Absent from this list is Einhänder for the PS1, which was definitely a thing to experience. SE would have no trouble remaking that title today... the theme, gameplay, aesthetics...everything about that game is just as fresh today as it was in the 90's. It's like some kind of 5th Element WW3 Bladerunner kamikaze space opera, it's only and hour long but it's just beautiful. Considering how long and exhaustive this video is, it's also excellently categorized. Great work as always, every time I watch your videos I learn something new.
Einhander was a very good game, though I had to choose the one playstyle from the selection screen that made it most like a traditional shooter to fully enjoy it. Can't remember which one that was called.
On top of these (ESPECIALLY Einhander), I'd recommend Espgaluda. Comfy steampunk/sci-fi setting, unique gameplay mechanics, satisfying scoring system, and killer soundtrack.
If you get a chance, I'd recommend trying Darius Gaiden. Intense, well-balanced, varied gameplay, and it looks like the bombastic fever dream of a side-scrolling shooter. Either way, excellent video!
Wow, the production value of this video is out of this world while covering a game topic I really enjoy. Thanks, Pam, for preparing this wonderful video. Looking forward to playing some of the recommended games as my Steam Deck hopefully arrives next week!
Raiden II is still my favorite of all time. I love the hand-drawn art style, the loving attention to detail evident in the destructible enemies and backgrounds, the fantastic sound track, and the very consistent design language around projectiles.
very cool to see you covering so many shmups! I dont always agree with your takes on many but still think its a great job and would love to see more shmup discussion! 😎
Hi Pam, amazing video, was really fascinated with your fantastic overview of each game. Shmups is favourite gaming genre along with racers (especially racers from Sega & Sony). Your input here was really invaluable, thank you :)
Hi Pam, I like this kind of format, with the gameplay and references included in the information box, very nice work. Do you usually play RPGs?, as an idea for future videos it could be nice a ranking with the RPGs you have played. Regards,
Hell yeah, glad you shouted out Jamestown. That's a personal S for me. Love that game. Didn't know they had an updated/remastered version too! Definitely getting that tonight. You gave me a ton of other games to look into as well.
I tried Gleylancer over the weekend (a Genesis shmup ported to Switch, Xbox and PS4) and am having a great time with it so far - it may be in my top 5 genesis shooters, although I will have to revisit that on completion. I recommend it! Great video btw, M.U.S.H.A is my favourite.
ahhhh Genesis shooters, Lightening Force (Thunder Force 4 in some regions) is my personal fave. Also MUSHA, Thunder Force 3 get honorable mention from me.
Kingdom grand prix, sol divide, soukyugurentai, in the hunt, battle garegga, galaga 90, shoot 1up, snops attacks zombie defense, border down, psyvarier 2, sub rebellion, soldner x2, soulstar, super stardust, mamorukun curse, blast factor, tesla vs lovecraft, alienation, chou anikki, harmful park, shikhondo, trouble witches, Zero gunner, space invaders xtreme, batman animated (genesis), sturmwind
Seconding the recommendations on Darius Gaiden, it's probably my favorite shmup of all time. Also, if you're interested in more body horror type shooters I'd definitely say check out X-Multiply by Irem. Easier than other Irem games (like R-type) and thematically very creepy and well designed. My final recommendation is another Taito arcade shooter called Metal Black. It's not for everyone but I found it stands out visually and is pretty different from most horizontal shmups in that you don't lose your ship power level when you die. Plus, the soundtrack is one of the best of the era, in my opinion. Great video, I really enjoyed it!
Very fun! It's nice to see someone else who doesn't fully enjoy the Konami shooters 🙂 I'd recommend checking out Outzone from Toaplan as a very interesting combo of shooter/run and gun and Gun Bird or Samurai Aces (really any of the early Psikyo games) as a few other arcade shooters to check out. Thunder Force is a worthy series that I think is as good as Musha (I know many prefer Thunder Force IV or Lightening Force but I prefer 3 as my favorite) and both Elemental Master and Undead Line are fun Genesis shooters that are not space shooters and there are just so many other good shooters to check out. It's really a great genre to get into.
46:08 - Note to myself: don’t talk too much with Pam. :D. This has been an enjoyable video to watch on a Sunday evening before going to work the next day. Thanks, Pam!
Oh my goodness. You look amazing. Love the dark hair. Not only on it's own, but how it compliments your skin tone. I usually check myself if I'm going in this direction with a comment, but whatever. I'll allow it today. Haven't even watched the video yet, so I may be commenting twice.
Gun Nac is heavily underrated. Love it. Sad to see you hate on Gradius man!! I love those games and i still play Gradius 1-3 and Lifeforce to this day. Some of my favorites shmups. Game Tengoku Cruisin Mix Special is fun as hell. Glad to see someone else mention it. I have been desperately trying not to suck at Ikaruga lately. Failing mostly lol
Great vid! Been wanting to get more into shmups, but wasn't exactly a huge fan of the basic gameplay of Defender for instance. Though found Gaiares recently and whew.. your ship has a hovering module to shoot at enemies that destroys & absorbs that particular enemy's power-up, but also gets stronger if you hit the same enemy type 3 times w it. Soo good.
I got Tyrian 2000 a few years ago on GOG and I still play the hell out of it. When my Anbernic RG280V came, Tyrian was already installed on it! Serendipity:)
@@mistersanford Ross' Game Dungeon tipped me off to that one years ago, and for a hot minute GOG had it up for free... tbh they still might, I haven't looked into it heh I always find the coolest stuff buried in there - last time I shopped CDPR's little online storefront there, found IOI's FREEDOM FIGHTERS on sale for like 4.99 or something. Played the hell out of that one on my GameCube back in the day. Gameplay wise, it's still pretty ok! Story's hilarious in retrospect 😆
Based on Pam's description of her preferred shmups (good ramp, lots of weapons, wacky elements) I think she would LOVE Tyrian 2000. Also sad not to see it on the list!
I'm with y'all. Tyrian is one of my favorite games from my childhood, and based on her description near the beginning of this video, I think she'd really like it. Pam, if you're reading this, give Tyrian 2000 a try. It's available, for free, on GoG, and that's not cause it's on sale or anything; it'll always be free. I think it was that IP was abandoned, so it's in the public domain now.
@@Kyrrial Oh word! I thought that might be the case - thanks for confirming that (Tyrian is still free)! Been like three years or so since I acquired it (along with Shadow Warrior Classic) for free on GOG one night while quite baked... woke up like "what the f is this stuff on my desktop?" Lol
Great video! Love the genre! I picked up Guardian Legend based on your previous review, it’s fantastic! Found a few new games in this list. Some of these can get pricey…Recca, whoa! Will be emulating that! A few people in the comments mentioned Dangun Feveron. Think you’d like this Cave shooter. It has a comical disco vibe and soundtrack. Doesn’t take itself too seriously 💃🏻🕺🏻 If you liked Lords of Thunder, you should check out the Thunder Force series. Specifically 3-4 on Genesis, but 5 on Saturn is also amazing. Sad to see Radiant Silvergun so far down but we can disagree 🤷🏻♂️. I like that you start with all the weapons and “mixing” them added depth to the gameplay. Looking forward to part two of this video when you play more shumps 😃
My favorite has to be Mushihimesama. I always come back to it, it's such a joy! Futari is probably even better but I haven't played enough of it to make a solid opinion. Great ranking! As usual it's very personal, you probably don't give a shit what the snobs think (I bet they would choke a bit after seeing your Radiant Silvergun ranking, ha ha!).
Great video. A shmup i love and recommend is Gley Lancer for Genesis. It's japanese exclusive but there's a translation patch and they re-released him for Playstation and Xbox recently.
Dang, I didn't know I could agree with a ranking video so much. (For the 50% of 'em I've played, anyway.) Only one I'd change is, Lords of Thunder, up from A to S tier (although I played the turbografx version on wii vc). The soundtrack is sick, the shop adds a lot of strategic decisions, the un-ordered stages make it really beginner friendly, the melee is uniquely satisfying, I like how the level geometry matters (without being annoying--its ok to touch walls), and the gameplay is hectic but fair. ...And I kinda have no complaints about it. Perfect shmup IMO!
