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Dad's Birthday - PC schmup/shmup/SHOOTY GAME suggestions?

SwashbucklerXXSwashbucklerXX Swashbucklin' CanuckRegistered User regular
edited July 2008 in Games and Technology
So I'd like to get my dad a good PC shmup for his birthday, but I don't usually play them. He likes them relatively simple and easy to pick up, so something without a huge learning curve would be great. Any suggestions that are relatively modern/nice looking would be great. Thank you!

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Posts

  • Post BluePost Blue Redmond, WARegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Get him a big orange box with games in it.

    Post Blue on
    Moments before the wind.
  • MordrackMordrack Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Geometry Wars is on steam and it's fun enough for it's price. If it's within your means, Raiden III has a decent PC port.

    Mordrack on
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  • SwashbucklerXXSwashbucklerXX Swashbucklin' Canuck Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Post Blue wrote: »
    Get him a big orange box with games in it.

    Not really what I'm looking for. When Dad games, he doesn't want a big ol' story, or to play with people on the Internet, or to have to think about whether the cake is a lie. He wants to be rocket ship and shoot menz.
    Mordrack wrote: »
    Geometry Wars is on steam and it's fun enough for it's price. If it's within your means, Raiden III has a decent PC port.

    Cool, thanks, I'll take a look at Raiden.

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  • ImpersonatorImpersonator Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
  • solsovlysolsovly Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    A subscription to gametap wouldn't be bad. They have a lot of schmups and arcade games (nice neogeo selection)

    solsovly on
  • Rigor MortisRigor Mortis Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Rigor Mortis on
  • Post BluePost Blue Redmond, WARegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Post Blue wrote: »
    Get him a big orange box with games in it.

    Not really what I'm looking for. When Dad games, he doesn't want a big ol' story, or to play with people on the Internet, or to have to think about whether the cake is a lie. He wants to be rocket ship and shoot menz.

    Ah, sorry. By saying 'shmup' rather than 'schmup', I thought you might have simply meant good games with shooting amongst other things.

    Post Blue on
    Moments before the wind.
  • CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    edited July 2008

    I'd recommend Mountain of Faith for it's rapish difficulty, but the whole cast is loli D:

    I played the demo for Twins, which had male characters, but it was boring as fuck, making MoF the manlier game.

    How about...

    Starscape, for a pinch of strategy...

    Cantido on
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  • SwashbucklerXXSwashbucklerXX Swashbucklin' Canuck Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Post Blue wrote: »
    Post Blue wrote: »
    Get him a big orange box with games in it.

    Not really what I'm looking for. When Dad games, he doesn't want a big ol' story, or to play with people on the Internet, or to have to think about whether the cake is a lie. He wants to be rocket ship and shoot menz.

    Ah, sorry. By saying 'shmup' rather than 'schmup', I thought you might have simply meant good games with shooting amongst other things.

    Nope, I'm just ignorant about shooters in general and spelled it wrong. :)

    SwashbucklerXX on
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  • BartholamueBartholamue Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    You really can't go wrong with Cho Ren Sha.

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  • SilentCoconutSilentCoconut Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    solsovly wrote: »
    A subscription to gametap wouldn't be bad. They have a lot of schmups and arcade games (nice neogeo selection)

    I think this is the definite choice. A full year subscription is $60, and he'd have access to
    - The entire 194X series
    - Blazing Star
    - Gigawing
    - Twinkle Star Sprites
    - Space Invaders, Asteroids, Galaga, Defender, and Xevious
    - Fantasy Zone series
    - Gunstar Heroes
    - Contra 1, 2 and Hard Corps
    - Panzer Dragoon 1 and 2
    - Metal Slug series
    - Some other similar games, like Alien Shooter, RIP Trilogy and Shadowgrounds

    Plus hundreds of other games that he may or may not like.

    SilentCoconut on
  • Asamof the HorribleAsamof the Horrible Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    You really can't go wrong with Cho Ren Sha.

    Cho Ren Sha is wonderful, may as well throw that in since it's free.

    Asamof the Horrible on
  • Toxin01Toxin01 Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    The best FPS's have some sort of story. I'd have to say the orginal Doom or somthing if Half-Life 2 is to complicated.

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  • CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    You really can't go wrong with Cho Ren Sha.

    Cho Ren Sha is wonderful, may as well throw that in since it's free.

    Thank you for showing me this. Friggin epic.

