Intergalactic Shmuppreciation Month!

[DeepInTheHops]

...is almost over. I kind of dropped the ball on that one.

I know there are a few shmup (a.k.a. shoot-em-up, a.k.a. 2D shooter, a.k.a. STG [Japanese abbreviation for ShooTing Game ] ) fans here, but some of you might be missing out on the seizure-inducing madness.

Instead of taking the time to write something original, I'll just post the relevant links to get you started:

What is Intergalactic Shmuppreciation Month?
NeoGAF thread to get you started on your path to shmupdom
A thread at Shmups Forum that I totally blew off and didn't read until recently

I strongly favor more modern shmups, and in fact I grew up during the golden era of shmups (80's - early 90's) but didn't like them back then. For the most part I still don't like shmups from that era.

Some great Cave games have come to Xbox 360, Cave being the biggest shmup dev these days:
Espgaluda II - Region free! (standard edition)
Mushihimesama Futari - Region free!
Death Smiles - Region locked but a US version will be coming out
Ketsui - Region locked. The reason I bought a Japanese 360. (long story short, this game has been repeatedly delayed, and to this day I don't have any games that couldn't be played on a US console)

Some of the games from the Raiden series have been released in the US as budget titles:
Raiden Fighters Aces (compilation of Raiden Fighters, Raiden Fighters 2, and fan favorite Raiden Fighters Jet)
Raiden IV (has more of an old-school feel)

...and I could go on but you get the idea. Before VOOT came along these kind of games took up most of my gaming time. They're generally easy to pick up, but a total bitch to master. Although modern shmups with a zillion bullets aren't quite as hard as they look... they're designed to overwhelm you even though only a fraction of the bullets are actually a threat to you.

One notable shmup for VOOT fans is Senko no Ronde, which was released as the budget title Wartech outside of Japan. Basically it's like a bastard child of Virtual On and a shmup. So you'd think I'd have played a lot of it? No, just a few times at a friend's place, and it didn't click with me at the time. Although I did pre-order the sequel, Senko no Ronde Duo, which will be out soon. It's region locked, and given the crappy sales of Wartech, may not see a US release.


So go dodge some bullets up blow some stuff up.

[Zaarock]

shmups on XBLA:

Ikaruga - vertical scrolling, centers on polarity change mechanic
Raystorm HD - port of the second game of the ray-series by Taito
Triggerheart Exelica - vertical scrolling, centers on enemy throwing mechanic
R-Type Dimensions
1942: Joint Strike
Galaga Legions - vertical, centers on fighting waves of enemies, you can place pods to shoot on their own. gets pretty manic in the last two stages.
Space Invaders Extreme
Omega Five - sidescrolling area shooter
Aegis Wing
Death By Cube - arena shooter that centers on a giga-wing style shield system and a dash attack that stuns enemies
Mutant Storm(s) - arena shooters with lots of enemy types and levels
Geometry Wars - arena shooters
Powerup Forever
0 Day attack on earth

Guwange XBLA - port of the Cave shmup, announced to be a worldwide release!


I would definitely get Senko no Ronde DUO if I had a jp 360.. first game was awesome and the reason why I even found out about VOOT. Was going to buy a jp 360 but this is pretty much the only game I'd buy one for now.

edit: added stuff I forgot

[DeepInTheHops]

Oh yeah, I should have mentioned the XBLA ones. I'm not a fan of Ikaruga, but it is easily the best of the bunch. Geometry Wars 2 is the only one I really like.

Also on XBLA was:

- 1942 Joint Strike, but meh.
- R-Type Dimensions. It wouldn't be fair of me to judge this one since I've never liked R-Type style gameplay (slow, memorization heavy)
- Aegis Wing.

Was going to buy a jp 360 but this is pretty much the only game I'd buy one for now.

Ketsui. Despite all the drama around its development, apparently all of the hands-on impressions have been positive. I've played the PCB a couple times and it is a really good game. And unlike some Cave games, the scoring system is pretty simple and fun.

