Be Excellent To Each Other

Opinions! They're excellently converted, so absolutely no worries there. The number of options and game modes is frankly terrifying - there are novice modes, arrange modes, Xbox 360 modes, arcade modes. Tons of stuff. Of the two, I'd say that Mushi is "easier" (i.e. not quite as insanely difficult), but both are rock hard if you play the normal modes. Most importantly of all, they're both fun games to play, and even if you absolutely suck at shmups, there's a mode in there somewhere that will keep you occupied for a while (although if you choose to spend all your time on Novice mode you're missing out on a hell of a lot).
Down sides? Well, the main menus excepted, everything is in Japanese, so if you're going to get as much out of the games as possible, you'll need to consult a guide on what does what (the shmups.com forums are invaluable for this kind of thing). In addition, the games have quite ridiculously deep scoring systems and, again, reading up on exactly how scoring works is pretty much essential if you're going to get the most out of the games.
And they're difficult. Very, very difficult. If you've only ever played the Cave games that are emulated by MAME, expect to be shocked. There's been a quantum leap forward in compexity and difficulty from the days of DoDonPachi and EspRaDe.
If you love shmups, I can heartily recommend both. Buy one and try it out (like I said, I'd recommend Mushi over Esp 2 simply because it's a little bit easier), but expect to put quite a bit of effort in if you want to get the most out of either game.

I was interested right up until you said it's all in Japanese.. I haven't got the time in my life to do stuff like that anymore.

I wish I had though...

The main menus are in English, so you can select the different game modes and play away quite happily, but yeah, pretty much everything else (including the instruction manual) is in Japanese, which makes understanding the scoring system and even understanding how to upload your high scores or save a replay a bit of a trial-and-error chore.
The guides on shmups.com are excellent, though.

it's a real shame that Deathsmiles isn't region-free.

am tempted by these other two tho.

Oh my word - looks like Raiden Fighters Aces is getting a PAL release.

Pre-order from Play - here

*moistens*

About cunting time.

And cheap as well!

Well... they could have released it as an Arcade title, but I'm not complaining. Much.

You're right, but we're getting 1000 GS with this one! Yay! Plus, it's three games in one which they would've released separately on the Live Arcade. Probably at 1200 points a pop, completely undermining what you just said. HAHAHAHA!!1

Yeah, but what about?

WELL! Actually my friend, I might just pop that in the post this very today!

RayStorm HD tomorrow! Our eggbox is currently on The Big Telly in the living room, too! Yay!

I hope I have enough points left, it's 800 right?

1200

Oh, twat sticks.

Unless Rockstar have coughed up my 400pts now.

Nooooooo! I'm top of my friends list right now!

Okay, it's only me on my friends list, but I'm still top!

Hurrah!!

If anyone's after budget shooters, Prizmatic Spray and Vampire Rage are both excellent, and both 80MSP. The latter's being patched for d-pad support, soon.

Loving Vampire Rage. Feels like that Cave shooter... er.. Guwange or something like that.

Want Deathsmiles... not fair.

Ooh, thanks for that - I'll check them out. I tend to completely ignore the Indie games section, so there are probably a few decent games passing me by.

Yeah I'll check those out too, cheers.

I've heard R-Type is being remade for the iPhone/iTouch/iPad. Should I finally check it out?

Go for it! Irem games tend to require more rote memorisation than a lot of other shoot-yer-mums, but I've never had a problem with it myself, so I'd highly recommend checking R-Type out as long as the controls aren't belmed.

Speaking of incredibly strict memorisers, I'm this close to single-crediting Image Fight. I must be off my rocker.

I really wanted to support the eggbox ports of Futari and Espgaluda II at their times of release, but unfortunately I was as skint as a bastard, and remain so.


Oh, deffo! Try Retrofit: Overload, too. It's like a more manic version of Galaga. 80 non-bucks.

