What is your favorite Shoot-em-up?

quicksilver

If you had to pick one "shump" (shoot-em-up) as your all time favorite, which would you pick? Which system is it for? Why do you like it the best? No top lists! It doesnt even have to be a game that is highly regarded. Just pick one that YOU like.

My personal favorite is Air Zonk

This game was released on TG16/PCE in 1992. Its a game that I grew up playing and was easy enough to play that I could actually advance through most of the levels (unlike most shumps which are ridiculously hard). The game has fun cartoony graphics, unique weapon power ups and funky companion characters.

jwbmonk

My fave

thelostsoul

Thats a really tough question. In reality, I can't pick one. But if you really force me, and you do it currently, I pick DoDonPachi for Arcade. But I know it only through Mame.

There are other shmups I played more often on Snes, like Parodius. But then I did not have any Genesis or TurboGrafx-16 (which wasn't released in Europe), the arcades was for adults only and so missed really essential and good shmups. Later on emulation I discovered some really cool gems like DoDonPachi and played it for highscores. I like the highscore system, the overall look and feel in music and graphics and the bosses.

mediamogul

@quicksilver

As many good choices as there are out there, mine is unquestionably 'Ikaruga'. However, 'Air Zonk'
would definitely be among my top 10 and likely my top pick for favorite cute 'em up.

quicksilver

@mediamogul what system is this for?

BobHarris

My favorite is Raptor call of the shadows for ms-dos. I played the hell out of the shareware version in the 90s and now I have the full version on my Pi, so I will actually get to finish it one day!
I like the music, the sound effects, the enemies and how you make money to buy new weapons and other stuff. Also it's not a one hit kill game, you have an energy bar.

mediamogul

@quicksilver said in What is your favorite Shoot-em-up?:

what system is this for?

It was originally in arcades, but it was ported to the Dreamcast.

Sano

@bobharris
Oh yes, this shareware was included on the Duke Nukem 3D CD IIRC !
I'm not really good at shmups, but played them a lot.
Honorable mention for super aleste (space megaforce) on snes.

Clyde

Since only one nomination is allowed, I choose Transplant for the Commodore Amiga. A freeware game (I think) with an innovative, rotating top-down view that could be played co-operatively in split-screen. Simple, but fun and addictive:

edit: Second game removed after reading the OP again. :*)

Clyde

@quicksilver said in What is your favorite Shoot-em-up?:

My personal favorite is Air Zonk

Also called PC Denjin Punkic Cyborg(s), as I learned while researching it. B)

felleg

Can I cheat?

Frenetic shooter:
Fever SOS (Dangun Feverish) on MAME.

More traditional:
Galactic Attack / Gunlock / Rayforce on saturn/MAME

Bonus shmup (?) / Fits no category:
Atomic runner on Sega Genesis/MD

mediamogul

There's a lot of really great choices here. 'Transplant' is one that I'm definitely gonna have to check out for it's co-op. I've played quite a few of the others, but this whole thread is worthy of a complete play-through some night.

quicksilver

@felleg said in What is your favorite Shoot-em-up?:

Can I cheat?

You can but then you don't get the achievement ;)

quicksilver

@clyde there are some interesting gameplay differences between the Japanese and US versions too. Apparently they had to do some minor censoring before it was Americanized. :)

SP

Raiden DX

Clyde

@quicksilver said in What is your favorite Shoot-em-up?:

@clyde there are some interesting gameplay differences between the Japanese and US versions too. Apparently they had to do some minor censoring before it was Americanized. :)

Yeah, I read about that after even more research yesterday. :) (I get hooked sometimes.)

Seems like a fun game, I'll try it when I get the chance.

FlyingTomahawk

Rez on PS2

pjft

@mediamogul Does the DC version run decently on the Pi?

mediamogul

@pjft said in What is your favorite Shoot-em-up?:

Does the DC version run decently on the Pi?

I believe it runs at full frame rate, but last I tried, there was an emulation issue to where you couldn't control the ship for the first 20 seconds or so of the game. However, another issue canceled it out, as no enemy fire would hurt you during that time. It's also been almost two years since I tried it. At the time there were several bug reports from users, so the issue may have been fixed.

pjft

@mediamogul said in What is your favorite Shoot-em-up?:

you couldn't control the ship for the first 20 seconds or so of the game. However, another issue canceled it out, as no enemy fire would hurt you during that time.

If we were in marketing, we could almost promote that as a feature rather than a bug! :)

I don't think Reicast has been changed anytime recently, so I suppose it'll still be the same. Will have to try it out.

Thanks!