SNES SHMUPS: From Worst to Best (video)

[BillyHW]

 

http://www.zzap64.co.uk/cgi-bin/displayissue.pl?issue=3

 

Says "does not exist" for me.

[BillyHW]

Agreed. But perhaps my all time favorite single screen SHMUP is Galaga though. I see a definite evolution from Space Invaders -> Galaxian -> Galaga even though Space Invaders was not Namco.

 

Then there are games like Gyruss where you orbit the center of the screen Tempest style.

 

When did SHMUPs first evolve from single screens with two-ways to vertical or horizontal scrolling stages with full 8-way control? What was the first arcade SHMUP in the traditional sense?

 

Defender scrolls, but not on rails, so to speak.

 

Scramble is maybe the first traditional scrolling shooter.

 

Not sure.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Defender scrolls, but not on rails, so to speak.

 

Scramble is maybe the first traditional scrolling shooter.

 

Not sure.

Yeah, they obviously evolved into the traditional genre. Defender and Scramble are good examples of early scrollers.

[high voltage]

I was perfectly aware of what they are called now. Just sayin' that back in the day, most everybody just called them shooters. Not sure why we have to change just because of the FPS fanboys out there. SHMUP just sounds so retarded.

 

Thanks for the link. So it goes back further than I thought. Very interesting. Still, back in the day 99% of the time they were just called shooters and maybe 1% of the time shoot-em-ups. I never heard anyone say SHMUP until the FPS era came and ruined everything.

 

If anyone has a scan of that Zzap!64 Issue 3 that would be awesome.

ZZAP claims to have invented that term.

Edited October 17, 2015 by high voltage

[BillyHW]

Thanks for the scan. Is there also a scan for the page where they define it by any chance?

[Reaperman]

I disagree about not counting Space Invaders (a static-screen shooter)

 

In theory I agree, but I didn't mind excluding it and do the same, myself. Logically the only differences are a moving background image and different types of enemy patterns. Weirdly though, my brain processes them as totally different genres.

 

Thinking about it, I play shmups largely for the scenery, which is probably odd.

Edited October 17, 2015 by Reaperman

[high voltage]

[fiddlepaddle]

Scramble is the earliest 8-way control shooter I remember. Defender was an amazing shooter at the time, and you do, in fact, scroll left and right, but you control the scrolling yourself which is slightly different. I don't think I'd count that one as purely the same type of game.

 

It's interesting that play mechanics of Space Invaders are actually very similar to Super Breakout, other than pacing. One could almost make a case that Super Breakout (Progressive Mode) plays like a scrolling shooter. Although hitting the ball isn't really shooting, it does take skill to aim it where you want, and Arkanoid demonstrates that idea by taking the concept further with an actual shooting aspect.

[CatPix]

I never heard anyone say SHMUP until the FPS era came and ruined everything.

 

If anyone has a scan of that Zzap!64 Issue 3 that would be awesome.

 

I don't know when that happened, but it was well past the 90's. At least here, there would be no confusion between shooters and FPS, because up to the 2000's, where FPS genre got popular because of the lack of (faithful) console ports, they were all "Doom-like" then when they got popular and Doom went forgotten, they were FPS.

So I'm not sure that the slide from shooter to shmups was linked to the ride of FPS. I think it's more from the ride of a new generation of gamers.

Edited October 18, 2015 by CatPix

[BillyHW]

 

Nice. It would have been good if they gave examples of each though.

[NE146]

I remember reading the term "shmup" on the internet during the SNES age.. which at this point was almost 18-20 years ago. As a longtime shooter player veteran of the 70's, who cut his teeth on (and knows all nuances of ) Space Invaders, I think the term is fine. <edit> speaking of which, the reviews still live on at the "Xenocide" files: http://www.shmups.com/xenocidefiles.htmlbut if I recall these used to be hosted at the old classicgaming.com

 

Anyway.. some yammering: I remember Space Megaforce getting a lot of hype as one of the first good shootemups on the SNES. But when I got it I totally felt it was a total 100% clone of Blazing Lazers. Anyone else feel that at the time? Funny thing is when I play it today, it feels different. Go figure. Regarding Axelay, I have to admit being somewhat dissapointed with it even though I bought it as soon as it came out.. the weird curvature at the top to me was always off-putting rather than cool looking. I kind of wish it wasn't there to be honest.

Edited October 18, 2015 by NE146

[BillyHW]

I like Blazing Lazers, but I think Space Megaforce is much better.

