Hardest Shmup?

[Spyke]

Is there already a post for this?

If not what shmup do you consider the rock-hardest?
I'm guessing Dragon Blaze and Battle Garegga are going to be up there.

Of the games I've played I'd have to say:
Dragon Blaze
Dodonpachi Resurrection
Gradius V


Some games are hard but encourage me to play more (Dodonpachi) and others tell me in no uncertain terms that I'll never beat them (Dragon Blaze & Gradius V).

Your thoughts?

[dsheinem]

In B4 Touhou

[prfsnl_gmr]

I always thought that the original R-Type was a beast. Since you restart at the beginning of the level when you die, you can't really credit feed it. Moreover, some of the later stages are just brutal IMO. (It took me hours and hour of memorization to get through it, and I doubt I will ever do it again...)

[ZenErik]

Saidaioujou destroys me far more quickly than any other CAVE shmup..

But I'm not really sure what the hardest ones would be. Sort of depends on your goal too, right? Hardest to 1CC? Hardest to chain? Etc.

[prfsnl_gmr]

How about "hardest to beat without putting your fist through an arcade monitor"?

[fastbilly1]

To me, Darius Gaiden on the Saturn is up there. I just cant get that game to click on any difficulty level.

[foxhound1022]

For me, the Strikers series are always good for a swift ass-kicking. Psikyo games in general seem to be tougher than a lot of others.

Also, for whatever dumb reason, I was terrible at Metal Black.

[ninjainspandex]

I'd vote Battle Garegga, dammit i love that game but it's waaay to hard for me even if I avoid powerups (which imo is no fun, I really wish they made it without the rank system)

[Retrogamer0001]

All of them...

[BogusMeatFactory]

All of them...

I concur! I have a hard time with the genre, but have really tried to give it a shot. I got through Jamestown pretty handily, which is remarkable in my opinion since I am horrible at playing this types of games. It took some practice, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

I am very surprised that, for the most part, everyone has put their two cents in and given a very different answer. That doesn't happen to often with other genres. Which is a plus to Shmups.