Yeah there are many shmup fans who are let cold by bullet hell shmups. This has always wondered me, why doesn't bullet hell titles interest some shmup fans? I used to love old-school shmups and when I tried bullet hell, I absolutely loved it. Guess it is a matter of taste and preference.dock said:
Shoot the Core! - Gaf Shoot em Up (aka Shooter/SHMUP) Reference Thread
- Thread starter fatty
- Start date
What is the general consensus on Triggerheart Excelica? I kinda like the demo, but I'm still on the fence.
It took me a long time to get into them. They seemed completely unfair and I did not feel like I was getting any better at it when I kept trying. Slowly but surely my brain started to be able to work with the patterns and not seize up when the screen was filled with bullets. I still prefer less chaotic shooters, like Raiden, but I'll sink time into bullet hells as well.hipgnosis said:
added_time
Member
dock said:
I'm the same way.
Growing up, I LOVED the Raiden series of games so I thought I would love all games of this genre.
The bullet-hell stuff makes me sort of indifferent somehow.. the weird thing is that I still buy all the ones that come out anyways just because they sort of remind me of having so much fun with Raiden II when I was younger.
The games that I love are Raiden, Ikaruga, R-Type, Gradius and Einhander. Things like Aero Fighters were fun to me as well.
I'll keep buying the bullet-hell stuff but I really want things like those games I just mentioned.
sixteen-bit
Member
If you have a PS3, check out Shienryu off PSN. It wants to be Raiden and is fairly competent. Zanac x Zanac is another old-school style vert shooter that might interest you but it's only available on J-PSN (and J-PS1 of course, but it's kinda scarce).added_time said:
JustAnotherOtaku
Member
Got started into Bullet Soul today. Enjoying it quite a bit, it's certainly a lot different to Eschatos!
There are some really nice bullet patterns in it. By that I mean that they are fun to avoid and traverse. Really like the ones the boss of stage 3 uses.
It's so frantic too! The music definitely adds to it but there's just so much going on, again, especially when compared with Eschatos.
Oh and yeah, the bosses definitely take quite a while to defeat
There are some really nice bullet patterns in it. By that I mean that they are fun to avoid and traverse. Really like the ones the boss of stage 3 uses.
It's so frantic too! The music definitely adds to it but there's just so much going on, again, especially when compared with Eschatos.
Oh and yeah, the bosses definitely take quite a while to defeat
Nice thread, I'll have to read through it some time, as I've recently become intrested in grabbing a couple of shooters for fun... thinking of:
1942 : Joint Strike
Ikaruga
Death Smiles (Or some wacky Japanese one?)
Is there any horizental "old-school" type ones with WW2 planes on the XBLA/PSN I may have missed, or anyone can recommend I check out?
1942 : Joint Strike
Ikaruga
Death Smiles (Or some wacky Japanese one?)
Is there any horizental "old-school" type ones with WW2 planes on the XBLA/PSN I may have missed, or anyone can recommend I check out?
Recently I rekindled a love for Sky Kid!
Weirdly, I didn't even think of this as a shmup for a long time, possibly because it uses the rare right-to-left movement direction. The player has a specific goal which they can fail or succeed with, and the levels are short. It's also cute and cheerful and gets away from the dreary space theme.
Does anyone know of any other games that have any similar feel to Sky Kid, in terms of simple controls, or objective based levels?
Weirdly, I didn't even think of this as a shmup for a long time, possibly because it uses the rare right-to-left movement direction. The player has a specific goal which they can fail or succeed with, and the levels are short. It's also cute and cheerful and gets away from the dreary space theme.
Does anyone know of any other games that have any similar feel to Sky Kid, in terms of simple controls, or objective based levels?
To Far Away Times
Member
Went to Denjin Arcade today and got my ass kicked hard by Progear, but it was fun.
sixteen-bit
Member
Try the demo. It has a neat slingshot mechanic.nexen said:
That is pretty cool! I usually get to around stage 23 and then choke up (even on easy). That was mostly on the handheld version but I should be able to do better on the 360 with the stick...possibly 1cc it. Though I tend to play medium because the scoring is more gratifying.hipgnosis said:
Anybody getting Otomedius tomorrow? Looks more fun than the first. Better and cooler space backgrounds. I gotta go to Poland till early May for work but it will be my big title waiting for me when I get back.
