Shoot the Core! - Gaf Shoot ‘em Up (aka Shooter/SHMUP) Reference Thread

That's pretty exciting. Looks a good bit like Recap's (of Postback) screenshot photoshopping process that he talked about a while ago.

And it's coming to the most important emulator of them all! Man. Good times we live in.

So, how will MAME use it? MAME's PNG overlay effects never interested me much, but this obviously can't be a simple PNG overlay. I'm assuming this is part of some whole new effect system?
 
I never cared for any of the fake scanline filters either, but this new one looks really nice. It immediately reminded me of those Postback photoshops, like Tain mentioned. Except it's real!
 
Dexa said:
i´ve never understood the appeal of scanlines - sure its retro, but it looks like shit :O
You think so? Many times sprites are drawn to be displayed on screens that look that way. Some games actually look really weird and wrong to me in their native resolutions with progressive scan (CPS2 games for instance).
 
All right, Bullet Soul or Eschatos? Anyone have both, or either one, and can recommend one over the other? Tell me what your STG tastes are like as well, if you can. I want to buy one of them, but want to get the one better suited to my tastes. I like Gradius, R-Types, Zanac 2, Truxton, Dodonpachi, Thunderforce 3,4,5,6 (yes 6 too). I like Ibara, Espgaluda, and Pink Sweets too. Ah, hell, that's way too broad.
 
Baron said:
All right, Bullet Soul or Eschatos? Anyone have both, or either one, and can recommend one over the other? Tell me what your STG tastes are like as well, if you can. I want to buy one of them, but want to get the one better suited to my tastes. I like Gradius, R-Types, Zanac 2, Truxton, Dodonpachi, Thunderforce 3,4,5,6 (yes 6 too). I like Ibara, Espgaluda, and Pink Sweets too. Ah, hell, that's way too broad.
They are both great. You seem to like everything.

Bullet Soul.

Go for Bullet Soul if you just want a super fun and high-quality classic shooter...kinda like the older Hudson classics with some nice psuedo bullet-hell patterns. Having all the bullets cancel often is empowering even if it is mostly for show. Great soundtrack (not butt-rock, but catchy and uplifting). Play for survival. Characters and artwork is cool...especially the space police chick. Bosses are fun to take apart piece by piece and are lengthy battles.

Eschatos.

The game proper is loaded with modes. Artwork is a little jank but fun if you know the original games. Advanced Mode is top-shelf and holds its own against newer shooters. And the package comes with all the originals. These are great fun with your arcade stick and look awesome on an HDTV. It has Cardinal Sins which a great twist on the carnaval/caravan shooter and dovetails nicely with the Judgement subtitle from the first game...you get graded at the end and a run is only ten minutes. Equisite fun. Lots of Unlockables in the Eschatos package. Set has incredibly cool old-school music to get your heart racing.

I'd give the edge to Eschatos but you know you will likely pick 'em both up eventually so just pick the one you you want to play first and go for it!
 
Baron said:
All right, Bullet Soul or Eschatos? Anyone have both, or either one, and can recommend one over the other? Tell me what your STG tastes are like as well, if you can. I want to buy one of them, but want to get the one better suited to my tastes. I like Gradius, R-Types, Zanac 2, Truxton, Dodonpachi, Thunderforce 3,4,5,6 (yes 6 too). I like Ibara, Espgaluda, and Pink Sweets too. Ah, hell, that's way too broad.

I guess I'll make things even more confusing...

I recently got both - and BOTH are great...but I give the edge to Bullet Soul for the amount of crazy action and awesome graphics. If Thunderforce 3 was made into a bullet hell top down shooter, you would get Bullet Soul. Great environments, awesome high paced action, great fast music and everything explodes really nice. Weak point is lack of different weapons - but Eschatos has the same issue.

But like I said - both are awesome games. You win either way.
 
I'm gonna side with Gunstarhero here. Eschatos is great, but I think I have just a tad more fun with Bullet Soul due to the presentation.
 
iconoclast said:
Saw this on shmups, but check out this new CRT screen filter for MAME (that hasn't been released yet).

Progear: http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/8320/greatestfilterever.png

Ketsui: http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/4844/ket.png

Metal Slug: http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/6295/mslug.png

It's glorious.
I guess since CRTs monitors are dying out, people need ways to try and reproduce it on an LCD. I could just mess with my CRT settings and turn on scanlines if I wanted to make the game look worse.

