Yes that's right, it's time to "gather ye around the fireplace" and swap stories of powerups, gigantic bosses and bonus stages. Or maybe just big rocks you destroyed. You know, asteroids and those types of things.
Shmups, specifically spaceship based ones, have a long and illustrious history. From games like
Spacewar! in 1962, to
Galaga Legions and
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, we've had the pleasure of playing these games for
46 years. Imagine that, in four years Shmups will be celebrating their Golden Anniversary!
With 2008 being another big year for Shmups with games like
1942: Joint Strike, Aces of the Galaxy, Galaga Legions, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, Ikaruga (re-release), Space Invaders Extreme, Thunder Force VI, shumps seem to have started yet another re-birth for new systems. Not to mention the dozens of great indie-made ones and even those that can be found on our very own
Arcade here at
RF Generation!
So as usual, feel free to share your list of favorite shmups or your criticisms of them for everyone else to read and comment on. This is and has always been, a group feature! Without further ado, here's my top 5 space shmups in no particular order:
- Astro Warrior - Sega Master System: When the NES and 7800 both received ports of the classic arcade title Xevious, Sega answered with Astro Warrior for the SMS. An overhead view shooter with powerups, "helper" craft add-ons and a crazy assortment of strange shaped enemies with boss battles evenly spaced between levels. One minute your fighting strange balls of energy, UFOs and sleek dart-like projectiles, the next it's a crazy meteor shower or odd round shooting things that look like something from a funky can of shaped pasta. The game has sharp graphics and great sound that really make it feel like an arcade quality game and it comes with a level of addictiveness that I find irresistable.
This is by far one of my favorite games for the Master System and also my favorite shmup of all time. If you own a SMS or a Game Gear or a Genesis with a Power Base Converter, I highly recommend you pick this up. When you do don't forget we have a high score thread in the "Arena" with an easy score to beat to get the competition rolling!
- Galaga - Arcade: What more is there to say about Galaga that hasn't already been said over the last 27 years? A classic game from the golden age of arcade, it set the bar for flashy skillful shooters and has influenced many games and game developers in it's three decades of existence. It's also among the most ported and emulated games between ports, spin-offs and compilations. You'd almost forget that it's a sequel to Galaxian because it has surpassed it's predecessor in popularity and longevity. If you haven't played it, there are some really faithful ports on newer systems like the Wii, DS and X360, not to mention the Namco Museum series for consoles. For a more modern approach, give Galaga: Destination Earth for the PS1 a try, you might be surprised. Also keep an eye out for Galaga Legions which is coming soon. It's a cross between Geometry Wars and Galaga in a way similar to Space Invaders Extreme.
- Project S-11 - Game Boy Color: I'm sure this game will be the least known in this list I've put together. I picked this title up brand new but sight unseen from a local TRU back when they still carried the Original Model GBA. After Sunsoft's bankruptcy following their good years with the NES, they managed to pull themselves together and with Paragon 5, released this little gem for the GBC just 2 months before the Game Boy Advance hit the shelves in Japan.
This is an overhead shmup, your basic "waves of enemies, powerups, occasional boss battle" cliche. How this game differs is it's pace, excellent design and it's portability. It also pushes the hardware to it's max while maintaining smooth gameplay and great sound.
From many accounts, it seems a hard game to find complete in box these days. Even loose it doesn't show up in online auctions a whole lot. Perhaps with Sunsoft joining Nintendo as a partner with the Wii's Virtual Console, many of you may yet have the chance to check this great shmup out if you haven't already.
- R-Type - Turbographx-16: I remember the first time I had seen this game and how it left a lasting impression on me. During it's North American release, retailers like Radio Shack had these awesome kiosks positioned outside their store fronts specifically made for the TG-16. I'd love to get my hands on one of those now! To a ten year old boy, the lure of it's fantastic sound, crisp clear graphics and library of games that was different than anyone else was too much to ignore. Well R-Type was my first taste of this incredible system. Oh sure we had games like Gradius, but this was R-Type! It felt like I had never truly played a side-scrolling shmup until that point. The same kind of feeling that you got when you played a Neo Geo AES after seeing the SNES in action. Just a different beast altogether.
Even now I consider the TG-16 version the best of the entire franchise. Maybe that's just nostalgia and bias talking, but I'm sure others here would agree. If you don't have a TG-16, know that the Wii's Virtual Console has this game as well. I'll also give a shout out to R-Type DX for the GBC which has good ports of both I and II, GB and GBC versions and an enhanced DX version.