    Cantido on
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  • MordrackMordrack Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Well if we're talking free schmups everything by Hikoza T Ohkubo. Warning Forever is the most notable however.

    Mordrack on
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  • Ah_PookAh_Pook Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    whats all this schmup nonsense, theres no c in shmup dammit

    anyway i recommend Perfect Cherry Blossom, Imperishable Night, or Mountain Of Faith. Raiden 3 and Castle Of Shikigami 3 are recent and have good PC ports also.

    Ah_Pook on
  • SwashbucklerXXSwashbucklerXX Swashbucklin' Canuck Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Ah_Pook wrote: »
    whats all this schmup nonsense, theres no c in shmup dammit

    Hey, that's what I originally thought. Take it up with Post Blue.

    Thanks for the suggestions, tho'.

    SwashbucklerXX on
    Want to find me on a gaming service? I'm SwashbucklerXX everywhere.
  • subediisubedii Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Jets 'n' Guns. The title of the game is pretty much 100% explanatory. :mrgreen:

    Plenty of ridiculous levels and pyrotechnics with a very large selection of guns, missiles and addons to tweak your ship with. You can tweak to your hearts content too since unlike most games you can sell anything you bought for the price you bought it for, allowing you to experiment as much as you want.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxZ5WSUju04

    subedii on
  • Post BluePost Blue Redmond, WARegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Ah_Pook wrote: »
    whats all this schmup nonsense, theres no c in shmup dammit

    Hey, that's what I originally thought. Take it up with Post Blue.

    Thanks for the suggestions, tho'.

    You're probably right. I've just seen it both ways all over the place.

    Post Blue on
    Moments before the wind.
  • PeregrineFalconPeregrineFalcon Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    subedii wrote: »
    Jets 'n' Guns. The title of the game is pretty much 100% explanatory. :mrgreen:

    Plenty of ridiculous levels and pyrotechnics with a very large selection of guns, missiles and addons to tweak your ship with. You can tweak to your hearts content too since unlike most games you can sell anything you bought for the price you bought it for, allowing you to experiment as much as you want.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxZ5WSUju04

    If you want the traditional Blow-The-Shit-Out-Of-Everything definition of Shmup, this. Also, Raiden for PC.

    If you're misusing the word shmup as most people do to refer to FPS games, then get Painkiller. To quote Sire Benjamin Croshaw: "There are no stealth elements, no key hunting, no escort quests, no dorky support characters dribbling in your earhole, no mission objectives besides 'Kill Everyone' - there's just you, some guns, and the entire population of Murdertown between you and where you need to be."

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  • SwashbucklerXXSwashbucklerXX Swashbucklin' Canuck Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Nope, I'm using shmup correctly. Jets 'n' Guns does indeed look like what I'm looking for, and as a bonus is direct download and not Steam/Gametap/Etc. Dad needs like 0 barriers to playtime, so something that doesn't require an account of any sort is a plus.

    SwashbucklerXX on
    Want to find me on a gaming service? I'm SwashbucklerXX everywhere.
  • subediisubedii Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Nope, I'm using shmup correctly. Jets 'n' Guns does indeed look like what I'm looking for, and as a bonus is direct download and not Steam/Gametap/Etc. Dad needs like 0 barriers to playtime, so something that doesn't require an account of any sort is a plus.

    Yeah you just pay and download directly. No DRM, once you've got the installer you can install it wherever you want whenever you want. They also have a demo of a couple of the earliest levels. It's a tough game, but that's what makes tweaking your ship worthwhile in-between missions.

    Bonus points for the soundtrack by Machinae Supremacy fitting the game quite well, it's gained a bit of a cult following.

    subedii on
  • Ah_PookAh_Pook Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    if there is a DS available i cant recommend Space Invaders Extreme enough, also.

    Ah_Pook on
  • PeregrineFalconPeregrineFalcon Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Nope, I'm using shmup correctly. Jets 'n' Guns does indeed look like what I'm looking for, and as a bonus is direct download and not Steam/Gametap/Etc. Dad needs like 0 barriers to playtime, so something that doesn't require an account of any sort is a plus.

    Interesting:
    Jets'n'Guns Gold
    In December 2006, RakeInGrass released a sequel/expansion to the game called Jets'n'Guns Gold. The expansion doubled the game's length by adding 21 levels to the 21 that already existed. It features 800x600 graphics, as compared to 640x480 in the original version and 6 new music tracks composed by Hubnester Industries, a sister production company of Machinae Supremacy. The storyline has been completely reworked and is now presented using cartoons instead of simple text. The player is also allowed to unlock different spaceships such as a hot-dog truck, an airplane and a helicopter. A number of new weapons have also been introduced.

