Nice cabs! Sounds familiar Xevious was my inspiration too, completely built from scratch.

Cheers

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Damn. I REALLY, *REALLY* like that white custom cabinet!

I had a Gyruss cocktail that was beautiful, at one point, but haven't had a dedicated cabinet for any other shooter. Keep trying to find a Galaga mini but not paying ridiculous prices they seem to get around here.

Oh wait, I just lied. I DID have a Raiden DX cabinet for like a month or so...I remember my kids playing it quite a bit, but it was too much space for just that one game....my universal problem with arcade games in general, so it got sold.

The Saturn is awesome. I've got one of the memory carts that enables playing import games and have at least the following...has been a while since I've had it out, I'd have to check to verify..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jikky%C5%8D_Oshaberi_Parodius
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexy_Parodius

Wish I still had my gamecube and Ikaruga. =P

It was quite a mission, especially because i didn't find exact measurements and had to improvise a bit, but it turned out nice.
Build log here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,133202.msg1414948.html
Did you build yours from scratch too?
Cheers

I still have mine I like the fact that you can flip the TV on its side and play it vertically how it's meant to be played.

If you have a PC the Steam port of Ikaruga is solid, and supports vertical tate play.

I have a PC, but my monitor is like 16:9 2560x1440 and too big to fit sideways on my desk.

OH GOD ALL OF THE YES. Old-school SHMUPS have always been my favourites, and aside from all the ones I play on MAME, I have a healthy collection of most of the best SHMUPS collected over twenty-odd years on SNES / Super Famicom, Genesis / Megadrive, PC Engine, PS1 PAL and Japanese / PAL Saturn. Way too many to list.

I also collect arcade boards, with a bunch of good shooters in there too: Thunder Cross 1 & 2, Pang and Super Pang, Sexy Parodius, Carrier Airwing, Heavy Unit, and a Taito F3 mainboard with carts of Kyukyoku Tiger 2 and Darius Gaiden, which is sitting in my old cab at this moment. Hishayoshi Ogura FTW.

If you're including run-'n-guns, add Xain'd Sleena and Sunset Riders to that arcade list as well.

My all-time favourites that aren't in my arcade collection would be most of Toaplan's output before they became Cave, and the Gradius / Parodius series.

Can't fault Ikaruga or Radiant Silvergun (well, except for the price).

I used to really dislike bullet hell shooters in general though. Not because they were too hard, but because I found them really really tedious to play. There was next to no flexibility in how you played them; your ship moved at *this* speed, enemy shots moved at *that* speed, and when pattern A occurred at time B, you had to have positioned yourself exactly at co-ordinate X/Y or be destroyed. Repeat until heat death of the universe. Not only that, but I could have the prettiest game ever made and never see 99 percent of the graphics; peripheral vision play became impossible and my focus was exclusively on the square inch around my ship.

Then I got an iPad.

And suddenly new shooters were AMAZING again. Taking the speed restriction away from the ship, and letting it match any swipe across the touch screen means I can play a bullet hell reactively again, just as I still play all the old ones, and the challenge is still mostly there.

A lot of bullet hell shooters have multiple speeds too, and it's often tied to the chain/scoring system. Like the difference between the two shot styles in Progear, which change how enemies drop bonuses, but also change the speed of your ship. Helpful for being able to turn on a slower, more precise movement method when navigating challenging bullet patterns.

Or the unique dual style of Guwange, where you control both your spirit form and your physical form with the same stick, but they move at two totally different speeds.

Yes, this is typical of Cave shooters where you spam the fire button for wider shooting at faster speeds, and hold it down for more focused forward damage at slower speed. Compared to an iPad port like any of the later Raidens though and those two speeds feel like 'dead slow' and 'stop'. I don't want to navigate intricate bullet patterns through a microscope; I want to anticipate them coming and then sod off away from there.

Ever played M.U.S.H.A. on the genesis? Its pretty freakin great.

Does anyone even make shooters in the last 5-10 years that *AREN'T* bullet hell style?

Certainly have, and yes it is. All the Aleste games are bollock-shrivellingly impressive for the hardware they run on, but none more so than Super Aleste on the SNES.

DariusBurst isn't what I'd call a bullet hell. iOS version is nice, but swipe control makes that one way too easy.

Everyone keeps mentioning Cave. What, is there no love for Psikyo or Raizing? Cave shooters are like a comfortable pair of shoes, by and large the same formula every time. Raizing in the 90s were trying to shake up the vertical genre a little more with imaginative gems like Shippu Mahou Daisakusen, which has the secondary racing challenge of seeing how far you can go for long stretches without shooting at anything.

This thread has given me quite a few new titles to load up in my mame/mala setup to try out. Thanks!

This and the other arcade thread are likely to cost me $ on some darksoft gear when it's back in stock too.

I love Psyikyo and Raizing games! I even love Gunbarich. Dragon Blaze is IMHO one of the prettiest shmups made. Battle Baregga, the Gunbirds, the wacky bosses in Samurai Aces, tons of great titles.

But I don't think you can call Cave's games formulaic. ESP Ra.De. and Guwange and Progear and Dangun Feveron? They do a lot more than just the Don Pachi games.

Einhander!! Damn good memory!! Makes me wanna pull out my ps1 and play it.

Come up to Chicago Area. The Galloping Ghost has a tons of Shmups with a great community of guys who play them.

http://www.gallopingghostarcade.com/

Raizing and Cave are actually both offshoot of Toaplan. Ikeda and Yagawa (the lead programmers at Cave and Raizing, respectively) made VERY different games, both with a lot of complexity for what they are. I used to be a massive Cave whore, but I've really gotten into Raizing lately; Battle Bakraid is my favorite this month.