- Demon Attack - Mattel Intellivision: Another game that left a lasting impression, I spent a lot of hours with this version as a child. A simple game as many tended to be in those days, it's quite a lot different than the Atari 2600 version. They share few similarities other than the name, the genre and a vague resemblance for the respective enemies. The boss battle with the mothership and the music that accompanies your ship as you warp out to meet it was very intimidating. The image of Earth in the bottom corner while you face waves of enemies was a subtle reminder of what was at stake should you fail!
One of the ironies of the two very different versions, is that the VIC-20 version is based on the 2600 type of game and the C64 is similar to the Intellivision one. Unlike so many games that were shared between the VIC and the C64, it's actually worth it to have both. This game is a fine example of Imagic's work regardless of it's platform and for me gets played a lot even to this day.
So that's my list folks, now it's your turn! List as few or as many as you wish! Who knows, you may be introducing a list of games to try for a new generation of classic gamers, or showing off ones that others may have missed over the years. New shmups or old, I'm sure we'll be enjoying these in some form or other for another 50 years more!
For more
List 'ems and other great features written by members of RF Generation, please navigate to the "
Features " menu at the top of this page and browse the community forums under the "
Blogs " menu.
As a sort of unofficial part II to a great blog entry Dave wrote in January called "
Game Music through the Ages... Why is Game Music so Popular?", I've decided to write one focusing on custom soundtracks and user recommendations.
In the last decade or so, custom soundtracks in video games have increased in popularity both due to the digital age as well as advances in game systems and personal computers. Of course there are also the memories and nostalgia of times when one would have their 8-track, LP, Cassette, or CD playing in the background. Add digital files to that and you've come all the way across 30+ years of gaming. Any of you listen to
Pac-Man fever while chasing ghosts? Or "Gangsta's Paradise" when Ridge Racer came out for the PlayStation and you found out you could take the game disc out and pop in a music CD? No shame in that, we've all made mistakes in the past. Hell I remember when "U Can't Touch This" was all the rage a few months after Super Mario Bros. 3 came out 18 years ago. Did that make you feel old, or maybe really young? Just wait until the 25th anniversary of that song and the game when you, or one of your parents, break out the elephant pants and make an ass of you/themselves, hopefully all in good fun. Maybe Fred Savage will reprise his role in the sequel:
The Wizard II: Arthritic Speedrun Pwnage.
That's not to say the default game music that is included in a title is bad, in fact in many cases far from it. It means that if a game's soundtrack doesn't suit you, you can always change it. So if your willing, feel free to share with your fellow RFGen members, your favorite custom music you listen to while gaming. Everyone's tastes are different and it's always great to find new songs or albums that may make a particular game that much better, or a song that really suits a genre perfectly. So
here's a few favorites of mine and the games I like to play while listening to them:
Aerosmith - back in the saddle - Wild west games, Darkwatch. Oblivion & Two Worlds while your exploring.
AC/DC - Back in Black - Shooters, Battlefield series, Serious Sam.
AC/DC - Shoot to thrill - Same as above, good for Billiards & Hockey as well.
America - Horse with no name - Games that have a lot of exploration, especially horseback RPGs and also Wild west titles.
Bachman Turner Overdrive - Ain't seen nothin' yet Project Gotham, Burnout, Puzzle games.
Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive - Tetris, Quake III, Twisted Metal
Big Wreck - Blown wide open - Silent Bomber, WWII shooters
CCR - Sweet hitch hiker - Racing games, in particular fast ones like Need for Speed and Burnout.
Commander Cody - Hot Rod Lincoln - Racing games also especially those with a pursuit mode
Dr. John - Right place, wrong time - Man this song works just about anywhere. Imagine it in a game where you are overwhelmed with on screen enemies!
Dwight Yoakam - A Thousand Miles from Nowhere - Exploring games and the 4x4 Evolution series.
Elton John - Rocket Man - Space Hawk (Intv), Asteroids (2600), Astro Warrior (SMS)
Elvis Presley - Way down - Dig Dug and for some reason Super Mario Bros. 2
Golden Earring - Twilight Zone - Just about any game with a strong sense of danger
Guns 'n' Roses - Out Ta Get Me - Pursuit titles or Cops 'n' Robbers types of games
Heart - Barracuda - Shooters and Racing games
Jackson Browne - Running On Empty - Makes me laugh when my character has low health and besieged by enemies!!
