Bullet Hell Shoot 'em up

[TooNice]

Anyone a fan of those? I used to play Gradius (Nemesis), R-Type, Raptor etc. back in the 90's, they were challenging but I got the hang of the ones I've played. More recently I came across Ikaruga when one of my friend downloaded the demo on X-Box live and it was the first time I saw so many bullets on screen that does not come from my own ship. And deadly yet pretty the enemy attacks on those games often are (example: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Byukari140.jpg).

[Ferral]

Yeah used to love the top / side scrolling games.

Favourites were :

Thunder Force 4 (Megadrive)
Armalyte (C64)
Dominator (C64)
Sanxion (C64)
Katakis aka Denaris (C64 / Amiga) Got cancelled due to being better than the R Type conversions
Xenon 2 (Amiga)
X - Out (C64 / Amiga)

Used to need an autofire joystick to play when you got to the later levels! Try and take stuff out before getting overpowered!

[Terbinator]

Geometry Wars ? I swear getting the 1,000,000 points survivor achievement is impossible!

[golwg]

Any free game i can download and have a shoot em up with? Been using Quake Arena demo for a bit. Fancy a change!! Doesn't matter if it is an older generation FSP.

[Terbinator]

Battlefield Heroes.

[Salazaar]

I've not really given it a lot of time yet but I've got a copy of Ikaruga on my 360... I don't think I've made it further than level 2 yet.

[Grey M@a]

Huge fan of these games, been playing Shmups since the days of the Atari 2600, C64 Currently playing Mushihimesama Futari on the 360, import only and region free.

I made a few 720p HD vids for youtube of the game in action. Here is the link to the first part:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfhWcECS_B4

If you go to the third part of the video you will see how bad it gets and this is only on manic. Not tried ultra as yet.

More of these games need to hit UK shores again. Most the time they stay over in Japan with the odd US release. Glad this one was region free.

[GheeTsar]

Ikaruga is a phenomenal game - it's hard as nails, but beatable with a lot of practice (it's never unfair). Well worth serching youtube for perfect playthroughs for sheer awesomeness.

Back in the day I liked ThunderForce IV, Battle Squadron, Gradius, R-Type and Hellfire

[TooNice]

Ah, yes, I've heard of that bug princess while I was reading up. Also heard of a Do Don Pachi, and the Touhou series. And they all look really, really brutal, lose your concentration for a tiny bit, and you are gone. And concentration fatigue come quicker than any other genre I've played yet.

These days, most games allow you to save between games, you often half health bar and so on. Yet you are pretty much expected to complete those games in one sitting. They are short enough to do so, but hard enough that you may not have the skill to do so. Brutal.

But I've read an article that the genre is suffering in Japan right now. It's not the type of game people want to pay full price for, yet a lot still goes into the development of those games. And that's why developers are concerned about bringing more games to the Western market.

[Grey M@a]

Ah, yes, I've heard of that bug princess while I was reading up. Also heard of a Do Don Pachi, and the Touhou series. And they all look really, really brutal, lose your concentration for a tiny bit, and you are gone. And concentration fatigue come quicker than any other genre I've played yet.

These days, most games allow you to save between games, you often half health bar and so on. Yet you are pretty much expected to complete those games in one sitting. They are short enough to do so, but hard enough that you may not have the skill to do so. Brutal.

But I've read an article that the genre is suffering in Japan right now. It's not the type of game people want to pay full price for, yet a lot still goes into the development of those games. And that's why developers are concerned about bringing more games to the Western market.

Well if you have the money (I paid £45 from ebay for it and that was new, import from play asia is around £70 with postage) I would highly recommend getting the Mushihimesama Futari game. Had it for a few months now and as you say, you want a quick 30 minute blast through then this is perfect. Get's played most days of the week when I get in from work to wind down

If you have a DS though you could try getting Ketsui: Death Label, another boss rush bullet hell game, you can see it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxPhPvL2pUU

If you do find a copy then would expect to pay through the nose for it as it was a limited run and people very rarely sell it so it goes for a fortune. Great game though

[GheeTsar]

Oh yeah - on the DS I have Bangai-O Spirits (another Treasure game) which is also insane bullet hell:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangai-O_Spirits

Well worth a look if you like shmups and have a DS.

[Grey M@a]

Oh yeah - on the DS I have Bangai-O Spirits (another Treasure game) which is also insane bullet hell:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangai-O_Spirits

Well worth a look if you like shmups and have a DS.

I always thought the DS was a wasted opportunity for shoot em ups. You have nanostray, Bangai and Death Label in Europe at least and that's it. Considering the sales of the DS since its launch I would of expected a few more to make it onto the platform.

The genre might be dying on its arse in Japan but I know there are huge amount of groups in the UK and States who are crying out for shoot em ups.

[GheeTsar]

I always thought the DS was a wasted opportunity for shoot em ups. You have nanostray, Bangai and Death Label in Europe at least and that's it. Considering the sales of the DS since its launch I would of expected a few more to make it onto the platform.

The genre might be dying on its arse in Japan but I know there are huge amount of groups in the UK and States who are crying out for shoot em ups.

It's a good point. I'm surprised that more 16Bit classics haven't been ported too.

[Salazaar]

Not exactly your Japanese bullet-hell style but has anyone played Space Invaders Exteme? It's on 360 Arcade and on DS and is a fantastic remake of an old classic.

[Grey M@a]

Not exactly your Japanese bullet-hell style but has anyone played Space Invaders Exteme? It's on 360 Arcade and on DS and is a fantastic remake of an old classic.

Loved it on the DS so I got it for the 360 to. Space Invaders Extreme 2 has just landed on the DS to (I think this is just the add-on that was released for the 360 version!)

You could say big bang mini for the DS to but not really a bullet hell game.

Only time I have seen the older shoot em ups on the DS is through the homebrew chips and then downloading the emulators etc. So far to date I think the only open source/free download shmup is Warhawk which the creator of the C64 version has ported it (still needs a R4 or something along those lines)

[TooNice]

The genre might be dying on its arse in Japan but I know there are huge amount of groups in the UK and States who are crying out for shoot em ups.

Is it really a big group rather than a niche? In a way, I am surprised that not many Western developers have attempted to re-create those type of games, but then, I thought it could simply be due to market research suggesting that it's a risky market.

One thing I meant to ask regarding the gameplay in those games, is how well do the skill transfer from one game to another? I tend to find that FPS tend to lend themselves pretty well, hack and slash, Japanese RPG etc. all seem to translate pretty well.

Would being able to pass a challenging game like Mushihimesama on manic setting give a reasonable chance that you'll beat those type of games on normal first try? Since I am only starting on those type of game I am wondering how much my progress is due to memory and how much is due to actual skills.