Always outnumbered, never outgunned. [Shmups]

cj iwakura

Shmups, aka shoot'em'ups, aka the fine art of dodging ridiculous amounts of bullets with one tiny, vulnerable spaceship, mecha, human, etc.



They're pretty awesome. Here's some cool ones you can check out.

Darius



One ship. Armies of giant fish.

Availability: Arcade, PS2(Taito Legends 2), Wii(VC,maybe?)

Gleylancer



The protagonist's father has been kidnapped by aliens.

Are you a bad enough [strike]dude[/strike] woman to rescue him?

Availability: Import, Wii(VC)

M.U.S.H.A. / Musha Aleste



Terri's entire squad was wiped out by robot alien things.

So she goes to kill them all solo.

Availability: Genesis/Mega Drive, Wii(VC)

Ikaruga



Known for causing frothing demand that increases.



A hardcore shmup from the psychopaths at Treasure, a spiritual successor to Saturn's ultra-pricey Radiant Silvergun.



Be Attitude For Gains.

Availability: Dreamcast(Import), Gamecube($texas), XBLA(you lucky punks)


Castle Shikigami I/II/III



Crazy ghosts are murdering people. Play as some equally crazy ghost hunters to go kill them.

They like girls, but now,

it's about justice.



Availability: PS2 (I & II), Wii (III)


Touhou
An insanely popular series of doujin(fan-made) shmups designed, programmed and composed by one guy.
Twelve games and counting. God no I'm not listing them all.



A narcissistic shrine maiden and/or a deranged witch go on magical adventures to kill crazy spirits.

The series has a couple male characters. I think.

All the games from 6-12 have been fantranslated. Quality varies.



Availability: PC, imports
You can get demos from the interweb, google's your friend.



I recommend starting with Embodiment of Scarlet Devil(06), though Perfect Cherry Blossom(07) is my favorite.


Feel free to talk about other awesome shmups or something.


Here's a primer.

Uriel

Total Biscuit told me to buy Beat Hazard.

It is a good asteroids style game.

Play it.

Also I like 1942 and games like it.

TheStig

OP lacks Einhander

cj iwakura

Einhander lacks availability.

Edcrab

Blazing Star's terrible Engrish win screen leaps to mind

TheStig

What are you talking about?
I have my disk right here.

cj iwakura

Put it on PSN and we'll talk.


This can also be an Engrish thread.

Naphtali

TheStig wrote: »

OP lacks Einhander

sup

Zombiemambo

cj iwakura wrote: »

Put it on PSN and we'll talk.


This can also be an Engrish thread.

I totally wanted to post this

Davoid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf5NaSPODtg

http://www.locomalito.com/juegos_hydorah.php

Zombiemambo

Hydorah is the shiiiiit

cj iwakura

Also, if anyone's interested in more about the Touhou franchise, I recorded some runs at it yesterday.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/10808960

Ridiculous stories aside(good luck figuring out the plot in one go), the series has some great music, and fun bullet patterns.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=win01sQXn68

HyperAquaBlast

I like simple vertical shmups where there is a little dodging and every power up you get just makes your shots stronger and have a wider shot area.

So pretty much just Aero Fighters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4wjVEfYb-c

Davoid

Galaga hells yes

Defender awwww wuuuutttt



also this thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-mbSFdUcPs

Uriel

1942 is really my favorite SHMUP

It's simple and not too hard to get into.

Also you are a plane and not an anime girl.

Zombiemambo

DoDon Pachi is probably my favorite shooter of all time. Fucking gorgeous

Davoid

1942 is awesome yea

and DoDonPachi is awesome too

cj iwakura

I don't think Touhou would be remotely as popular as it is without the armada of female characters.


There's at least 40 characters in that franchise.

Uriel

Zombiemambo wrote: »

DoDon Pachi is probably my favorite shooter of all time. Fucking gorgeous

I like the original arcade version, I never get past the about the third level though.

Bucketman

Is that new Deatthsmiles game a shump? Also I think Captain Forever counts. And there's another one that makes random bosses, I think its like Warning Forever or something like that

cj iwakura

Yes, Deathsmiles is a Cave shmup, and is quite awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMP7a3nbuKk

The 360 is utterly dominating the shmup market as of late.

Uriel

cj iwakura wrote: »

I don't think Touhou would be remotely as popular as it is without the armada of female characters.


There's at least 40 characters in that franchise.

I think it would be a little more popular, as anime characters are kinda a barrier for me, and I imagine a lot more people who would enjoy it more without the weird ketchum ash vinyl bust vibe it gives.

cj iwakura

Uriel wrote: »

cj iwakura wrote: »

I don't think Touhou would be remotely as popular as it is without the armada of female characters.


There's at least 40 characters in that franchise.

I think it would be a little more popular, as anime characters are kinda a barrier for me, and I imagine a lot more people who would enjoy it more without the weird ketchum ash vinyl bust vibe it gives.

