Warning: a huge battleship "shmup thread" is approaching fast (new: Salamander III)

[dog]

Shmups: those games with the spaceships and all the bullets. I love 'em. Do you love them too? Let's talk!

I'd like this thread to be about all kinds of shmups - oldschool Space Invaders-types, Cave games, newschool indie games, let's chat about them all!

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To kick this off, there's a new shmup on the block! Salamander III, the latest game in Konami's Gradius series, just came out as part of the Gradius Origins compilation. I've been pretty impressed so far; it's much more over-the-top compared to the older Gradius and Salamanders, but it looks great and the "burst" mode that lets you hyper-power your ship is a ton of fun to use. I've heard that once you get to learn how it works, it's actually not too hard because it's really easy to earn a ton of extra lives while you play.

[Enbyeon]

I got Earthion the other week and enjoyed playing through it:

I don't think it replaces M.U.S.H.A. as my favorite shmup, but it's very close to my sensibilities and tastes for a game of the genre.

Although my only criticism is that even though it has Yuzo Koshiro music, it doesn't feel as memorable as his other game tracks.

[Lolo De Puzlo]

Gradius Origins is an extremely good compilation that's been really eye opening on how those games worked. Also reminded me that I feel the Parodius series just trounces the Gradius series in quality.

Salamander III seems really neat from what I've been able to poke at it though oddly enough it seems more like a send up to console Gradiuses compared to a Salamander sequel. I have a feeling that Salamander III came about from the rumored Salamander ReBirth that was apparently going to happen during the WiiWare days because it really feels like those ReBirth games (in a good way)

I would love for them to do a follow up to this that includes Gaiden, IV, and the MSX games. Gradius 2 is a game that I would love to see get a remake that isn't Nemesis 90 Kai. That's a decent remake but X68000 can be a bit fiddly.

[DarkOverord]

I admit I'm mostly a Touhou nerd and I should play more non-Touhou but I am very lazy haha

Warning Forever was my idle game for a while forever ago haha

[EpsilDelta]

Been making my way through GRADIUS ORIGINS, myself. Got the 1CCs on Gradius and Salamander. Working on GII now.

Some games I've got the 1CC on include Batsugun (Arcade and Special), GunVein, Blue Wish Desire, Fire Arrow+, and Like Dreamer.

A few long term goals for me are the rest of the Toaplan games and getting an arcade mode clear on some CAVE games.

[dog]

I got Earthion the other week and enjoyed playing through it:

Ooh yeah, I've been hearing good things about Earthion! I've been waiting for the real Genesis cart

I have a feeling that Salamander III came about from the rumored Salamander ReBirth that was apparently going to happen during the WiiWare days because it really feels like those ReBirth games (in a good way)

Yeah, they mentioned in an interview they held onto the toolkit/engine they used for the other ReBirth games back on WiiWare and that's what they used for Salamander III. So even if it's not using any actual work that might have been done on a Salamander ReBirth, it's definitely the same tech.

I would love for them to do a follow up to this that includes Gaiden, IV, and the MSX games. Gradius 2 is a game that I would love to see get a remake that isn't Nemesis 90 Kai. That's a decent remake but X68000 can be a bit fiddly.

Yeah, as someone who played a ton of Nemesis II back in the day I'd even love just getting a port of Nemesis 90 Kai. They've been pretty clear they really want to do another collection that could include stuff like Solar Assault, IV, V, etc and hopefully this collection sold well enough for them to do it.

I admit I'm mostly a Touhou nerd and I should play more non-Touhou but I am very lazy haha

Honestly Touhou stuff is my big shmup blind spot, I haven't played much of them! I really need to fix that

Been making my way through GRADIUS ORIGINS, myself. Got the 1CCs on Gradius and Salamander. Working on GII now.

Some games I've got the 1CC on include Batsugun (Arcade and Special), GunVein, Blue Wish Desire, Fire Arrow+, and Like Dreamer.

