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Nice to see Dimahoo so high on your list Mike. Thing about Karte (and I do like her for score play) is that she has a very difficult time taking out the colosseum stage 6 bosses and giga-facer just doesn’t ever want to die against her abysmally-weak firepower.

Mine of course changes year to year based on what I’m playing, but a handful always stay near the top.

1. Dimahoo - I’ve only beat it once, high score somewhere around 15 million. I would like to eventually counterstop it or clear with all 8 characters. Should take a lifetime.

2. Battle Garegga - I’ve only beat it twice, high score around A.9 million. I’d like to at least get a solid clear with Gain and a few other characters, don’t think I’ll push score far past C or D though.

3. Armed Police Batrider - I’ve cleared Advance Course several dozen times, with all 18 characters, and high score of E.5 (second highest recorded score in USA).

4. Dodonpachi - The quintessential CAVE game, though I’m not big on chaining, I still wildly enjoy aimlessly flying around and seeing how far I can get (2-4 is my wall).

5. Ibara - Cleared over a dozen times, just shy of a B million high score. Insanely well designed stages, a true successor to Garegga. The hadou cannon mechanics are completely unique and make the game a masterpiece.

6. .. to be continued...

DocHauser's Top Ten List:

1. Crimzon Clover: World Ignition

Put tons of hours into the original version, played the new version in the arcades in Japan when it came out in 2013, played this one a ton as well. Does pretty much everything right; great variety of modes and difficulty levels, good scoring system, looks cool, sweet soundtrack. Glorious.

2. Armed Police Batrider

So many ways to play this and tweak your strategy, figure out the scoring, learn the secrets. Never gets boring.

3. DoDonPachi

Putting this in here ahead of the other DDPs, as it's the one I've spent the most time on. DOJ might be the better game, and I find the scoring/hypers more fun than the chaining in DDP, but I still haven't 1CC'd the first loop in DOJ yet, so I'll put DDP in here for now...

4. Raiden Fighters Jet

Everything about it rocks. In some ways it's a shame that, if you want to compete for high scores, you more or less have to go with either the Slave or Judge Spear ship. The other ships are a lot of fun to play with and have more interesting weapons, but it's tougher to play with them because of slower speed or larger hitbox.

5. Gigawing

This is in ahead of Mars Matrix, which is also great but it's tough to pick up and play Mars Matrix in short bursts because it's hard to maintain any kind of consistency (at least for me). Gigawing just flows a lot more easily. Once you get into the rhythm of using your shield and sending that multiplier through the roof, there are few shmups that are as much fun to play. I've made it to the TLB, but haven't managed to 1CC it yet.

6. Darius Gaiden

The only hori in my top ten. Not the hardest game ever (especially if you have autofire on) but it plays great and doesn't have a killer checkpoint system like a lot of old-school horis. Boss design is fantastic as well.

7. Mushihimesama Futari

This probably wouldn't have made it in before I played it for Shmup of the Month earlier this year (I managed to 1CC Original Mode in 1.5 and Black Label). The first couple of levels get old after a while, but it really picks up in the last two stages, where the speed and intensity increases a lot. Made it to Stage 4 in Maniac, I'll get back to that eventually...

8. Dragon Blaze

I was thinking of including two or three Psikyo games (Strikers 1945 II & III, Gunbird 2 and Zero Gunner 2 are all worthy entries) but I realised I'm not actually good enough at any of them to really judge them properly! But I love them all anyway.

9. Judgement Silversword

Classic WonderSwan game - looks simple enough to start with, but it's incredibly addictive once you get into it. Thirty short levels (often under 30 seconds each), but there are tons of different enemies and bullet patterns to deal with. Good scoring system based on aggressive speed kills and risk/reward by point-blanking enemies with your shield to raise the multiplier. Now available on Steam along with Cardinal Sins. Everyone should own a copy!

10. Touhou 10: Mountain of Faith

Well, why not a Touhou game? I've beaten a bunch on Normal difficulty and only one (Phantasmagoria of Flower View) on Lunatic, but I think MoF may be the best entry-point into the series for newcomers. It's also pretty easy once you discover which character has an overpowered weapon...

Last call for top 10 lists...

I wish I could contribute, but I am such an nüb that I can't even come up with ten.

TSTR wrote:I wish I could contribute, but I am such an nüb that I can't even come up with ten.

Same. But I've enjoyed reading the thread.

I've noticed that a large number of "best shmup ever" lists (here and elsewhere) are heavily slanted to the 5th gen and up. Is this a genre that's just gotten better over time? Most best RPG or best platformer lists would include at least a few 20+ year old games.

BoneSnapDeez wrote:

TSTR wrote:I wish I could contribute, but I am such an nüb that I can't even come up with ten.

Same. But I've enjoyed reading the thread.

I've noticed that a large number of "best shmup ever" lists (here and elsewhere) are heavily slanted to the 5th gen and up. Is this a genre that's just gotten better over time? Most best RPG or best platformer lists would include at least a few 20+ year old games.

I think they;ve perhaps just become more distinctive. They have unique scoring mechanics or gameplay mechanics to make them stand out, whereas a lot of 8 and 16 bit shmups were very standard in their aesthetics and mechanics.

BoneSnapDeez wrote:

TSTR wrote:I wish I could contribute, but I am such an nüb that I can't even come up with ten.

Same. But I've enjoyed reading the thread.

I've noticed that a large number of "best shmup ever" lists (here and elsewhere) are heavily slanted to the 5th gen and up. Is this a genre that's just gotten better over time? Most best RPG or best platformer lists would include at least a few 20+ year old games.