As much as I like the series, I can't defend the community much. From what I've seen at Doujinstyle(the largest Touhou fansite on the web), more of them are into the games for the characters than actually playing it.

Burning Organ

Oh god so much touhou fan music fully vocalised.

Also get jets'n'guns and tyrian2k. At least get tyrian2k, it is free.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CFFn336RN4

And some jets'n'guns for good measure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SgoIyIgq3c

Raijin Quickfoot

Life Force!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBVjhNrV8Mk

cj iwakura

You could spend literally hours just going through Touhou fan music. I've seen 10 remixes of UFO Stage 4 alone.

I don't even know.

Uriel

cj iwakura wrote: »

Uriel wrote: »

cj iwakura wrote: »

I don't think Touhou would be remotely as popular as it is without the armada of female characters.


There's at least 40 characters in that franchise.

I think it would be a little more popular, as anime characters are kinda a barrier for me, and I imagine a lot more people who would enjoy it more without the weird ketchum ash vinyl bust vibe it gives.

As much as I like the series, I can't defend the community much. From what I've seen at Doujinstyle(the largest Touhou fansite on the web), more of them are into the games for the characters than actually playing it.

I think if they focused on the gameplay more and tried to revive the shmup as an every man's genre rather than appealing to the anime fan demographic it could be really good for them.

I would play it for sure. I like shumps, but I like spaceships more than characters.

Burning Organ

Also raptor: call of shadows is fucking awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYa2g9_5Ss4

Davoid

I guess parts of HeroCore might count, maybe?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfM3vtVlCTw

cj iwakura

Uriel wrote: »

cj iwakura wrote: »

Uriel wrote: »

cj iwakura wrote: »

I don't think Touhou would be remotely as popular as it is without the armada of female characters.


There's at least 40 characters in that franchise.

I think it would be a little more popular, as anime characters are kinda a barrier for me, and I imagine a lot more people who would enjoy it more without the weird ketchum ash vinyl bust vibe it gives.

As much as I like the series, I can't defend the community much. From what I've seen at Doujinstyle(the largest Touhou fansite on the web), more of them are into the games for the characters than actually playing it.

I think if they focused on the gameplay more and tried to revive the shmup as an every man's genre rather than appealing to the anime fan demographic it could be really good for them.

I would play it for sure. I like shumps, but I like spaceships more than characters.

The gameplay is really good, or I wouldn't like it as much as I do.

1:18

Zombiemambo

Uriel wrote: »

cj iwakura wrote: »

Uriel wrote: »

cj iwakura wrote: »

I don't think Touhou would be remotely as popular as it is without the armada of female characters.


There's at least 40 characters in that franchise.

I think it would be a little more popular, as anime characters are kinda a barrier for me, and I imagine a lot more people who would enjoy it more without the weird ketchum ash vinyl bust vibe it gives.

As much as I like the series, I can't defend the community much. From what I've seen at Doujinstyle(the largest Touhou fansite on the web), more of them are into the games for the characters than actually playing it.

I think if they focused on the gameplay more and tried to revive the shmup as an every man's genre rather than appealing to the anime fan demographic it could be really good for them.

I would play it for sure. I like shumps, but I like spaceships more than characters.

Shmups are going to be a niche genre no matter what you do. If they didn't appeal to the hardcore crowd, they'd be gone forever.

cj iwakura

If it's any consolation, the guys at the shmups fansite(shmups.system11.org) are hardcore ship/mecha enthusiasts. The only character shmups they like are Cave because they idolize them.

They despise Touhou.

satansfingers

i really don't understand the appeal of the super intense, screen filled with lasers games

gurusloth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypqWtKUsxf8

blazing lazers aww yeah

cj iwakura

satansfingers wrote: »

i really don't understand the appeal of the super intense, screen filled with lasers games

Nothing quite like the feeling when you realize all those bullets are headed for you, and then you actually survive it unscathed.

Burning Organ

I dislike bullet-hell-instagib shooters.

Tyrian, jets'n'guns and raptor: Call of hte shadows I can get behind though.

Clint Eastwood

satansfingers wrote: »

i really don't understand the appeal of the super intense, screen filled with lasers games

yeah pretty much this.

good op though, cj

cj iwakura

I think I'm the exact opposite. I still love Musha, but I keep thinking I can weave through bullets, and the hitbox is actually the size of the ship.

Sir Penguin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P34tYD0MO14

Genetos. Basically every noteworthy kind of shmup put in chronological order, more or less.

edit: I guess I could put a link to it here, too. It's freeware, and awesome, and everyone should play it.
http://www.tatsuya-koyama.com/software/wg002_genetos_eng.html

cj iwakura

Sir Penguin wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P34tYD0MO14

Genetos. Basically every noteworthy kind of shmup put in chronological order, more or less.

Nice. Raycrisis at 2:45.

Sir Penguin

Oh, also a lot of these games here are pretty great
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/index_e.html

For example, Torus Trooper:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-jChWwxDLY&feature=related

Although I'm a bigger fan of Mu-Cade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa_MPoXLGwA