Btw, did you guys see this cave Akai Katana special release? Too funny:
http://www.cave-shop.jp/fs/caveshop/reserve_akaikatana360/akaikatana360_a
JustAnotherOtaku
Member
hipgnosis said:
Nice one man! Best I've done is 4 continues I think. Some silly deaths though so I'm sure if I keep at it I can 1CC it.
But yeah, the OST is mindblowingly good. Comes very close to surpassing even the greatest shmup OST (IMO anyway!) which is the one from Espgaluda.
JustAnotherOtaku
Member
Yes Boss! said:
Not for me, at least not yet anyway. Looking forward to impressions if anyone else us buying it this week though
Heh, yeah that SE is pretty cool. Really looking forward to Akai Katana!
TheFightingFish
Member
So I'm actually now just starting up with playing SHMUPs as an old gamer. They just fit into my life nicely as I can sit down and play them for short little bursts at a time, and while I don't have the time to practice for high scores I like just trying to do playthroughs on a single credit (or small number of set continues for the really hard ones).
So far I've just played Ikaruga (love it) and I recently picked up Deathsmiles from the Arksys Japan relief sale. And while I started to play and enjoy Deathsmiles, well I have to say that the whole loli theme bugs me more than I thought that it would. So I think I'm going to sell it off, but I'd love to try something else by Cave, since I enjoyed the basic gameplay. What are my options with a US 360 for games that play like Deathsmiles, but without any creepy themes?
So far I've just played Ikaruga (love it) and I recently picked up Deathsmiles from the Arksys Japan relief sale. And while I started to play and enjoy Deathsmiles, well I have to say that the whole loli theme bugs me more than I thought that it would. So I think I'm going to sell it off, but I'd love to try something else by Cave, since I enjoyed the basic gameplay. What are my options with a US 360 for games that play like Deathsmiles, but without any creepy themes?
sixteen-bit
Member
If you like your shooters to have spaceships instead of children, I suppose Eschatos would work (Japanese import, but it works fine on a North American 360). Raiden Fighters Aces and Raiden IV both saw domestic releases too.TheFightingFish said:
TheFightingFish
Member
LiK said:
Sorry I'm not trying to be offensive with the "creepy" line. I'm sure that the game theme doesn't bug some people, but I have a daughter and the way the game is trying to push some sort of sex appeal on underaged girls (listing the ages on the select screen), well I just don't like it. Not trying to judge the game or folks who play it, but it's not for me.
Tain said:
This is out in the US? Region free maybe?
This is awesome! I'd buy that in an instant if I had some extra cash.Yes Boss! said:
Mushihimesama Futari is region free. You can buy it here for cheap (not an affilink): http://www.play-asia.com/Mushihimesama_Futari_Ver_1.5_Platinum_Collection/paOS-13-71-br-49-en-70-3yu5.html It is out of stock at the moment though, but I'm sure there will be a restock soon.TheFightingFish said:
TheFightingFish
Member
Thanks for the suggestions all!
Guwange looks like the next one that I'll try since the $10 XBLA price is the easiest to swallow. Mushihimesame Futari also looks nice, I always thought that region free imports were really pricey, but $40 (w/ shipping) from Play-Asia looks pretty nice to me, though it does say out of stock right now. Hopefully it gets back in sometime. Maybe Raiden Fighter Aces after that as that is cheap as well and would let me try something from yet another company.
Regarding Muchi Muchi Pork / Pink Sweets that someone suggested I don't really have an issue with that. It's more the underage thing with Deathsmiles that bugs me. But really, what is the deal with Cave games? They really have some bizarre themes for their games, are they just easier to sell in Japan that way?
Guwange looks like the next one that I'll try since the $10 XBLA price is the easiest to swallow. Mushihimesame Futari also looks nice, I always thought that region free imports were really pricey, but $40 (w/ shipping) from Play-Asia looks pretty nice to me, though it does say out of stock right now. Hopefully it gets back in sometime. Maybe Raiden Fighter Aces after that as that is cheap as well and would let me try something from yet another company.
Regarding Muchi Muchi Pork / Pink Sweets that someone suggested I don't really have an issue with that. It's more the underage thing with Deathsmiles that bugs me. But really, what is the deal with Cave games? They really have some bizarre themes for their games, are they just easier to sell in Japan that way?