Already bugged that my CRT Monitor is starting to get some natural curvature that I can't fix with the settings.
 
nexen said:
Just watched video of bullet soul. Can you constantly cancel all the enemy bullets?
You don't really "cancel" them. When you kill the enemy that shot them, the bullets "die" too, becoming translucent, ghostly grey "bullet souls" (hence the name of the game, eh?). You can collect these souls for either points or power-ups, I can't remember right now.

Oh, and Space Cop Hottie is an awesome design. Arguably better than Space Burger King.
 
Dambrosi said:
You don't really "cancel" them. When you kill the enemy that shot them, the bullets "die" too, becoming translucent, ghostly grey "bullet souls" (hence the name of the game, eh?). You can collect these souls for either points or power-ups, I can't remember right now.

Oh, and Space Cop Hottie is an awesome design. Arguably better than Space Burger King.
It looks good but a bit on the easy side? Maybe I'm watching a low difficulty playthrough. Is it region free?
 
Tain said:
I've heard that Bullet Soul is pretty boring-easy regardless. The videos certainly make it look that way.

Its boring in a sense that it doesn't quite offer the same challenge of a Cave shooter, but it's presentation, levels, music and characters are pretty exciting. It's reminds me of a lot of old school shooters like Truxton, but the character designs feel a little like the anime Outlaw Star.

If you're looking for more of a challenge Eschatos is the way to go. It really is a win-win, just depends what you're in the mood for.
 
Tain said:
I've heard that Bullet Soul is pretty boring-easy regardless. The videos certainly make it look that way.
Hard to me. Some of the patterns are insane and the bosses take so long to kill. Its definitely a bit more on the endurance scale. Trying to stay focused was rough.
 
Dambrosi said:
You don't really "cancel" them. When you kill the enemy that shot them, the bullets "die" too, becoming translucent, ghostly grey "bullet souls" (hence the name of the game, eh?). You can collect these souls for either points or power-ups, I can't remember right now.

Oh, and Space Cop Hottie is an awesome design. Arguably better than Space Burger King.

Are you sure that you actually collect the canceled bullets? I don't notice that at all when I play. In fact, the only scoring mechanic I can notice is quick shotting enemies as soon as they come on screen and the various destroy bonuses. Reminds me of Raiden IV with thicker bullet patterns and bullet canceling.

I really like the look of Bullet Soul though, looks great for a 3d shmup. Music is really good too. I think it's a fun game for survival. Supposedly they are adding another mode, which it could really use.

Still need to pick up Eschatos....should have got that instead of Otomedius X -_-
 
Baron said:
All right, Bullet Soul or Eschatos? Anyone have both, or either one, and can recommend one over the other? Tell me what your STG tastes are like as well, if you can. I want to buy one of them, but want to get the one better suited to my tastes. I like Gradius, R-Types, Zanac 2, Truxton, Dodonpachi, Thunderforce 3,4,5,6 (yes 6 too). I like Ibara, Espgaluda, and Pink Sweets too. Ah, hell, that's way too broad.
I'd definitely go with Eschatos. Bullet Soul is pretty fun, but has only one mode and can get kinda boring after a while.

Eschatos on the other hand has tons of modes + 2 Wonderswan roms, and they are all great games. Eschatos also has one of the best shmup soundtracks of all time, so fucking good.
 
hipgnosis said:
I'd definitely go with Eschatos. Bullet Souls is pretty fun, but has only one mode and can get kinda boring after a while.

Eschatos on the other hand has tons of modes + 2 Wonderswan roms, and they are all great games. Eschatos also has one of the best shmup soundtracks of all time, so fucking good.

those Wonderswan roms are sooo much fun. i was surprised how much i played them, lol.
 
Oh, man - all the posts on the Bullet Soul/Eschatos dilemma...I of course eventually want to pick up both of them, but the one to get first is the hard part. This praise for both games isn't helping me! :P

How about this - does one printing seem more limited than the other? Is there any indication that one of them will be out of print sooner than the other? Because I will get that one first, heh.
 
depths20XX said:
Are you sure that you actually collect the canceled bullets?
You can collect them, but there really is no point. They don't really add to your score or increase the meter. Kinda funny the game is called Bullet Soul and yet those souls are completely useless and irrelevant.

It's a fun game nevertheless and I'm not a hater by any means.
 
Which modern non-bullet hell shooters do people recommend?

I never really warmed to Cave games because of this, and my favourite games remain oldies like Parodius Fantastic Journey and Salamander, but I also love Radiant Silvergun.
 
dock said:
Which modern non-bullet hell shooters do people recommend?

I never really warmed to Cave games because of this, and my favourite games remain oldies like Parodius Fantastic Journey and Salamander, but I also love Radiant Silvergun.
Thunder Force VI.
 
