Cave

[Drakon]

creator of all the best shmups in my opinion. Awesome games they've made

dodonpachi
mushihimesama
ESP galuda
progear
ketsui

....ketsui again just because....

If you like shmups and havn't heard of this company....well then I suggest you start looking into them

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_(company)

[ZenLogikos]

Your link's broken. Might want to include that end ')' for those who are unfamiliar with Cave. (I'm not one of them.)

[Doctor Fugue]

We do indeed talk a lot about CAVE here already (or is it just me?) but it certainly helps to get their name out there and support a developer who is actually making more shooters now than in the past (not to mention the fact that their entire catalog is STGs).

Unfortunately that wiki article has very little to offer. Here is something with quite a bit more history (although it is incomplete post-2005).

http://www.world-of-arcades.net/Cave/cave.htm

[ZenLogikos]

Yeah, I think Cave probably wins the "Best Japanese Developer To Not Have a Single Game Released In the West". Damn shame. Hell, the majority of their titles aren't even ported to the home in JP.

That is an excellent site, Doc. I hadn't been there in a while. Too bad it's apparently not being updated.

[bobbynewmarkiii]

We do indeed talk a lot about CAVE here already (or is it just me?)

Yeah - I think it's mostly you

[otaku]

I don't believe I've played anything by cave yet but I will eventually it seems they have a huge loyal following

[mrtie]

We do indeed talk a lot about CAVE here already (or is it just me?)

It's not just you, Cave has consistantly trudged along in genre that was all but dead, and the do it with such style. Thats not to say there aren't other producing great modern shmups too, but man there is element about most Cave games that for me at least refuses to age, dodonpachi still feels as fresh to me today as the first time I played it years and years ago, I'm thankfully better at it from the practice but the feeling Caves games esp those that feel most like DDP just seems to click with me. I can even appreciate the oddballs, I'm looking at you Ibara and Fever S.O.S.

[Doctor Fugue]

Sorry, I wrote my first post too fast and with too little sleep. Of course CAVE has made non-STG. Their two puzzle games, Uo Poko and Mushihime Tama, as well as that ST-V snowboarding game (Steep Slope Sliders) they made with another company (and published by SEGA).

And that site I posted has been updated as recently as this year, and by some excellent Western STG players, but the list of games goes no further than 2005.

[gennss]

So which shmup by cave is the best introduction to the cave style?

[Doctor Fugue]

So which shmup by cave is the best introduction to the cave style?

Well, some people might say their original game DonPachi is the best introduction. But then, I think DoDonPachi is better because it actually reveals a lot more about their style (and of course really sets up all the later DDP games).

Honestly, any of the earlier games would be a great introduction to CAVE. I imagine the games that were NOT programmed by their "founder" Ikeda (like Ibara in 2005) wouldn't be the best introduction since they have a different style.

The easiest way to get into CAVE actually might be Espgaluda since it is sometimes considered their "easiest" game.

Oh, screw it. Just play every game you can. If a certain game attracts you, then spend the rest of your life mastering it.