Shoot-'Em-Ups

[eXtaticus]

Way back in 2005, I saved up for and bought a Nintendo DS at the tender age of 9 - but as a direct result of my mother refusing to fund my obsessive gaming habits the damned thing taking such a massive chunk out of my monetary funds, (Ninty's little handheld baby bled me dry) I had no money left to buy any games for it beyond the one the came free in the bundle pack. To remedy this, my game-savvy grandmother scoured charity shops across the land for cheap, pre-owned Game Boy Advance carts, and came back to me with a vertically scrolling space shoot-'em-up named Iridion II - and since that day, I've been absolutely obsessed not only with that game, but with the sh'mup genre as a whole. So, allow me to present my favourite shooter of all time, and a shining example of what a decent title in the genre should be like: Iridion II.

From its very inception and eventual release, Iridion II was always destined to be a true classic doomed to an eternity of obscurity; following the commercially damned path already beaten by the decidedly mediocre and critically panned Iridion 3D, (a game which, in itself, was originally supposed to have been a Game Boy Color side-scroller - and would have been a far better affair had Shin'en's original vision been carried out) Iridion II differs from its earlier, more rudimentary cousin in a multitude of quite prominent ways - and the one that hit home hardest and first was how much better it was than its predecessor in its every aspect.

Pushing the Game Boy Advance’s diminutive hardware to the absolute maximum limits of its functionality with its incredible graphics and sound engines, Iridion II was, inarguably, an utter technical marvel - and, as is inverse to the general norm, plays even better than it looks; sporting classic, vertically-scrolling shoot-'em-up gameplay as opposed to the more AfterBurner-esque tunnel-shooting stylings of the original Iridion 3D, this incredibly underrated sequel manages to utterly and systematically destroy every other handheld shooter with a kind of superbly fluky finesse that little-known European developer Shin'en really shouldn't have been able to accomplish.

The game's music, provided by in-house composer Manfred Linzer, is a work of genius in itself; using a custom, proprietary, super-efficient sound engine to afford an insanely high quality of sample-driven synthesis to run in-game along with the pre-rendered FMV backgrounds and ultra-detailed sprites, Iridion II's fantastic '80s dance-style soundtrack serves only to further complement the game's other incredible elements - it's a catchy, toe-tapping synth-fest that totally revolutionised the way that Game Boy Advance music should be made.

A criminally ignored and highly underrated masterpiece in its own right, Iridion II remains to be one of the single greatest shoot-'em-ups that money can buy, though it was tragically held back by its franchise's reputation and the mediocrity of its far inferior predecessor - it’s a great shame that such an excellent, innovative, technically superb and generally fun game should be so outright underappreciated.

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So, what are your favourite shoot-'em-ups, and what are the ones that you harbour a particular hatred for? Are there any upcoming shooters that you're interested in or want the world to know about? And what are your feelings on the genre as a whole? Discuss all things sh'mup below!

EDIT: And so that this isn't locked as a result of a flood of image-only posts, I politely request that you put effort into explaining your choices - most of us don't want this to turn into a pointless list topic...

Edited July 11, 2011 by eXtaticus

[Voyant]

Nothing beat Geometry Wars SON!

Get that primitive shit out of here! D:<

Edited July 9, 2011 by Voyant

[Tatsumaki]

@eXtaticus: Looks like a pretty interesting game. I might play it sometime. I feel like playing Shoot-'Em-Ups nowadays.

(god, DonPachi, so addicting. )

Edited July 9, 2011 by Tatsumaki

[Glenn]

You get +1 for such a well-written and interesting opening post, eXtaticus... I'd never heard of Iridion II, and will definitely research it further, it looks and sounds absolutely fantastic, especially for a GameBoy Advance cartridge! Thanks for that!

Going back a few years, I remember a side-scrolling space shooter on the SEGA MegaCD, called Sol-Feace, which dominated a fair few afternoons of my time. Also, on the house's very first PC, I remember playing something called Raptor: Call of the Shadows, which I loved but never really researched properly. According to the Wikipedia page people seemed to like it, too, and it was one of the first videogames I ever played with an in-depth upgrade system. Not only that, but with tons of military background in my family, it was always fun to show off me flying around and bringing destruction to an environment not unlike the Middle East.

My gaming interests shifted later in life, and only recently have I purchased and played something I'd call a proper shoot 'em up, which is Vanquish. It definitely kick-started a mood for bullet hell scenario gaming, but so few modern HD console efforts go for the classic, simple gameplay anymore.

[ChikaBoing]

I remember that game...was one of the flagship titles when the DS came out.

[eXtaticus]

Raptor: Call of the Shadows

Raptor: Call of the Shadows, believe it or not, is one of the more well-known PC shoot-'em-ups, and one that has more of a cult following than any other non-Japanese titles in the genre that I can think of.

For those of you who don't know, Raptor: Call of the Shadows is a strategically-orientated upgrade-based vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up with fantastically high-quality graphics, (resembling what was quite possibly the pinnacle of the pre-3D era) in which you play a cash-hungry hired mercenary-come-soldier with a jet fighter full of firepower and all the skill that it takes to wade through, destroy, and collect readies from the remains of endless hordes of high-powered enemies and mercilessly tough bosses - the more destruction you cause the more money you obtain, the more money you obtain the more weapons you can buy, and the more weapons you buy the more destruction you cause.

