just 2 questions:

1) vertical or horizontal?

2) icon grabbing frenzies or, um...not?

i'd definitely have to say vertical icon grabbers - esp rade, dangun feveron, giga wing, batrider, the upcoming do don pachi, i could go on forever but i won't..

of course i still like the other types. i'm a shooter nut. (or as they call on www.classicgaming.com/shmups - "shmuppers"

-- david oliver (davedude1414@yahoo.com), July 04, 2000

Answers

Horizontal shooters all the way. Maybe it's just because I've played an unusually large number of generic vertical shooters recently, but I'm tired of the format they provide. I'm generally opposed to bombs because obviously you need to hoard them for later levels/bosses, but if you die carrying a bunch of bombs you feel like an idiot for not using them to save your ass. This is especially true in a game where the bomb acts as a "panic button". Games like ESP Rade, Batsugun, and Armed Police Batrider are great for short-term fun, but I don't find myself going back to them again and again. The difficulty of trying to get through on one credit is just too much for me.

In general, I prefer slightly slower shooters. Shooters where taking the time to learn patterns is slightly more important than finding the safe spot amongst 500 on-screen bullets. And shooters that push you back in the level when you die. A game that does this means that it's possible to survive any area on one life, if you spend enough time on it. In a shooter where your next life picks up where you died, it gives them the excuse to jack up the difficulty and make the game so hard that you die repeatedly. Not to mention making a level nearly impossible if you die in the middle of it and lose all your power-ups.

For the record, my favorite shooter of all time is Pulstar, which is often regarded as one of the most difficult shooters of all time... my personal best is 1,079,290, finished on one life. Hisa-Chan, you wouldn't happen to have the Gamest record for this game would you? I'm curious as to how close I am to the Japanese record (I wonder how big a role the tough 10,000 point enemies on the last level would play in "leeching" on the remaining lives)

Oh, and I can't make a shooter post without mentioning Chimera Beast. :) I feel like I'm the only one who really loves this game. From what I've read it was only released as a prototype, which is a shame IMO... but the game was probably just too weird for the masses. I urge all shooter fans to give this obscure gem a try, if for no other reason than to see one of the coolest endings ever in a game.

-BBH

-- BBH (lordbbh@aol.com), July 04, 2000.

I like my shooters with the screen punched in and the controls broken. With a small side of quiche.

-- Q.T.Quazar (qan@home.com), July 04, 2000.