A few long term goals for me are the rest of the Toaplan games and getting an arcade mode clear on some CAVE games.

Wow, you're a hardcore player! Yeah, the Cave 1ccs are intense. I've made decent progress on DOJ and one or two other games, but never quite stuck with it for the long push it takes to get to the end. One of these days...

[EdenCoven]

We are two touhous behind the times and 20 is coming out soon so we probably need to play touhou soon.

In the meantime, though, we're really into Earthion and Gradius Origins. Might do Earthion 1CC for 1CC September on here, but then again it's kinda not that tough until the final two levels so it could end up being a little bit long and boring compared to something wilder. Dunno dunno. Gradius games seem generally very intimidating to 1CC so not sure there either but there's a temptation.

We're very picky about the genre and kind of tend to dislike anything if we get too far into it. Games that move too fast/require fast reflexes are something of a no-go and we find most of the big names in publishing (Raizing/8ing, Cave) to largely be boring. Touhou ends up winning just by having good music and story in them and also being much more about patterns.

[EpsilDelta]

Gradius games seem generally very intimidating to 1CC so not sure there either but there's a temptation.

Gradius 1 and Salamander/Life Force are fairly smooth 1CCs, along with plenty of guides for them. I think they're worth a shot to try for seriously.

[EdenCoven]

Gradius games seem generally very intimidating to 1CC so not sure there either but there's a temptation.

Gradius 1 and Salamander/Life Force are fairly smooth 1CCs, along with plenty of guides for them. I think they're worth a shot to try for seriously.

Thinking about it, Life Force seemed especially pretty doable. So you have a good point there. The novelty of getting good at a certified classic is much stronger to me than a newer game anyway admittedly. I'll keep them under consideration!

[dog]

Oh yeah, I realized I should probably link this here given the crowd... anyone play Jet Buster? It's a fun game I don't hear people talk about much, and it's very furry. Gameplay is pretty Toaplan-esque, with a bunch of ships and a very fun scoring system based around letting you manipulate score pickups to turn them into more valuable stuff mid-game. The artwork and silly story gives it a little bit of a Parodius vibe.

It was in the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality in 2020, so if you bought that you've already got a copy on itch.

[DarkOverord]

ooooo I'll give that a shot :O

[slightlyflightyone]

Is anyone interested in the cryptographic key needed to extract the data (including ROMs) from the alldata.psb.m file in their Steam copy of Gradius Origins?

I can get you the key and point you in the direction of the MArchiveBatchTool by the ModMyClassic team so you are able to do so

[Moot]

tangentially related but i picked up Star Vortex not too long ago, and while thats more ARPG than straight shmup it does let you make your own ship, so naturally i put my boy in it. he's a little squished but its fine

[FearRanger]

tangentially related but i picked up Star Vortex not too long ago, and while thats more ARPG than straight shmup it does let you make your own ship, so naturally i put my boy in it. he's a little squished but its fine

chufty vic viper.png

Ooh that looks FUN!! Also, nice ship!

[EdenCoven]

Now that I've gone through it, Salamander 3 pretty freakin rad! That Moai boss is mega tough.

[redacted_cat]

Seeing the thread's title and my Darius series brain activates

On another note, random old thing I used to play around I saw around TV Tropes back when I used to be there named XOP is a legit nice lil indie shmup

Bullet Hell but a rather enjoyable one, 1st one of the 2 kinda reminded me of Silpheed The Lost Planet for how you choose weapons for the run you do (still need to play Silpheed again, been a while since I touched that)

Download of XOP Ultra here
http://sk8tokyo.com/udder/prog/xop/


XOP Black Ultra here (2nd game here, both are nice)
http://sk8tokyo.com/udder/prog/xopblack/


Part of me wish a 3rd game was made lol, it's such a nice unknown game out there worth the try

[dog]

Oooh, those look cool! I've never tried them, I'll have to give them a go.