Of course, this if far more difficult in practice than simply taping down the fire button and hoping for the best, owing both to the game's fiendish difficulty and the fact that different types of weaponry are more effective at dealing with ground enemies than airborne enemies, or vice-versa - it works on a brilliantly intricate system of pacing, thinking before you buy and, ultimately, blowing enemy ships to hell. The game does have its share of problems, too; the difficulty of some of the bosses is beyond ridiculous, and a fair number of the tunes on the soundtrack are far too short for the levels that they're partnered with - but it is, overall, a fantastic game, and one that any fan of the shoot-'em-up genre should at least play. Pleasingly enough, it's also seen a Windows XP/Vista/7 compatible port since its original DOS release, which is available DRM-free at Good Old Games.

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Additionally, I made a remix of the first level theme.

[/shamelessplug]

Edited July 10, 2011 by eXtaticus

[Carbo]

I'm not that big on Shmups, most of my experience comes from the Bullet Hell genre, perhaps the most blatant example being the Touhou Project. On that end it doesn't come off as a big of a surprise that a friend recently bought me Deathsmiles for Xbox 360, knowing that I'm a sucker for this kind of shit. It's developed by Cave, which to my knowledge is one of the most active and famous manic shooter developers in Japan, being responsible for the DonPachi and Mushihime-Sama series, the latter being a title known to have http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQZuidKexBQ.

Deathsmiles is the second horizontal scrolling shooter Cave has come out with, having mostly done vertical scrolling shooters. The plot isn't really that touched upon, something that can be expected from a good deal of these types of manic shooters, and it's mostly dealt with in supplemental material. Basically you control one of four loli girls with unique powers received in the alternate world they live in, but the friendly teatimes and baths are gonna have to wait since monsters are disrupting the peaceful world and that's no good. That's basically it. Oh and the final boss is a Satanic Tyrannosaurus skeleton hybrid called Tyrannosatan. That's pretty awesome.

So yeah it generally assigns to your typical shmup. All characters fire different types of projectiles that you can fire in two directions and will be more powerful if you hold down the attack button, at the cost of speed. Helpers that always follow you add onto your bullet counts. Obligatory bomb button. There's also a power up mechanic by collecting enough collectibles. There's nothing about it that makes it stand out but for the arcade style game play it's trying to convey it's solid and has a slew of extra modes for added challenge and variety. Plus there's Co-Op, and hey, can't argue with that!

If you live in Europe this game seems to be sold as a Deluxe Edition most of the time and the game isn't even full price, which you really can't argue with. It comes with some neat desktop accessories and a CD of the fantastic soundtrack the game has.

As for other shmups, I've been very much meaning to check out Jets 'n' Guns. This is more of your standard side-scrolling space harrier style shmup. The reason this one gets my eye is because, perhaps what has given this game most of it's attention, the soundtrack is composed by the Swedish SID-metal band Machinae Supremacy, who have made themselves a following on the internet due to intricate use of the Commodore 64 sound chip in their music.

Combine that kind of music with explosive space combat and you've got a recipe for greatness.

[Glenn]

Raptor: Call of the Shadows, believe it or not, is one of the more well-known PC shoot-'em-ups, and one that has more of a cult following than any other non-Japanese titles in the genre that I can think of.

*awesomenosity incarnate ensues*

Wow, seriously?! I had no idea, I thought it was just something I played when I was younger! I mean, when I hit the Wikipedia page the other day, I was surprised to find it was well-liked, but for it to be re-released recently and to have a following... that's brilliant, thanks for the post!

See? I had great taste, even before I knew what it meant.

[Phos]

What's with this Moe crap.

Radiant Silvergun is coming to XBLA. Kind of a big deal.

[Alluusio]

I was just recently scrolling through the Nintendo eShop for some interesting games and I found the DSi-game Metal Torrent. I had always liked shoot-'em ups so I decided to give it a go. I mean it wasn't my favorite genre but once I played this one, I just couldn't put the 3DS down. I guess this game is more of a bullet hell type shooter since the screen is constantly filled with enemy bullets and explosions. And even though the screen might seem a bit small, it is somehow big enough to contain all the action perfectly. It's a really nice looking game too and there hasn't been a bit of slowdown. Then again the game is a bit short and there isn't really that many options to play with. Still a really cool game and it actually made me really interested about the whole bullet hell genre.

So can any of you give any recommendations about some bullet hell shooters? Are there any these kind of shooters on the current consoles? I've heard there are some good ones on the Dreamcast and Giga Wing looks really cool. Too bad I don't have a Dreamcast and wouldn't even know where to get one. So if you know some bullet hell shooters on the current consoles, could you tell me?

Also, if anyone is trying to get into the genre or is just looking for a portable shoot-'em up, I can really recommend Metal Torrent. It's not too confusing but packs a nice amount of challenge. It has an easy mode too where bullets don't hurt you and you only get hit if you get into contact with enemies.

[LunarEdge]

Don't people usually label these games as Bullet-hell now? Anywho, I tend to love and hate these kind of games. The stubborn side of me doesn't know when to call it quits and the curious side of me wants to see what I'm missing out on if I don't keep going. I don't play them much, I think one of my most recent experiences with a Bullet-hell was Geometry Wars. Given, I played a few in arcades (the one with the planes) but I don't remember them too well. My girlfriend also has this game on the Ps2 called Castle of Shikigami(sp?) 2. The VA's and translation are pretty bad but it's a fun game nonetheless XD.