[shamanic_beat]

Some of you shump fans should try Nier. They hid a bunch of shump boss fights in a RPG.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esQiZIGUI-c#t=7m1s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at4ulVvcsP0#t=2m39s

[Zaarock]

Meh, looks like The Red Star (PS2) did that idea much better. Still, cool to see minigames like that.

edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cnIx4EdRPc ,yay for music choices.

Oh yeah, seems that Raiden Fighters Aces is getting a PAL port. Hopefully the leaderboard is merged with the US version.

[shamanic_beat]

Yeah but does Red Star have a futanari in it? I think not.

[JStryke]

For my own recommendation, I'll suggest Touhou. Bullet Hell with, in my opinion, pretty good music.

Prismriver Sisters - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLa-B24NnJY
Remelia - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmMDqub_UKA
Flandre - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZu2O_JQ ... re=related

PC-98:
Highly Responsive to Prayers
Story of Eastern Wonderland
Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream
Lotus Land Story
Mystic Square

Windows:
The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
Perfect Cherry Blossom
Imperishable Night
Phantasmagoria of Flower View
Mountain of Faith
Subterranean Animism
Undefined Fantastic Object

[Zaarock]

Oh yeah, might as well add some PC games in here as well.

I'll list some of the best PC doujin shmups I've put time into(apart from touhou 'cause that is already pretty well known), probably forgot a few though:

HellSinker. - Really polished game full of secrets and awesome boss fights. the scoring system is very complex. Love the soundtrack as well, really creative mix of styles. Made by Ruminant's Whimper. (guide: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=26334 , since it can be a bit confusing at the start.)

PatriotDark - Cave style shmup, could say its like Dodonpachi + Ketsui. Quite polished, the soundtrack that comes with it sucks though.

Kamui - Shmup by Siter Skain that pays tribute to Taito's Ray-series. Lots of cool boss fights and a bullet cancelling laser is added for A+B.

RefleX - Shmup by Siter Skain where the main mechanic is a shield that reflects bullets.

Blue Wish Resurrection - very cave-y.

Cho Ren Sha 68k

Diadra Empty

Stuff by Kenta Cho/ABA Games (like Parsec47, rRootage, noiz2sa)

Plenty more to list as well. Sadly I use a mac most of the time so I dont have as much time to get into these.

[DeepInTheHops]

I got my copy of Ketsui about two weeks ago, and it is fantastic. It's definitely one of Cave's best games, if not the best, although I'll always be biased towards Dangun Feveron.

Stuff by Kenta Cho/ABA Games (like Parsec47, rRootage, noiz2sa)

Parsec47 is amazing, I was really hooked on that game for a long time. I kind of lost interest after shiftace got some ridiculously high scores, leaving me at a distant second (I only play Extreme). But he seems to have disappeared from Shmups Forum, so maybe I should try it again.

And Parsec47 is cross-platform, so no excuses not to play.

My other favorites by Kento Cho are Gunroar, Titanion, and Torus Trooper, although I haven't played any of those in a long time. The games are really fun, but they generally don't have much activity on the high score boards at Shmups Forum, which kind of kills my motivation.

[neo helbeast]

I got my copy of Ketsui about two weeks ago, and it is fantastic. It's definitely one of Cave's best games, if not the best, although I'll always be biased towards Dangun Feveron.

Stuff by Kenta Cho/ABA Games (like Parsec47, rRootage, noiz2sa)

Parsec47 is amazing, I was really hooked on that game for a long time. I kind of lost interest after shiftace got some ridiculously high scores, leaving me at a distant second (I only play Extreme). But he seems to have disappeared from Shmups Forum, so maybe I should try it again.

And Parsec47 is cross-platform, so no excuses not to play.

My other favorites by Kento Cho are Gunroar, Titanion, and Torus Trooper, although I haven't played any of those in a long time. The games are really fun, but they generally don't have much activity on the high score boards at Shmups Forum, which kind of kills my motivation.