Well, I only had 130 pts left in my account, so I could only buy 1 of the 2. Vampire Rage didn't quite do it for me, but I thought Prismatic Solid was pretty darned nice indeed. Well worth the meagre 80pts anyway, and good enough to put a lot of Live Arcade titles to shame.

One weird/cool thing about it is that there's very little variation in the damage all the different weapons deal. The ones with the really wide spreads actually seem stronger than the straight ones, in fact. You can ruin bosses with the "snow" one in about three seconds.

You are fucking joking, right? How can anyone have not played R-Type by now?

You'd be surprised, man. The guy touting Otomedius Excellent at E3 made all sorts of references to Gradius, Parodius and the Vic Viper in his preamble, and no fucker batted an eyelid. I know it's pretty much the wrong audience, but Jesus...

Done it.



Loop 2, stage 2. This pic doesn't really get across how unapologetically hateful the second loop is, but those big fat-arsed turrets (left) now generally plow through all of the breathing spaces you discovered in the first one (which was claustrophobic enough), and the blue ships will point-blank the bejesus out of you. That isn't even the half of it, so I may call it a day here, hehe.

Bloody masterpiece.

heroic work, K!

You're alive to me again. No idea what it is, but it looks well nice.

Cheers, chaps! Image Fight's an Irem game, released a year after R-Type. I'd post some footage, but the really good players take everything out very proactively, so you might not be able to see what's going on. If you want to check it out in MAME, I'd recommend turning on autofire in the dip switches and setting it to a reasonable speed. It won't change the difficulty of the game, but your fingers will thank you!

Sadly, the awful NES version is the one most people remember, and most of those who played the arcade original were scared off by the seemingly vertical learning curve. It's a shame, because it actually becomes perfectly learnable once you've gotten used to how everything works.

I'm going to check this out, never played it before.

DDP Daifukkatsu headed iPhoneward:

http://www.cave-world.com/jp/games/dodo ... katsu.html

I have my reservations about playing shooters on a titchy wee touch-screen, but RevStu raved about the iPhone version of Espgaluda II, so maybe it all works far better than I'm anticipating.

It does. Espgaluda II is a joy to play on the iPhone and even better on an iPad.

New Taito arcade game TBA in two days. Looks like it's probably a new Darius.

http://www.taito.co.jp/arc/unknown/

Actually hyperventilating.

*splutter* *cough* *AppStore*

It's not a universal app mind, just a regular iPhone app, but it runs superbly in 2x mode on the iPad.

Yes it does.
Seems a lot easier, though.

There's a Shmup in Star Craft 2!

Ssshh you! I'm trying to convince myself that I've suddenly become really good at it.

Just in case dodging projectiles isn't tough enough here is a wee game that sees you having to remember combos so you can fire back!
Best I've done is half way through the enemy's healthbar. I keep making the mistake of thinking I've got time to fire out a combo instead of dodging

Source & screenshots

Cave have just announced a shit ton of stuff to come out over the next year or so. I'd imagine the disc releases will be region-locked, but Guwange will apparently be out on Xblah in the next couple of months, while there are also some murmurings that Dangun Feveron is heading Livewards as well.
I am significantly excited by the possibility of Dangun Feveron XBLA.

Haven't played any decent shmups for quite a while, but as far as 'recent' (ish!) shmups go, I still have a soft spot for Jets'n'Guns:

http://jng.rakeingrass.com/

and Star Monkey:

http://www.smallrockets.com/pc/starmonk ... nshots.htm

Not a fan of 'bullet hell' shmups, never really saw the point (plus I'm an old fart and the reflexes aren't what they used to be). Give me something with some decent intertia, a good 'hard' feel (oo-er missus ) and decent level design any day. Still can't beat R-Type for that.

Only thing recent and decent has been Omega 5 on xbox live.

Look ma, I'm rhymin' and shits!

My only 'recent' gaming hardware is a reasonable PC and a Wii ..................... no XBox, PS3, etc I'm afraid.

Shame. I bet you'd really get on with it.

Maybe I'll get one, one day ............