Interested in shmups, but I could use some help.

[rad]

I have over 20 years of catching up to do. My experience is limited to gradius/parodius, R Type, and Airbuster. I was looking at a list of shooters on a website called SHMUPS! but I don't even know where to begin. What are the essential series or games in your opinion (from 8 bit to the current generation)?

[Kagi]

Radiant Silvergun and Ikruga are two of my favorites.

[d123456]

Just go back to shmups.com
I personally think above mentioned titles are crap.
It's all a matter of personal taste. Try most shmups on mame!
The best of the best are IMHO:
Battle Garegga
Raiden Fighters 1, 2 and Jet

[marurun]

There are many different types of shmups. Start by figuring out what kinds you like. Gradius/Parodius, R-Type, and Air Buster are all excellent shooters, but they are all side-scrolling shooters and they are certainly not of the bullet hell variety. They are examples of an older shooter aesthetic.

Newer titles tend to be focused more on millions of bullets in huge spread patterns. You have to micro-manage your movement on-screen. Of course, you're spewing such a mess of firepower you can hit the boss from anywhere on the screen anyway, so dodging becomes first priority.

If you like the old style, like what you've played already, sample a few newer shooters and see if you like those, too.

What current systems do you own/have available to you? I can make recommendations once I know that.

If you can't guess, I'm a fan of the older style of shooters, and I've played a lot of them.

[racketboy]

Get a Dreamcast and read this:
http://www.racketboy.com/retro/2006/03/ ... oters.html

The write-up is just a bit outdated, but it should help.

Einhander on the PS1 is recommended as well.

[Mozgus]

Under Defeat happens to be a fantastic beginner's shooter, if you're really rusty like I am. It's also gorgeous and more fun than the others, so start off with that one and work your way to more hardcore shmups.

[gradualmeltdown]

amen to that. Under Defeat is an awesome way to play as reasonably challenging shooter without completely insane difficulty. It looks sooo damn good too. I have way harder shooters that are fun too, but its maybe my favorite.

Memories of playing it on a bad ass 42" verticle arcade cabinet at Sega Club Akihabara might give me a bias I almost didn't buy the DC version, but after playing it in the arcade I had to have it. I even bought an LCD projector just to play this game on. Damn image was TINY on my 32" 16:9 display.

[Mozgus]

amen to that. Under Defeat is an awesome way to play as reasonably challenging shooter without completely insane difficulty. It looks sooo damn good too. I have way harder shooters that are fun too, but its maybe my favorite.

Memories of playing it on a bad ass 42" verticle arcade cabinet at Sega Club Akihabara might give me a bias I almost didn't buy the DC version, but after playing it in the arcade I had to have it. I even bought an LCD projector just to play this game on. Damn image was TINY on my 32" 16:9 display.

Under Defeat's visuals are impressive almost solely due to the fucking awesome explosions, smoke effects, water reflections, and other tricks that we didn't see much of on the Dreamcast. I loved how the pause screen could circle the camera and show off many angles, which only further strengthened the authenticity of the effects.

[durkada]

Under Defeat happens to be a fantastic beginner's shooter, if you're really rusty like I am. It's also gorgeous and more fun than the others, so start off with that one and work your way to more hardcore shmups.

I'll agree that Under Defeat is superb. I love the game. But, I would hesitate to suggest it as a beginners shmup. Or, perhaps, I simply suck beyond the pale. I found it fairly difficult to grow accustomed to the pivoting of the helicopters, and even today, I don't last too long after the first level. Outside of the visual appeal, if I hadn't already been bitten by the shmup bug (thanks to this site, and Radiant Silvergun, in particular), I probably would put this title down and never return.

There are two games I would readily recommend. First, Zero Gunner II for the Dreamcast. This one grows steadily harder as the game progresses, but starts out in a manner thats fairly forgiving. A beginner can get the satisfaction of making it past a few levels before being confounded by his lack of skill.

i'd also recommend Dodonpachi. I'd play it as a MAME rom. This game is not particularly easy. A beginner may be able to make it past the first level on a single credit; however, unlike alot of games (especially the console versions), this game will let you continue for as long as you have coins to spare. Or in this case, for as long as you can press the five key. Its also a fairly pretty game, gets incredibly hard, and -- unfortunately -- begins to feel monotonous. I find this to be a trait of all Cave games -- they grow monotonous when you start pumping in the continue credits. Its better to play a single credit and see how far you can get -- it preserves much of the fun. But for a beginner, I think its helpful to continue.

Others probably have mentioned... Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun. There are others, I'm sure -- but these are the ones which first opened my eyes to shmups as being more than mere finger twitching arcade fodder. These are the games that made me realize that many shmups have a puzzle-like element to them, and require some resource management -- lending them a depth I didn't expect.

[marurun]

Emulation route options, eh???

Pulstar and Blazing Star for the Neo Geo play in MAME and in dedicated NG emus, and they are both awesome games. Blazing Star harkens back to R-type (it's a knock-off, but it's a GOOD knock-off) and Pulstar has its own appeal.