Beatnix SHMUPs - my new collecting focus with lots of holes

[beatnix]

So... Recently I have rediscovered my enjoyment playing SHMUPS and have been hunting these titles exclusively for the past couple weeks. Its been fun having a new focus to my collecting. It's been a pretty slow summer for hunting in the wild so a specific hunt has made things a bit more fun. Plus I've discovered some awesome games I might not have given much thought to in the past.

Lots of pics... Just not a lot of games. I play exclusively on US systems. It's not that I'm opposed to imports, I just havent dove into that pool yet. It looks expensive and I could see me blowing a lot of cash on a few games. I've been considering softmodding an oXbox specifically to play some roms of games I know I cant afford right now. But not sure... I kind of hate piracy at all levels when it comes to gaming...

But if you see some glaring holes in my collection, of which I know there are quite a few, please throw me some suggestions for games to keep an eye out for.

I do have some games I think are pretty great though as well... The more I read up on SHMUPS, the more it seems that tastes vary pretty widely to favorite games for each system... And a lot of those are great games I've may have missed... So it's cool seeing what everyone is playing!

MASTER SYSTEM/GENESIS

unfortunately Grind Stormer is a dud... Seems there were a lot of these for this game.

NES BOXED GAMES

I've been a fan of Gun.Smoke for a long time. I know it isnt a prefect port of the arcade game but I still love playing it.

NES LOOSE CARTS

The HES Twin Eagle game is something I picked up on a whim from ebay a few years back for like 6.00 when I was looking for the standard Twin Eagle game. Cant play it, since it's PAL, and can't find much info on it either

SNES

I love UN squadron! a buddy and I have put in some serious time on that game tag team style and we still come back to it often.

HADNHELDS


N64/PSX

G-Darius is fun... I've always enjoyed Darius Twin... and more fish space ships are cool with me.

PS2

Raiden III was a purchase about 2 months ago that brought me back into playing SHMUPS... two player is very addicting.

Wii

Monkey King is a giant Turd... Ocean Commander is surprisingly not bad... Still trying to figure out the scoring system on the ultimate collection... One of the games is Radirgy and in the one run ive taken i was left very confused.

XBOX 360

Holy Crap Deathsmiles! I'm hooked... I want more of what CAVE has to offer

SATURN/DREAMCAST
Sadly none...

[harper]

Damn, did you find all of that stuff in the wild?

If you haven't already, you should try to get ahold of a copy of Firepower 2000 for the SNES. It's an incredibly fun game, especially if you have a friend to play it with.

And I always have to give props when I see Captain Skyhawk. I know it's like the cheapest game ever but I love it.

[beatnix]

Found most of it in the wild. Got the Wii and 360 games recently at GameStop. Other than that I do most of my collecting through garage sales and flea markets. A lot of my collection, especially the NES stuff is just stuff I pulled out of my regular collection recently to play through.

It's caused me to realize that there are some games I need to start investing a few more dollars in. I won't find really great stuff too often if Im not willing to pay more retail like prices.

[foxhound1022]

Yeah, especially for Saturn and DC. Lots of great shmups, but more on the salty side. IMO every penny I've invested into my collection so far is completely worth it.

[ExedExes]

I didn't see anything for the Gamecube, but you must get IKARUGA if you have it.

[beatnix]

I do have Ikaruga on my 360... Ive down loaded a couple games there. I love the polarity of black ad white in that game.

[mjmjr25]

Nice games.

In most cases, you get what you pay for, but not all. A lot of pricey SAT shmups are pricey due to rarity, but sorta suck.

Some DC shmups are pricey due to DC fans preferring the hardware or certain in-game options, etc, though many are ported to GCN / PS2 / oXbox very well and considerably cheaper.

To truly delve into the genre though, you will need to get in on the import side, but no rush, there is great great stuff, as you're finding already.

I actually like Monkey King, for being a $5 game, it has something that I never experienced in a shmup, the ability to slow down or speed up the game, but tilting the wiimote up or down, a very neat feature. The game itself, certainly a kiddie shmup and not terribly difficult, almost a knock-off of the Shikigami series w/the storyline and cutscenes.

Deathsmiles is amazing. A lot of hardcore gamers don't care for it due to it not being overly difficult, but screw 'em. It is a gorgeous game, great bosses, shooting forward and backward, and brilliant soundtrack.

Raiden III and IV, just great, good choices. Love games w/multi powerups and big explosions, great stuff.

Ultimate shooting collection has 3 excellent games - I prefer the DC ports, but certainly the Wii version is much gentler on the wallet and you can at least try 'em out this way and see if they are up your alley. Def. want to use a pad or stick though, the wiimote for shmups is not advantageous to the experience.

And star soldier vanishing earth, honestly, one of my favorite games, the first shmup I really put time into, back 12+ years ago, have a soft spot in my heart for that one.

[ExedExes]

Nice SNES titles too. UN Squadron was the first shmup I got for that console. Don't know why EDF isn't as popular, I feel it's under-rated. Other good ones on this system you definitely need to find are Axelay and Space Megaforce,