The Sunday Night Shmup thread

There’s a perfect version on SNK 40th Anniversary on Switch and soon on PS4 too.

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So I got one of those 8bitdo Genesis wireless controllers and I thought what better way to test it than with Shmups. I played through like half of Steel Empire, and was thoroughly unimpressed with the game, but the controller works great. While the game isn’t overly challenging, in a difficulty kind of way, I feel like there are too many situations where you HAVE TO take damage. Between environmental damage, and taking damage from touching a large enemy, you just feel constantly pinned in. Trying to dodge some enemy fire and there is literally no where to go. There’s also too many times on larger boss enemies where you can’t hit the spot they take damage on with your main weapon. You have to use the bombs that are thrown out by your ship, and there’s no real aiming those and they don’t do much damage. So you’re kind of in this situation of doing tiny little chip damage while trying not to take environmental or enemy touching damage, while having no room to really dodge bullets, and its just not fun. I then moved onto some Raiden Trad, and ended up having my best Raiden Trad game ever and scoring 421,850. This controller is fantastic. It is now going to be my permanent Genesis controller.

I’m also reading Hardcore Gaming 101’s Guide to Shoot em ups Volume 1, which is what made me want to try Steel Empire. The book made it sound fun and interesting, and that is not how I walked away from it. I don’t know if any of you guys have read it but its a pretty good read, though I do wish they had a, or maybe a better copy editor. Every article has at least one or two instances of extra words, grammar errors or something similar. That a feel like if they just had a copy editor read it, it would have all been caught. Still absolutely worth a read. I’m hoping a Volume 2 comes out with some attention given to Seibu Kaihatsu.

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I love that controller! I played Streets of Rage 2 last night and it’s just plain amazing how good that controller feels and the precision it provides.

I haven’t played Steel Empire in awhile but I enjoyed it. I’ll have to pop that in again. I’m having a regular Genesis renaissance with that controller in hand.

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I just ordered two of the Bluetooth ones based on your feedback. Thanks @DaveLong!

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Raiden V Directors Cut has received a Taiwanese rating for Switch:

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You guys are killing me. I sure wish they would put their stock up on amazon.ca in a timely manner!

I finished Streets of Rage 2 with it last night hence the pix in the retro game you finished thread.

I did have my first hiccup with it. I think I got interference on the 2.4G frequency because it just plain wigged out on me at one point. I cannot imagine that was anything to do with the controller itself. I was able to pause and then when I started to play again everything was ok but for a bit all the buttons and directions were super out of wack. It was like someone took over my controller, which is why I think I got interference of some kind.

If it happens again, I will report back.

Hoping for a physical release of this! I have the PS4 version, but would double-dip for this. I like Raiden V quite a bit.

I’m not the biggest of Raiden V fans, but I would probably pick this up, just to have it portable. My biggest issue was that there was just too much story stuff, and dialog getting in the way. Man they need to just do a brand new Raiden collection on Switch. In my dream world, M2 would be porting them all right now, with tate and perfect scaling. If I could have a true to the arcade portable Raiden 1, I would be so damn happy.

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Agreed, and I wish they would include the Raiden Fighters games on there as well!

That X360 compilation is really awesome.

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I haven’t got into the Fighters series yet, though I did pick up Raiden Fighters Aces. They look like awesome games, though. But I would echo the need for an updated Raiden collection. And will someone please finally give us a console port of Viper Phase 1? Somebody? Please?! :stuck_out_tongue:

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I was just saying the same damn thing the other day. I LOVE Viper Phase 1, how the fuck have we not gotten a console port of that yet! Some one get M2 on the line so I can express how much that needs to be the next Shot Triggers game after Esp Ra De.

I feel like VP1 does not get enough attention, or appreciation at all. If we’re not going to get a home release then can some one get a core up and running on it for the MiSTer and I’ll finally buy one.

And yeah Raiden Fighter Aces is a fantastic package, those games are great and they’re handled really well there. If you are into shmups and have a 360 you need to own that.

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Got my Darius Cozmic Collection special edition today. If the gashapon below could talk they would say “In M2 we trust.” (from my Shooting Game Historica set) Time to dig into this collection.

Also arriving today for a double KO of pure shmup awesome, Zero Gunner 2 for Dreamcast. I used to own it many years ago but foolishly sold it, I had an urge to play it again recently after getting back into playing my DC games:

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Granted, I’m only used to Viper Phase 1 “New Version” as opposed to the original arcade release, but I think it’s a fun game in the Raiden tradition, and, much like R-Type LEO, it’s a shame that it’s never seen a proper release outside of arcades.

I do believe it was originally meant to be a Raiden sequel. I am not sure of the reason why it ended up not being officially part of the Raiden series. I think when I have played it in Mame it’s just the original release, I’m not sure what the difference is between that and the “New Version”. My friend and I had a great time playing it two player at last years AVGC.

Speaking of Raiden, as I posted in the haul thread I just got a copy of Super Raiden for the PC Engine and have been playing that today. Man it really does feel like the hardest version of the game. Obviously the PS port is still leagues better than this, but out of the 16 bit entries, and outside of the difficulty spike, I really enjoy this version. The CD Audio really clicks with me too.

This thread on the shmups forum explains the difference:

https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=61107&hilit=viper+phase+1+new+version

The TL;DR is that the original release has a low counter that determines how long a weapon type is active, before your shots revert to the default weapon. In the “New Version” that is fixed to be more like Raiden, where you pick up a weapon and that’s just your weapon, and you can upgrade it in similar fashion, to strengthen it. I don’t know if the original iteration ever made it stateside, or if all we got was “New Version” so the US/NA romset might not have “New Version” on the title screen. It’s been too long since I fired it up in MAME to check, but I know when I played it as a kid at Walmart, and again at a mall arcade a few years later, that in both instances, the weapon upgrades were perpetual, and didn’t time out.

Some more pics I took a few nights ago from the special edition including soundtrack CDs (two of them), acrylic mini arcade marquee signs, 125 page art book with interviews, concept art and planning documents (hopefully shmuplations translates these someday), commemorative glass plate and cloth pouch. So glad I splurged and got this for $183, already being resold by scalpers on eBay for average $350-400. This is a ridiculously high quality special edition, right up there with the Battle Garegga Premium Edition and Dragon Quest XI Edition of Lost Time box set.

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What a great looking collection!

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Wish I could have gotten in on that collection. Still hoping it eventually gets released digitally.

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I’m waiting on the standard release, which has Darius 1-2, Sagaia, and Gaiden, but the other one was WAY too expensive for what you got. I couldn’t justify laying out that kind of cash.