CAVE has their own lil hooks which works for me.TheFightingFish said:
Btw, check out my top ten shmups vid for 360 for other suggestions. All playable on US 360. Vid doesn't have any recent releases cuz I made it last year. Hope it helps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9hU_LUqIkk
sixteen-bit
Member
Yeah TheFightingFish, Cave probably wants latch on to the otaku crowd due to loyalty and tendency to purchase all related merchandise too (OSTs, figures, etc.)
Raiden Fighters Aces is my favorite shooter package. 3 games and they are all fantastic to good. Lots of ships and secrets and I love the scoring mechanic on Raiden Fighters 1 and 2. (Floating medals are annoying on Jet)TheFightingFish said:
Plus you can get it dirt cheap these days.
It is soooo good.
Oh man Espgaluda II and Mushihimesama Futari look like a blast.LiK said:
edit: oh Espgaluda II is getting a platinum hits release next week that is half price. It should still be region-free, right?
sixteen-bit
Member
Espgaluda II platinum will be region free, yes.
adversesolutions
Member
Eschatos officially frustrating me.
1. Perspective changes that leave you with no way to judge the "depth" of bullets, leading you to eat shit. This is particularly true of the egg boss around mission 12. To a certain extent, you can memorize what to do, but when it doesn't work it's super frustrating.
2. So many random ways to lose your multiplier. You have to kill enemies by area, and once you do that, another set of enemy spawns. If you happen to kill the last enemy in an area on the left or right of the screen, and if the next enemies spawning are the "track your ship" variety, half of the spawn will appear off-screen which you can't kill leading you to completely lose the multiplier you had worked up.
3. There is one boss attack in the game that seems completely unavoidable. It's the boss around stage 20 IIRC with the green core, which starts spinning its legs around the screen. No idea how to dodge this and since you can't trust your eyes in this perspective-less game, I can't figure it out. Bottom line seems to be you have to kill this boss before it reaches this attack or auto-lose one life.
I have a pretty good score in Normal mode (58 or something on the leaderboard), but I doubt I'll do any more score attacking in this mode because of the random shit that can totally spoil a run.
On the other hand, the Advanced mode is crazy interesting. When you use your shield to destroy bullets they become pink triangles which are worth points, and if you keep holding onto shield, they form a spinning barrier around your ship which can be used to attack enemies itself. Will probablyl focus on this mode, get some more achievements for Eschatos then move on to JSS and Cardinal Sins.
1. Perspective changes that leave you with no way to judge the "depth" of bullets, leading you to eat shit. This is particularly true of the egg boss around mission 12. To a certain extent, you can memorize what to do, but when it doesn't work it's super frustrating.
2. So many random ways to lose your multiplier. You have to kill enemies by area, and once you do that, another set of enemy spawns. If you happen to kill the last enemy in an area on the left or right of the screen, and if the next enemies spawning are the "track your ship" variety, half of the spawn will appear off-screen which you can't kill leading you to completely lose the multiplier you had worked up.
3. There is one boss attack in the game that seems completely unavoidable. It's the boss around stage 20 IIRC with the green core, which starts spinning its legs around the screen. No idea how to dodge this and since you can't trust your eyes in this perspective-less game, I can't figure it out. Bottom line seems to be you have to kill this boss before it reaches this attack or auto-lose one life.
I have a pretty good score in Normal mode (58 or something on the leaderboard), but I doubt I'll do any more score attacking in this mode because of the random shit that can totally spoil a run.
On the other hand, the Advanced mode is crazy interesting. When you use your shield to destroy bullets they become pink triangles which are worth points, and if you keep holding onto shield, they form a spinning barrier around your ship which can be used to attack enemies itself. Will probablyl focus on this mode, get some more achievements for Eschatos then move on to JSS and Cardinal Sins.
The other 194X games I've played, even the original classic one, all have a good snappy feel and are competantly executed.RustyO said:
1945: JS feels like a cheap knock off/cash-in of the series. It just doesn't play well.
I believe there is a demo for download?
In other news Deathsmiles is growing on me.
Worthintendo
Member
Hey SHMUP Gaf, I was wondering if anyone could suggest any decent SHMUPs to get for the SNES.
So far I've got
Parodius
Gokujo Parodius
Darius Twin
Gardius 3
Axely
R-Type 3
I'm looking at picking up Darius Force and the 3rd Parodius game on SNES as well as the Macross game. But is there anything else I should have a look at?
So far I've got
Parodius
Gokujo Parodius
Darius Twin
Gardius 3
Axely
R-Type 3
I'm looking at picking up Darius Force and the 3rd Parodius game on SNES as well as the Macross game. But is there anything else I should have a look at?
