What shmup are you playing now?

[sosoyo180]

Just ordered a copy of Lords of Thunder for the Duo, you can bet i'll be playing it when it gets here.

[SNESdrunk]

Gradius 3 for SNES. I really suck at shmups but this one makes me feel like I at least have a chance in hell. I really like the strategic element with the powerups.

[ExedExes]

Gradius 3 for SNES. I really suck at shmups but this one makes me feel like I at least have a chance in hell. I really like the strategic element with the powerups.

The total control the game gave you over a powerup loadout really stood out when it was released. I love this game, and revisit it once in a while. If you want a hair pulling challenge, find the hidden ARCADE difficulty.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Just discovered there are shmups on the Tandy Color.

[pierrot]

Gradius 3 for SNES. I really suck at shmups but this one makes me feel like I at least have a chance in hell. I really like the strategic element with the powerups.

The total control the game gave you over a powerup loadout really stood out when it was released. I love this game, and revisit it once in a while. If you want a hair pulling challenge, find the hidden ARCADE difficulty.

I used to hate this game (the arcade version; never really played the SNES game) because it's so ball bustingly difficult. Every time I ever played it, I would just get annihilated by the sand lions, and the little walker guys on the ceilings and floors of the first stage. Decided to play it the other day, for some reason, and I was in the zone. I nearly made it to the stage 2 boss, on my first run, without dying; then felt the full force of "Gradius Syndrome" for the first time. (Even though I've 1cc-ed the original.)

Spent a couple hours the next day trying to replicate that success, and while I can now make it to stage 2 about every 1 in 3 or 4 runs, I've hardly even come close to what I was able to do the day before. I think I hate this game again. I really want to know what the people at Konami were thinking when they designed Gradius III.

[Erik_Twice]

Gradius III was rushed into arcades without proper playtesting. The sand lion stage was supposed to be stage four or five, most of the respawn points were placeholders and the cube rush was supposed to be dodged. Have you seen the hitboxes of the moais? They are terrible.

It's a shame because there's a great game buried behind its flaws. And yes, making it through the first stage is an achivement on its own, it's pretty damn difficult.


I'm playing Gradius II to review it and also V-Five a bit. I'm not too fond of the latter, it seems to lack magic.

[dunpeal2064]

I'm playing Gradius II to review it and also V-Five a bit. I'm not too fond of the latter, it seems to lack magic.

V-V is definitely polarizing. It had a pretty poor reception when we played it for SotM, yet I find it to be Toaplan's best offering.

[ExedExes]

V-V (five) was also known as Grindstormer. It had a Genesis port, in which you could play the game as V-V. In V-V mode, you get the Gradius style (hey!) power up bar, in Grindstormer mode, power ups just come out at random.

[dunpeal2064]

V-V (five) was also known as Grindstormer. It had a Genesis port, in which you could play the game as V-V. In V-V mode, you get the Gradius style (hey!) power up bar, in Grindstormer mode, power ups just come out at random.

The Genesis port does have some notable differences from either arcade version of Grindstormer/V-V, but it is pretty fun in its own way. I discovered Griindstormer via the port, and loved it. When I finally had a chance to try the PCB, I fell in love with it.

[Erik_Twice]

Hey, I can't really comment on it fairly because I haven't gotten too far in it. But at least the first two stages are...kind of bland. I mean, it's technically excellent but so far it hasn't clicked with me.

Perhaps is that Gradius II's first stage is that hard to beat.