[A Black Falcon]

As for Axelay, while I usually think of myself as liking horizontal shmups a bit more than Vertical (Gradius is my favorite shmup series, and such), I actually have more fun with Axelay's vertical levels than the horizontal ones, probably mostly because of the graphics; in gameplay both are good, but not the best. The game in general is pretty good, but probably a bit over-rated because while it looks amazing the gameplay isn't quite as great as the graphics are. And the graphics are better in the vertical levels thanks to that awesome warping effect. In comparison the horizontal levels don't really do anything special besides have reasonably nice visuals. They're fine, but other shmups do that kind of thing better, while nothing that gen looks like the vertical levels in the game.

 

Oh, and it's also a little disappointing that the game has only 6 levels, 3 of each style. That's not many; Konami's other SNES shmups have more stages, and none split them into two play styles. Axelay is a very good game with solid mechanics, but it's not the best.

 

Space Invaders is most certainly a shmup, as you stated--that's why I referred to it as "the Grandfather of the genre". In modern day terms though, single screen shooters are sometimes referred to as meta-shmups. To me it didn't really fit the theme of the rest of the shooters, which is forced scrolling, point A to B type of gameplay. I thought about including more guidelines in the video but figured it would just slow things down.

 

Choplifter III, we will have to agree to disagree.

The multiplayer mode in SNES Space Invaders is worth showing, at least, since it's something new.

 

Great list! It's interesting to hear peoples' opinions on every single one.

 

I want to highlight that line above. I find this is really a recurring theme for me in terms of whether I really enjoy a game (not just a shooter). If it's boring, it usually gets put farther down on my personal "best of/favorites" list.

"Fun" is not the only important factor in a videogame, but it definitely is an important one, even if it's very subjective. Of course, that's a major part of why lists differ so much.

 

Yeah, Super R-Type is my favorite shooter on the system, so I'm a little biased towards it. That said, I do find that earlier graphic style more appealing overall (in a Super Castlevania IV/Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts kind of way), and the audio is much more appealing to me. I feel the tunes are much more intricate overall and memorable, and they have real weight to them (bass), whereas the audio sounds pretty hollow in R-Type 3. The checkpoint system is pretty awful, but it doesn't bother me today because I can usually roll through the game with just dying once or twice--that and R-Type III is hard as **** and I find myself getting stuck at areas like I do in the arcade R-Type 2. Truly hair-pulling kind of stuff, haha. Since I did this video I have been playing a lot more R-Type III though, so maybe it will eventually eclipse Super R-Type for me. Probably not though, there are just too many things I enjoy about Super.

while R-Type is a great game, those games are just so hard and frustrating that they stop being fun. R-Type is so mechanical that way, it goes a bit too far perhaps -- I love Gradius, but R-Type goes a bit overboard. Great game and good series, but I don't love the games, they're just a bit too frustrating to play to be the best. The first R-Type game I got is R-Type DX for the GB/C, which does have level select, but even with that the game was frustrating and unlike Gradius games, after beating it once I was pretty much done with R-Type for a long time...

 

Interesting take on BlaZeon! But hey, if you enjoy it, then you enjoy it--can't fault you for that.

In case you're wondering, BlaZeon isn't boring because the action parts are well designed and well thought through, and because with music as fantastic as it has, I don't mind the sometimes 10 or 20 second long pauses with nothing going on. The enemy-takeover mechanic is good, the game has a nice amount of variety, plenty of challenge (the last level is hard!), that awesome soundtrack... it's quite good.

 

After doing this video, I came to the realization that I just don't like Compile shooters all that much. MUSHA is the only exception and remains my favorite on the Genesis, but I just can't get into the original Aleste style games, or their 16-bit era games like Blazing Lazers, Space Megaforce, etc. I like the visuals and sounds for the most part, the gameplay just doesn't grab me. It's totally different from something like UN Squadron or R-Type (or even Raiden). Everyone's tastes are different though, and I see Space Megaforce at the top of many lists.

I don't see how you can love MUSHA but not their other shmups... MUSHA plays a lot like most of their other 4th-gen shmups -- Blazing Lazers, Space Megaforce, Spriggan, and Robo Aleste all are a lot like MUSHA in gameplay. I like Blazing Lazers the most of those, followed by Robo Aleste, then the other three in some order, but all are great games with a lot of similarities. It's definitely a very different style of gameplay from R-Type, that's for sure, but I like the best Compile shmups more than R-Type, myself. Edited October 18, 2015 by A Black Falcon

[Andromeda Stardust]

ZZAP claims to have invented that term.

"'Shmup', 'Aardvark', and 'Whimp out'..."

 

WTH is an "Aardvark"? And don't say anteater as that has nothing to do with gaming!

[high voltage]

Airfight, or Spasm (both 1974, on Plato) were 3D flying, shooting games, so they scrolled, not sideways, but forward into the screen, as in Flight Simulator.

Are those considered scrolling shooters?

Edited October 18, 2015 by high voltage

[BillyHW]

Airfight, or Spasm (both 1974, on Plato) were 3D flying, shooting games, so they scrolled, not sideways, but forward into the screen, as in Flight Simulator.

