Shmup of the Month Club 2012

[fvgazi]

This is going to be a good year! Great list, guys!

[ExedExes]

January: Toaplan - Truxton
February: Konami - Axelay
March: Psikyo - Dragon Blaze
April: Compile - Zanac X Zanac (Zanac Neo)
May: Raizing - Great Mahou Daisakusen
June: Taito - Metal Black
July: Treasure - Radiant Silvergun
August: Month off due to annual shmups.org competition
September: Irem - X-Multiply
October: Capcom - ExedExes
November: Takumi - Mars Matrix
December: Cave - DoDonPachi (for Together Retro)

Fantastic first list. Familiar ones, and some not so familiar. Good job shmup fans! Let's put down the votes and get out there to play!

Plus, we get a DREAMCAST shmup in November! SCORE

Also...I tired ExedExes the other day

Already? You just started!

and...why don't the bullets go all the way to the top of the screen?! That seems like quite the handicap...

I'd go and say "that's Capcom for ya" (games like Commando, Gun.Smoke, etc follow the same pattern), but I think it adds to the charm. Plus, power ups will increase power and range, such as the first one at the end of Round 1. One makes it nearly full-screen later on.

October's gonna rule

[ZenErik]

Never saw the Takumi vote. Woops. Glad Mars Matrix won.

I'm going to try some Axelay today..

[dunpeal2064]

That is one fine list. I'll need to be shopping for ports pretty soon, at least for Zanac.

Really happy to see Dragon Blaze, as I've always wanted to get into this game, but have little experience with it. It will be fun to learn this game along side everyone, especially with those boss tech bonuses.

Also really looking forward to Dimahoo. Another game I have little experience with, but enough to know that its rock hard, but in the right way, and has so many items that I don't even know wtf.

Radiant Silvergun I'll be playing on XBLA, since I ditched my Saturn copy for Ibara. Still, I really like this one, far more than the other Treasure shmups. Tactic discussion should be good fun this month.

Also looking forward to Mars Matrix. I gave this game a good go maybe a year ago, when I was first getting into shmups, and I wasn't crazy about it then, but I know I'll really like it, and another good scorer.

Of course, Dodonpachi will also be an excellent month. I've played the game a lot, but not in attempt to score, so learning that will be great fun.

I also need to get back to Axelay, but Exed scared me off early. Scoring systems really hook me, but I'm trying to participate in everything for this.

[o.pwuaioc]

I finally broke the 100k range (160k, actually), but I forgot the exact score before I turned off the SNES. It's getting better, though. I at first really liked the verti stages, but now I'm actually disliking them more and more (well, only made it to the third, but started disliking the 1st stage more and more and didn't care for the 3rd at all). The horizontal stages (only 2nd so far) is good, though.

[noiseredux]

got my PAL PS2 version of Dragon Blaze in the mail today. I was happy to see that it has a NTSC option! It looks great, no screen cut-off.

[mjmjr25]

I bought my Dragon Blaze last night - looks like a ton of fun.

[brunoafh]

Very tempted to get the PS2 Dragon Blaze myself. I'll probably end up getting it, I'm a big fan of Sol Divide and Dragon Blaze just looks awesome. Gonna have to go with an NTSC-J copy myself though.

Here's what I plan on doing for the schedule:

Dragon Blaze - Will probably buy an NTSC-J PS2 copy.
Zanac X Zanac (Zanac Neo) - For this I think I'm going to burn an iso and play it on my chipped PS1.
Great Mahou Daisakusen - Gonna buy the Saturn port.
Metal Black - Own it, one of my all-time favorite shooters.
Radiant Silvergun - Own it, love this game too.
X-Multiply - Not sure about this one yet... suggestions? I'm very partial to Saturn ports so for this I'm thinking of playing a burned copy on Saturn.
Exed Exes - Not sure on this one either. ExedExes, suggestions? I think I'll probably buy Capcom Generations 3 and play it that way, as I've been meaning to get all those games for PS1 anyway.
Mars Matrix - Own it.
DoDonPachi - Own a PS1 copy.

[mjmjr25]

Great Mahou Daisakusen - Gonna buy the Saturn port. - SAT port?
X-Multiply - Not sure about this one yet... suggestions? SAT version is excellent.
Exed Exes - Not sure on this one either. ExedExes, suggestions? Famicom is cheap

Dragon Blaze - PCB is in the mail
Zanac X Zanac (Zanac Neo) - Have PSX
Great Mahou Daisakusen - Have PCB
Metal Black - Seeking PCB or SAT if anyone has it?
Radiant Silvergun - Have SAT
X-Multiply - Have SAT
Exed Exes - Have FAM
Mars Matrix - Have PCB and DC
DoDonPachi - Have SAT, seeking PCB and PSX

[ExedExes]

Exed Exes - Not sure on this one either. ExedExes, suggestions? I think I'll probably buy Capcom Generations 3 and play it that way, as I've been meaning to get all those games for PS1 anyway.

Ways to play ExedExes

MAME
Famicom (it's a bit rough around the edges, but it will work)
Capcom Classics Collection Vol 1 (PS2)
Wii VC