    Must get this and blow shit up in new and interesting fashions.

    PeregrineFalcon on
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  • durandal4532durandal4532 Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    If you mean "Game with lots of shooting and no silly story", Painkiller is excellent.

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  • subediisubedii Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Nope, I'm using shmup correctly. Jets 'n' Guns does indeed look like what I'm looking for, and as a bonus is direct download and not Steam/Gametap/Etc. Dad needs like 0 barriers to playtime, so something that doesn't require an account of any sort is a plus.

    Interesting:
    Jets'n'Guns Gold
    In December 2006, RakeInGrass released a sequel/expansion to the game called Jets'n'Guns Gold. The expansion doubled the game's length by adding 21 levels to the 21 that already existed. It features 800x600 graphics, as compared to 640x480 in the original version and 6 new music tracks composed by Hubnester Industries, a sister production company of Machinae Supremacy. The storyline has been completely reworked and is now presented using cartoons instead of simple text. The player is also allowed to unlock different spaceships such as a hot-dog truck, an airplane and a helicopter. A number of new weapons have also been introduced.

    Must get this and blow shit up in new and interesting fashions.

    I never played the original, just the Gold version. From what I understand the newer levels are the more "fruit loops" levels, as in, they know that this is a silly game with a silly premise, so they take that opportunity to set the levels in a zombie safari, or a rock concert, or a running-man esque TV show.

    I have to say the game actually lasted quite a while longer than most of this type, since it has 40 odd levels.

    One complaint I do have with the game though is the difficulty spikes. In particular the levels set during the long lost "beer empire" (don't ask), which were pretty frustrating initially.

    Of course, once you've finished the game you start back at the beginning of the next hardest difficulty level, but with all your weapons from before. Makes cleaning house where you got cleaned out all the more fun. :lol:

    subedii on
  • Tim JamesTim James Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Jets 'n Guns is the only popular game I've found so far in the Tyrian/Raptor tradition of upgrading your ship between levels. Everyone else goes with the more casual style of power-ups for a specific level, which is kind of disappointing.

    It's a little pricey for an indie game, $30, and you might want to recommend he play it on easy mode. Even with that I had to restart at checkpoints a few times in the demo.

    Tim James on
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  • Tim JamesTim James Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Also, Echoes is probably my favorite Asteroids / Geometry Wars clone, and it's free.

    I'm still looking into arena shooters, but I love the simplicity of the old Crimsonland. Pricey for what you get at $20 though.

    The freeware community loves this shit, so put a disc together with lots of stuff. Of course, if he ends up playing the free game instead of the $30 one, that might be annoying! :)

    Tim James on
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  • subediisubedii Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Tim James wrote: »
    Also, Echoes is probably my favorite Asteroids / Geometry Wars clone, and it's free.

    I'm still looking into arena shooters, but I love the simplicity of the old Crimsonland. Pricey for what you get at $20 though.

    Crimsonland was awesome, it's a shame they never made a part 2. That perk system combined with some form of progressive campaign where you could keep your perks would have really made for a good sequel.

    subedii on
  • RainbowDespairRainbowDespair Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Ah_Pook wrote: »
    if there is a DS available i cant recommend Space Invaders Extreme enough, also.

    Seconded. Space Invaders Extreme sounds like the perfect game for your dad: relatively simple, easy to pick up, great audio & visuals, and tons of fun to play. Heck, I let my mom try it and she had a blast and she doesn't play games at all. Only $20 too. Definitely worth getting if your dad has a DS or PSP.

    RainbowDespair on
  • Tim JamesTim James Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    subedii wrote: »
    Tim James wrote: »
    Also, Echoes is probably my favorite Asteroids / Geometry Wars clone, and it's free.

    I'm still looking into arena shooters, but I love the simplicity of the old Crimsonland. Pricey for what you get at $20 though.

    Crimsonland was awesome, it's a shame they never made a part 2. That perk system combined with some form of progressive campaign where you could keep your perks would have really made for a good sequel.
    Definitely, the perk thing kind of annoyed me. I crave development, not 3 minutes romps with new powerups each time. According to the guy's blog, he's working on Crimsonland 2 and has a screenshot or two. Who knows how long it's been in development; the game came out in the early '00s.

    Tim James on
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