Impressive list, a lot of shmups I've never heard of before. The one I put the most in was Novastorm (Psygnosis) on MS-DOS (actually a FMV based rail-shooter). Other favorites were Tyrian (MS DOS), Darius Gaiden (emulated Sega Saturn / MAME), Raystorm HD (windows / MAME). The first shmup I've ever played was Battle Squadron on the Amiga (also released on Sega Megadrive).
Wow Novastorm, played on Mega CD rather than DOS but have great early memories of it, gonna watch a Let'sPlay just now for a bit of pre-sleep nostalgia
Really enjoyed that. There’s a bunch of those Xbox Cave releases on the Switch now too, including Japan-only ones like Mushihimesama. Worth looking up because they have a ton of modes, including beginner which is really useful if you’re serious about learning to play these.
Hi, Pam. I'm curious. What are your thoughts on the shmups that are behind your vessel? I'm talking games like Panzer Dragoon, Rez, or StarFox, games which are like dogfighters except you're locked on a specific course. I guess they're the middle ground between pure shmups and pure flight games.
For some of the horizonal ones do you ever switch it to Tate mode in the options and flip your monitor?? I specifically bought a rotatable stand just for shmups :D
Very nice video It's time I check Blazing Lazers Also, if you want a shmup that generates music according to your actions but it works, try Rez It was released for the Dreamcast then later PS2
Great video as always! I'm curious to know what you'd think of Axelay, also by Konami. It's very different from Gradius and an amazing overall. I think even if you don't like it, you might enjoy the soundtrack. It's one of my favorites. Also, I know you mentioned you didn't really like Gradius (and to be honest almost all the games play the same), but I highly recommend giving Gradius V a try. They changed it up quite a bit and I find the game much more appealing and is the best in the series in my opinion. I'd love to know what you think.
“Shut the fuck up!” should really be on Raiden V’s box as a quote. You can shut them up btw. Great video and good to hear some alternative opinions about a lot of these!
I think Raiden 2 is the one that left a lasting impression on me throughout the years, I never really liked shoot 'em ups but that one was my go-to for good examples of a fun shoot 'em up. It wasn't because of the levels or enemies, but mostly because the weapon types and their powered versions were so much fun.
Sooo many shmups out there, nice to see many reviewed at once and I enjoyed this video very much! My only disagreements are your Radiant Silvergun and Zanac ratings, but it does take a lot of investment to get the most out of those games. I'm also extremely happy you reviewed Zero Ranger, that game is just super cool and is like the indie devs tribute to great shmups...I'd give it an S. I hope you do parts 2, 3, 4 etc. in the future, here are some I like that you might include in a later video: U.N. Squadron/Area 88 - Based on a pretty cool anime, you could do a review of both together perhaps Super Aleste/Space Megaforce Twinkle Tale Elemental Master Biohazard Battle 1943 Kai - there are a ton of 194X shmups out there, this one is just the most fun to me Silver Surfer - OK I know this has a bad reputation but the music is AMAZING and if you do the levels in the right order and just memorize the very short game and play it no-hit style it's actually pretty cool. Definitely a relic of the "short game, make it unfairly hard to increase playtime" era. I'll also mention that the channel STG Weekly has tons of expert info and gameplay for many many shmups, my friend Aquas has been running it for years and it's a great resource for finding new shmups to play or getting more out of the ones you already have.
An interesting overview and perspective on what you prefer in a shmup. You definitely seem to prefer vertical shmups (I'm quite the opposite & love Konami and R-Type)! You mention your love of OSTs and the dearth of 'A' & 'S'-tiered titles. I offer a hypothesis for both: there are very few 16 & 32-bit titles on here and I believe this timeframe is the apogee of the genre for gameplay and OSTs. Everyone has favorites that get snubbed on these lists, but there are some heavy hitters you may enjoy to fill in the gaps. I'm curious to hear your takes on G-Darius/Darius Gaiden, Thunder force III-V, Soukyougurentai, Gleylancer, Wings of Wor, GrindStormer, Harmful Park, RayForce/Storm/Crisis, Zanac Neo (you love Compile!) NightRaid, Cotton 2/Boomerang, Gaiares, In The Hunt, Viper, Macross DYRL, Bokan to Ippatsu, and perhaps a few others not of that era like Kokuga, Steredenn, Power Strike/II, and even the R-Type offshoot Command/Tactics.
Great video as always Pam, its certainly interesting the titles played depending on where you grew up, a lot of games I was expecting as they were everywhere in the UK when I was growing up just arent here, but I know Pal territories got different games and certainly a lot of budget titles that I saw either on the Megadrive/Genesis or the Amiga may not have been popular elsewhere.
I loved this list! Even though I COMPLETELY disagreed with it lol. Great thought out choices here. I LOVE the Gradius games and its off shoots. I find them all very enjoyable. R-Type III is one of my all time favorite shooters and as such the R-Type games are always something I look forward to. Earth Defense Force is another shooter I really enjoy playing (a "B" tier game for me) that I didn't see here. Under Defeat that originally came out on Dreamcast and got re-released as an HD version for the PS3 is also one of my all time favorite games. Any shooter that got released on TurboGraphx 16/PC Engine is an "A" at a minimum easy. I haven't played one I didn't thoroughly enjoy with a few exceptions here and there. Lastly Lords of Thunder is an "S" by a mile in my book. It's my all time favorite shooter. That game is PERFECT. The music is outstanding, the play is amazing, difficulty is just right, the strategy between levels in buying powerups is awesome, and the setting is terrific! Gate of Thunder is easily an "A" and might even be an "S" depending on how I'm feeling that day as a game that plays very similar to it.
Great Topic. My favorites, to name a few, are Donpachi, Lords of Thunder, Giga Wing and Arrow Flash (female pilot with a ship that has a robot mode. That was enough for me as a kid).
Excellent video, Pam, as usual! My favorite series is not on your list, unfortunately. Darius (Darius 2 would bê a S to me), with it's fishy bosses! 🤓 Also, Thunderforce, is another good one! Love your videos! Thank you so much!
What a great breadth of shoot'em ups in this list. I can recommend two of my favorites, which didn't appear - Forgotten Worlds (arcade version, or Turbo Duo version, or Genesis version) and Section Z (NES version - very different from arcade version, and much more interesting). Both Forgotten Worlds and Section Z are Capcom shooters. The former has all directional shooting; the latter lets you shoot either left or right. Forgotten Worlds has lots of fun powerups and a compelling Egyptian theme, and great Capcom music. Section Z is perhaps brutally difficult, but it has a fun variety of section scrolling speeds. Some zoom by really fast, so all you do is dodge terrain. Some scroll terribly slowly, forcing you to slog your way past enemies that absorb incredible amounts of damage. It also has bopping Capcom music setting the mood. There are also LOTS of 8-bit and 16-bit home computer titles I could recommend. I'll just suggest one weird one, because it's obscure and you wouldn't even know to try it: Sea Dragon, TRS-80 Model 1 version. Sea Dragon is an underwater Scramble clone; you control a submarine. All of the different versions are very different from each other, and you would have no idea that the black and white TRS-80 Model 1 version is possibly the most fun to actually play. It definitely looks crude compared to the others, with low resolution blocky pixel graphics. But there's something about the pace of the game, the density of the enemies, the size of the spaces you need to try and navigate ... I think the other versions don't have quite the same magic.
Great video, I love the TwinBee series of games they're my favourite shmup games, I also like a game called Dragon Blaze (arcade) vertical shooter developed by Psikyo
I've always enjoyed Biohazard Battle for the Sega Genesis. It's kind of wierd and the difficulty curve is fair. I'm always surprised most people have never heard of it.
I love Gun-Nac so, so much. I think I first came across your channel when I was looking into NES games to add to my modded NES Classic and saw your Gun-Nac review and thought it looked great, and boy was it. The visual style, the level themes, and especially the soundtrack are amazing. It might be the most pure fun I have with an NES game that's not at all nostalgia driven like the Marios and Zelda and such since I never played this one as a kid. I go back to it far more often than any other game I've beaten, I love being able to do things like matching weapons to level theme, for example using the flamethrower on the wood/paper level or the water bombs on the firey level. It is a top, top tier game for sure. After Gun-Nac, I think the next two NES/Famicom shooters I'd recommend are both ones not on your list, Over Horizon and Crisis Force. Neither of which came out in North America, which is a shame. Over Horizon is a horizontal scroller and it's visual and music style with the differently themed levels is probably the closest to the spirit of Gun-Nac, though not as silly and it plays very different. It also features an "Edit Mode" that lets you customize your power-ups, though I haven't really tried playing around with that as I'm actually still trying to beat the standard game. Crisis Force is by Konami but it's not at all like their Gradius-types. It's a vertical scroller with an interesting power-up system and the ability to reconfigure your ship on the fly, switching from strictly firing straight ahead to also shooting to the sides or behind. It's a game that ends up on a ton of those "NES games that push the limits of the hardware" lists, and it really does. Plus the Konami code works to give you a bunch of extra lives, which I at least definitely needed.
Great shmups on the list. I love them all. Another beautiful shmup for megadrive is an overhead shooter called Twinkle tale. Beautiful and atmospheric.
I think the reason you have a hard time telling Cave games apart is because you don't pay attention to the scoring systems. I'm not score chaser either but when going for 1 credit clears the score comes into play because it's the mechanic that gives you extra lives to avoid getting a game over. The different scoring mechanics can make surprisingly deep changes in the ways you are encouraged to play, from bullet cancelling to delaying enemy kills to keep a chain going, or learning a stage for destroying them as fast as possible, medalling, grazing bullets, etc.
AH! Finally someone who agrees with me about the Gradius series! I will say that I enjoyed some of the later Parodius games, but for the most part, the weapons are just so limp, even after you power them up. Our tastes don't always align, but it looks like they are remarkably similar when it comes to Scrolling Shooters, so I'd recommend just about any of my S-tiers here: Aleste/Power Strike (Game Gear) - I think there's a collection with these that came out pretty recently, too, including GG Aleste 3, which never existed. Axeley (SNES) - Graphically very impressive, and it has a pretty fun weapon system; gets satisfyingly intense by the end. Final Soldier (TurboGrafx-16) Imperium (SNES) Soldier Blade (TurboGrafx-16) - My favorite game on the system, and one of the all-time greatest soundtracks to boot! Super Nova (SNES) - My favorite of the Darius games, largely because of the big, flashy weapons each of the ships can get. I'd actually recommend almost the entire Darius series (and spiritual spin-off, Metal Black) for its satisfying power-up system, interesting hooks, and branching stage paths. Tyrian 2000 (PC) - This one's challenging, but lets you keep retrying stages as much as you want, as well as letting you keep your power-ups and such. There's also story told in logs that you find within the stages, which you read between stages, if you want (no blabbing while you're under a hail of gunfire), and the end just gets... wacky. It's freeware at this point, and should be easy to find; I know GOG has it with DOSBox all set up for you to make it easy to play. I'd also recommend at least messing around with Over Horizon; I'd call it A-tier, but it has something called Edit Mode, where you can mess around with the weapons, and give them each others' attributes, so you can make things like exploding lasers or homing bombs. Scenery's neat, too.
No Thunder Force?! You should really fix that. Metal soundtrack, a bunch of cool weapons, you never lose your back shot so you can always hit guys behind you. it's a great series, though 2 is rough around the edges as a Genesis launch title. There's a great version of 4 (the best one) on Switch, and it's not expensive. I'm not sure how different our tastes are, but we sure have different experiences. I've only played a handful of the games on here. Keio was adorably goofy and I liked the strategy of choosing when to use the baby dragons or keep them. Lords of Thunder is amazing, especially the risk/reward of getting close for sword attacks. Radiant Silvergun was fun, but I can't think of anything special to say about it. I grew up with R-Type on Master System, so I'm kinda inoculated to it, but yeah, I've never beaten it. That game is brutal. And that's about it! I've played little bits of a couple others, but not enough to form real opinions on them. I recommend you try out Biohazard Battle and Forgotten Worlds. (and of course anything Thunder Force) And maybe the last part of Ecco the Dolphin where you explode aliens with your sonar because... WTF?! (seriously, go to the password select and fill it with NNNNNNNNNNNNN to skip the non shmup parts of the game.)
Not played many shumps so good to hear your ranking. My two favourites (Bangai-O Spirits & Sin and Punishment Successor of the Skies) didn't make your list, possibly they don't fit the genre.
I kinda get what you are saying with the Konami games with exceptions, when Konami did the vertical/horizontal mix in games like Axelay, Life Force/Salamander (I know its really a Gradius game), but those were IMO their best shmups. Axelay is one of my all time faves in the genre.
Axelay had one of the best and almost overpowered weapons in a shmup. The Round Vulcan. There's a game called Sturmwind that straight up stole the power up. And it's the main weapon I used in that game too. It requires a certain amount of finesse and satisfying hitting those enemies tucked away in corners.
Ooooh, nice. Though curiously Psikyo shooters are totally absent. And yes R-type is slow, but it is a methodical game with a certain coreography ( knowing when to change the positioning of the orb, or send it out ), and I like it for it in contrast with the bulletthell shooters and their twitch movement style.
Would love to hear your thoughts on Desert Falcon from 1987. Unfortunately, I've only ever seen it on the Atari 7800, an underrated system that didn't get nearly enough love. It's an isometric shooter where you play a falcon in Ancient Egypt that shoots arrows. The 8-bit version's graphics are surprisingly good for the time. You pick up ankhs off the ground (oh and while on the ground you can stop moving) to gain a variety of power-ups. We would write down what each combo did, as it's a mystery at first, i.e. I think Cane, Bowl, Bowl allows you to warp to the end of the level. At the end of each level you battle a howling sphynx, which can shoot projectiles at you. You have to hit it in the face (eyes?) to blow up its head and move on. The game is essentially Zaxxon in Egypt, only not so ridiculously difficult. If you can find it, I think you'll enjoy it for what it is. 😊
Pam, judging by your taste, you might really like Over Horizon for the NES. Like Recca, it really pushes the hardware. It has very unique customization, no UI unless you pause, and awesome presentation. It truly is a "hidden gem" to use a cliche. Elemental Master for Sega Genesis is also a really cool walking style shmup made by Technosoft with a very good presentation and a very fun, approachable difficulty curve.
I like Over Horizon too, fun game, and not too difficult - I love the option customization and made mine to my liking to block bullets from certain directions
Pam absolutely Great video,I'm 80s, teenager show shooter,shumps, Bullet heavin games but the arcade shooters and console shooter games and the arcade 70s,80s90s cabinet shooters are absolutely my favorite games,just wondered have you players any 70s,80s,90s arcade games,thank you so much for the video 👍
Long-time fan, first time commenter. In my humble opinion, you should give the Gradius series another chance. Gradius III (SNES) is probably the best entry point. The Speed powerups are critical: the first two power-up capsules on every life must go to speed. The Gradius games are hard and players need to get into that harsh 8/16-bit, no saves mindset to appreciate them. The intensity of focus is very different than for the games you seem to like best--slow is relative when one hit is the difference between the next stage and starting over. Konami music is second to none (ok maybe Capcom?) as well, and for me at least, it is a big part of the experience. Thanks Pam, love your content. (PS: Deeper dive on Quest for Glory please! I share your appreciation for QFG4!)
Still love booting up Galaga every now and then. Love the later Gradius titles, the powerup system provides a lot of tactical choice and replayability. Xanac is one of the few FDS games I own and you definitely have to sink some time into it, but when you get in the zone, it hits different.