The big kicker imo is the inability of the earlier gens to put as many sprites on screen at once like later ones could without flicker. That really matters from a gameplay perspective. Perhaps almost as important though is the genre shift from old school or manic shooters to bullet hells, which were nigh impossible before the PS1/Saturn, and really only took off like no other on the Dreamcast and later. Lots of shooter fans are fans of that particular type of shooter.

For me, 4th and 5th gen were perfect, but then bullet hell or loli shooters took over the genre. I'm in the minority, though.

Most shmups pre 1990 were so similar - they feel like the same engine glossed over.

Other common themes (that many don't enjoy):
-Respawn points that end runs due to starting at a point w/o necessary speed and power
-Memorization more important than reaction
-Undefined hit boxes (particularly on background collisions)
-Safe spots on bosses (a lot of 80's / early 90's bosses have bugs where you can position yourself just right, hold down the shot button, and kill a boss)
-Lack of scoring angle (mid 90's games and beyond introduced scoring mechanics that created 2 distinct ways to enjoy a game)

That said - there are still some gems from 80's and early 90's that didn't follow the current genre at the time. Recca, Axelay, Space Megaforce, UN Squadron, Macross Scrambled Valkyrie, etc

...and that said...this is a list for Racketboy; so anyone active on this site should post "their" personal list - we want the list to represent this community. I would never have Gradius or R-Type in a top 10 of mine...but I would think this particular community would probably rank those very high - so, they should be there.

I'm not as versed as I'd like to be in the amount of shmups out there to play. I've basically missed out on a lot of the highly regarded titles... Like practically every Raizing and most Cave games... But whatever. Here goes...


Chrish Top Ten List:

1. Ikaruga
I'm gonna be way over dramatic because I'm a 'frothing' fanatic of this game, in the camp believing Ikaruga to be a work of art. The chapters and bosses are brilliantly designed in utilizing the polarity system and chain scoring. It's a game of precision and strategy that must be played and replayed again. And it's a rewarding experience for those that persevere, as sections that once looked near impossible suddenly become doable, and you're soon showing off your skills to your buddy's absolute amazement. Then there's the artsy yin-yang stuff with it too. Balanced all Zen like, with subtle beauty and harmony.

2. Space Megaforce
Super Blazing Lazers! It's been a long while since I played this, but I put a lot of time into it back in its day (more than any shmup, until Ikaruga came along). So my ranking it this high is largely due to nostalgia. It's long and on the easy side, and I never played it for score. I just really liked the game's presentation... Wide variety of weaponry, the R button use, never a shortage of power-up & point capsules dancing around, great 'mode 7' effects, a beautiful Soundtrack, and goofy sounding muffled voices.

3. Giga Wing
Graphics are mighty bland...but game play is sharp. Love the reflect...using it at the right times to turn a stream of enemy bullets into a sea of medals. Very satisfying. Also love the gloomy atmosphere, "...embarking on a mission to destroy the war-mongering Evil Medallion". And the craziness of racking up 14-digit scores. Unfortunately, I can only make it to penultimate boss, and that's likely as good as I'll ever get.

4. Tengai (Sengoku Blade)
Gunbird turned sideways. The first (and still only) Psikyo game I've 1cc'ed... 1st loop at least... I did it at a little truck stop that inexplicably had the game in working condition, amongst the half-broken generic driving, light gun, claw machines, and whatever other quarter munching filler machines. So no one saw or cared of the feat... Oh well. The 1cc is good enough cause to put the game in my top4.

5. Mars Matrix
Love the depth of the 'Gravity Hole' system, and its 1-button-does-everything control scheme. It's an upgrade to Giga Wing's reflect in that there's much more variance in using it. Very strategic. However, MM is also very harsh; not just the insane enemy firepower, but in its scoring system. You need to rack up big chains early to have any hope of achieving a good final score, and it is indeed quite difficult to keep chains going consistently. I could chain the entirety of stage 1, but only about half the time. Still a great game though. Just watching a skilled player successfully navigate through a brutal enemy assault leaves me in awe. I've made it to the final stage myself, but 1cc still highly unlikely.

6. Blazing Lazers
I credit this for turning me into a shmup fan. I played many good shooters before, but never really thought much of the genre as a whole until I played this. It's like the perfect entry level shmup, remarkably addictive with its pacing; variety of weapons; Superb power-up system; vibrant colors; thematically varied levels, with many crazy things attacking you; and catchy soundtrack.

7. Gate of Thunder
As my first experience with an upgraded "Super CD" TG16 game, everything about it was stunning...Graphics, varied levels with scenery changes, rockin' music, badass sound effects, and fewer load times!

8. Under Defeat
I REALLY need to play this game more... VERY pleasing visually, and the directional shooting is really neat. Made by G-Rev, huh? But has a kind of Psikyo feel to it. Makes me realize that I really need to get ahold of Zero Gunner 2 someday...

9. Gunbird 2
Like this game a lot. Variable characters, methods of attack, medal chaining... But dammit! Can't get past that typical Psikyo stage 5 wall. Believe I can do it...just have to get in the mood one of these years...

10. Dodonpachi
Only really played this seriously during one of the Together Retros a couple years ago...and that was enough. I saw the light.

Results are in:

Top 10 List
1. (5) DoDonPachi
1. (5) DDP DFK
3. (4) Raiden Fighters II
3. (4) Ikaruga
3. (4) Battle Garegga
6. (3) Under Defeat
6. (3) R-Type
6. (3) Mushi Futari
6. (3) Mars Matrix
6. (3) Layer Section
6. (3) Gunbird 2
6. (3) Deathsmiles

Notes: