Usually after watching an obscure games video, there's at least one game that doesn't interest me. But this one, along with your pefectly executed narration, I want to try all of them. 👍
Thanks! I put a lot of time into choosing games I actually want to play and feel others will too. If I don’t dig it somehow I won’t show it. I’m usually stoked to discover a lot of these games myself!
It would be pretty limiting and depressing to only enjoy one type of game. Personally I play pretty much every game or genre under the sun as do most folks, even if I have a fondness for shmups and arcade style games in general. I won’t be posting videos about playing Zelda or final fantasy as that’s not the focus of the channel but I’m very eclectic in terms of stuff I play on my own. So you can bet I’ll always share stuff I think my viewers will really dig.
Great video! I often wonder why PC games are so obscure. With consoles, one can know every game that came out for it. But on PC, even great games become obscure!
I think part of it is how many more small and indie games existed for computers because they had an open development environment. Making games for consoles was locked down and nearly impossible for most. So you ended up with a larger variety in numbers and quality. I think it would be impossible to ever know every single game released for any of them. So many have likely been lost to time.
In part because the world wasn't global in the way that it is now (and not just because of the lack of internet). Even with the C64 and Amiga, different games were released in different regions (for example, I'm pretty sure the Aliens game released in the UK was different to the one released in the US).
Keep the great content coming I really like Your quality and dedication is appreciated, bringing up a variety of lesser known gaming platforms with great games
Wow, thank you so much. That's very generous of you to contribute to the channel. I'll make sure it goes to a good cause like all my donations and fund something good for the shmup community. I'm really glad you enjoyed this and discovered some new games yourself. This is a popular series so I'll keep making them.
Youre the only content creator that I watch on a TV, relaxed with nothing to distract me and take screenshots. The only game I knew was Rusty, beside that one everything was new for me. Great video as always. Will download those free games from loquillomalito or whatever the name is, which I didn't knew he is the same developer of Hydorah. Good stuff!
Yeah Locamalito. Hydorah was how I first found him and it went from there. I always look forward to what he may come out with next. Maldita Castilla was great just brutal as expected.
@@ShmupJunkie yea Maldita Castilla is a great game, really hard but have that essence of a real mid 80s arcade that is rare to see on other retro inspired games. Just downloaded Curse of Issyos and a few more from his website.
What are some of your favorite obscure PC games? Which games did you wish I included that I can play for future videos? Let me know here in the comments! And if you're wondering who made that killer RUSTY artwork for my thumbnail, you can find the entire image by DANMAKUMAN here : www.inprnt.com/gallery/danmakuman/rusty/ CORRECTION: Undeadline is a game for the Sharp X68000K, not the FM Towns as incorrectly labeled during the gameplay in this video. Dumb mistake on my part while rushing to get the video out in time. If you're looking for some good FM Towns games, check out the original ALLTYNEX!
Not sure if you’ve covered it, but any time I get a chance I have to plug ‘Zeliard’! Originally developed for the NEC PC-8801 but was actually one brought over to MS-DOS for us here in North America. More of an RPG action platformer but definitely worth a play
@@zeliardforty-two4692 No I haven’t! So thank you for the recommendation. I’ve just added it to my list to check out soon. It may come in handy for a future video.
@@MagmaMKII I remember highlighting Rude Breaker in my History of Compile Shooters video. But it’s been a while that game could use another segment. It’s super cool.
Great game selection & great to see the Amiga (that I grew up with) appear as well. Other shooter games on Amiga worth a try... Ruff 'n Tumble, Agony, Deluxe Galaga, Pegasus, Better Dead Than Alien, Syndicate, Apocalypse, inviyya, Uridium 2, SWIV, Z-out ,Dithell in Space, Motorola Invaders 2 , Wolfchild, Blood Money, Menace, Project-X SE, Alien Breed 92 SE, Llamatron 2112, Revenge of The Mutant Camel, Venus The Fly Trap of course the better known ones like Turrican 1-3, Xenon 2 for the intro music. Also to note Shadow of the Beast 3 is often overlooked as unlike the first two it plays pretty well. Oh also Super Stardust which is by the team who became Housemarque. Henk Nieborg who did the art to the Lionheart is a great artist... He did most recently the art on Xeno Crisis... But also the fab love letter to Turrican called Gunlord. Other great ones was Adventures of Lomax (PS1 and a Lemming Platformer), Flink, Amberstar and Ambermoon. Would selfishly love to see you cover more Amiga stuff. On a different note... On Steam for PC have you ever played Z-Exemplar? It's based on the visuals of the Spectrum (my first PC) but the game is a fab shooter... Basically the levels are short so although tough once beaten the planet level is complete. It is all about tactically upgrading and is a pure joy. Well worth a go and one of my fav shooters.
There is also a MS-DOS PC port of Rusty, the music sounds a bit different because it uses an OPL instead of an OPN for the FM sound and the aspect ratio is changed slightly from the PC 98 version due to the lack of an exact match for the PC 98 resolution. Otherwise it plays exactly the same as the PC 98 version.
Welcome! The best thing about just discovering a channel you really dig is suddenly having so much new content to slowly enjoy. I’ve made a lot of discovery videos like this one, but also a lot of awesome history and developer videos and more. We have a great community here and glad you found it. So take your time and enjoy.
@@ShmupJunkie yes! i'm having a blast with your content and the other content creators you recommend in your videos! thank you so much for these amazing videos! cheers from argentina!
It's incredible what some devs were able to get out of this system in its later years, considering that it came out in 1985 and most games look way worse than Genesis and SNES ones, especially when you compare the arcade ports. It did not the monstrously powerful tile-based graphics VDP than the much more expensive the X68000 had. In order to get graphics this good out of it, guys like Thalion, Psygnosis, Factor 5, Bitmap Brothers and Core Designs had to design their games from scratch for the Amiga platform, working around its limitations and taking advantage of its strengths.
Ha! Unfortunately quality is impossible weekly I wish! Unless that cloning machine finally comes back in stock on Amazon 🤣. Been back ordered for years. But I love making them so will keep at it!
As an American it makes me so sad the Amiga never took off here. I remember seeing them in computer stores but I never heard or knew anyone that had one.
Would’ve loved to have one as a kid as well. I rarely saw one and was always envious seeing screenshots in magazines. I’m glad I had my usual PC and my games but at the same time we missed out.
Luckily, my best friend bought Amiga 1000 because of Defender of the Crown. Played it a lot. Still liked our C64's. Master Systems even better though. One button joysticks sucked. Lol later moved to FL from OH & another friend had the 500. I was lucky I guess.
It would have been even funnier if the devs were being serious, but the whole story is purposefully ludicrous. You can tell they were just throwing whatever at the wall and going with it.
Thanks! Yes, these discovery videos have been really popular. My last two were on Arcade action games and the other focusing on Run N Guns, both just as fun and did really well. So as long as folks enjoy them I'll keep making them. I learn a lot and discover many myself in the process.
I actually grew up with a C64 (and most of my friends had Amigas), so I really appreciated this video! I never played Enforcer, but it reminds me of Katakis, which was one of Manfred Trenz's earlier games (and there's a hell of a story behind that one). I think the best shoot 'em up I played on the C64 was Armalyte and it's actually aged very well. X-Out was another one of my favourites, though that one is probably better played on the Amiga (and is a much more interesting game than it's rather generic sequel, Z-Out).
Here's some worth playing run'n guns on the Amiga : - Killing Game Show - Ruff'n Tumble - the Turrican series, especially the 2 - Zool And some Shoot'em ups : - Project-X (both original and 92 Special Edition) - Apidya - SWIV (better than the SNES) - Z-Out, X-Out
Oh yeah! Believe it or not I randomly covered that game way back in an old video best free shmups. I also liked how you can select and insert your own choice of music which was a neat feature.
I really enjoyed this one. I grew up with consoles of course, and later in life went all in with shmups, but as a child some of my strongest memories were pplaying around with old PC shareware and demo disks. Many of the games didn't work or were just nonsensical to me at the time, but the sheer variety of stuff you could come across was always so exciting for me so seeing these games and their distinct style really hit me in the nostalgia. Compared to most console releases that are polished and professional to a certain degree, these PC games had a certain edginess and rawness to them that were so memorable. Really glad to see a few of them getting a highlight here.
That's a really good point about the rawness of their design and I completely agree. And they were a product of their time. I tend to roll my eyes a bit when people dump on games like Tyrian etc, but at the time it was so novel and why despite it's flaws (from a modern perspective) it influenced an incredible amount of devs and games that followed it. I played the hell out of my old 386 and later 486 PCs I'd built as a kid. It was like the wild west and because computers were open platforms unlike consoles, there was so much small development happening by anyone who wanted to make something. And I didn't know these Japanese computers even existed. Thanks btw for pointing me at Illumination Laser. It was a really good one to feature and I even stumbled on Emuser's playthrough of it.
... love Rusty! What an amazing game that should've been ported to TurboGrafx CD... I'd have bought it. Any plans to update your R-Type Final 2 review with R-Type Final 3 on PS5, Junkie? How about G-Darius Remaster's v2.0 update that finally gave us the long-awaited, Mode B from the arcade version + Taito added the PS1 version! Love your content + production quality, brother 👍
Thanks! I don't think I'll do a dedicated video update no, but I'm absolutely planning on showing it in the next New Games Video I do. So people can see the PS5 release is practically a new game with all the extra stages and show what's been added. I've been needing to catch up on a lot of older releases and their updates. It's impossible to keep up with them all! Which is a good problem to have with so much shmup content coming our way.
@ShmupJunkie - Thanks for the detailed reply! Those 2 updates stood out to me the most due to the large amount of content added to them both. I'm currently working on unlocking all ships in R-Type Final 3, but the cheap deaths are ABUNDANT, even on easier difficulties!? It's just so hard to see everything that can kill you 🤷♂️
Excellent Video, as always, and as a big He-Man fan, I thank you for showing me Lionheart, which will be my headcanon Motu game. I’m very happy, that enforcer by Mamfred Trentz gets some well deserved exposure here, it’s really good, along with Katakis.
It's like this cool mix of He-man and Heavy Metal, one of my fav classic animations. It's so obvious the dragon flying segments were influenced by it. As for Trenz, I guess it's commonly accepted now that he was the untouchable master of the C64.
@@ShmupJunkie There were a lot of really good coders for the C64 (partly because the system demanded it), but I'm pretty sure there was nobody on the level of Manfred Trenz.
Impressive list with some really cool looking games. It's so cool to know that some of these devs like E Hashimoto and Akiragoya were making some killer games back in the day. Akuji the Demon was a childhood favorite! I also remember digging deep trying to find and download Death Ephemera and never found any luck at all! This vid is a good reminder that I need to get some Rusty on because I'm a big fan of Castlevania and Demon... horns! I keep forgetting to for some reason!
Glad it lived up to the hype. I feel bad in ways because there's just so many insane computer based games and shmups out there it can't be done justice with anything but a 24hr long video haha. So I just had to pick some good obscure ones and leave so many for a future video. I've got a loooong list.
Glad to see Lionheart here; the art & music blew my mind as a kid, especially as it was one of the first Amiga games I bought after upgrading from a C64
I know them and have seen lots of footage but not played them before no. Not growing up with one I’ve only recently started playing through Amiga games. So you can bet I will be.
@@ShmupJunkie Hi Junkie, glad to hear you're checking out some Amiga games. Have you shown Apidya in an earlier video as I was surprised it only got a brief mention here?
I been looking for a Reap copy for quite some time. Very very cool game, with trademark arcade feel and light effects from Housemarque. One of their early games.
Oh, man, thanks for this one. Truly amazing obscure hidden gems and that find of Akira Goya was superb! Doujin STGs galore! And that Yamaha synth music is always mana to the ears.
If only we could get a working rom of Akiragoya's game someday instead of just having the single video to watch. If it happens you can bet I'll highlight it.
And that's one of the more popular ones! It's the shmups section that really has some serious unknown doujin gems. In fact, do doujins count as bootlegs? The Sharp has an insane amount of them... maybe some possible future content... 😬
I’d heard of it before but never played it until working on this video. And aside from the expected difficult controls I was pleasantly surprised with how well put together a platformer it was. Not all flash with poor gameplay like many others. It very much deserves to be played.
I remember years ago finding out that Americans didn't care about the Amiga and it was so weird to me. It's a Commodore, after all - it's american! Anyway, I have been looking forward to this video for a while - exciting stuff!
Americans never really got into the micros like the Brits and some others did. Nintendo and then also Sega ruled the gaming scene here. Maybe because more people in this country could afford $50+ game carts? I remember my local Software Etc having an Amiga display running Shadow of the Beast in the early 90s. It did garner some attention but didn't last too long - didn't sell.
The creator of Rusty is on youtube lurking around, he commented on a video someone did reviewing an original copy of the game. He said he is exploring to port it to steam as he still has the source code for it, hope he does one day! He said if he does, he would like to remaster it as well and update the art and graphics but more detailed pieces. It's crazy how that whole game was created by one person.
Really? That would be pretty amazing if it happened. I’m sure a lot of folks would love to see that and would buy it. Here’s hoping that comes to pass.
locomalito makes amazing games! i really like L'Abbeye de Morts, Maldita Castilla (a ghouls n ghosts clone) and Hydorah, a pretty solid shmup. I'll definitely check out The Curse of Issyos!
Awesome selection and episode, as usual! Just throwing in Laser Gates, on Atari 2600 (as you asked in the end for our 'personal favorites"). Its outstanding design and challenge is unparalleled. Read the manual and start playing. In a few days, any true shmup fan will be in love with it. I feel some people knows about Laser Gates only because its an iMagic game, its a beauty and all that BUT don't actually take the challenge and actually plays with dedication -- that's why I'm bringing it to the table. Again, thanks for all your hard work and finding more great games for us, mister Shmup Junkie :)
I just looked up Laser Gates and it looks just like the kind of game that would (and did) kick my ass when I was very young playing my 2600. I was maybe 4-6 years old lol. But I never came across this one so thx for the heads up. To this day some of those Atari games are brutal and I still can't get too far in them. I've beaten some hard games but there's Atari classics like Defender etc that just have my number lol.
And thank you! for lending me your sick Rusty artwork. I think it made for a great thumbnail and so far the click rate is doing well! Not surprising haha. You know some of these old computer systems better than I do and I'm still thankful for you turning me onto Flame Zapper.
The next day after watching your video, I saw people on forums and social networks asking for help to play the games you showcased. It would be great to have more videos about obscure games in obscure systems. Great video man.
Let's see: PC/Ms-Dos: Alien Rampage (cool gory run'n gun/platformer) Fights 'n Jokes (great versus fighter with graphics resembling Waku Waku 7) Stixworld (very cool platformer with stick figure sketchbook graphics) Amiga: (some of them are not obscure at all, but I see Amiga is quite obscure in general in the US) Hybris (early shmup, but still one of my favorites) Crazy Seasons (good fixed stage puzzle/platformer) Fightin' Spirit (great Street Fighter 2 inspired game - amazing graphics) Fire & Brimstone (Similar to Ghouls & Ghosts) Fire & Ice (platformer with great graphics) James Pond 1 & 2 (first one is a puzzle platformer, the secondone is a full on platformer) Grand Monster Slam Speedball 2 (technically a "sports" game, but it's amazing. Most addictive game ever) Wings (arcade-y flight simulator with tons of atmosphere) Sharp x68k Geograph Seal (amazing 3d graphics for the time) Cyberlock Metal Orange EX (Breakout style game with amazing soundtrack on MT-32)
Holy cow, I completely missed Enforcer on the C64, thanks for showcasing that! I guess I missed it because it was post-Rainbow Arts and actually a cover-disk game in 1992, so I guess that explains me not knowing it. Trenz really found a way to release fantastic games in obscure ways (also see Rendering Ranger R2 on the Super Famicom).
I was worried too many people knew of it since it’s a Trenz game so I’m glad I did. You’re right it’s pretty dang rare not being an official release. I don’t know every single game he made but I wonder if he ever made a bad one on C64 lol. He was pretty much the king of programming for that system.
@@ShmupJunkie Yeah, when I think Trenz I think Katakis (probably the best shmup on the system, or at least Top 3) and the legendary R-Type port that had to be done in a few weeks, but by 1992 the commercial C64 market was gone. Looking at his credits, his later output seems to be a bit shovelware/contract work (Crazy Frog Racer for the GBA?! Germanys Next Topmodel for the DS?! - I don't know if he just needed work when Turrican 3D fell through in the later 90's and the industry moved on), but anything from Giana Sisters through Rendering Ranger was top class stuff.
No kidding! I used to be really good on a keyboard growing up playing that way for most of my games, but I lost the muscle memory since then. I couldn't play it without a controller either anymore.
The Sharp could EASILY have it's own video that's for sure. Just the shmups would be gargantuan and I don't think I could even find them all or make them all work lol. It's nuts.
Wow an another Legendary video for Shmups Fans again !!! i really love it. You show us everytime new games unknows, new great shmups, we learn one more time with you about the retrogaming culture, it's fantastic 👍👍 Thanks a lot again!!!
We're all old dudes here... well at least I am too haha. Spreading the shmup love is what we're all about here and always glad to see the excitement spread.
Some good entries in this list. Rusty I definitely knew, a friend of mine had a PC-98 with a lot of games, rusty among them. The control is a bit stiff, but the level design is great and the music phenomenal. Now C-lab isn't exactly a well known developer, but it just goes to show that even a small time developer can deliver quality work At first I thought Rusty was a rather odd name for a character, then it occurred to me Japanese have that problem with the L and R pronunciation, in which case the name also sound like "Lusty". Given the character designs and the PC-98's huge library of eroge, it's not hard to see they chose this name for a reason Nice of you to see the Cho Ren Sha resemblance with Illumination laser, everything from your ship's shot pattern, enemy designs, to the minimalistic background made it a dead giveaway. What's more, it even has an absorb and reflection mechanic, long before Ikaruga popularized it There's quite a few shooters in the end I don't recognize, but Flame Zapper Kotsujin is not one of them, that iconic soundtrack is just unforgettable. Same with Overkill, chances are if you grew up in the '90s playing DOS games you might have ran into this one, Epic Megagames as they were known at the time had published a lot of DOS games, and many computer stores carried them
And it plays really well too. Very worth checking out the Steam demo. I pretty much look forward to any Akiragoya game at this point. His art is insane.
Great Video! I have seen most of the rare gems of just about every console, but PC? This is new territory to me! Let's all hope these games get more attention thanks to you and MAYBE; we get Switch and modern consoles ports!
I think the size of the ship doesn't help, either. It was a great game for it's time, but it hasn't held up that well. I personally think Armalyte is a much better game in that regard.
Welcome back! Yup, I have never seen these games before, so thank you for producing this video. Rusty: The music absolutely slaps! You could have just played the music and pretended it came from a Castlevania PC-Engine "lost game" Lionheart: The main character sprite reminds me a lot of He-Man. Also, it seems to remind me of Shadow of the Beast, another notoriously difficult game. Buster: The super deformed protagonist reminds me of Wardner.
Wow, I thought I was the only person who had ever played "Buster"! I remember playing it around 2004-2005. At the time a floppy image of the game was available on the author's site for free. I downloaded it and mounted it on a real floppy using the 5inch floppy drive I had for my PC-98 at the time and then played it on my X68000 ACE. I remember finishing it, but I forgot how awesome the game looks and sounds! Thanks for reminding me. "Lionheart" also makes me wish I had an Amiga. Thanks for the channel shoutout. Loved the video. -Mr. Jakes
Oh you're definitely one of the only ones to play Buster back then. I only discovered it while making this video and ended up pleasantly surprised by how solid it was, so I had to feature it. I didn't have the pleasure of playing (or knowing) anything PC98 or any Japanese computers back then. Your Rusty video was what originally turned me onto the game so I was more than happy to hopefully point some people your way. It's been really great seeing some of your recent videos do really well and your channel grow. It's well deserved.
Mark is the man. He helped me get started on this journey and does so much for the community including the shmup slam events. I’ll always be grateful and a fan of his channel.
Bro, it physically hurts how much effort and passion you have vs the lack of recognition. Whenever I see some corporate gaming nonsense (predatory monetization, award shows based on political virtue signaling about "diversity," etc.) I always wonder how much better all of those things would be if they just had a bunch of people who actually care about games like you running things.
Honestly I’ve been stoked with how well the channel has grown and done. Just over two years or so and most videos break 100K with this one already over 25K in just a couple days. For such a niche channel that’s pretty unheard of and part of what keeps me going. I think many of us who care and enjoy them in this way are doing it for fun and as hobby so we wouldn’t end up working for or running those things. I certainly wouldn’t and rather expand to my own passion projects and documentaries like I’m already doing. The shills can have their large corner of the internet I don’t want it 🤣
I never heard of any of these!! No wonder so many people on the forums love to see these systems emulated. I've always mostly dismissed them. I'll need to check these out.
Before you starting naming the games I had already seen 3 amazing Amiga games : Lionheart (By Thalion Software, a german developper), Apydia (By Keico which was a made up name) which is probably the best non japanese shmup ever made and Banshee by Core Design (which really needs a new "retro port" since they still exist in some capacity), Curious to see the rest :) Of these 3 games, Banshee is the only AGA one and the attention to detail in this game is unmatched. I loved seeing the little soldiers run screaming in fire before dying
Sharp X68000 is my favorite retro computer of all time, it have superior graphic and amazing sound ship that give you perfect arcade experience, its too bad that I didn't own this console or X68k mini
Insane tile-based graphics VDP for its time. Both Genesis and SNES were heavily influenced by its design. Crazy good chassis design too. I mean, it would still look super stylish and modern on any desk today! It sure was pricey though.
Great video! It resonated particularly with me for 2 reasons. First, because you feature the great Basement Brothers, a criminally underfollowed channel that I have been watching since the very beginning. They make huge quality videos; well researched and very nicely presented. By the way, I loved your intervention in their recent Touhou video. ;) Second, because I have always loved the japanese exclusive computers and, more particularly, their sound. I bought a PC-98 laptop just to play some games (although, to be fair, an emulator with a good screen and controller is a much better experience). I also physically went to Kadenken in Akihabara to spend a fortune in a Re:Birth/SPFM Light and a lot of modules. This is a DIY device sold as a kit that uses expansion modules with real FM chips (OPN, OPM, OPL...) to play audio files vintage consoles and PCs.
Wow! I didn't even know you were into that side of things and picking up these kits and older systems. I'd love to go back to Japan again someday soon and see what I can find. Although I may get into more trouble than I should with some of the hardware haha. Yes, Basement Bros is fantastic and it's been great to see some of their latest videos do really well and the channel grow. I hope I was able to get them a few more subs by showing them in the video.
It's great to see some love for PC gaming. Being from the US, I didn't get a PC until the mid 1990s and mostly played FPS, RPG, flight/space sim games. The only other action games I recall playing back then were the Commander Keen and Duke Nukem games which seemed like some pretty good PC platformers for the time.
I was lucky to have a computer early and used to build them back in elementary school going back to my first, which was an old 386DX! And there were a ton of great games for them. But we definitely missed out on all the Japanese and European systems in the US and I'm still catching up myself. I liked that our PC games were different. I played stuff like Wing Commander and Monkey Island as much as anything else. And it was definitely FPS king. I played the heck out of Wolf3D and Doom before I kind of got burned out on the genre, but it was a big deal at the time.
GREAT VID! I haven't seem mentioned in the comments section, so I gotta add: [Lionheart Remake] is out for PC, free and open source, it's easier to run than using the emulator, and it has several Quality of Life improvements (like the option to setup separate jump/attack buttons and how they should behave on hold/press) and extra game modes with different stage design. All made with the blessings of the original developers.
I first played Undeadline on my humble Sony msx2, never knew about Pleasure Hearts but played a lot of good shumps on the system like Aleste series, Konami shumps and so on. Thanks for the great video!
Please review some authentic touhou based games if you could sometime! I really appreciate your content!! just discovered your channel the otherday, and must say, your quirky sense of nature really brightens up my day haha!! take care!!!
First of all, welcome to channel. Glad you found me. You’ll see by the comments we have a pretty awesome community here. If I can’t have fun and be a bit silly for videos then it’s just not worth it. So I’m glad to brighten some days and provide a break from a sometimes ugly or difficult reality. It’s as therapeutic for me as it is for the viewers! Please enjoy.
Hey, welcome and always glad when the algo brings some new people my way. Glad you enjoyed it. I'm not far behind you in age and grew up building 386 and 486 machines for myself as a kid around elementary school age. Still have a lot of nostalgia for those games and much that came after.
If you haven't covered or played them yet, I'd really like to see you do videos on MS-DOS shooters like Raptor: Call of the Shadows, Tyrian/Tyrian 2000, and Stargunner.
No I haven't just yet. But I did feature an amazing DOS shooter that was likely the best I'd ever played on the platform called SIDELINE. Taiwanese game and very obscure but incredible. I showed it in an older video like this one called Best Action Games you never played. I couldn't believe how good it was. Very much a Japanese style shooter vs something like Raptor or Tyrian. Those games are special too in very different ways. I used to play Tyrian back in the day too like many.
30 years later, I finally understand Lionheart thanks to ypu... Back in the day, I tried it for a while, did not understand the strange logic of the move set for a plateformer, and dropped it : it seemed so incoherent... I'll watch a longplay to discover what I missed !
First, you have to play with a controller and make it easier on yourself. Map things in a way that make sense to you. It’s just a much more complex game in terms of controls and mechanics than it seems. I’m no expert in it and it’s a pretty new game to me. But making this video I learned that much of the challenge of playing some of these games has been the controls and figuring out a way to not make it frustrating. A luxury you probably didn’t have 30 years ago with a one button controller or a keyboard.
Love your videos Junkie ♥ More great old shooters on the Amiga: -Trex Warrior This very early 3d arena shooter [one of the first?] is a genuine hidden gem, with smooth controls and intense gameplay. The graphics and sound were great for the time. (as usual the Amiga version is better than the Atari :) -Walker Unique stylish mouse and keyboard 2d shooter, where your huge mech moves only left and right, while the mouse aims your auto-cannons at everything. Great enemy designs, and blasting away at everything is just a lot of fun. -SWIV Junkie covered the bland SNES and Mega Drive versions, but the Amiga original is a totally different game, several years older, and more interesting. Amiga SWIV takes place all in one long continuously progressing level. Lots of neat enemy designs and patterns. The sound effects may be a bit limited, but have good punch. -X-Out Amazing graphics, sound, and style, and an innovative shop with several different ships. Maybe not tightest gameplay in a shooter ever, but really cool nevertheless.
I love X-Out, it was one of my favourites! The C64 version was also very good. I was kind of disappointed that the sequel was a fairly generic R-Type clone (though it was still decent).
Code Zero on x6800, Battle Squadron for amiga, Rude Breaker for pc98 and the doujin take on it, Last Breakers was cool too. I had never heard of death ephemera, angel at dusk or the reap before.
Rusty is fun. There's also a fan made gradius called garudius '95 and it's really good. I also think chorensha and star trader are some good one's on the x68000. And they have a good version of phalanx as well. Joy to key is a good program for some of these to play with a controller instead of the keyboard.
Thanks for this video - I definitely found some new ones to check out. For me the first shmup that comes up when I think of Amiga games is easily Project X - which is also the first game I played with a Gradius style power-up selection bar (since I missed the 80s Konami and Toaplan shmups in the arcades until I was much older). That intro theme is great, even though it doesn’t fully make-up for the lack of in-game music. I do like the addition of an “old-timer” music mode. Definitely worth checking out the intro music both ways to see what they went with. In terms of other ones for the European computers, if you have an Antstream cloud gaming subscription, then that’s the quickest way to check out a lot of them without having to hunt for roms or configure emulators.
I'm not familiar with Antstream at all or how it works so I appreciate the heads up. Some of these games are so difficult to emulate or find that I'd like to see what they have and how it works.
@@ShmupJunkie With Antstream you lose some input lag and a lot of the configurability compared to standard emulation, so when something is slightly off (like Speedball II for the Amiga loading up after the opening, so you can’t hear the music) there’s not much to be done about it. On the other hand, the games I’ve tried all ran without audio issues (which often took a lot of tweaking in emulators for me to achieve), with the exception of some of the later Cave games, like Pink Sweets and Muchi Muchi Pork, which had would often have the audio break-up when the game had a lot of slowdown. I’ve been enjoying it despite the shortcomings because of the selection and the surprising amount of online leaderboards and challenges for old (and less old) games. I came in the top 20 for both Defender II (NES) and Gunbird (Arcade) in tournaments the same month the same month as there was a Ninja Gaiden arcade contest, so the tournament selections are pretty eclectic. They have around 1,400 games or something spread across the arcades, Amiga, Amstrad, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, NES, SNES, Mega Drive and even a couple Playstation games. I liked being able to search by both category and developer so that I could see all the Telenet or Irem or Cave games they had at once.
Brilliant video. Thanks. I would love to see more vids focussed on the Amiga and C64. So much material to work with. When i fist saw the amiga at my friends house he had r-type and i was blown away.. i was playing it at the arcades too at the time. And thats when i thought wow arcade quality games at home...i am in 😂 The inconsitency of home arcade ports in this era was crazy. Looking back its a good laugh
I'd rather suck and enjoy them then be amazing and curse them constantly lol, so it's all good. But to be fair the better you get the more you can also enjoy them as long as you don't turn it into a chore. Always glad to help fuel the passion for shmups though and why I keep at it here... trying to bring in some new blood.
Usually after watching an obscure games video, there's at least one game that doesn't interest me. But this one, along with your pefectly executed narration, I want to try all of them. 👍
Thanks! I put a lot of time into choosing games I actually want to play and feel others will too. If I don’t dig it somehow I won’t show it. I’m usually stoked to discover a lot of these games myself!
@@ShmupJunkie Your work and passion in these vids definitely show.
Banshee is awesome, I like all that small details like in how many different brutal ways soldiers van die.
Ok you convinced me. I will play my first ever Amiga game, Lionheart.
Sure recommendation from youtube, I love shoot em up games, saved it on my play list to to play some later, greetings from Brazil
Greetings! You will find no shortage of great shoot ‘em ups on this channel. Please enjoy and thank you.
I'm so glad that you don't limit yourself to just shmups. It's so much fun to see all these previously undiscovered treasures!
It would be pretty limiting and depressing to only enjoy one type of game. Personally I play pretty much every game or genre under the sun as do most folks, even if I have a fondness for shmups and arcade style games in general. I won’t be posting videos about playing Zelda or final fantasy as that’s not the focus of the channel but I’m very eclectic in terms of stuff I play on my own. So you can bet I’ll always share stuff I think my viewers will really dig.
@@ShmupJunkiewell said bro hope all is well on your end!
Great video! I often wonder why PC games are so obscure. With consoles, one can know every game that came out for it. But on PC, even great games become obscure!
I think part of it is how many more small and indie games existed for computers because they had an open development environment. Making games for consoles was locked down and nearly impossible for most. So you ended up with a larger variety in numbers and quality. I think it would be impossible to ever know every single game released for any of them. So many have likely been lost to time.
In part because the world wasn't global in the way that it is now (and not just because of the lack of internet). Even with the C64 and Amiga, different games were released in different regions (for example, I'm pretty sure the Aliens game released in the UK was different to the one released in the US).
Finally some recognition to Lionheart !!!
The amount of amazing games I've discovered through your channel is staggering. You do incredible work, thank you!
I love to hear it! You’re very welcome. This series has been very popular so I’ll keep them up long as everyone is enjoying them.
Yes and I appreciate all those links! You are an awesome unappreciated youtuber!
Keep the great content coming
I really like
Your quality and dedication is appreciated, bringing up a variety of lesser known gaming platforms with great games
Wow, thank you so much. That's very generous of you to contribute to the channel. I'll make sure it goes to a good cause like all my donations and fund something good for the shmup community. I'm really glad you enjoyed this and discovered some new games yourself. This is a popular series so I'll keep making them.
Youre the only content creator that I watch on a TV, relaxed with nothing to distract me and take screenshots. The only game I knew was Rusty, beside that one everything was new for me. Great video as always. Will download those free games from loquillomalito or whatever the name is, which I didn't knew he is the same developer of Hydorah. Good stuff!
Yeah Locamalito. Hydorah was how I first found him and it went from there. I always look forward to what he may come out with next. Maldita Castilla was great just brutal as expected.
@@ShmupJunkie yea Maldita Castilla is a great game, really hard but have that essence of a real mid 80s arcade that is rare to see on other retro inspired games. Just downloaded Curse of Issyos and a few more from his website.
What are some of your favorite obscure PC games? Which games did you wish I included that I can play for future videos? Let me know here in the comments! And if you're wondering who made that killer RUSTY artwork for my thumbnail, you can find the entire image by DANMAKUMAN here : www.inprnt.com/gallery/danmakuman/rusty/
CORRECTION: Undeadline is a game for the Sharp X68000K, not the FM Towns as incorrectly labeled during the gameplay in this video. Dumb mistake on my part while rushing to get the video out in time. If you're looking for some good FM Towns games, check out the original ALLTYNEX!
Not sure if you’ve covered it, but any time I get a chance I have to plug ‘Zeliard’! Originally developed for the NEC PC-8801 but was actually one brought over to MS-DOS for us here in North America. More of an RPG action platformer but definitely worth a play
@@zeliardforty-two4692 No I haven’t! So thank you for the recommendation. I’ve just added it to my list to check out soon. It may come in handy for a future video.
Armalyte and Cyberdyne Warrior on the C64, Etoile Princess on the X68000, Net Guardian and Rude Breaker on the PC-98, Jim Power on the Amiga.
@@MagmaMKII I remember highlighting Rude Breaker in my History of Compile Shooters video. But it’s been a while that game could use another segment. It’s super cool.
Great game selection & great to see the Amiga (that I grew up with) appear as well. Other shooter games on Amiga worth a try... Ruff 'n Tumble, Agony, Deluxe Galaga, Pegasus, Better Dead Than Alien, Syndicate, Apocalypse, inviyya, Uridium 2, SWIV, Z-out ,Dithell in Space, Motorola Invaders 2 , Wolfchild, Blood Money, Menace, Project-X SE, Alien Breed 92 SE, Llamatron 2112, Revenge of The Mutant Camel, Venus The Fly Trap of course the better known ones like Turrican 1-3, Xenon 2 for the intro music. Also to note Shadow of the Beast 3 is often overlooked as unlike the first two it plays pretty well.
Oh also Super Stardust which is by the team who became Housemarque.
Henk Nieborg who did the art to the Lionheart is a great artist... He did most recently the art on Xeno Crisis... But also the fab love letter to Turrican called Gunlord. Other great ones was Adventures of Lomax (PS1 and a Lemming Platformer), Flink, Amberstar and Ambermoon.
Would selfishly love to see you cover more Amiga stuff.
On a different note... On Steam for PC have you ever played Z-Exemplar? It's based on the visuals of the Spectrum (my first PC) but the game is a fab shooter... Basically the levels are short so although tough once beaten the planet level is complete. It is all about tactically upgrading and is a pure joy. Well worth a go and one of my fav shooters.
There is also a MS-DOS PC port of Rusty, the music sounds a bit different because it uses an OPL instead of an OPN for the FM sound and the aspect ratio is changed slightly from the PC 98 version due to the lack of an exact match for the PC 98 resolution. Otherwise it plays exactly the same as the PC 98 version.
Probably easier to get running in dosbox than a Pc-98 emulator
man, how come i just got to know this channel? so much passion and energy shown that i can't help myself to hype over whatever game he's showing
Welcome! The best thing about just discovering a channel you really dig is suddenly having so much new content to slowly enjoy. I’ve made a lot of discovery videos like this one, but also a lot of awesome history and developer videos and more. We have a great community here and glad you found it. So take your time and enjoy.
@@ShmupJunkie yes! i'm having a blast with your content and the other content creators you recommend in your videos! thank you so much for these amazing videos! cheers from argentina!
Man lionheart looks like it could have almost been a neo geo game I can only imagine how cool a port would have been
It's incredible what some devs were able to get out of this system in its later years, considering that it came out in 1985 and most games look way worse than Genesis and SNES ones, especially when you compare the arcade ports. It did not the monstrously powerful tile-based graphics VDP than the much more expensive the X68000 had. In order to get graphics this good out of it, guys like Thalion, Psygnosis, Factor 5, Bitmap Brothers and Core Designs had to design their games from scratch for the Amiga platform, working around its limitations and taking advantage of its strengths.
Swiv and ProjectX are awesome Amiga shmups.
The moment Lionheart popped up, I said to myself "That's unmistakably Henk's sprite work."
It had me immediately going and looking up other games he was involved in!
@@ShmupJunkie, ray’z arcade chronology was released in worldwide 3 months ago.
Be ready to do a Taito’s Ray’z Series Retrospective.
New old shmups for me to search.
I LOVE YOU JUNKIE
Man, i would've killed for a Sharp 68000 as a kid. So many rad games and a bunch of basically arcade perfect ports. Great vid dude!
I think any of us would have killed for one. Only I didn't even know it existed back then.
God fucking Almighty, Junkie, you are a king among men with the quality of you videos. Keep it up - we NEED weekly releases
Ha! Unfortunately quality is impossible weekly I wish! Unless that cloning machine finally comes back in stock on Amazon 🤣. Been back ordered for years. But I love making them so will keep at it!
As an American it makes me so sad the Amiga never took off here. I remember seeing them in computer stores but I never heard or knew anyone that had one.
Would’ve loved to have one as a kid as well. I rarely saw one and was always envious seeing screenshots in magazines. I’m glad I had my usual PC and my games but at the same time we missed out.
Amiga kid here (amiga dad I guess now), Lionheart is one of my favourite games ever.
Luckily, my best friend bought Amiga 1000 because of Defender of the Crown. Played it a lot. Still liked our C64's. Master Systems even better though. One button joysticks sucked. Lol later moved to FL from OH & another friend had the 500. I was lucky I guess.
Aliens: Can make a space ship. Cannot make a microwave.
It would have been even funnier if the devs were being serious, but the whole story is purposefully ludicrous. You can tell they were just throwing whatever at the wall and going with it.
One of my favourite videos you have made. I hope to see more like it as I've learned a lot!
Thanks! Yes, these discovery videos have been really popular. My last two were on Arcade action games and the other focusing on Run N Guns, both just as fun and did really well. So as long as folks enjoy them I'll keep making them. I learn a lot and discover many myself in the process.
I actually grew up with a C64 (and most of my friends had Amigas), so I really appreciated this video! I never played Enforcer, but it reminds me of Katakis, which was one of Manfred Trenz's earlier games (and there's a hell of a story behind that one). I think the best shoot 'em up I played on the C64 was Armalyte and it's actually aged very well. X-Out was another one of my favourites, though that one is probably better played on the Amiga (and is a much more interesting game than it's rather generic sequel, Z-Out).
Here's some worth playing run'n guns on the Amiga :
- Killing Game Show
- Ruff'n Tumble
- the Turrican series, especially the 2
- Zool
And some Shoot'em ups :
- Project-X (both original and 92 Special Edition)
- Apidya
- SWIV (better than the SNES)
- Z-Out, X-Out
I love Apidya, best shoot 'em up on the Amiga for me. Played it so much growing up that I can hear the soundtrack in my head whenever I like. 😄
I want to personally thank you for always uploading really premium content. I'm a huge fan brother. So glad to see every upload. Much respect!
Thanks dude and for sharing my stuff as always. Always glad you enjoy them.
@@ShmupJunkie My honor...
Aha here is the second part of that Basement Brothers crossover I was looking for :)
Check out Warning Forever. It's an evolving boss rush shmup for windows. The bosses change depending on how you play getting harder each time.
Oh yeah! Believe it or not I randomly covered that game way back in an old video best free shmups. I also liked how you can select and insert your own choice of music which was a neat feature.
The Reap looks incredible. Will have to check it out.
Zyclunt (Blade Warrior in the US) For DOS and Win95 is a great South Korean hack n slash platformer w/amazing music and spritework.
Thanks! I didn't know that one and just looked it up. It's going on the list to check out and play for a future video.
I really enjoyed this one. I grew up with consoles of course, and later in life went all in with shmups, but as a child some of my strongest memories were pplaying around with old PC shareware and demo disks. Many of the games didn't work or were just nonsensical to me at the time, but the sheer variety of stuff you could come across was always so exciting for me so seeing these games and their distinct style really hit me in the nostalgia. Compared to most console releases that are polished and professional to a certain degree, these PC games had a certain edginess and rawness to them that were so memorable. Really glad to see a few of them getting a highlight here.
That's a really good point about the rawness of their design and I completely agree. And they were a product of their time. I tend to roll my eyes a bit when people dump on games like Tyrian etc, but at the time it was so novel and why despite it's flaws (from a modern perspective) it influenced an incredible amount of devs and games that followed it. I played the hell out of my old 386 and later 486 PCs I'd built as a kid. It was like the wild west and because computers were open platforms unlike consoles, there was so much small development happening by anyone who wanted to make something. And I didn't know these Japanese computers even existed. Thanks btw for pointing me at Illumination Laser. It was a really good one to feature and I even stumbled on Emuser's playthrough of it.
... love Rusty! What an amazing game that should've been ported to TurboGrafx CD... I'd have bought it. Any plans to update your R-Type Final 2 review with R-Type Final 3 on PS5, Junkie? How about G-Darius Remaster's v2.0 update that finally gave us the long-awaited, Mode B from the arcade version + Taito added the PS1 version! Love your content + production quality, brother 👍
Thanks! I don't think I'll do a dedicated video update no, but I'm absolutely planning on showing it in the next New Games Video I do. So people can see the PS5 release is practically a new game with all the extra stages and show what's been added. I've been needing to catch up on a lot of older releases and their updates. It's impossible to keep up with them all! Which is a good problem to have with so much shmup content coming our way.
@ShmupJunkie - Thanks for the detailed reply! Those 2 updates stood out to me the most due to the large amount of content added to them both. I'm currently working on unlocking all ships in R-Type Final 3, but the cheap deaths are ABUNDANT, even on easier difficulties!? It's just so hard to see everything that can kill you 🤷♂️
Awesome. Tons of retro gaming channels, but they mostly focus on Nintendo and Sega but always leave out the PC classics.
I went out of my way to give Basement Brothers a good shout out for that reason. Great channel highlighting computer games with original hardware.
Excellent Video, as always, and as a big He-Man fan, I thank you for showing me Lionheart, which will be my headcanon Motu game.
I’m very happy, that enforcer by Mamfred Trentz gets some well deserved exposure here, it’s really good, along with Katakis.
It's like this cool mix of He-man and Heavy Metal, one of my fav classic animations. It's so obvious the dragon flying segments were influenced by it. As for Trenz, I guess it's commonly accepted now that he was the untouchable master of the C64.
@@ShmupJunkie There were a lot of really good coders for the C64 (partly because the system demanded it), but I'm pretty sure there was nobody on the level of Manfred Trenz.
Lionheart has a fan-made PC version with 2-player as well, haven't played it but it looks good
Love that sharp X68000. We in the west missed out on so much.
Big time! I'm just barely scratching the surface of the library myself.
@@ShmupJunkie Hey what's the name of that Ghost n Goblins clone?
@@kirgeez-gamingMaldita Castilla.
@@BorislavVeselinov Thanks
Impressive list with some really cool looking games.
It's so cool to know that some of these devs like E Hashimoto and Akiragoya were making some killer games back in the day. Akuji the Demon was a childhood favorite! I also remember digging deep trying to find and download Death Ephemera and never found any luck at all!
This vid is a good reminder that I need to get some Rusty on because I'm a big fan of Castlevania and Demon... horns! I keep forgetting to for some reason!
I knew this was going to be amazing, you've no idea how happy I was to see pleasure hearts in there ;) Kyokugen is a gem too on MSX. Lovely stuff!
Glad it lived up to the hype. I feel bad in ways because there's just so many insane computer based games and shmups out there it can't be done justice with anything but a 24hr long video haha. So I just had to pick some good obscure ones and leave so many for a future video. I've got a loooong list.
Love the Basement Bros shout out! That channel was how I found this channel 😊 a great place to learn about classic games from the Japanese market
Absolutely! I've been enjoying their channel for a while and it was a perfect chance to point people his way.
Halloween harry 2 ( also known as alien carnage 2 ) was a good action game
Glad to see Lionheart here; the art & music blew my mind as a kid, especially as it was one of the first Amiga games I bought after upgrading from a C64
I love Amiga shmups!
Have you played X-Out and Z-Out by Rainbow Arts?
I know them and have seen lots of footage but not played them before no. Not growing up with one I’ve only recently started playing through Amiga games. So you can bet I will be.
@@ShmupJunkie Hi Junkie, glad to hear you're checking out some Amiga games. Have you shown Apidya in an earlier video as I was surprised it only got a brief mention here?
Shmupjunkie is the best channel about retrogaming and shmups, of all time !!!
I been looking for a Reap copy for quite some time. Very very cool game, with trademark arcade feel and light effects from Housemarque. One of their early games.
How do I play The Reap? Steam?
Oh, man, thanks for this one. Truly amazing obscure hidden gems and that find of Akira Goya was superb! Doujin STGs galore! And that Yamaha synth music is always mana to the ears.
If only we could get a working rom of Akiragoya's game someday instead of just having the single video to watch. If it happens you can bet I'll highlight it.
Oooh I never heard of Aquales (assuming i wrote the name correctly)
And that's one of the more popular ones! It's the shmups section that really has some serious unknown doujin gems. In fact, do doujins count as bootlegs? The Sharp has an insane amount of them... maybe some possible future content... 😬
@ShmupJunkie haha a lot of doujins are indeed bootlegs.
Still watching the video though. It's far from over xD
Lionheart is an amazing game. Always great to see it getting some more attention.
I’d heard of it before but never played it until working on this video. And aside from the expected difficult controls I was pleasantly surprised with how well put together a platformer it was. Not all flash with poor gameplay like many others. It very much deserves to be played.
I remember years ago finding out that Americans didn't care about the Amiga and it was so weird to me. It's a Commodore, after all - it's american!
Anyway, I have been looking forward to this video for a while - exciting stuff!
I wish they cared more as I always wanted one as a kid but just didn’t have the access. The games always looked gorgeous.
Americans never really got into the micros like the Brits and some others did. Nintendo and then also Sega ruled the gaming scene here. Maybe because more people in this country could afford $50+ game carts? I remember my local Software Etc having an Amiga display running Shadow of the Beast in the early 90s. It did garner some attention but didn't last too long - didn't sell.
Best way to start my Sunday.
Thanks!!
A couple of obscure shooters worth checking out - Super Stardust (Amiga) and Tempest 2000 (Atari Jaguar).
The creator of Rusty is on youtube lurking around, he commented on a video someone did reviewing an original copy of the game. He said he is exploring to port it to steam as he still has the source code for it, hope he does one day! He said if he does, he would like to remaster it as well and update the art and graphics but more detailed pieces. It's crazy how that whole game was created by one person.
Really? That would be pretty amazing if it happened. I’m sure a lot of folks would love to see that and would buy it. Here’s hoping that comes to pass.
locomalito makes amazing games! i really like L'Abbeye de Morts, Maldita Castilla (a ghouls n ghosts clone) and Hydorah, a pretty solid shmup. I'll definitely check out The Curse of Issyos!
Awesome selection and episode, as usual! Just throwing in Laser Gates, on Atari 2600 (as you asked in the end for our 'personal favorites"). Its outstanding design and challenge is unparalleled. Read the manual and start playing. In a few days, any true shmup fan will be in love with it. I feel some people knows about Laser Gates only because its an iMagic game, its a beauty and all that BUT don't actually take the challenge and actually plays with dedication -- that's why I'm bringing it to the table. Again, thanks for all your hard work and finding more great games for us, mister Shmup Junkie :)
I just looked up Laser Gates and it looks just like the kind of game that would (and did) kick my ass when I was very young playing my 2600. I was maybe 4-6 years old lol. But I never came across this one so thx for the heads up. To this day some of those Atari games are brutal and I still can't get too far in them. I've beaten some hard games but there's Atari classics like Defender etc that just have my number lol.
Badass video, glad too see some of my favourite obscure PC games get a highlight, more people needs to try them, tons of awesome stuff.
And thank you! for lending me your sick Rusty artwork. I think it made for a great thumbnail and so far the click rate is doing well! Not surprising haha. You know some of these old computer systems better than I do and I'm still thankful for you turning me onto Flame Zapper.
Would love to see a top 20 best schmups on the Steam platform Shmup Junkie.
The next day after watching your video, I saw people on forums and social networks asking for help to play the games you showcased. It would be great to have more videos about obscure games in obscure systems. Great video man.
Oh yeah? That’s cool I didn’t know it had that reach. This has been a really popular series so far.
Let's see:
PC/Ms-Dos:
Alien Rampage (cool gory run'n gun/platformer)
Fights 'n Jokes (great versus fighter with graphics resembling Waku Waku 7)
Stixworld (very cool platformer with stick figure sketchbook graphics)
Amiga: (some of them are not obscure at all, but I see Amiga is quite obscure in general in the US)
Hybris (early shmup, but still one of my favorites)
Crazy Seasons (good fixed stage puzzle/platformer)
Fightin' Spirit (great Street Fighter 2 inspired game - amazing graphics)
Fire & Brimstone (Similar to Ghouls & Ghosts)
Fire & Ice (platformer with great graphics)
James Pond 1 & 2 (first one is a puzzle platformer, the secondone is a full on platformer)
Grand Monster Slam
Speedball 2 (technically a "sports" game, but it's amazing. Most addictive game ever)
Wings (arcade-y flight simulator with tons of atmosphere)
Sharp x68k
Geograph Seal (amazing 3d graphics for the time)
Cyberlock Metal Orange EX (Breakout style game with amazing soundtrack on MT-32)
My top 3 games on Amiga has to be Speedball 2, Turrican 2 and Apidya. All insanely good gameplay and presentation/music.
Holy cow, I completely missed Enforcer on the C64, thanks for showcasing that! I guess I missed it because it was post-Rainbow Arts and actually a cover-disk game in 1992, so I guess that explains me not knowing it. Trenz really found a way to release fantastic games in obscure ways (also see Rendering Ranger R2 on the Super Famicom).
I was worried too many people knew of it since it’s a Trenz game so I’m glad I did. You’re right it’s pretty dang rare not being an official release. I don’t know every single game he made but I wonder if he ever made a bad one on C64 lol. He was pretty much the king of programming for that system.
@@ShmupJunkie Yeah, when I think Trenz I think Katakis (probably the best shmup on the system, or at least Top 3) and the legendary R-Type port that had to be done in a few weeks, but by 1992 the commercial C64 market was gone. Looking at his credits, his later output seems to be a bit shovelware/contract work (Crazy Frog Racer for the GBA?! Germanys Next Topmodel for the DS?! - I don't know if he just needed work when Turrican 3D fell through in the later 90's and the industry moved on), but anything from Giana Sisters through Rendering Ranger was top class stuff.
@@ShmupJunkie I certainly missed it first time around and I had my C64 until the bitter end, long after my friends had moved on to 16-bit systems.
Playing Rusty on an actual PC-98 keyboard is an exercise in frustration. Im so glad I got a controller for that.
No kidding! I used to be really good on a keyboard growing up playing that way for most of my games, but I lost the muscle memory since then. I couldn't play it without a controller either anymore.
@@ShmupJunkie It's just the weird arrow key cluster they have, it's in the shape of a +. I can never get use to that.
Thanks for keeping these retro computers alive, it really have some great games I really love to play and I love your contents, Keep up the good work
You're very welcome as usual. I hope you can find a way to play some of these. I know it's not always easy.
This is a great video. I feel that I've been sufficiently introduced to several games that I know I'll love, in places I didn't even think to look.
Thanks. That's why this series has been very popular. I enjoy them as well as I discover a lot of games myself in the process.
I hadn’t heard of any of these so this is quite the treasure trove! I’d love to see a segment just on the sharp 6800. Thank you!
The Sharp could EASILY have it's own video that's for sure. Just the shmups would be gargantuan and I don't think I could even find them all or make them all work lol. It's nuts.
@@ShmupJunkie It's a shame the X68000 never left Japan (and the Towns, for that matter).
@@ShmupJunkieWhatever you find and can get to work will suffice as well. No worries. Whatever you can't, i'm sure there's videos. No worries sir.
Wow an another Legendary video for Shmups Fans again !!!
i really love it.
You show us everytime new games unknows, new great shmups, we learn one more time with you about the retrogaming culture, it's fantastic 👍👍 Thanks a lot again!!!
You’re welcome and glad you’re enjoying them all so much. I’ll do my best to keep it up!
Just want to thank you for making and old dude me a little junkie of real shumup. Love you dude.
We're all old dudes here... well at least I am too haha. Spreading the shmup love is what we're all about here and always glad to see the excitement spread.
brofist for the amiga love!
Some good entries in this list. Rusty I definitely knew, a friend of mine had a PC-98 with a lot of games, rusty among them. The control is a bit stiff, but the level design is great and the music phenomenal. Now C-lab isn't exactly a well known developer, but it just goes to show that even a small time developer can deliver quality work
At first I thought Rusty was a rather odd name for a character, then it occurred to me Japanese have that problem with the L and R pronunciation, in which case the name also sound like "Lusty". Given the character designs and the PC-98's huge library of eroge, it's not hard to see they chose this name for a reason
Nice of you to see the Cho Ren Sha resemblance with Illumination laser, everything from your ship's shot pattern, enemy designs, to the minimalistic background made it a dead giveaway. What's more, it even has an absorb and reflection mechanic, long before Ikaruga popularized it
There's quite a few shooters in the end I don't recognize, but Flame Zapper Kotsujin is not one of them, that iconic soundtrack is just unforgettable. Same with Overkill, chances are if you grew up in the '90s playing DOS games you might have ran into this one, Epic Megagames as they were known at the time had published a lot of DOS games, and many computer stores carried them
Angel at Dusk looks wild- the Giger aesthetic never hurts in this genre
And it plays really well too. Very worth checking out the Steam demo. I pretty much look forward to any Akiragoya game at this point. His art is insane.
@@ShmupJunkie Can you ❤️ me again? I edited my mistakes and yt made me lose your appreciation 😭 lul
Great Video! I have seen most of the rare gems of just about every console, but PC? This is new territory to me! Let's all hope these games get more attention thanks to you and MAYBE; we get Switch and modern consoles ports!
Thanks brother... I was just looking for some platformers to try out that I've never played. Perfect timing.
The go-to for c64 shmups is Trenz's earlier work, Katakis, though the lack of design for the bosses makes it not hold up very well.
I think the size of the ship doesn't help, either. It was a great game for it's time, but it hasn't held up that well. I personally think Armalyte is a much better game in that regard.
The animations on Lionheart are so funny, the guy looks so wimpy when attacking and moving
His run is a bit funny looking I'll give you that haha. It's not a very manly run...
The cd32 version of banshee has music
Did it? Now I have to check that one out!
Welcome back! Yup, I have never seen these games before, so thank you for producing this video.
Rusty: The music absolutely slaps! You could have just played the music and pretended it came from a Castlevania PC-Engine "lost game"
Lionheart: The main character sprite reminds me a lot of He-Man. Also, it seems to remind me of Shadow of the Beast, another notoriously difficult game.
Buster: The super deformed protagonist reminds me of Wardner.
Wow, I thought I was the only person who had ever played "Buster"! I remember playing it around 2004-2005. At the time a floppy image of the game was available on the author's site for free. I downloaded it and mounted it on a real floppy using the 5inch floppy drive I had for my PC-98 at the time and then played it on my X68000 ACE. I remember finishing it, but I forgot how awesome the game looks and sounds! Thanks for reminding me. "Lionheart" also makes me wish I had an Amiga. Thanks for the channel shoutout. Loved the video. -Mr. Jakes
Oh you're definitely one of the only ones to play Buster back then. I only discovered it while making this video and ended up pleasantly surprised by how solid it was, so I had to feature it. I didn't have the pleasure of playing (or knowing) anything PC98 or any Japanese computers back then. Your Rusty video was what originally turned me onto the game so I was more than happy to hopefully point some people your way. It's been really great seeing some of your recent videos do really well and your channel grow. It's well deserved.
Wake up, Babe. new Shmup Junkie just dropped!! 🎉
Ha! Hype and thanks for jumping right on it. Some killer games highlighted in this one as usual.
@@ShmupJunkieDude this list is exciting! Can’t wait to check them out. 😊
He's not asleep. He left you for a real man.
@@Sandman_Slim wow, comedic genius 👏🏼
Round of applause for the idiot going around insulting people on UA-cam.
There lot shmups in arcade I can't even remember they names
You and Mark do the best Shmup videos on UA-cam!
Love your work, as always!
Mark is the man. He helped me get started on this journey and does so much for the community including the shmup slam events. I’ll always be grateful and a fan of his channel.
This is the best video game related video I have ever seen. Thank you Shmup Junkie.
Bro, it physically hurts how much effort and passion you have vs the lack of recognition. Whenever I see some corporate gaming nonsense (predatory monetization, award shows based on political virtue signaling about "diversity," etc.) I always wonder how much better all of those things would be if they just had a bunch of people who actually care about games like you running things.
Honestly I’ve been stoked with how well the channel has grown and done. Just over two years or so and most videos break 100K with this one already over 25K in just a couple days. For such a niche channel that’s pretty unheard of and part of what keeps me going. I think many of us who care and enjoy them in this way are doing it for fun and as hobby so we wouldn’t end up working for or running those things. I certainly wouldn’t and rather expand to my own passion projects and documentaries like I’m already doing. The shills can have their large corner of the internet I don’t want it 🤣
I never heard of any of these!! No wonder so many people on the forums love to see these systems emulated. I've always mostly dismissed them. I'll need to check these out.
a really great selection of the rare & obscure, good entertainment!
Get Banshee and add some Chris Huelsbeck soundtrack and we're set.
+100
Lionheart was the bomb on the Amiga even with the excessive load times. Someone did a complete fan remake for the PC which is amazingly accurate
Before you starting naming the games I had already seen 3 amazing Amiga games : Lionheart (By Thalion Software, a german developper), Apydia (By Keico which was a made up name) which is probably the best non japanese shmup ever made and Banshee by Core Design (which really needs a new "retro port" since they still exist in some capacity), Curious to see the rest :) Of these 3 games, Banshee is the only AGA one and the attention to detail in this game is unmatched. I loved seeing the little soldiers run screaming in fire before dying
Sharp X68000 is my favorite retro computer of all time, it have superior graphic and amazing sound ship that give you perfect arcade experience, its too bad that I didn't own this console or X68k mini
I hope the X68K mini happens someday! I remember I saw advertisements for it but I don't think it exists yet? It's still in development.
@@ShmupJunkie I really wish I had it one day after release
Insane tile-based graphics VDP for its time. Both Genesis and SNES were heavily influenced by its design. Crazy good chassis design too. I mean, it would still look super stylish and modern on any desk today! It sure was pricey though.
Hyped! Going to tuck in after Shmup Slam!
Yup, please enjoy the SLAM first live. This'll be here once you're free. I'm about to go enjoy some more slam myself.
Great video! It resonated particularly with me for 2 reasons. First, because you feature the great Basement Brothers, a criminally underfollowed channel that I have been watching since the very beginning. They make huge quality videos; well researched and very nicely presented. By the way, I loved your intervention in their recent Touhou video. ;)
Second, because I have always loved the japanese exclusive computers and, more particularly, their sound. I bought a PC-98 laptop just to play some games (although, to be fair, an emulator with a good screen and controller is a much better experience). I also physically went to Kadenken in Akihabara to spend a fortune in a Re:Birth/SPFM Light and a lot of modules. This is a DIY device sold as a kit that uses expansion modules with real FM chips (OPN, OPM, OPL...) to play audio files vintage consoles and PCs.
Wow! I didn't even know you were into that side of things and picking up these kits and older systems. I'd love to go back to Japan again someday soon and see what I can find. Although I may get into more trouble than I should with some of the hardware haha. Yes, Basement Bros is fantastic and it's been great to see some of their latest videos do really well and the channel grow. I hope I was able to get them a few more subs by showing them in the video.
It's great to see some love for PC gaming. Being from the US, I didn't get a PC until the mid 1990s and mostly played FPS, RPG, flight/space sim games. The only other action games I recall playing back then were the Commander Keen and Duke Nukem games which seemed like some pretty good PC platformers for the time.
I was lucky to have a computer early and used to build them back in elementary school going back to my first, which was an old 386DX! And there were a ton of great games for them. But we definitely missed out on all the Japanese and European systems in the US and I'm still catching up myself. I liked that our PC games were different. I played stuff like Wing Commander and Monkey Island as much as anything else. And it was definitely FPS king. I played the heck out of Wolf3D and Doom before I kind of got burned out on the genre, but it was a big deal at the time.
GREAT VID! I haven't seem mentioned in the comments section, so I gotta add: [Lionheart Remake] is out for PC, free and open source, it's easier to run than using the emulator, and it has several Quality of Life improvements (like the option to setup separate jump/attack buttons and how they should behave on hold/press) and extra game modes with different stage design. All made with the blessings of the original developers.
I first played Undeadline on my humble Sony msx2, never knew about Pleasure Hearts but played a lot of good shumps on the system like Aleste series, Konami shumps and so on. Thanks for the great video!
Please review some authentic touhou based games if you could sometime! I really appreciate your content!! just discovered your channel the otherday, and must say, your quirky sense of nature really brightens up my day haha!! take care!!!
First of all, welcome to channel. Glad you found me. You’ll see by the comments we have a pretty awesome community here. If I can’t have fun and be a bit silly for videos then it’s just not worth it. So I’m glad to brighten some days and provide a break from a sometimes ugly or difficult reality. It’s as therapeutic for me as it is for the viewers! Please enjoy.
Ok, randomly dropped by thanks to random UA-cam recommendation.
Neat content.
Nearly 50, I’ve been pc gaming most of my life.
Hey, welcome and always glad when the algo brings some new people my way. Glad you enjoyed it. I'm not far behind you in age and grew up building 386 and 486 machines for myself as a kid around elementary school age. Still have a lot of nostalgia for those games and much that came after.
If you haven't covered or played them yet, I'd really like to see you do videos on MS-DOS shooters like Raptor: Call of the Shadows, Tyrian/Tyrian 2000, and Stargunner.
No I haven't just yet. But I did feature an amazing DOS shooter that was likely the best I'd ever played on the platform called SIDELINE. Taiwanese game and very obscure but incredible. I showed it in an older video like this one called Best Action Games you never played. I couldn't believe how good it was. Very much a Japanese style shooter vs something like Raptor or Tyrian. Those games are special too in very different ways. I used to play Tyrian back in the day too like many.
@@ShmupJunkie Thanks! I'll check it out
30 years later, I finally understand Lionheart thanks to ypu... Back in the day, I tried it for a while, did not understand the strange logic of the move set for a plateformer, and dropped it : it seemed so incoherent...
I'll watch a longplay to discover what I missed !
First, you have to play with a controller and make it easier on yourself. Map things in a way that make sense to you. It’s just a much more complex game in terms of controls and mechanics than it seems. I’m no expert in it and it’s a pretty new game to me. But making this video I learned that much of the challenge of playing some of these games has been the controls and figuring out a way to not make it frustrating. A luxury you probably didn’t have 30 years ago with a one button controller or a keyboard.
Love your videos Junkie ♥
More great old shooters on the Amiga:
-Trex Warrior
This very early 3d arena shooter [one of the first?] is a genuine hidden gem, with smooth controls and intense gameplay. The graphics and sound were great for the time.
(as usual the Amiga version is better than the Atari :)
-Walker
Unique stylish mouse and keyboard 2d shooter, where your huge mech moves only left and right, while the mouse aims your auto-cannons at everything. Great enemy designs, and blasting away at everything is just a lot of fun.
-SWIV
Junkie covered the bland SNES and Mega Drive versions, but the Amiga original is a totally different game, several years older, and more interesting. Amiga SWIV takes place all in one long continuously progressing level. Lots of neat enemy designs and patterns. The sound effects may be a bit limited, but have good punch.
-X-Out
Amazing graphics, sound, and style, and an innovative shop with several different ships. Maybe not tightest gameplay in a shooter ever, but really cool nevertheless.
I love X-Out, it was one of my favourites! The C64 version was also very good. I was kind of disappointed that the sequel was a fairly generic R-Type clone (though it was still decent).
@@sjake8308 Even the spectrum version was good
Code Zero on x6800, Battle Squadron for amiga, Rude Breaker for pc98 and the doujin take on it, Last Breakers was cool too.
I had never heard of death ephemera, angel at dusk or the reap before.
Tyrian is a fun oldschool shmup on the PC from back in the day.
Rusty is fun. There's also a fan made gradius called garudius '95 and it's really good. I also think chorensha and star trader are some good one's on the x68000. And they have a good version of phalanx as well. Joy to key is a good program for some of these to play with a controller instead of the keyboard.
And I swore this game called Lionheart was a He-Man game. Did you notice the great resemblance ?
Oh I'm sure it's not a coincidence. Very heavily influenced by He-Man and IMO also the Heavy Metal movie.
Thanks for this video - I definitely found some new ones to check out.
For me the first shmup that comes up when I think of Amiga games is easily Project X - which is also the first game I played with a Gradius style power-up selection bar (since I missed the 80s Konami and Toaplan shmups in the arcades until I was much older). That intro theme is great, even though it doesn’t fully make-up for the lack of in-game music. I do like the addition of an “old-timer” music mode. Definitely worth checking out the intro music both ways to see what they went with.
In terms of other ones for the European computers, if you have an Antstream cloud gaming subscription, then that’s the quickest way to check out a lot of them without having to hunt for roms or configure emulators.
I'm not familiar with Antstream at all or how it works so I appreciate the heads up. Some of these games are so difficult to emulate or find that I'd like to see what they have and how it works.
@@ShmupJunkie With Antstream you lose some input lag and a lot of the configurability compared to standard emulation, so when something is slightly off (like Speedball II for the Amiga loading up after the opening, so you can’t hear the music) there’s not much to be done about it. On the other hand, the games I’ve tried all ran without audio issues (which often took a lot of tweaking in emulators for me to achieve), with the exception of some of the later Cave games, like Pink Sweets and Muchi Muchi Pork, which had would often have the audio break-up when the game had a lot of slowdown.
I’ve been enjoying it despite the shortcomings because of the selection and the surprising amount of online leaderboards and challenges for old (and less old) games. I came in the top 20 for both Defender II (NES) and Gunbird (Arcade) in tournaments the same month the same month as there was a Ninja Gaiden arcade contest, so the tournament selections are pretty eclectic.
They have around 1,400 games or something spread across the arcades, Amiga, Amstrad, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, NES, SNES, Mega Drive and even a couple Playstation games. I liked being able to search by both category and developer so that I could see all the Telenet or Irem or Cave games they had at once.
Brilliant video.
Thanks.
I would love to see more vids focussed on the Amiga and C64.
So much material to work with.
When i fist saw the amiga at my friends house he had r-type and i was blown away.. i was playing it at the arcades too at the time.
And thats when i thought wow arcade quality games at home...i am in 😂
The inconsitency of home arcade ports in this era was crazy.
Looking back its a good laugh
Silkworm was fun on Amiga ...the sounds of the explosions.... wow i used to crank it up.
Good co op too
Love your passion in these vids man! I still SUCK SHIT at shmups but i love learning about them. Keep it up!
I'd rather suck and enjoy them then be amazing and curse them constantly lol, so it's all good. But to be fair the better you get the more you can also enjoy them as long as you don't turn it into a chore. Always glad to help fuel the passion for shmups though and why I keep at it here... trying to bring in some new blood.
Practice man!