Absolutely, espgaluda comes to mind, totally unique scoring mechanism. Also ketsui with it's distance based difference in points rewarded. They tried a lot to reinvent the wheel imo and mostly they suceeded! Love these games!

Heh. Einhander. I still have my PS1 copy of that and had it out not too long ago.

OMG shmups are the best.

I been addicted since 1980. Williams Stargate, a.k.a. Defender II was and in many ways still is my all time favorite. I used to leave blood on the control panel back in the day. Stargate was the first coin-op in the collection and remains today.

If you have a Saturn and can find a copy, Radiant Silvergun is phenomenal.
Similarly, for PC Engine, Rtype, Blazing Lazers, Gate/Lords of Thunder, and if you have the arcade card, get a copy of Sapphire. It's the equivalent of Radiant on the Saturn. I almost went to Italy to buy an original copy of Sapphire for $700 over 10 years ago. You can get very nice bootleg clone copies of Sapphire for $60 bucks now. Some people try to pawn clones as originals, so it's not worth seeking an original if you are into that sort of thing. I have a lot of Japanese imports and had I known about the future collectability of some of these titles I would have kept all the spine cards. I could kick myself for that now, but those games aren't going anywhere.

If you like Musha on the Genesis, try Spriggan on PC Engine. My favorite shooter on Genesis was probably Gaires or Thunderforce3.

It's not shmup, but a beautiful game, but if you like platform games on the PC Engine, you must play Dracula X. Why NEC did not bring that to the USA just makes no sense. PC engine was my favorite system overall.

So many good PC engine shmups never made it to the USA, same for Saturn, and all the other consoles.

Love the vertical shmups. Musha is real good. Spriggan on PC engine is remarkably similar but you need the CD add-on to play it. Or the Magic Engine emulator.

Also pretty much anything made by Hudson Soft is a safe bet.

Just wanted to drop in and give a mention for Halley's Comet. It certainly qualifies for the bullet hell category, and has some awesome music. It is also one of those games that once you lose your first life, you are pretty much done, as it ramps the difficulty up quickly and you stand no chance once you lose your powerups.

EDIT: Doh, 1st post mentioned it.

Also worth noting is Prehistoric Isle in 1930. Interesting mechanic with the gun control on your plane, and like Vanguard, it does not scroll exclusively in one direction.

Aw snap. Location near me just got a prototype of a new horizontal SHMUP called Skycurser.

Area 88 and the version on the SNES called UN Squadron are two of my favorites.

The route operator I worked for eventually said "no more Left, Right, Fire" video games as they proliferated and caused the industry crash in 1984.

I'll try to get around to it soon. I'm working a LOT of overtime this week and next week. They literally just got it in today. They're have a closed halloween party tonight...couldn't get in there even if I had someone to watch the kids when I leave in a few minutes. Argh.

Nah mate, if you want the REAL 8-bit Olde Worlde equivalent of a bullet hell, it's 1943 Kai.

They also play very differently; Super NES Area 88 has a lot more depth and strategy to it and really holds up well for an early Super NES title.

I always kind of regretted that when Sega approached Capcom for CPS1 games to port to the Megadrive, they picked Forgotten Worlds and Mercs, but they also went for Mega Twins over Carrier Airwing. MD version of that would have rocked.

I'm aware, that is why I named both of them.

I pulled out my Japanese Saturn and found copies of radiant silvergun, salamander deluxe pack plus, thunderforce gold pack 1, thunderforce V special pack and soukyugurentai.....can anyone recommend other Saturn shmups to add to my collection from the Japanese lands.

Also is it worth having some type of set top/laptop computer with Steam loaded on it to play Shmups as Aurich was recommending.....I have a 10 old outdated set up (don't really use the computer for much) and was thinking of upgrading here. I've never played a game on the Steam service as I'm more of a console gamer.

Oh and how does anyone get English instructions on these titles from over seas.....I can't read any of the menus for these games.

Always loved pulsar and blazing star on the neo geo...picked up a Rtype LEO boardset, now I just need to get my butt in gear and get my rtype cab playable, have never played LEO

this is my shump set up and collection

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Taito are well supported; Darius 2 and Darius Gaiden should be easy to find, they also put out Gun Frontier and Metal Black, Gekirindan, Rayforce and Kyukyoku Tiger 2.

Psikyo gave the system Strikers 1945 I and II, Gunbird, and the ninja-themed shooters whose names I forget offhand. The spirit of Aero Fighters also lives on in Sonic Wings Special.

Toaplan / Cave put out Donpachi, DoDonPachi and Batsugun Special.

For Raizing, you can't say no to Battle Garegga and Shippu Mahou Daisakusen.

There's Konami with the Gradius Deluxe Pack, Twinbee Deluxe Pack and all the Parodiuses of course.

I'll also throw a couple of wild cards into the mix: the Saturn versions of Tempest 2000 and Galaxy Force 2.

Now I BONUS BONUS have BONUS Blazing Star BONUS stuck BONUS in my BONUS head. I can't BONUS possibly imagine BONUS BONUS why.

For any looking for manuals or control schemes for the import titles like requested a few posts ago, you can find many of them at www.gamefaqs.com

Search by title or system, find the title you need and go to the FAQs link for it. Lots of great info on that site.

Yeah, the 1942 series of shooters was an all-time fave of mine.