[lilpaladin1]

God it's been a while since I played a Shmup due to work, but man beating ZeroRanger felt so good, like man that was just... wonderful.

The other shmup I beat after jumping around some other shmups was Devil Blade Reboot and GOD that was so fucking good. The art was just gorgeous and I loved figuring out the stages, I should really get back into it honestly, I want to 100% the gallery tbh.

Something that does interest me though is like, how it's a vertical shooter designed for a 4:3 aspect ratio instead of a 3:4 aspect ratio, you know since it was originally made on the PS1. Even just that one change radically changes up how enemy patterns work and honestly there's a part of me that wants to try and make a vertical smhup with that aspect ratio in mind, although I might not cause I understand why it's not done as much.

[redacted_cat]

Oooh, those look cool! I've never tried them, I'll have to give them a go.

Definitely recommending if you can give it a spin, imo worth it!

On another note, started trying Archipelago stuff and learned that Tyrian is among options of randomizer games in it, may try that soon since I'm wondering how they'll make a shmup work as a randomizer/multiworld game

[redacted_cat]

God it's been a while since I played a Shmup due to work, but man beating ZeroRanger felt so good, like man that was just... wonderful.

The other shmup I beat after jumping around some other shmups was Devil Blade Reboot and GOD that was so fucking good. The art was just gorgeous and I loved figuring out the stages, I should really get back into it honestly, I want to 100% the gallery tbh.

Something that does interest me though is like, how it's a vertical shooter designed for a 4:3 aspect ratio instead of a 3:4 aspect ratio, you know since it was originally made on the PS1. Even just that one change radically changes up how enemy patterns work and honestly there's a part of me that wants to try and make a vertical smhup with that aspect ratio in mind, although I might not cause I understand why it's not done as much.

ZeroRanger legit looks nuts, 1st time I heard a bit about it was in a vid about Void Stranger and that somehow both games are linked to each other for some lore stuff

May need to check both out since they both look insane for what they pull

[EpsilDelta]

ZeroRanger is an incredible game, design wise, music wise, and story wise. If you attempt it, just keep at it. The end result is worth it, in my opinion.

It's not particularly hard to play through to get to the end as long as you utilize the lives system well; If you want to do a 1CC, then that will take much, much longer.

[Linzolle]

zeroranger is definitely pretty friendly as far as shmups go for just completing the story, a friend of mine who i got to play void stranger and was interested in ZR was able to get through it even though shmups weren't really a genre he'd ever looked into

[EpsilDelta]

Just want to post some resources that I've utilized and are Shmup related.
Some of these will be well known in the community, but if you're just starting out, then these might be of interest!

Guides:
Full Extent of the Jam - Anyone getting into the genre should definitely look over this.
Glossary - Terms Glossary. Very common terminology that is good to know.
Sternys Painless Progress Method - A way to track progress towards personal goals in the genre

Youtube Channels:
Shump Junkie - Reviews/lists of many shmups, more of overviews than in depth reviews.
The Electric Underground - More in depth reviews. He gets quite in depth, and while I don't always agree with his assessments, he's super passionate about the genre. Also hosts the Shmup Slam events.
Shooting Game Weekly - Each episode is about a specific game, showing super plays, with commentary. If you want to learn about a specific game and how to do scoring or survival, look through these archives. Not so much weekly anymore.
Jaimers - One of the best to ever do it. Lots of amazing clears on his channel. He does commentary via the yt captions.
Aktane - Commentary/Streamer
Icarus - Another streamer, makes guides, looks through obscure doujin stuff.
Pearl - Gameplay, some guides.

Others:
Restart Syndrome - Score tracker. Allows users to set category, upload replays, have a competitive leaderboard between members.
newStage - News feed specifically for STG and related genres. In Japanese, but automatic translation should work well enough.
Shmuplations - Lots of good interviews with developers.