gunbird reskin but the environments are great and it has a little 3D animation thrown in.  The scoring system is much better than GB2 so you should check it out despite your preconceptions about Psikyo. Definitely in my all-time top 5.
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Dec 5, 2012 00:35
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I dunno if twin stick shooters really jibe with the whole shmup scene or count as their own thing, but Bangai-O (DC, XBLA) and its sequel Bangai-O Spirits (NDS) are a ton of fun. Not really scrolling with big ol' bosses or anything, but it definitely borders on bullet hell on some stages and is a great game to play in small chunks for the spastic but short stages.
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Dec 5, 2012 00:46
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I loving love shmups. Glad to see a place for it on SA. The most newest shmup I've recently enjoyed is Eschatos. Comes with Cardinal Sins and Judgement Silversword as well. luncheon meat posted:The DoDonPachi & RS discs practically lived in my Saturn full time. Sadly I can't really play shmups any more as my eyes just can't focus/process everything fast enough. Dizzy city. Got another link to it besides the amazon link? Maybe you can link me to it on play-asia. I'm just curious if it's region free (a lot of X360 shmups have been), because drat, I'm interested.
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Dec 5, 2012 01:41
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pvax posted:I was just planning on finally picking Zanac X Zanac up since it JUST got a release on PSN TODAY! It's such a good game. As mentioned in the OP, it uses an adaptive AI system that ended up being modified into what you see in Raizing's games. There's a huge variety of subweapons and the AI adapts to what you're using. For instance, if you've got powerful but low-spread forward-firing weapons, it gradually ramps up attacks to your sides. If you're using a low fire rate weapon, you'll see a lot more popcorn enemies in an attempt to catch you between shots. There's a huge variety of weaponry available to the player, something like 40 different options spread out between four ships, and it takes all of them into account as far as I can tell.
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Dec 5, 2012 02:48
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Ludicrous G. Gibs posted:It's such a good game. As mentioned in the OP, it uses an adaptive AI system that ended up being modified into what you see in Raizing's games. There's a huge variety of subweapons and the AI adapts to what you're using. For instance, if you've got powerful but low-spread forward-firing weapons, it gradually ramps up attacks to your sides. If you're using a low fire rate weapon, you'll see a lot more popcorn enemies in an attempt to catch you between shots. There's a huge variety of weaponry available to the player, something like 40 different options spread out between four ships, and it takes all of them into account as far as I can tell.
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Dec 5, 2012 02:49
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fivegears4reverse posted:I'd also like an HD remake of Einhander, and a blue Bugatti while I'm at it. I wish they'd do a sequel more than anything. The original's good, but definitely had its flaws to iron out (i.e. a bunch of bosses were designed in a way that their difficult attack patterns were linked to parts that could be destroyed very easily)
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Dec 5, 2012 03:23
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I found this documentary a few days ago while looking for videos of Toaplan games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AHhkq7p3Qw It only focuses on Japanese games and consequently ignores any contributions Western games had on the genre. The games it covers go through 2005, so it's not too dated.
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Dec 5, 2012 05:07
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