Are those considered scrolling shooters?

 

By that definition even Doom is a scrolling shooter. I'd say those are flight/space simulator games.

[icemanxp300]

Nice video I am def. going to have to look some of these up. While I know it is controversy I do put Aero Fighters and Space Megaforce on carts for $40 shipped. They are all marked as repros.

 

I personally prefer games such as Space Megaforce style over Gradius and R-type. SM has a very good zanac vibe to it and I love that game especially the ps1 import zanac x zanac. I prefer vertical scrolling over horizontal myself. I did play Thunderforce 3 on genesis but was actually disappointed in how short it was. I think I beat it on my 2nd time playing and was very surprised at how quickly the game was over.

 

I think some of those games you listed as the worst I might find as the best Sound doesn't matter as much to me as gameplay and slowdown does.

[BillyHW]

I don't mind the slowdown in Super R-Type or Gradius III as much as in games like Super Ghouls'n Ghosts for instance, because those shooters are so hard to begin with, the slowdown just makes it a little more manageable. (In Super GnG, it's just annoying.)

 

Does anyone know if the arcade Gradius III slows down too?

 

When everyone else was complaining about the slowdown I was being mesmerized by the awesome graphics. For whatever reason, graphics matter more to me in shooters than in other genres.

Edited October 18, 2015 by BillyHW

[icemanxp300]

I hate slowdown, when you are in the zone and gliding through bullets and have a sweet pace going and all of the sudden the bullets slow down and your ship moves slower, you are like f-me am I going to be able to adjust properly when the bullets and ship starts going normal speed again. It is so irritating to slow down just to have your ship speed up into bullets as you were not able to adjust to the speed change in time.

[Austin]

I don't see how you can love MUSHA but not their other shmups... MUSHA plays a lot like most of their other 4th-gen shmups -- Blazing Lazers, Space Megaforce, Spriggan, and Robo Aleste all are a lot like MUSHA in gameplay. I like Blazing Lazers the most of those, followed by Robo Aleste, then the other three in some order, but all are great games with a lot of similarities. It's definitely a very different style of gameplay from R-Type, that's for sure, but I like the best Compile shmups more than R-Type, myself.

 

MUSHA to me has a completely different feel despite following a similar formula and featuring some gameplay elements from the first two Aleste games. To me it feels like a much more focused product than any of the other games mentioned, and the overall game feels much better put together to me. But hey, that's just my take on it.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I hate slowdown, when you are in the zone and gliding through bullets and have a sweet pace going and all of the sudden the bullets slow down and your ship moves slower, you are like f-me am I going to be able to adjust properly when the bullets and ship starts going normal speed again. It is so irritating to slow down just to have your ship speed up into bullets as you were not able to adjust to the speed change in time.

This. I even die as a result of the "speed up" boosts in Parodius Da (a relatively easy game at that).

[BillyHW]

So are there no Zaxxon-style isometric shooters for SNES? Sounds like a hole in the library. Maybe it could be a good idea for a homebrew project.

[Lentzquest]

When did SHMUPs first evolve from single screens with two-ways to vertical or horizontal scrolling stages with full 8-way control? What was the first arcade SHMUP in the traditional sense?

 

I always thought Xevious was credited as the father of the modern scrolling shoot-em-up. Games like Scramble and Galaga were earlier, but Xevious was the first to truly provide the shmup template.

[Andromeda Stardust]

So are there no Zaxxon-style isometric shooters for SNES? Sounds like a hole in the library. Maybe it could be a good idea for a homebrew project.

I don't know for sure, but the SNES is home to one of the best isometric games ever made: Super Mario RPG. Obviously not a shooter, but worth mentioning...

 

To me, isometric shooters are difficult to control because it is much more difficult to line up my shots as opposed to horizontal or vertical. Also those that use 3D perspective (Zaxxon, Desert Falcon, etc...) are ever trickier because you have to line up your height as well. That can be difficult when all you have to gauge height is the vertical distance between your character and it's shadow, if present.

[Atariboy]

I don't see them mentioned (And they don't have forced scrolling, so don't quite fit Austin's theme), but the two Digital Eclipse arcade compilations deserve a shout out thanks to excellent renditions of greats like Defender and Tempest.

 

Other than the lack of mouse support, high score saving (A fault that almost every cartridge based classic compilation shares), and falsely advertising Bubbles as being included in the Williams release, they don't do anything wrong as far as I can tell.

So are there no Zaxxon-style isometric shooters for SNES? Sounds like a hole in the library. Maybe it could be a good idea for a homebrew project.

 

Does EA's fine Strike series count? Not quite the same thing, although they do have an isometric perspective and I'd personally consider them shooters.

Edited October 22, 2015 by Atariboy