Affordable shmups for a shmup newbie?

[elmagicochrisg]

Somewhat related, I've been thinking about buying a Dreamcast boot disk to play some of these titles. Anyone have any thoughts on these, or know where to get one?

Unless you're dead set on a pressed disc, the Utopia boot disc will boot most things for you. I use it for my 2 imports.

As for pressed discs, DC-X is very good. Only works with original games though, not backups.

There's even an option to force non VGA games to display in VGA. Works with most games...

The disc is multi region, so you can use it on any region system to boot any region game.

[scarper]

Galactic Attack is IMO the best shmup to be starting out the genre on. It can be found on eBay for around $20. Definitely play Darius Gaiden once you have a little more experience, as it is an incredible game, but is also really hard. Amurican copies can also be found at around $20.

Get these while you can, since the price of Saturn games will never ever go down. Don't try to wrap your head around everything all at once, or you'll just go crazy like I did. I recommend modding your Saturn if you're not too big on collecting expensive games.

Other suggestions that I'm sure have already been listed:
Giga Wing I & II
DonPachi
DoDonPachi
Blast Wind

[dsheinem]

The price of Saturn games will never ever go down.

This is not true.

[dunpeal2064]

I would not recommend Blast Wind. If you are going to spend that much money on a shmup, make it Garegga

[Opa Opa]

What's a good (affordable!) horizontal shooter for Saturn?

[dunpeal2064]

Darius Gaiden
Salamander Deluxe Pack

Those would be my first choices.

[Bradtemple87]

Darius Gaiden is cheap and has a lot of level paths you can take

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Ima keep my eye on this thread. I've been glued to Galactic Attack/Layer Section for the last 2 weeks. I didn't think I'd really ever get into a SHMUP but this game has gotten me into it. Looks like there's quite a good library of localized PS1 shmups for fairly reasonable prices.

[Soldier Blue]

Blast Wind

That's not affordable at all. You'd be lucky to get a copy for $100

[AppleQueso]

I figured I'd pop back in to mention that I picked up Castle Shikigami 2 the other day. I haven't really played it much yet however as Skyward Sword has eaten up most of my time.

I'm getting a nice check next week though, I'll probably skim through here again once that shows up.