Rare not seeing Tyrian 2000 here on this list, its my personal MS-DOS game of all time, an amazing and diverse Shmup with a wide arsenal and many shipts to choose from, some even being available on certain scenarios only, there's even a carrot ship! im not joking! And the OST is just... Incredible, i still cant believe its MIDI until this day. Also if you want also a very "underground" side scroller shmup that came on PS3 that is very challenging yet fun, look for Soldner X and X2, but gotta say... Even with some shmup experience i had to put it on the easiest difficulty, and the devs even had to make a "Begginer" mode since it was so hard for most people. With so many Remakes coming out, Tyrian definetly DESERVES ONE
If you like console-style shmups (i.e. since you're a Compile fan), I recommend a few made-for-console shmups that are some of my favorites: Gate of Thunder, Lords of Thunder, and Axelay. I highly recommend an indie game called "Raging Blasters." It's designed like a Compile game and I actually love it even more than any of the Aleste games that inspired it. Super Aleste / Space Megaforce and Star Parodier are actually my other 2 favorites, then MUSHA and Gun Nac are also great Compile games of course.
A few of my favorites weren’t listed :( I know it’s your list and games that you played but you should look at Darius Twin, Firepower 2000, R-Type 3 & U.N. Squadron!!! (I also have a special place in my heart for the 8-Bit sleeper, Sqoon!)
ambitious video as the STG, shmup, shoot-em-up genre is soooo old and has soooo many games could make a long tier list for each console of the 80's and 90's. I mean the Turbografx-16/PC Engine that was like the main genre for that console. NES, SNES, Genesis, Neo Geo were all loaded with these games too. Also bullet hell shooters could get their own video too as many were arcade games from over 2 decades ago.
some of my favorite shoot'em ups are on the TurboGrafx 16/PC Engine.. Blazing Lazers, Super Star Soldier, Soldier Blade, Gate of Thunder, Star Parodier, Spriggan, Sapphire, Salamander, Vegiues Tactical Gladiator, Air Zonk.. so much fun to be had and most are on the mini.. all are As and Ss... anyway thanks for the vid fun to see your appreciation of the genre.
When the intro mentioned unique themes and good music, the first game I thought of was Bio-Hazard Battle for the Sega Genesis. Worth checking out if you do emulation.
Great list, ones you've not played that I'd think I'd include and you might want to have a go at are Disposable Heroes (amiga/amiga cd32), Beautiful hotizontal shooter, Project x (amiga), and the immortal G-Darius (PSX / Switch) - brilliant robotic fish themed shooter with a lovely mechanic where you can grab enemies and use them as weapon powerups.
I have fond memories of the Gundemonium Collection. I also have found myself enjoying pretty much any game Astro Port puts out like Armed Seven, Satazius, and the Tale of ALLTYNEX games.
I liked Pixeljunk Shooter on the PS3 but seeing your thoughts on Gradius, it might be closer to that in style in hindsight so not sure if you would like it. Also, there's no scrolling so I'm guessing Centipede doesn't count - but, when I was growing up the family Apple computer had a Centipede clone called Apeiron and I played the hell out of that. Great video!
Yes Pam! Great long video. I watch 'The Electric Underground' channel, he's really good at shoot em ups and very knowledgeable, I've discovered a few great games from him. I'd recommend you check his channel if not seen it, probably find a fair few new shmups for yourself. Played many of those you list here. I also always find myself still playing old Megadrive ones I played back in the day, or arcade favourites, like Wings Of Wor [this game has a stage where it's like you're inside a body too, like you mentioned early in this vid], Forgotten Worlds, Hellfire, Thunder Force, Salamander, Side Arms... Battle Mania is another Megadrive shmup I've only been playing recently, pretty sure was another introduced from The Electric Underground... A lot of fun though. Similar to Side Arms you can flip direction shooting. EDIT:. I see you covered this, Trouble Shooter, I didn't know it was released under this name also. Good upload 👍
(Dating myself here…) 1:01:51 Zanac… …for me, while I got my Shmup start with Space Invaders before the original NES was released (STILL an all-time favorite), Zanac (…for me) is pretty much the one that set the standard for me and is one of my all-time favorites that I still play to this day. The R-Type series is insane (the ‘Dark Souls’ of shmups), Ginga Force, Natsumi Chronicles, the Darius and DariusBurst Chronicles series and most games from the ‘Aleste’ series are also amazing. Great list - refering to it to catch up on other shmups I’d missed… cheers! \m/, 😊 ,\m/
RADIANT SILVERGUN is, in my humble opinion, possibly the best shmup ever made, in both gameplay and music. I would kill for a remake, because yes, it's not the prettiest game out there. Even so, I'm surprised you panned it. And as many here hae said, EINHANDER is also superb. I rank it 2nd only to Radiant Silvergun. It's not a bullet hell shooter, so you should enjoy it. Lastly, you really should try GRADIUS V. It was made by Treasure, and is tied for 2nd place as my favorite shmup. You can grab it on PS2.
I agree about Gradius. I tried several times to get into it but it just didn’t click and the power up management was a chore. Been loving bunch of the Cave games on PS4 as well as the Darius games.
Cool list. The one where the music reflects how you're doing in the game, The City Sleeps, reminds me of another game, an FPS that I saw reviewed a while ago. Can't remember the name of it, but it would be interesting to see if they were made by the same developer. :o)
Absent from this list is Einhänder for the PS1, which was definitely a thing to experience.
SE would have no trouble remaking that title today... the theme, gameplay, aesthetics...everything about that game is just as fresh today as it was in the 90's. It's like some kind of 5th Element WW3 Bladerunner kamikaze space opera, it's only and hour long but it's just beautiful.
Considering how long and exhaustive this video is, it's also excellently categorized. Great work as always, every time I watch your videos I learn something new.
Indeed Einhänder is such a good game, combined with the music it's very atmospheric
Thanks!
An hour is actually pretty long for a shmup. Really really cool game!
Einhander was a very good game, though I had to choose the one playstyle from the selection screen that made it most like a traditional shooter to fully enjoy it. Can't remember which one that was called.
Eh, I played it recently and feel that it aged pretty poorly.
I'd recommend Einhänder, Sagaia (Darius Twin), Axley and Un Squadron (Area 88), these games were top notch at the time. 😊
On top of these (ESPECIALLY Einhander), I'd recommend Espgaluda. Comfy steampunk/sci-fi setting, unique gameplay mechanics, satisfying scoring system, and killer soundtrack.
Einhander was great, the gfx and music were great, and the ship designs were SO COOL!
I always wanted to play U.N squadron back in the day. Maybe I'll have to give myself a retro present.
If you get a chance, I'd recommend trying Darius Gaiden. Intense, well-balanced, varied gameplay, and it looks like the bombastic fever dream of a side-scrolling shooter. Either way, excellent video!
Also give Hyper Zone on the snes a run
That's still my favorite game in the Darius series; played that one a lot on the Saturn.
Gradius is synonymous with heartbreak. That feeling of dying after fully powering up your ship.
Oh yeah!
Good stuff!
Great content as usual. I wish more UA-camrs laid out their judging criteria at the start as clearly as you do.
Total Biscuit did it and he was the best
Wow, the production value of this video is out of this world while covering a game topic I really enjoy. Thanks, Pam, for preparing this wonderful video.
Looking forward to playing some of the recommended games as my Steam Deck hopefully arrives next week!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Raiden II is still my favorite of all time. I love the hand-drawn art style, the loving attention to detail evident in the destructible enemies and backgrounds, the fantastic sound track, and the very consistent design language around projectiles.
Appreciate the long list! It's fun listening to everyone's personal takes on various shmups. Definitely helps me out as a new player to the genre.
very cool to see you covering so many shmups! I dont always agree with your takes on many but still think its a great job and would love to see more shmup discussion! 😎
Hi Pam, amazing video, was really fascinated with your fantastic overview of each game. Shmups is favourite gaming genre along with racers (especially racers from Sega & Sony). Your input here was really invaluable, thank you :)
Glad you enjoyed it!
giving a sick a shmup (sine mora) a C for the story? you wild for that lol. Great list.
Legendary wings is awesome. Played it at the arcade a lot.
Love your channel, it's a wonderful vacation from life bs.
Here on your channel has beautiful opinions and from you bring genuine and fun personality.
Thanks so much for sharing, Pam! There's a lot here that I'll have to check out! A fair amount that I wasn't previously aware of.
Glad it was helpful!
Informative vid! I added Zero Ranger to my library. Kinda want to check out Abadox sometime cuz of the body horror aspect.
Cool Shade statue too!
Hi Pam, I like this kind of format, with the gameplay and references included in the information box, very nice work.
Do you usually play RPGs?, as an idea for future videos it could be nice a ranking with the RPGs you have played.
Regards,
There's this one: ua-cam.com/video/jGT0YlNYpmQ/v-deo.html
I'll probably do JRPGs next.
Hell yeah, glad you shouted out Jamestown. That's a personal S for me. Love that game. Didn't know they had an updated/remastered version too! Definitely getting that tonight. You gave me a ton of other games to look into as well.
my favorite genre!! I'm all about Shmups!! can't wait to watch this :D
Very cool, thank you so much for ranking them Pam! 🙆♀️
I tried Gleylancer over the weekend (a Genesis shmup ported to Switch, Xbox and PS4) and am having a great time with it so far - it may be in my top 5 genesis shooters, although I will have to revisit that on completion. I recommend it!
Great video btw, M.U.S.H.A is my favourite.
ahhhh Genesis shooters, Lightening Force (Thunder Force 4 in some regions) is my personal fave. Also MUSHA, Thunder Force 3 get honorable mention from me.
Kingdom grand prix, sol divide, soukyugurentai, in the hunt, battle garegga, galaga 90, shoot 1up, snops attacks zombie defense, border down, psyvarier 2, sub rebellion, soldner x2, soulstar, super stardust, mamorukun curse, blast factor, tesla vs lovecraft, alienation, chou anikki, harmful park, shikhondo, trouble witches,
Zero gunner, space invaders xtreme, batman animated (genesis), sturmwind
Seconding the recommendations on Darius Gaiden, it's probably my favorite shmup of all time.
Also, if you're interested in more body horror type shooters I'd definitely say check out X-Multiply by Irem. Easier than other Irem games (like R-type) and thematically very creepy and well designed.
My final recommendation is another Taito arcade shooter called Metal Black. It's not for everyone but I found it stands out visually and is pretty different from most horizontal shmups in that you don't lose your ship power level when you die. Plus, the soundtrack is one of the best of the era, in my opinion.
Great video, I really enjoyed it!
Thanks!
I like these tier list videos. They are so long and thorough, very good.
Glad you like them!
Very fun! It's nice to see someone else who doesn't fully enjoy the Konami shooters 🙂
I'd recommend checking out Outzone from Toaplan as a very interesting combo of shooter/run and gun and Gun Bird or Samurai Aces (really any of the early Psikyo games) as a few other arcade shooters to check out. Thunder Force is a worthy series that I think is as good as Musha (I know many prefer Thunder Force IV or Lightening Force but I prefer 3 as my favorite) and both Elemental Master and Undead Line are fun Genesis shooters that are not space shooters and there are just so many other good shooters to check out. It's really a great genre to get into.
my top 3 would be:
1. DoDonPachi / ZeroRanger sharing #1 cause they're both so good :D
2. Mushihimesama
3. Perfect Cherry Blossom
Yes, this exactly the kind of video I was looking for! Thanks Pam!
You are so welcome!
46:08 - Note to myself: don’t talk too much with Pam. :D. This has been an enjoyable video to watch on a Sunday evening before going to work the next day. Thanks, Pam!
Oh my goodness. You look amazing. Love the dark hair. Not only on it's own, but how it compliments your skin tone. I usually check myself if I'm going in this direction with a comment, but whatever. I'll allow it today. Haven't even watched the video yet, so I may be commenting twice.
Gradius V says hi
Gun Nac is heavily underrated. Love it. Sad to see you hate on Gradius man!! I love those games and i still play Gradius 1-3 and Lifeforce to this day. Some of my favorites shmups.
Game Tengoku Cruisin Mix Special is fun as hell. Glad to see someone else mention it.
I have been desperately trying not to suck at Ikaruga lately. Failing mostly lol
Great vid! Been wanting to get more into shmups, but wasn't exactly a huge fan of the basic gameplay of Defender for instance. Though found Gaiares recently and whew.. your ship has a hovering module to shoot at enemies that destroys & absorbs that particular enemy's power-up, but also gets stronger if you hit the same enemy type 3 times w it. Soo good.
I got Tyrian 2000 a few years ago on GOG and I still play the hell out of it.
When my Anbernic RG280V came, Tyrian was already installed on it! Serendipity:)
I was disappointed by the lack of Tyrian on this list
@@mistersanford Ross' Game Dungeon tipped me off to that one years ago, and for a hot minute GOG had it up for free... tbh they still might, I haven't looked into it heh
I always find the coolest stuff buried in there - last time I shopped CDPR's little online storefront there, found IOI's FREEDOM FIGHTERS on sale for like 4.99 or something. Played the hell out of that one on my GameCube back in the day.
Gameplay wise, it's still pretty ok! Story's hilarious in retrospect 😆
Based on Pam's description of her preferred shmups (good ramp, lots of weapons, wacky elements) I think she would LOVE Tyrian 2000. Also sad not to see it on the list!
I'm with y'all. Tyrian is one of my favorite games from my childhood, and based on her description near the beginning of this video, I think she'd really like it. Pam, if you're reading this, give Tyrian 2000 a try. It's available, for free, on GoG, and that's not cause it's on sale or anything; it'll always be free. I think it was that IP was abandoned, so it's in the public domain now.
@@Kyrrial Oh word! I thought that might be the case - thanks for confirming that (Tyrian is still free)!
Been like three years or so since I acquired it (along with Shadow Warrior Classic) for free on GOG one night while quite baked... woke up like "what the f is this stuff on my desktop?" Lol
Great video! Love the genre! I picked up Guardian Legend based on your previous review, it’s fantastic!
Found a few new games in this list. Some of these can get pricey…Recca, whoa! Will be emulating that!
A few people in the comments mentioned Dangun Feveron. Think you’d like this Cave shooter. It has a comical disco vibe and soundtrack. Doesn’t take itself too seriously 💃🏻🕺🏻
If you liked Lords of Thunder, you should check out the Thunder Force series. Specifically 3-4 on Genesis, but 5 on Saturn is also amazing.
Sad to see Radiant Silvergun so far down but we can disagree 🤷🏻♂️. I like that you start with all the weapons and “mixing” them added depth to the gameplay.
Looking forward to part two of this video when you play more shumps 😃
Thanks for the suggestions! Dangun Feveron looks cool.
cool vid
forgot to mention... your private eye costume was cute/hilarious !
My favorite has to be Mushihimesama. I always come back to it, it's such a joy!
Futari is probably even better but I haven't played enough of it to make a solid opinion.
Great ranking! As usual it's very personal, you probably don't give a shit what the snobs think (I bet they would choke a bit after seeing your Radiant Silvergun ranking, ha ha!).
Great video! Sad no Thunder forces games you should try 3 and 4 at least.
Good games!
Or 3 is at least. Haven’t played 4, but will soon
@@harrihaffi2713 4 is amazing but much, much harder than 3.
an hour long video from Pam means a dope Sunday morning!
Great video. A shmup i love and recommend is Gley Lancer for Genesis. It's japanese exclusive but there's a translation patch and they re-released him for Playstation and Xbox recently.
Dang, I didn't know I could agree with a ranking video so much. (For the 50% of 'em I've played, anyway.)
Only one I'd change is, Lords of Thunder, up from A to S tier (although I played the turbografx version on wii vc). The soundtrack is sick, the shop adds a lot of strategic decisions, the un-ordered stages make it really beginner friendly, the melee is uniquely satisfying, I like how the level geometry matters (without being annoying--its ok to touch walls), and the gameplay is hectic but fair. ...And I kinda have no complaints about it. Perfect shmup IMO!
