Any "shmups" fans?
First post, glad to see a site dedicated to xbla games.
First of all, If you dont know what a shmup is, click here.
The type im talking about in particular, is here.
Anyway, wi th the release of Omega Five, I hope that the xbla will resurrect the shmups genre. I know Ikaruga is coming out and thats great! But I also hope that games like R-Type, UN Squadron, Raiden, Gradius series, Radiant Silvergun, Platypus, and a slew of others make their way to the Arcade.
So...any fans?
Welcome to the site LimeLight, if you find anything you don't like around here, by all means let us know!
For your question, the other big Shmup that's on it's way is Trigger Heart Exelic. Considering the fact that the Achievements were released recently, this on may not be far off.
Also, although I'm sure you already have, make sure you try out Aegis Wing (it's free!) .
I love shmups, and I'm glad to see a few are making their way onto XBLA. Unfortunately, my gaming time has been very limited as of late, and I haven't purchased Omega Five, but I probably should do so just to vote with my wallet in favour of the genre (I'll get around to playing it eventually).
As for styles of shmups, I far prefer the more literal approach, with spacecraft and aliens and robots and motherships to the more abstract style which seems to be getting more popular.
Also, while I have fond memories of vertical shmups, the simple fact is that they do not work nearly as well as horizontal shmups on modern widescreen displays, so I wouldn't like to see any new vertical ones come out (remakes of classics are very welcome, though), rather focus the development on horizontal shooters.
Ah, its good to see some fans of the genre.
I have never heard of Trigger Heart Exelic. , im going to have to check that one out.
As far as Castle Shikigami 3, i believe I played the 2nd one for ps2. I liked it. I just happen to see that this game was released in Japan on vgchartz.com.
And the Raiden compilation, well, that would be a blessing here in the states, I would pick it up for sure.
But heres the thing- These games are being released for a system that is obviously not selling well in Japan, but yet all these cool games are being released there, (with poor sales to boot click here.) So my question to Microsoft is, "Why not release them stateside to a much wider audience in the first place? Im sure that The Castle of Shikigami III would sell more than 6000 copies in 7 weeks in the states given the 10+MILLION 360's sold here.
the problem is that the shmup genre is much more appreciated in japan than it is in the west, thus people start thinking that if it did that bad there it will definetely do worse here.
Hell, I'm willing to bet that not even 1% of the 10million+ (that's about 100k) Xbox 360 owners in the US knows what's Raiden. And even if they do not even half that amount of people are willing to buy it.
And that's why I love XBLA, is much more "easy" to develop a game of these "dying genres" to a service like XBLA than it is to develop a full retail game.
I know this may not be right, but this is just my opinion.
Hell, I'm willing to bet that not even 1% of the 10million+ (that's about 100k) Xbox 360 owners in the US knows what's Raiden.
Ask people over the age of 25 who played in arcades and they will know Raiden or the older shumps like Zaxxon, R-Type (not the SNES one), and most likley Gradius/Life Force (personal favorites).
When the 3D era hit everyone jumped into it even if the genre didn't benefit from being it. People bought the games no matter how bad they were in 3D (like Worms and Castlevania) and the shmup disappeared from mainstream publishing in the US until the Dreamcast. When the Dreamcast died so did major release shmups.
Big publishers seem to latch onto the latest trend and bleed it dry then move on to the next fad. Shmups are now the fare of smaller publishers and indie developers just as side scrollers and vertical RPGS are. Probably better for it that way though.
Yeah I really do think that it is better this way. If Shmups were all the rage with developers, we'd be seeing tonnes of them that almost all sucked, and the ones that were good, would probably be so for reasons other than great gameplay (I'm thinking Graphics/Sound)
Could be wrong though, I just think that with smaller budgets, and less to loose, devs will be more willing to take the chances that will allow the genre to grow.
Big shmups fan here. Whether it's vertical or horizontal, I don't care. I just love bullet-dodging. :) Everything mentioned above is great (I can't wait for Ikaruga on XBLA), though my favorite shmup of all-time is probably Gradius V. The level designs in that game are fantastic, something that gets sorely overlooked in most shmups (especially bullet hell ones which completely ditch it out of necessity).
Yes, Gradius V is a masterpiece, I absolutely agree with you on that. In my opinion, that game would be one of the best modern-day schmups to appear on xbla, if it ever does.
The first would be R-Type, thats the one that started it all for me, (on the Sega Master System no less). Ok, ok, actually it was 1943 in the arcades that first got me interested, and then UN Squadron after that, but R-Type just sealed the deal.
I would also love to see Gradius V make it to XBLA, but I think I would enjoy R-Type Final on XBLA a little more. Not quite as challenging as Gradius V, but still a challenge. The vast array of bits, forces, and wave cannons is what attracted me. Now, if only they could fix the extreme lag in certain areas it would be perfect.
1942 or 43, I forget which, but that was also one of my very first shooters back in the day. I also remember wasting quite a bit of time and quarters on Side Arms. As for R-Type, I don't know what it is, but I never got into that series. I didn't play the original until WAY after it originally came out, so that might have something to do with it. I tried R-Type III on the SNES, but was just so awful at it. Though, I would love to give R-Type another chance. If it came out for XBLA, I'd be all over it if only for the challenge of actually beating it. :)
Never played R-Type Final, though I wanted to. It's just that it was released around the same time as Gradius V and I'm a huge fan of that series. If they release Final for XBLA though, I'll definitely pick it up. Hell, I may even pick it up used for PS2 if the price didn't inflate. Didn't it retail originally for like $20?
omg, you MUST play R-Type. The IIIrd game for the SNES was plagued by slowdown and gimmicky graphic effects, but the original is also, "a masterpiece". The 2nd one is also pretty good. Youre missing out if you dont play the first one though. Just get an emulator like MAME and download the acrade rom of R-Type, theyre not hard to come by.
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