I read that as sh tface and I thought "wat!?"

[DeepInTheHops]

So, Cave recently decided to make its fanbase crap its collective pants.

Before I list the games they're releasing, let me explain why this news is so surprising. Up until about 2 years ago, shmup development generally followed this pattern:
1. Game gets released in the arcade
2. Game remains arcade exclusive for some period of time (a year or two?). This gives arcade operators a chance to make money.
3. Console port gets released, if you're lucky. If you're really lucky, it's region free. If you're extremely lucky, the game gets released outside of Japan.

However, anything that wasn't ported within a couple years after the arcade release generally never made it to consoles. Many Cave and Raizing games never got a port, and in some cases weren't playable in MAME due to technical and/or legal reasons. So anything that was never ported or emulated was generally unplayable to people who don't have access to Japanese arcades or the cash to buy PCBs (which are like $2000 at launch and several hundred dollars years later).

However, starting about 2 years ago, other developers started getting interested in porting Cave's old games to Xbox360. So far we got Dodopachi Dai Ou Jou Black Label, Mushihimesama Futari, Espgaluda II, and Ketsui (shmup fans have been waiting for this one since 2003... I'll spare you the long, grueling story behind the port).

So having said that, Cave has announced these ports for Xbox360:

Guwange coming to XBLA. Actually, this isn't news, but I figured I'd mention it since it will be coming in a month or two. This game has been playable in MAME for years, so there's relatively little fanfare for this one. I'm not sure what's really new for the port, but I think it has a new mode for Xbox360. If nothing else, it'll be nice to get instant feedback by seeing your scores on the leaderboard, but it can also be depressing since you can see how your best effort still only gets you like 10% of a good Japanese player's score.

IIRC, Cave conducted a fan survey to see which game got ported, and this won. Strange choice, being that it's available in MAME. I guess some people would rather see a port of a game they know they like instead of taking a chance on something new.

Dangun Feveron is coming, probably via XBLA. Before I start, I have to admit this is tied for my favorite shmup (with Parsec47, which is more or less a freeware clone). It's also the most unCave Cave game; a lot of Cave fans aren't to keen on it, but shmup fans that aren't big fans of Cave seem to like it more than Cave's other games.

Compared to other Cave games, the bullets in this game are fewer in quantity but greater in speed. Plus your ship speed is really fast if you play the game correctly, so there's plenty of spastic insanity in this one. Unlike other Cave games that reward precise timing or letting the screen fill with bullets, this one wants you to kill everything as fast as you can. The game is disco themed and features a fruity announcer that you'll either love or hate. Score is based on collecting disco men that appear after destroying enemies.

Like Guwange, this has been in MAME for years, so it's probably considered lesser news amongst the bunch here.

Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu, retail Xbox360 disc this winter. This is the latest installment in the legendary Donpachi series. It's a relatively new game (2008). I've only played it once or twice, so I can't say too much about it. It seems to get universal praise from those who own the PCB, but dropping four figures on a video game probably affects your judgement. AFAIK, the difficulty was toned down from the previous game in the series, the notoriously brutal Dodonpachi Dai Ou Jou.

Pink Sweets and Muchi Muchi Pork will be released on a single disc in Spring 2011.
I've played Pink Sweets a few times, but I didn't really know what to do except shoot and dodge. The guy who owned the game tried explaining the scoring system to me, but either it's batshit insane or I have the IQ of a chimp that grew up under power lines. The one thing I do know is the music gets stuck in your head for days.

Oh, and it has some lolis if you're into that sort of thing.

I only played a couple credits of Muchi Muchi Pork, so I can't say too much about this one either. People who own the PCB seem to like it, and AFAIK the PCB is still pretty expensive despite the game being a few years old. Based on my limited experience, this is the winning half of the disc.

