Which Dreamcast shmups for someone who loves DoDonPachi

[Erik_Twice]

I respect Gradius a lot, but it isn't my kind of game. I want more dodging, and less shooting so bullet hell shmups are what I look for. I know very little of the Dreamcast's huge library so please, culturize me, because I'm going to get a wishlist ready and prepared.

[dsheinem]

I respect Gradius a lot, but it isn't my kind of game. I want more dodging, and less shooting so bullet hell shmups are what I look for. I know very little of the Dreamcast's huge library so please, culturize me, because I'm going to get a wishlist ready and prepared.

http://www.racketboy.com/retro/sega/dre ... d-shooters

[Erik_Twice]

http://www.racketboy.com/retro/sega/dre ... d-shooters

Thanks, but I have actually read all of Racketboy's articles so this is not new to me

Of the shmups Racket mentions, I know that Mars Matrix is going to be the closest one but other than that, I'm not so sure.

[dunpeal2064]

I am a dodging man myself

Castle Shikigami II: Bullet hell, so you will have patterns to weave through. Also, like DDP, you can hold down shot to slow your ship speed for better dodging.

Psyvariar II: Like Shikigami II, this game is about bullet grazing, so it wants you to get all up in those patterns. However, unlike shikigami, this game uses a feature that lets you become temporarily invincible, so there isn't too much dodging.

Gunbird 2: Now THIS may be right up your alley. Straight old school fast ass patterns. Really hard game, but fun.

Triggerheart Exelica: This game has pretty dense bullet patterns, and you are forced to dodge some of them. Most of the time, though, you are throwing enemies to cancel bullets. this does have the 2 ship speeds like DDP, so you can dodge better.

A lot of other DC shooters have quirks that make it so you aren't dodging too much. Ikaruga lets you eat the bullets, Giga Wing and Mars Matrix let you reflect them, the Milestone shooters (Radirgy, Chaos Field, Karous) Give you a sword to eat the bullets, etc. Lots of gimmicks in the DC shooters.

Overall, Shiki II and Gunbird II would be my choices. Gunbird has patterns that you will need to see once before dodging them, as they are fast, whereas Shiki II has nice slow pretty patterns. Fast Striker has some nice patterns too, almost forgot about that one.

[ZenErik]

My votes go to Mars Matrix and Triggerheart Exelica. Easily my two favorite DC shmups. It's not even close.

[dunpeal2064]

My votes go to Mars Matrix and Triggerheart Exelica. Easily my two favorite DC shmups. It's not even close.

hey, its, "Most dodge-em" shmup for DC, not "favorite" shmup for Dc

I love both those games, and I'm giving both of them more time soon, but they definietly don't feel at all like Dodonpachi to me, as far as pattern dodging goes. Triggerheart is a bit closer than MM.

Mars Matrix plays like a GigaWing/Silverugn mixup to me.

Granted, you still can't go wrong playing them. but, if you want to dodge, which is what I wanted when I first played these games, you will be disappointed.

[ZenErik]

There is still plenty of dodging in Mars Matrix. Yes, a huge part of the game is mosquito ("buzzing") mechanics, but it truly is bullet hell. And no auto-bombing. Sorry DDP DFK.

[dunpeal2064]

I wasn't referring to the buzzing as much as the reflecting. There is dodging, but its dodging flack that you couldn't reflect, very different from dodging designed patterns imo.

DFK has auto bombing, but if you auto bomb, it means you goofed. In MM, you are supposed to be reflecting all over the place. Also, if it bugs you, you can turn it off in BL.

I think DFK is legit as two chicks bobbin my knob at once, but thats Kinda off topic.

I love that we can discuss shmups like this It would be extreamly boring if we all liked the same games.

@OP: Which DC shooters have you tried thus far? What other manic shooters do you like? I could give you suggestions all day, and I know Erik could too.

[ZenErik]

Admittedly there aren't really any DC shmups I recommend outside of MM, THE, and TSS.

THE isn't like DDP either because you can use enemy ships as shields and cancel bullets/kill enemies that way or even throw them at enemies.

Both MM and THE rely heavily on using enemies (either ships or bullets, depending on which game) to kill enemies, basically. Haha. You CAN play THE as a regular bullet hell shmup, but your score will suffer greatly that way. Mars Matrix without using the mosquito technique would probably impossible.

Gunbird 2 I also could not compare either. In Cave games you generally weave in between bullets. Gunbird you basically have to go around groups of bullets. Can't really weave in most instances.

And TSS is awesome but far from bullet hell, haha..

[dunpeal2064]

^ What about Shikigami II? I think there are plenty of sweet bullet weaving moments in that game.

gunbird 2 has patterns that you can dodge through, you just tap to the left or right, and the bullets fly by you. Of course, much faster than DDP, which is why I mentioned that you usually need to see the pattern once to get it. You definitely do not need to macro dodge them all though, as that would kill you by stage 5 easy.

Both games definitely have way more dodging than MM/THE, unless, like you mentioned, you play the games wrong. But, thats moot, any game would become manic if you play it wrong.


Well OP, plenty of options there. Let us know what you think!