Finaika said:
Thunder Force VI.
Sadly, that's the first thing that came to mind too. Don't bother though, it's pretty bad. Likewise, stuff like Otomedius is the only real example of current generation hori shooters and I'd have a hard time recommending it, even as the world's biggest Gradius/Parodius fan.

If you're willing to stretch your definition of modern back to the PS1 era though, there are tons of great hori shmups there.
 
herzogzwei1989 said:
Thunder Force III on Genesis remains, to this day, THE KING OF SHMUPS, in my eyes.
Thunder Force III has this great pacing to it and a certain level of aggressiveness that makes it so damn good. That game has so much character.
 
Yes Boss! said:
Gradius V (PS2) and Gradius Rebirth (Wii) are both great.
d'oh. How did I forget Gradius V. I have it on my shelf right in front of me. Glorious game.

There's also R-Type final. It's decent, but you're better off playing Delta.
 
dock said:
Which modern non-bullet hell shooters do people recommend?
Strania on XBLA is pretty decent. Apart from that I'm at a loss, since basically all the recent shmups I've played have been bullet hell. I suppose there's Otomedius Excellent coming out soon, but I can't really recommend that to anyone.

herzogzwei1989 said:
Thunder Force III on Genesis remains, to this day, THE KING OF SHMUPS, in my eyes.
Never warmed to III in the same way I did IV, not least because III's bosses are made of paper. IV just generally felt more polished. Also dat soundtrack.
 
dock said:
Which modern non-bullet hell shooters do people recommend?

I never really warmed to Cave games because of this, and my favourite games remain oldies like Parodius Fantastic Journey and Salamander, but I also love Radiant Silvergun.

Strania is a modern shmup that has some old school vibes. I don't think its super amazing, but its fun and worth playing for fans of the genre. It's on XBLA, so there's a demo and its only $10.

luka said:
Sadly, that's the first thing that came to mind too. Don't bother though, it's pretty bad. Likewise, stuff like Otomedius is the only real example of current generation hori shooters and I'd have a hard time recommending it, even as the world's biggest Gradius/Parodius fan.

If you're willing to stretch your definition of modern back to the PS1 era though, there are tons of great hori shmups there.

Thunder Force VI isn't that bad...

And I agree about the PS1 era shmups. The PlayStation had a ton of great shmups.

Some horizontal non-bullet hell games on the PS1:
Einhander
G-Darius
Darius Gaiden
Thunder Force V
Cotton
 
To Far Away Times said:
Some horizontal non-bullet hell games on the PS1:
Einhander
G-Darius
Darius Gaiden
Thunder Force V
Cotton
Gradius Gaiden
R-Type Delta
Harmful Park
Jikkyo Oshaberi Parodius: Forever With Me

Plus a bunch of near-perfect arcade ports :)
 
luka said:
R-Type Delta

^ A billion times this.

Also does fatty update the OP ever? Quite a few missing games that I guess would help to add. I'm currently playing a lot of MuchiMuchiPork from the MuchiMuchiPork & PinkSweets Double Pack. Love them chubby girls.

Also, wort importing Mamoru-kun for PS3 since that's region free. Do it! Eschatos and Bullet Soul also has no region protection. Eschatos looks especially tasty and has a fantastic soundtrack by Yousuke Yasui who also did Mamoru-kun. But I'm sure you knew that :)

Espgaluda II Black Label and Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 are now Platinum so they're ridiculously cheap to import and STILL REGION FREE. Get on it.
 
Is Harmful Park worth it for like 15,000 yen (180 bucks)?

no - it's cute and all that but it's extremely easy and a bit sedate

(i'm selling mine right now as well)
 
Finaika said:
Thunder Force VI.

I'd agree with this. By no means the best Thunder Force games, but I really enjoyed it. Some fantastic music too.

Also, for the person asking for recommendations, if you have a Dreamcast the shmups that came out a few years back like Under Defeat, Karous and Trigger Heart Exelica are all excellent.
 
Going to play some Thunder Force III tonight cause of this thread. Been awhile

Also, Raystorm for PS1 is very, very good. I think it is up pn US PSN store now (as well as the J-store). Looks and plays ace on your PSP.
 
Yes Boss! said:
Also, Raystorm for PS1 is very, very good. I think it is up pn US PSN store now (as well as the J-store). Looks and plays ace on your PSP.

I'm very upset it's not on EU store. :( Had a copy of that but sold it for some stupid reason.
 
Everyday Shooter falls into this category I believe. So are there any tips someone whom may have complete the game can share? I get stuck in the robot/eyeball stage.
 
Top Bottom