Oh, and it has some fat lolis if you're into that sort of thing.



Ironically I don't play shmups very often anymore. If this was three years ago, I'd have been super stoked. Also, no word yet on region locking, but I highly doubt any of these will be released outside of Japan (except for the XBLA ones, of course). Some Cave games have been region locked, some region free, so I guess we'll just wait and see.

[MentholMoose]

Thanks for the run down.

[DeepInTheHops]

Radiant Silvergun will come to XBLA next year. Updated graphics, extra crap, blah blah blah. The main attraction will be the price tag. I'm not sure what it is, but surely it'll cheaper than getting the Saturn version on eBay (typically $200 - $250 last I checked, but that was several years ago).

For those of you who aren't familiar with Radiant Silvergun, it was Treasure's first "true" shmup (i.e., not a run-and-gun like Gunstar Heroes), and it's considered by some to be the best shmup ever made. I've only played it once so I don't really have much of an opinion about it.

Naturally, this is recommended for fans of Ikaruga, as Ikaruga was Radiant Silvergun's spiritual successor.

[MasterFygar]

I just picked up Castle of Shikigami III new at GS for 10 bucks. Haven't played it yet but it looks intriguing. Will update with review when I get around to playing the thing.

[Zaarock]

Oh yeah, forgot about this thread.

Space Invaders Infinity Gene and KOF Skystage came out on xbla last wednesday.

I've been playing infinity gene since it came out (just got the 1cc an hour ago ) and have to admit its really well made. The later levels feel a lot like treasure shmup levels but with normal chaining. It's an hour long though which makes playing for score pretty exhausting.

[Zaarock]

G.Rev is going to release their next shmup, Strania, on XBLA (worldwide release). It seems to play like a modern Cybattler (you pilot a mech, multiple weapons, melee and multidirection shooting etc.) combined with some radiant silvergun-ish level design. This is a pretty sweet trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEiueb6RHIQ

So much awesome stuff coming out on XBLA now.

[DeepInTheHops]

Guwange was released this week for 800 points.

I played this game a few years ago in STGT, and it's really annoying to play for score because of the chaining (you have to keep your chain going the entire game to score well ). If you're masochistic and/or not too serious about score, it's probably worth a try at least.

I don't plan on playing it much, but I bought it to support Cave, sorta like paying them in arrears for playing it in MAME all this time.

[Zaarock]

I never played Guwange for score before this port, surprised how fun it is.. really, there are only a few spots with gaps that are a danger to your chain if you don't know them beforehand. Stage 2 and 3 boss milking sucks though. As in the arcade version, you should use the rapid fire button to deploy the shikigami faster (shot + rapid fire) and make some scoring tricks easier.

Blue arrange mode is great and the chaining is a bit more lenient so it's a nice change of pace. Looks like they also nerfed the boss milking etc. for that version. 360 arrange is also fun and the twin sticks idea works well.

[Fredo]

For those who are interested and would not already know:

-Ketsui
-DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou
-DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou Black Label
-and ESPGaluda

are now almost-perfectly emulated by Mame or ShmupMame v2.2

Now that I know that those games are emulated, that VO Force, ESPGaluda2 and MushiFutari are Region Free and that DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu and DeathSmiles are coming outside of Japan, I no longer need a Japanese Xbox 360, and this is AWESOME.

Now waiting for Radiant Silvergun, Strania, and money for all these awesome games and a new HDD.

Praised be the Xbox 360, I knew that I made the right choice when VOOT came out, now Dreamcast games and other arcade hits are coming back, I love Bill, I love my Arcade Stick, I love me, I love you all.

[Zaarock]

Anyone who likes shmups and/or mechs and/or laser sword action should try out Strania, is awesome.

I've one credit cleared normal difficulty in single player already and beat hard in coop after maany attempts because of the true last boss.

The netcode for online co-op is very good, sometimes you see your teammate move through a wall etc. but the gameplay is lagless for both players.