Impressive list, a lot of shmups I've never heard of before. The one I put the most in was Novastorm (Psygnosis) on MS-DOS (actually a FMV based rail-shooter). Other favorites were Tyrian (MS DOS), Darius Gaiden (emulated Sega Saturn / MAME), Raystorm HD (windows / MAME). The first shmup I've ever played was Battle Squadron on the Amiga (also released on Sega Megadrive).
Wow Novastorm, played on Mega CD rather than DOS but have great early memories of it, gonna watch a Let'sPlay just now for a bit of pre-sleep nostalgia
I love how the second I saw the purple orbs in Blazing Lasers I was just like, omg yes so much nostalgia.
Really enjoyed that. There’s a bunch of those Xbox Cave releases on the Switch now too, including Japan-only ones like Mushihimesama. Worth looking up because they have a ton of modes, including beginner which is really useful if you’re serious about learning to play these.
Hi, Pam. I'm curious. What are your thoughts on the shmups that are behind your vessel? I'm talking games like Panzer Dragoon, Rez, or StarFox, games which are like dogfighters except you're locked on a specific course. I guess they're the middle ground between pure shmups and pure flight games.
For some of the horizonal ones do you ever switch it to Tate mode in the options and flip your monitor?? I specifically bought a rotatable stand just for shmups :D
I use tate for vertical shmups on PC.
8:32 "it's not overly challenging" --> shows an unsurvivable bullet maelstrom. 😄
Very nice video
It's time I check Blazing Lazers
Also, if you want a shmup that generates music according to your actions but it works, try Rez
It was released for the Dreamcast then later PS2
That's her officer. That's the woman who put Radiant Silvergun in C tier
Great video as always!
I'm curious to know what you'd think of Axelay, also by Konami. It's very different from Gradius and an amazing overall. I think even if you don't like it, you might enjoy the soundtrack. It's one of my favorites.
Also, I know you mentioned you didn't really like Gradius (and to be honest almost all the games play the same), but I highly recommend giving Gradius V a try. They changed it up quite a bit and I find the game much more appealing and is the best in the series in my opinion. I'd love to know what you think.
“Shut the fuck up!” should really be on Raiden V’s box as a quote.
You can shut them up btw.
Great video and good to hear some alternative opinions about a lot of these!
Great video and list!!! I am just shocked that s.c.a.t on nes didn't even get a mention!!? My fav nes shooter!!!
Hey Pam, great video!
By the way, thanks to your love of Xbox and Game Pass, I picked up a Series S this weekend. I'm amazed at how much I love it. :)
That's awesome, you have so many good games to look forward to!
I think Raiden 2 is the one that left a lasting impression on me throughout the years, I never really liked shoot 'em ups but that one was my go-to for good examples of a fun shoot 'em up. It wasn't because of the levels or enemies, but mostly because the weapon types and their powered versions were so much fun.
Sooo many shmups out there, nice to see many reviewed at once and I enjoyed this video very much! My only disagreements are your Radiant Silvergun and Zanac ratings, but it does take a lot of investment to get the most out of those games. I'm also extremely happy you reviewed Zero Ranger, that game is just super cool and is like the indie devs tribute to great shmups...I'd give it an S. I hope you do parts 2, 3, 4 etc. in the future, here are some I like that you might include in a later video:
U.N. Squadron/Area 88 - Based on a pretty cool anime, you could do a review of both together perhaps
Super Aleste/Space Megaforce
Twinkle Tale
Elemental Master
Biohazard Battle
1943 Kai - there are a ton of 194X shmups out there, this one is just the most fun to me
Silver Surfer - OK I know this has a bad reputation but the music is AMAZING and if you do the levels in the right order and just memorize the very short game and play it no-hit style it's actually pretty cool. Definitely a relic of the "short game, make it unfairly hard to increase playtime" era.
I'll also mention that the channel STG Weekly has tons of expert info and gameplay for many many shmups, my friend Aquas has been running it for years and it's a great resource for finding new shmups to play or getting more out of the ones you already have.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Its nice to get different perspectives on this
An interesting overview and perspective on what you prefer in a shmup. You definitely seem to prefer vertical shmups (I'm quite the opposite & love Konami and R-Type)!
You mention your love of OSTs and the dearth of 'A' & 'S'-tiered titles. I offer a hypothesis for both: there are very few 16 & 32-bit titles on here and I believe this timeframe is the apogee of the genre for gameplay and OSTs. Everyone has favorites that get snubbed on these lists, but there are some heavy hitters you may enjoy to fill in the gaps. I'm curious to hear your takes on G-Darius/Darius Gaiden, Thunder force III-V, Soukyougurentai, Gleylancer, Wings of Wor, GrindStormer, Harmful Park, RayForce/Storm/Crisis, Zanac Neo (you love Compile!) NightRaid, Cotton 2/Boomerang, Gaiares, In The Hunt, Viper, Macross DYRL, Bokan to Ippatsu, and perhaps a few others not of that era like Kokuga, Steredenn, Power Strike/II, and even the R-Type offshoot Command/Tactics.
Dude this was an amazing video. I really recommend checking out Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire one day; i think you’d dig it
Thanks so much!
U.N. Squadron on the SNES was always a fave. And i didn't mind Super R-Type & R-Type III but you are right they were pretty hard and frustrating B)
Great video as always Pam, its certainly interesting the titles played depending on where you grew up, a lot of games I was expecting as they were everywhere in the UK when I was growing up just arent here, but I know Pal territories got different games and certainly a lot of budget titles that I saw either on the Megadrive/Genesis or the Amiga may not have been popular elsewhere.
I loved this list! Even though I COMPLETELY disagreed with it lol. Great thought out choices here. I LOVE the Gradius games and its off shoots. I find them all very enjoyable. R-Type III is one of my all time favorite shooters and as such the R-Type games are always something I look forward to. Earth Defense Force is another shooter I really enjoy playing (a "B" tier game for me) that I didn't see here. Under Defeat that originally came out on Dreamcast and got re-released as an HD version for the PS3 is also one of my all time favorite games. Any shooter that got released on TurboGraphx 16/PC Engine is an "A" at a minimum easy. I haven't played one I didn't thoroughly enjoy with a few exceptions here and there. Lastly Lords of Thunder is an "S" by a mile in my book. It's my all time favorite shooter. That game is PERFECT. The music is outstanding, the play is amazing, difficulty is just right, the strategy between levels in buying powerups is awesome, and the setting is terrific! Gate of Thunder is easily an "A" and might even be an "S" depending on how I'm feeling that day as a game that plays very similar to it.
I love, love, love R-Type.
Great Topic. My favorites, to name a few, are Donpachi, Lords of Thunder, Giga Wing and Arrow Flash (female pilot with a ship that has a robot mode. That was enough for me as a kid).
Excellent video, Pam, as usual! My favorite series is not on your list, unfortunately. Darius (Darius 2 would bê a S to me), with it's fishy bosses! 🤓 Also, Thunderforce, is another good one! Love your videos! Thank you so much!
Also missed LifeForce (Salamander)
I'ma be honest, I bout spit coffee all over my keyboard when Pam was talkin about crappy Konami shooters and "big tiddy anime girls" 🤣
What a great breadth of shoot'em ups in this list. I can recommend two of my favorites, which didn't appear - Forgotten Worlds (arcade version, or Turbo Duo version, or Genesis version) and Section Z (NES version - very different from arcade version, and much more interesting).
Both Forgotten Worlds and Section Z are Capcom shooters. The former has all directional shooting; the latter lets you shoot either left or right. Forgotten Worlds has lots of fun powerups and a compelling Egyptian theme, and great Capcom music.
Section Z is perhaps brutally difficult, but it has a fun variety of section scrolling speeds. Some zoom by really fast, so all you do is dodge terrain. Some scroll terribly slowly, forcing you to slog your way past enemies that absorb incredible amounts of damage. It also has bopping Capcom music setting the mood.