Jimi Hendrix- Crosstown Traffic - Burnout's 2 & 3, was also good when playing Crackdown for the X360.
Johnny Horton - Sink The Bismarck - Silent Hunter series or Silent service
Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express - An odd song that finds it's way into many games, good for racing too.
Led Zeppelin - Carouselambra - A great song for those long races & tracks like Nürburgring
Lenny Kravitz - Fly Away - Ace Combat & other flight series
Martha & The Muffins - Echo Beach - Wave Race series because it has that summertime fun feel to it.
Martha and the Vandellas - Nowhere To Run - Awesome for Counter-Strike and car chases!
Marty Robbins - big iron - Dead Man's Hand, Gun, Darkwatch, Red Dead Revolver, Mass Effect
Megadeth - Hangar 18 - Missile Command, Atlantis, Ace Combat, Mechwarrior
Megadeth - Psychotron - Armored Core, Mechwarrior, Gundam, Battletech, Chromehounds, Gungriffon Blaze. Basically anything that's badass mecha!
Ministry - Jesus Built My Hotrod - Another great song for long races or intense fighting/shooting.
Muse - Knights of Cydonia - Racing, Shooters or just about anything needing a catchy fast song.
Nazareth - This Flight Tonight - Cosmic Ark, Colony Wars series
Ozzy Osbourne- Crazy Train - Twisted Metal, Vigilante 8
Pink Floyd- Run Like Hell - Space Harrier, Hang-On and Super Hang-On
Queen - Another one bites the dust - Mafia shooters, The Punisher, Quake
Rammstein- Rammstein - When your needing something heavy and angry!
Rhett Akins - Driving my life away - Pretty obvious but really great for games with semis in them.
Rob Zombie - Dragula - I'm sure everyone has played a racing game to this in the last 10 years or so!
Rolling Stones - She's so cold - Snowboarding games, Ace Combat series
Rush - Tom Sawyer - Jedi Outcast/Academy, Just Cause and other sandbox type games.
Sammy Hagar - Heavy metal - FPS, Mechwarrior, Chromehounds and other mecha games
Sepultura - Symptom of the Universe - Another one when you need something catchy and heavy
Simon & Garfunkel-The Sound of Silence - Splinter Cell, Thief, Morrowind
Smashing Pumpkins- Eye - Splinter Cell, Thief, Morrowind. Basically any stealth game same as above.
Stan Rogers - Barrett's Privateers - Need something for the high seas? Look no further, just about anything from Stan is suitable for pirates & plunder!
Styx - Renegade - Need for Speed games, GTA, Morrowind
Styx - Too Much Time On My Hands - Just about anything Pre-NES. Just feels right with older games, also works well with Wetrix.
System Of A Down - B.Y.O.B. - RTS games when your using peasants as cannon fodder! Also Worms 3D and Perfect Dark Zero
The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations - Snowboarding, Wave Race series, Outrun 2006
The Beatles- Day Tripper - Outrun 2006, Snowboarding games
The Doors - Five to one - Shooters and RTS games
The Fixx - One Thing Leads To Another - Project Gotham Racing, Columns
The Fureys- The Green Fields Of France - Turn the game sound effects down and turn this up, if it doesn't clutch at your heart when storming the beaches of Normandy, your dead inside!
The Watchmen - Stereo - Doom, Doom II, Burnout,
Trans-X - Living on video - Like most 80's music, it works well with Atari and Intv. Especially games that use the Intellivoice or take place in outer space.
White Zombie - Super Charger Heaven (Adults Only Mix) - A great fast intense song, works for many games.
Wings - Band on the Run - Feel like a criminal? Here's a tune to match!
The 1920s, 30s and 40s station on Shoutcast - Great for those games that take place half a century ago like WWII shooters or games like Fallout where everything came to a standstill in music. I suspect Fallout 3 and Bioshock would match them as well, compliment the great soundtracks those two already have.
Some of my favorites are played loud, others quietly in the background. It's always rewarding to mix yourself something to listen to, especially as bandwidth is cheap and so are blank CD's. I love the default soundtracks of many games, but sometimes you want more bass, or something heavy or funky to match your mood. Sometimes you want to relax with a quiet game but it has boring, repetitive music. In any case, I'm looking forward to reading replies and comments and maybe adding a few new songs to the hundreds I already enjoy!
