SNES shmups - weird feel

[brunoafh]

How do you guys feel about Salamander, which also mixes styles?

It wasn't just the fact that the game mixed styles that bugged me, I'm fine with that. But the vert stages felt completely different, it was like you didn't have control of the ship and the screen was melting.

[Ack]

I actually don't care for Axelay so much. I know, a non-shmuper giving an opinion on shmups, but I dislike the use of Mode 7. That's not to say I don't find it impressive and interesting that they designed it to appear like the curvature of the earth, but the effect bothers me for some reason.

[Hatta]

I can't say I understand. The ship feels perfectly controllable to me in either type of level, and the mode 7 looks awesome to my eye. I actually have a lot more trouble with the horizontal stages, the underwater one is the worst.

[Ack]

I can't say I understand. The ship feels perfectly controllable to me in either type of level, and the mode 7 looks awesome to my eye. I actually have a lot more trouble with the horizontal stages, the underwater one is the worst.

Part of the issue is that I have trouble tracking everything that is going on in a shmup, which is part of the reason why I consider myself so terrible at them despite liking the genre. The Mode 7 in Axelay further hinders my view of the action by warping it, which makes things harder for me to focus on.

[dunpeal2064]

Even though it seems like an odd suggestion, maybe you should try some bullet-hell shooters Ack. I never even used to consider tracking projectiles possible in older shooters, but the slower and denser patterns of bullet hell stuff really got me able to play shmups on a level that I was happy with.

Of course, don't jump into the hardest stuff, but if you get a chance to try Mushi Futari on normal for a day or so, or even one of the Touhou games on Easy or Normal, give it a chance. It was almost like shmup training, and made it possible for me to enjoy older stuff like Raiden much more.

[J T]

I see things opposite from the OP. I love my SNES shmups (UN Squadron, R-Type III, Axelay, Gradius III, Darius Twin) and I always think back to these games when I judge a shmup on another system. That's right, I like SNES shmups so much that they are my barometer for good shmup gameplay. I also think back to the NES with games like Life Force, Gradius, Section Z, Guardian Legend, Stinger, Legendary Wings, SCAT, and others.

[marurun]

I think where we start plays a big role in our predilections. Even though I started on the NES, however, I go to the PC Engine/TG 16 as my standard. I think that system has a large number of "perfect" feeling and playing shooters that happen to fit my personal preferences quite well. The Arcade is, of course, another standard point that I turn to, but for home games, the PCE is king.

[ExedExes]

I see things opposite from the OP. I love my SNES shmups (UN Squadron, R-Type III, Axelay, Gradius III, Darius Twin) and I always think back to these games when I judge a shmup on another system. That's right, I like SNES shmups so much that they are my barometer for good shmup gameplay. I also think back to the NES with games like Life Force, Gradius, Section Z, Guardian Legend, Stinger, Legendary Wings, SCAT, and others.

I can get behind this opinion.

[Aaendi]

Old thread, but the OP makes some good points that I can totally agree on.

The fact that it took programmers a year at least to get their head around collision routines that didn't drag down the entire system.

OK, technical reasons play into it, but there are no technical reasons that can't be overcome.

I honestly believe that if the 68k wasn't hyped up so much by game developers, slowdown in SNES games would have never been an issue in the first place. After a few years of the 68k became standardized in the arcade market, programmers lost their ability to work with CPUs that were notably different.