There are also LOTS of 8-bit and 16-bit home computer titles I could recommend. I'll just suggest one weird one, because it's obscure and you wouldn't even know to try it:
Sea Dragon, TRS-80 Model 1 version. Sea Dragon is an underwater Scramble clone; you control a submarine. All of the different versions are very different from each other, and you would have no idea that the black and white TRS-80 Model 1 version is possibly the most fun to actually play. It definitely looks crude compared to the others, with low resolution blocky pixel graphics. But there's something about the pace of the game, the density of the enemies, the size of the spaces you need to try and navigate ... I think the other versions don't have quite the same magic.
Great video, I love the TwinBee series of games they're my favourite shmup games, I also like a game called Dragon Blaze (arcade) vertical shooter developed by Psikyo
For me Zaxxon and Defender were the granddaddies of this genre...
Great channel and upload.
I've always enjoyed Biohazard Battle for the Sega Genesis. It's kind of wierd and the difficulty curve is fair. I'm always surprised most people have never heard of it.
The first level music hits hard, love it.
I love Gun-Nac so, so much. I think I first came across your channel when I was looking into NES games to add to my modded NES Classic and saw your Gun-Nac review and thought it looked great, and boy was it. The visual style, the level themes, and especially the soundtrack are amazing. It might be the most pure fun I have with an NES game that's not at all nostalgia driven like the Marios and Zelda and such since I never played this one as a kid. I go back to it far more often than any other game I've beaten, I love being able to do things like matching weapons to level theme, for example using the flamethrower on the wood/paper level or the water bombs on the firey level. It is a top, top tier game for sure.
After Gun-Nac, I think the next two NES/Famicom shooters I'd recommend are both ones not on your list, Over Horizon and Crisis Force. Neither of which came out in North America, which is a shame.
Over Horizon is a horizontal scroller and it's visual and music style with the differently themed levels is probably the closest to the spirit of Gun-Nac, though not as silly and it plays very different. It also features an "Edit Mode" that lets you customize your power-ups, though I haven't really tried playing around with that as I'm actually still trying to beat the standard game.
Crisis Force is by Konami but it's not at all like their Gradius-types. It's a vertical scroller with an interesting power-up system and the ability to reconfigure your ship on the fly, switching from strictly firing straight ahead to also shooting to the sides or behind. It's a game that ends up on a ton of those "NES games that push the limits of the hardware" lists, and it really does. Plus the Konami code works to give you a bunch of extra lives, which I at least definitely needed.
Thanks for the recommendations!
Great shmups on the list. I love them all. Another beautiful shmup for megadrive is an overhead shooter called Twinkle tale. Beautiful and atmospheric.
I have played a bit of that, it's cool.
I think the reason you have a hard time telling Cave games apart is because you don't pay attention to the scoring systems. I'm not score chaser either but when going for 1 credit clears the score comes into play because it's the mechanic that gives you extra lives to avoid getting a game over. The different scoring mechanics can make surprisingly deep changes in the ways you are encouraged to play, from bullet cancelling to delaying enemy kills to keep a chain going, or learning a stage for destroying them as fast as possible, medalling, grazing bullets, etc.
Good point.
I really dig Steredenn. Roguelike Shmup with some great FTL like artwork. (steam). Great list as always!
AH! Finally someone who agrees with me about the Gradius series! I will say that I enjoyed some of the later Parodius games, but for the most part, the weapons are just so limp, even after you power them up. Our tastes don't always align, but it looks like they are remarkably similar when it comes to Scrolling Shooters, so I'd recommend just about any of my S-tiers here:
Aleste/Power Strike (Game Gear) - I think there's a collection with these that came out pretty recently, too, including GG Aleste 3, which never existed.
Axeley (SNES) - Graphically very impressive, and it has a pretty fun weapon system; gets satisfyingly intense by the end.
Final Soldier (TurboGrafx-16)
Imperium (SNES)
Soldier Blade (TurboGrafx-16) - My favorite game on the system, and one of the all-time greatest soundtracks to boot!
Super Nova (SNES) - My favorite of the Darius games, largely because of the big, flashy weapons each of the ships can get. I'd actually recommend almost the entire Darius series (and spiritual spin-off, Metal Black) for its satisfying power-up system, interesting hooks, and branching stage paths.
Tyrian 2000 (PC) - This one's challenging, but lets you keep retrying stages as much as you want, as well as letting you keep your power-ups and such. There's also story told in logs that you find within the stages, which you read between stages, if you want (no blabbing while you're under a hail of gunfire), and the end just gets... wacky. It's freeware at this point, and should be easy to find; I know GOG has it with DOSBox all set up for you to make it easy to play.
I'd also recommend at least messing around with Over Horizon; I'd call it A-tier, but it has something called Edit Mode, where you can mess around with the weapons, and give them each others' attributes, so you can make things like exploding lasers or homing bombs. Scenery's neat, too.
Thanks for the recommendations!
No Thunder Force?! You should really fix that. Metal soundtrack, a bunch of cool weapons, you never lose your back shot so you can always hit guys behind you. it's a great series, though 2 is rough around the edges as a Genesis launch title. There's a great version of 4 (the best one) on Switch, and it's not expensive.
I'm not sure how different our tastes are, but we sure have different experiences. I've only played a handful of the games on here. Keio was adorably goofy and I liked the strategy of choosing when to use the baby dragons or keep them. Lords of Thunder is amazing, especially the risk/reward of getting close for sword attacks. Radiant Silvergun was fun, but I can't think of anything special to say about it. I grew up with R-Type on Master System, so I'm kinda inoculated to it, but yeah, I've never beaten it. That game is brutal.
And that's about it! I've played little bits of a couple others, but not enough to form real opinions on them. I recommend you try out Biohazard Battle and Forgotten Worlds. (and of course anything Thunder Force) And maybe the last part of Ecco the Dolphin where you explode aliens with your sonar because... WTF?! (seriously, go to the password select and fill it with NNNNNNNNNNNNN to skip the non shmup parts of the game.)
Forgotten worlds is a recommendation? Never really got into it myself, but maybe the ps2 port on Capcom classics ain’t that good?
Not played many shumps so good to hear your ranking. My two favourites (Bangai-O Spirits & Sin and Punishment Successor of the Skies) didn't make your list, possibly they don't fit the genre.
I kinda get what you are saying with the Konami games with exceptions, when Konami did the vertical/horizontal mix in games like Axelay, Life Force/Salamander (I know its really a Gradius game), but those were IMO their best shmups. Axelay is one of my all time faves in the genre.
Axelay had one of the best and almost overpowered weapons in a shmup. The Round Vulcan. There's a game called Sturmwind that straight up stole the power up. And it's the main weapon I used in that game too. It requires a certain amount of finesse and satisfying hitting those enemies tucked away in corners.
Ooooh, nice. Though curiously Psikyo shooters are totally absent.
And yes R-type is slow, but it is a methodical game with a certain coreography ( knowing when to change the positioning of the orb, or send it out ), and I like it for it in contrast with the bulletthell shooters and their twitch movement style.
Yeah, R-type is all about memory recall, the 1st one is a very unforgiving game, ruthless, lol.
You'd be surprised by how many bullet hells are methodical like R-Type. Play some Touhou, you'll love it.
I was surprised by Axelay's absence. You should check it out, it's an SNES game and a classic of the genre.
Would love to hear your thoughts on Desert Falcon from 1987. Unfortunately, I've only ever seen it on the Atari 7800, an underrated system that didn't get nearly enough love. It's an isometric shooter where you play a falcon in Ancient Egypt that shoots arrows. The 8-bit version's graphics are surprisingly good for the time. You pick up ankhs off the ground (oh and while on the ground you can stop moving) to gain a variety of power-ups. We would write down what each combo did, as it's a mystery at first, i.e. I think Cane, Bowl, Bowl allows you to warp to the end of the level. At the end of each level you battle a howling sphynx, which can shoot projectiles at you. You have to hit it in the face (eyes?) to blow up its head and move on. The game is essentially Zaxxon in Egypt, only not so ridiculously difficult. If you can find it, I think you'll enjoy it for what it is. 😊
Pam, judging by your taste, you might really like Over Horizon for the NES. Like Recca, it really pushes the hardware. It has very unique customization, no UI unless you pause, and awesome presentation. It truly is a "hidden gem" to use a cliche.