To Far Away Times
Member
Thunderforce AC, Though if you have a Sega Genesis I would recommend Thunderforce 3 over AC.Worthintendo said:
To Far Away Times
Member
Cotton is really good. Definitely worth looking into.luka said:
Worthintendo
Member
I actually already have that for Neo Geo Pocket, one of the first games I got when I embarked on my quest to complete the NGPC collection. Is it still worth getting the SNES one if I already have that one?To Far Away Times said:
Strummerjones
Member
nexen said:
I personally really like Triggerheart Excelica, but I think it's looked down upon by the hardcore for being a bit easy and slight. For 800 MS points thought, it's a good buy with a really neat central gameplay mechanic and some fun levels.
To Far Away Times
Member
Triggerheart is pretty good. Some of the boss fights and later stages are pretty tough. Try the demo and see if you like the swinging mechanic.Strummerjones said:
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
RustyO said:
If you don't mind scrolling around a bit here's a review I did.
http://www.xblaratings.com/component/content/article/49-coin-op-classics/50-1942-joint-strike
Basically the game is a pile of shit.
adversesolutions
Member
Reporting in on Eschatos!
So...
I hate this game.
I hate it and Judgement Silversword too.
1. Perspective changes that get you killed.
- You can sort of get used to how to dodge when you're flipped around, but you still find yourself randomly getting sniped pretty often.
2. Controls
- You can't switch from wide shot to focused shot without a little delay opening up and getting you killed. This leads to so many obnoxious deaths, and winds up requiring you to memorize where and when to switch weapons. This is just for survival too, I'm not even talking about scoring yet! lol
3. Enemies that attack from behind
-Obnoxious. Deal-withable but unnecessary.
4. Rote memorization of levels or you absolutely will die.
-In Eschatos' case, the rote memorization requires you to destroy every enemy on-screen or risk losing all of your paltry multiplier. In JS, your shield is just a real pain to get used to, requiring you to leave about 1/4 of screen distance before a bullet finally gets destroyed.
Both games are stressful and non-fun.
I'm still playing, because I try to go as far as possible in any game I buy, but I'm looking forward to going back to funner games.
So...
I hate this game.
I hate it and Judgement Silversword too.
1. Perspective changes that get you killed.
- You can sort of get used to how to dodge when you're flipped around, but you still find yourself randomly getting sniped pretty often.
2. Controls
- You can't switch from wide shot to focused shot without a little delay opening up and getting you killed. This leads to so many obnoxious deaths, and winds up requiring you to memorize where and when to switch weapons. This is just for survival too, I'm not even talking about scoring yet! lol
3. Enemies that attack from behind
-Obnoxious. Deal-withable but unnecessary.
4. Rote memorization of levels or you absolutely will die.
-In Eschatos' case, the rote memorization requires you to destroy every enemy on-screen or risk losing all of your paltry multiplier. In JS, your shield is just a real pain to get used to, requiring you to leave about 1/4 of screen distance before a bullet finally gets destroyed.
Both games are stressful and non-fun.
I'm still playing, because I try to go as far as possible in any game I buy, but I'm looking forward to going back to funner games.
Bummer!adversesolutions said:Reporting in on Eschatos!
So...
I hate this game.
I hate it and Judgement Silversword too.
1. Perspective changes that get you killed.
- You can sort of get used to how to dodge when you're flipped around, but you still find yourself randomly getting sniped pretty often.
2. Controls
- You can't switch from wide shot to focused shot without a little delay opening up and getting you killed. This leads to so many obnoxious deaths, and winds up requiring you to memorize where and when to switch weapons. This is just for survival too, I'm not even talking about scoring yet! lol
3. Enemies that attack from behind
-Obnoxious. Deal-withable but unnecessary.
4. Rote memorization of levels or you absolutely will die.
-In Eschatos' case, the rote memorization requires you to destroy every enemy on-screen or risk losing all of your paltry multiplier. In JS, your shield is just a real pain to get used to, requiring you to leave about 1/4 of screen distance before a bullet finally gets destroyed.
Both games are stressful and non-fun.
I'm still playing, because I try to go as far as possible in any game I buy, but I'm looking forward to going back to funner games.
Even JSS. ;-(
I like this one like I lke R-Type Delta. Good times all around and a good memory-based shooter.