Shmup Of The Month 2014 Discussion

[mjmjr25]

Excellent job. Great variety.

Hori's were represented well, I thought. 3 of 11 is probably the appropriate ratio i'd think.

The older games selected I don't have a lot of experience with, so those are good on my end.

I was hoping EM would nominate Hotdog Storm, but his pick looks solid, excited to give it a go.

I like the Boss Rush that noise picked, always nice to have different flavors.

Glad to see some neo love from foxhound.

I was hoping for some CAVE from Chaz and it's perfect, one i've hardly touched.

Obviously, mjmjr25 didn't disappoint picking the best game on the list.

Nice setup post, Exed. Should be fun.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Also, Gaiares has the best/worst advertising for any shmup game ever made.

If Ellert ever lets me design a shirt (am I his best customer?), I want the "Guy-Are-Us" one!

The slight mustache, mullet, half-turtleneck, and chain combination really cannot be beat. That said, I also want a "Guy-Are-Us: shirt badly, but I would settle for a red Renovation shirt if I had too...

EDIT:

My turtleneck fat and my chain so thin,
N' I'm sippin' light beer, 'n my crew right here
Chain razor thin like beer in my cup,
And my sweater on turtle with the neck on puff,
Huge turtle neck and my chain so skinny,
Beer light all night, stand up get dizzy,
Light cup, beer drink, thin so chain, neck turtle fat, man I won't say it again!

[ExedExes]

I agree with all of you here. I PMed many of you back on your fantastic choices and how excited I was to see all of these. I'm glad it's getting a good response not just from our committee, but those new faces who want to join us next year! AJ, Bone, Bryan, stick with us in 2014!

Having 3 horis is a good thing, I must say. It's right on target without being terribly overbearing.

When dsh sent me Gaiares, I thought right away of pro gamer Jamie. I haven't played that one and am looking forward to it.

pierrot is correct all -- Blazing Star also has an iOS port if you want to go a cheaper route. Now updated in the calendar post.

Great games once again, my committee! This year's gonna be the best!

[hashiriya1]

Nice selection. I saw Exed's PM too late. Oh well, perhaps 2015.

[dunpeal2064]

Damn, that is a fantastic calender.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Dave pick Gaiares (and not Cho Aniki!). As far as console shooters go, Gaiares really feels like arcade-quality stuff.

Mike, great choice. Of all the shmups out there that I know I'd love but have not put time into, Bakraid is probably top of the list. This one should bring tons of discussion with all the secrets and crazy scoring.

Glad to see Noise bringing Chaos Field into the mix. The boss rush and crazy mechanics will be a nice change of pace.

Doc caught me by surprise with Rayforce. Very much looking forward to that one, and I think that will be a very active month.

1943 Kai is the only 1940 series shmup that I have never played, so I'm interested to see what this one has to offer.

Phelios... I didn't know this was an arcade game! I had always thought it was a console shooter. Looking forward to seeing how the arcade version compares. Cool setting in this one, very different. Nice pick o.pwuaioc!

i've never played Super X, and it looks like something I would have jumped right into. How have I spent time playing R-Shark and Flying Tiger, but not this!?

Blazing Star is a hori that I can definitely get behind. Yay for horis with scoring mechanics!

Xexex is awesome. Brutal and frustrating, but awesome.

Seriously, what a great year. I don't know if its a change in perspective on my part, or a testament to the quality of these picks, but there is not a single game I'm not looking forward to.

[o.pwuaioc]

Not many horizontal shmup fans amongst you huh?

I dunno if I'll be able to join in many of these. We'll see.

I actually like horis more than vertis, but I thought Phelios would be a great pick. I originally wanted Gradius II, but Exed talked me out of it. :P

I really like this line up, and am generally surprised at the amount of early games. I'm definitely looking forward to this next year, and hopefully my schedule lightening a bit means I'll be able to play more. 2013 has not bequeathed any free time to me.

Nice selection. I saw Exed's PM too late. Oh well, perhaps 2015.

So long as you think Phelios is an acceptable pick, it all works out, right? :)

[noiseredux]

Blazing Star... I've never heard of it. I thought that NG had only a small handful of shmups, so I thought I knew them all. Looks like it could be interesting. Anything's better than Last Hope, though right?

RayForce... eh. It's ok. I mean. I'll play it.

Battle Bakraid... I don't really know anything about this one, but I remember like a year ago saying "OMG I need to play some more Raizing!!" so I'm happy with this.

Gaiaries... looks cool. There's a lot of Genny shmups I've overlooked.

Chaos Field... noise is really handsome and has excellent taste in pretty much everything.

1943 Kai... I don't know. I can't recall spending much time with Kai, but I can say I've never been too in love w/ the Capcom 194x games. Although I don't recall ever really playing them for score so maybe that will be better.

Ikaruga... at least a good excuse to play this one again. Been some years and I don't think I ever bothered playing it for score.

Phelios... for a second the screenshot scared me cuz I thought o.p picked that same NES dragon game as this past year haha. But actually Philios looks pretty cool! I've never even heard of this one.

DDP DOJ... I feel like this is the month I'll look the most forward to. Like Mushi this past year.

Super-X... I have no idea what this is. That screenshot looks like Mars Matrix though.

Xexex... I don't think I can name any shmups that begin with "X" and are good. So hopefully this one will be different. Haha.

[dunpeal2064]

Anything's better than Last Hope, though right?

I feel pretty confident in saying that Blazing Star is much more up your alley than Last Hope.

I mean, it was inspired by R-Type after all.

[o.pwuaioc]

Phelios... for a second the screenshot scared me cuz I thought o.p picked that same NES dragon game as this past year haha. But actually Philios looks pretty cool! I've never even heard of this one.

I could have done that! Darn!

It's not quite Truxton level good, but it's not nearly as slow as Dragon Spirit either. I actually haven't played much of it, but have been meaning to, so hopefully it's not a stinker. It got dunpeal's approval, so it must be good!

[mjmjr25]

Anything's better than Last Hope, though right?

I feel pretty confident in saying that Blazing Star is much more up your alley than Last Hope.

I mean, it was inspired by R-Type after all.

Blazing Star has a ton of scoring potential - so it keeps it interesting. It's a really unique game. There are minor similarities to eco fighters with the ships' option and being a mid 90's hori, but I think you'll enjoy it considerably more.