Elemental Master for Sega Genesis is also a really cool walking style shmup made by Technosoft with a very good presentation and a very fun, approachable difficulty curve.
I like Over Horizon too, fun game, and not too difficult - I love the option customization and made mine to my liking to block bullets from certain directions
Over Horizon is great, but more of a Gradius/R-Type kind of slow game. I like that type of shooter a lot, but it doesn't seem to be her type.
Pam absolutely Great video,I'm 80s, teenager show shooter,shumps, Bullet heavin games but the arcade shooters and console shooter games and the arcade 70s,80s90s cabinet shooters are absolutely my favorite games,just wondered have you players any 70s,80s,90s arcade games,thank you so much for the video 👍
OH WOW, You're going DEEP into this. This is comprehensive. Excellent.
Long-time fan, first time commenter. In my humble opinion, you should give the Gradius series another chance. Gradius III (SNES) is probably the best entry point. The Speed powerups are critical: the first two power-up capsules on every life must go to speed. The Gradius games are hard and players need to get into that harsh 8/16-bit, no saves mindset to appreciate them. The intensity of focus is very different than for the games you seem to like best--slow is relative when one hit is the difference between the next stage and starting over. Konami music is second to none (ok maybe Capcom?) as well, and for me at least, it is a big part of the experience. Thanks Pam, love your content. (PS: Deeper dive on Quest for Glory please! I share your appreciation for QFG4!)
Thanks! I'll try Gradius 3 sometime.
Still love booting up Galaga every now and then. Love the later Gradius titles, the powerup system provides a lot of tactical choice and replayability. Xanac is one of the few FDS games I own and you definitely have to sink some time into it, but when you get in the zone, it hits different.
Rare not seeing Tyrian 2000 here on this list, its my personal MS-DOS game of all time, an amazing and diverse Shmup with a wide arsenal and many shipts to choose from, some even being available on certain scenarios only, there's even a carrot ship! im not joking! And the OST is just... Incredible, i still cant believe its MIDI until this day.
Also if you want also a very "underground" side scroller shmup that came on PS3 that is very challenging yet fun, look for Soldner X and X2, but gotta say... Even with some shmup experience i had to put it on the easiest difficulty, and the devs even had to make a "Begginer" mode since it was so hard for most people.
With so many Remakes coming out, Tyrian definetly DESERVES ONE
Mad respect for putting Blazing Lazers and Lords of Thunder in A
And also Gun Nac in S, one of my favorite games on the system.
If you like console-style shmups (i.e. since you're a Compile fan), I recommend a few made-for-console shmups that are some of my favorites: Gate of Thunder, Lords of Thunder, and Axelay.
I highly recommend an indie game called "Raging Blasters." It's designed like a Compile game and I actually love it even more than any of the Aleste games that inspired it. Super Aleste / Space Megaforce and Star Parodier are actually my other 2 favorites, then MUSHA and Gun Nac are also great Compile games of course.
A few of my favorites weren’t listed :(
I know it’s your list and games that you played but you should look at Darius Twin, Firepower 2000, R-Type 3 & U.N. Squadron!!! (I also have a special place in my heart for the 8-Bit sleeper, Sqoon!)
ambitious video as the STG, shmup, shoot-em-up genre is soooo old and has soooo many games could make a long tier list for each console of the 80's and 90's. I mean the Turbografx-16/PC Engine that was like the main genre for that console. NES, SNES, Genesis, Neo Geo were all loaded with these games too. Also bullet hell shooters could get their own video too as many were arcade games from over 2 decades ago.
some of my favorite shoot'em ups are on the TurboGrafx 16/PC Engine.. Blazing Lazers, Super Star Soldier, Soldier Blade, Gate of Thunder, Star Parodier, Spriggan, Sapphire, Salamander, Vegiues Tactical Gladiator, Air Zonk.. so much fun to be had and most are on the mini.. all are As and Ss... anyway thanks for the vid fun to see your appreciation of the genre.
I need to check out more of these on my mini.
@@Cannotbetamed1 based on your fondness for Complile I think you'll dig Spriggan.. awesome graphics and music and tons of weapon variety!
When the intro mentioned unique themes and good music, the first game I thought of was Bio-Hazard Battle for the Sega Genesis. Worth checking out if you do emulation.
Great list, ones you've not played that I'd think I'd include and you might want to have a go at are Disposable Heroes (amiga/amiga cd32), Beautiful hotizontal shooter, Project x (amiga), and the immortal G-Darius (PSX / Switch) - brilliant robotic fish themed shooter with a lovely mechanic where you can grab enemies and use them as weapon powerups.
I have fond memories of the Gundemonium Collection. I also have found myself enjoying pretty much any game Astro Port puts out like Armed Seven, Satazius, and the Tale of ALLTYNEX games.
I liked Pixeljunk Shooter on the PS3 but seeing your thoughts on Gradius, it might be closer to that in style in hindsight so not sure if you would like it. Also, there's no scrolling so I'm guessing Centipede doesn't count - but, when I was growing up the family Apple computer had a Centipede clone called Apeiron and I played the hell out of that. Great video!
Great list! I'm always looking for a new schmup. Might I recommend Einhander for PS1 and Axelay & U.N. Squadron for the SNES.
Einhander is my fave PS1 shmup and Axelay is my fave SNES shmup, good picks there
Axelay gives me a headache. A motion sickness kind of way. It is so beautiful, though. I wish I could play It.
@@rafaelvieri2161 yea, it's that mode 7
Yes Pam! Great long video.
I watch 'The Electric Underground' channel, he's really good at shoot em ups and very knowledgeable, I've discovered a few great games from him.
I'd recommend you check his channel if not seen it, probably find a fair few new shmups for yourself.
Played many of those you list here.
I also always find myself still playing old Megadrive ones I played back in the day, or arcade favourites, like Wings Of Wor [this game has a stage where it's like you're inside a body too, like you mentioned early in this vid], Forgotten Worlds, Hellfire, Thunder Force, Salamander, Side Arms...
Battle Mania is another Megadrive shmup I've only been playing recently, pretty sure was another introduced from The Electric Underground... A lot of fun though.
Similar to Side Arms you can flip direction shooting.
EDIT:. I see you covered this, Trouble Shooter, I didn't know it was released under this name also.
Good upload 👍
(Dating myself here…)
1:01:51 Zanac…
…for me, while I got my Shmup start with Space Invaders before the original NES was released (STILL an all-time favorite), Zanac (…for me) is pretty much the one that set the standard for me and is one of my all-time favorites that I still play to this day.
The R-Type series is insane (the ‘Dark Souls’ of shmups), Ginga Force, Natsumi Chronicles, the Darius and DariusBurst Chronicles series and most games from the ‘Aleste’ series are also amazing.
Great list - refering to it to catch up on other shmups I’d missed… cheers!
\m/, 😊 ,\m/
RADIANT SILVERGUN is, in my humble opinion, possibly the best shmup ever made, in both gameplay and music. I would kill for a remake, because yes, it's not the prettiest game out there. Even so, I'm surprised you panned it.
And as many here hae said, EINHANDER is also superb. I rank it 2nd only to Radiant Silvergun. It's not a bullet hell shooter, so you should enjoy it.
Lastly, you really should try GRADIUS V. It was made by Treasure, and is tied for 2nd place as my favorite shmup. You can grab it on PS2.
Sky Force Anniversary is a very surprising game. Good to see it get some love.
I agree about Gradius. I tried several times to get into it but it just didn’t click and the power up management was a chore. Been loving bunch of the Cave games on PS4 as well as the Darius games.
crimzon clover is an audiovisual assault, after 1 hour I need to rest my bones
Cool list. The one where the music reflects how you're doing in the game, The City Sleeps, reminds me of another game, an FPS that I saw reviewed a while ago. Can't remember the name of it, but it would be interesting to see if they were made by the same developer. :o)