The Virtual Console has, surprisingly, become one of the best venues around for classic scrolling shooters, or "shmups" if you prefer. Suddenly, there's a single console on the market where you can play games like Soldier Blade, Super Star Soldier, R-Types I-III, and Gradius, and you can download them all at impulse-buy prices. Soon, Gradius II, Final Soldier and Air Zonk will show up (in Japan, at least).
Has anyone been brought into shooter fandom from a VC release? Or rediscovered the genre, which was lost to all but the craziest, die-hard fans since the onset of 3D gaming? Any new gamers out there surprised by how freaking hard old shooter games can be? Let's hear about your shmupping experience before and since the Wii.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-31-2007 @ 11:48AM
toph said...
best 2d shooter ever: radiant silvergun for saturn (japanese import)
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3-31-2007 @ 11:57AM
Voidious said...
I hadn't played 2D shooters in I don't know how long, but I had fond memories of Gradius, so I purchased it when it appeared on the VC. What a great purchase! Totally exceeded my expectations. I got R-Type III after that, which is also great, though I find the 4th level near-impossibly difficult.
Definitely looking forwarding to more from those two series on the VC. Maybe I'll try those others you mentioned, but I'm hooked on Kid Icarus at the moment. =)
-- Voidious
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3-31-2007 @ 11:59AM
Voidious said...
Doh, my bad, not likely to see the later R-Type games on there...
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3-31-2007 @ 12:53PM
Axalon said...
Bought R-Type III as my first VC purchase. Holy crap is it hard!
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3-31-2007 @ 1:02PM
Nini said...
I've never played a shmups. D: I would like to play one though.
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3-31-2007 @ 6:18PM
massive_98 said...
I am looking to buy either a Wii, 360 or a PS3.
And I have these thoughts
PS3: free online, not very many good games
Xbox 360: good games, pay for online
Wii: looks fun, bit of a novelty, stupid games
What should I buy?
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3-31-2007 @ 7:24PM
GenoBoost said...
I love shmups. All my favorites I already own on the SNES though, so I haven't downloaded any quite yet, and yeah, I am one of those "craziest, die-hard fans".
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3-31-2007 @ 7:44PM
Comstock said...
I'm very very happy to see so many shmups on the Wii. I'd kinda fallen away from the genre, and my love has been reinvigorated. Since getting 6 shmups for the Wii, I've been downloading a bunch of freebies to feed my growing addiction. Long live shooters!
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3-31-2007 @ 8:33PM
Jared said...
"Wii: looks fun, bit of a novelty, stupid games"
Hm, how can a console look fun while having stupid games. Usually the games define the fun-factor of a console. Maybe you just meant the Wii looks fun visually?
Explain.
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4-01-2007 @ 2:19AM
samfish said...
I prefer top down shooters, myself, but I've always loved me a good shmup, either way. I'm really hoping Nintendo puts Space Mega Force on the VC soon, because that was my favorite shooter from the SNES days.
I'm REALLY hoping that Saturn VC rumor comes true, though, so we can have Radiant Silvergun!
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4-01-2007 @ 7:56AM
THE SPLIT FACED said...
They're top quality games like-
I hope they bring out life force salamander as well.
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4-02-2007 @ 6:33PM
qadir said...
dude...wheres the Gunstar Heroes love? It disappoints me that an entire post about shmups on the VC AND its comments can fly by without a single mention of the best 2d shooter ever
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4-02-2007 @ 6:39PM
JC Fletcher said...
Well, to split hairs, I believe the answer would be because Gunstar Heroes is a run & gun rather than a shmup. The difference is the running.
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4-03-2007 @ 5:30PM
Matt N said...
Nintendo needs to get an indie VC program going. I'd like to see the shmups by ABA Games (Tumiki Fighters, rRootage, noiz2sa, Mu-cade, etc) on the VC despite being able to get them for free on PC already.
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/index_e.html
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