Let's have at it: What's the *best* vertical shooter?

Discussion in 'General Game Discussion and Questions' started by tosui, Mar 5, 2009.

  1. tosui

    tosui Well-Known Member

    Aug 26, 2008
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    I'm a fan of 1941 & 1942, and I've been looking for a good port. I'm still looking :p

    It seems like vertical shooters (shmup type) on the iPhone are either:

    1) Automatically shooting (e.g,. SpaceX, SkyThunder (lite), Sky Force) (Personally, I find these games to be basically "dodge" games - not shooters since I'm not shooting - the AI is!!)

    2) You shoot (e.g., SkyFighter lite, Blue Skies (lite)) (I prefer these, because as the player, I'm doing more! I like tapping frantically :D)

    I know there are many other shmups in the App Store, but I think I've named a few of the better ones. So the question remains:

    What is the best vertical shooter?
     
  2. rhcpdrummer

    rhcpdrummer Well-Known Member

    Nov 19, 2008
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  3. tosui

    tosui Well-Known Member

    Aug 26, 2008
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    Well played.

    (Seriously though, Zen Bound needs more missiles.)
     
  4. ChrisJefferson

    ChrisJefferson Well-Known Member

    Jan 25, 2009
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  5. le'deuche123

    le'deuche123 Well-Known Member

    Feb 5, 2009
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    Sentry Alpha!
     
  6. PointOfLight

    PointOfLight Well-Known Member

    Dec 29, 2008
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    First of all, tosui, I commend you on impeccable taste. I've suggested in at least two different reviews I've done of vertical shooters that people should study the likes of 1942 before making their own. I would say the closest I've seen so far on the iPhone is Sentry Alpha, though from my experience on the PocketPC you'd probably like Skyforce as well if you haven't already played it. Personally, I'm hoping we see either Claygun or DragonBird one of these days. Despite the popular opinion towards Skyforce Reloaded, I thought Claygun was the best shooter to hit the PocketPC.
     
  7. TRIPLE BEAM DREAM

    TRIPLE BEAM DREAM Well-Known Member

    Jan 19, 2009
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    Door County
    second that :D
     
  8. Big Albie

    Big Albie Well-Known Member

    Feb 12, 2009
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    San Francisco, California
    #8 Big Albie, Mar 5, 2009
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2009

    Triple that...no pun intended Triple Beam Dream :)

    Disclaimer: haven't played SkyForce yet.
     
  9. Prab

    Prab Moderator
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    Dec 17, 2008
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    Good one.. lol
     
  10. Prab

    Prab Moderator
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    Actually I have not found my perfect vertical shooter game yet. I used to play this arcade vertical shooter game where you collect powerup orbs and they get attached to the back of your plane (like a snake game). There are different kinds of powerup orbs and each gives you different powers (higher attack, different kind of attack, missiles, etc).

    Basically, I like my plane to be really powerful when playing these games. And I dont see this in any of the current games. SpaceX is interesting because you have many things to buy, but it becomes more of a resource management / strategy thing. Whereas all I want to do is collect gazillion powerups and shoot everything thats on the screen :-D
     
  11. PointOfLight

    PointOfLight Well-Known Member

    Dec 29, 2008
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    The biggest problem I had with SpaceX was that the game play was pretty standard, so the fun came in getting power ups to your weapons. Once you were maxed out in that area, the game really wasn't fun any more.
     
  12. Phi6

    Phi6 Well-Known Member

    Dec 6, 2008
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    Yes, second that
     
  13. Big Albie

    Big Albie Well-Known Member

    Feb 12, 2009
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    rRootage was the first shooter I d/l on my device, and I still play with it. It's only missing sounds and an save/resume function to make it great.
     
  14. RM imagery

    RM imagery Well-Known Member

    Jan 12, 2009
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    Long Island, NY
    why not have a poll?

    or even better, a poll dancer can never hurt:D

    seriously tho - we should have 2 polls:

    1 - vertical shmups as discussed now. Sentry Alpha gets my vote.

    2 - 3D flying forward shooters like ExZeus, Zero Chance, Iron Man, Rebel Onslaught, etc...

    after checking, it seems as though there are few quality horizontal shooters on our idevices, which were extremely popular over the years - silpheed, gaiares, r-type and soldner-x (awesome! now in the ps3 store) to name a few...
     
  15. iago

    iago Well-Known Member

    Oct 24, 2008
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    Centipede. I think that's the only one to have the vertical shooter mechanics right.
     
  16. lazrhog

    lazrhog Well-Known Member

    Oct 1, 2008
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    I keep meaning to submit a new version of rrootage to the appstore. Had a version that runs full speed sitting on the mac for ages ! Right I'm gonna do that this weekend :). I should also submit noiz2sa too I guess as that is complete too !
     
  17. spiffyone

    spiffyone Well-Known Member

    Dec 7, 2008
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    FYI, Blue Skies is not a vert shmup. It's a multidirectional shooter.

    Either Sentry Alpha or rRootage.

    I'd rank Radio Flare below those two. Yeah, I know Radio Flare is supposed to be a hori shmup...but, honestly, with the way the ship is oriented it looks more like a vert shmup, so that's the way I play it.

    Also, that one level of Dragon Force lite is, IMHO, the best example of a vert shmup done right on this platform.
     
  18. Big Albie

    Big Albie Well-Known Member

    Feb 12, 2009
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    San Francisco, California
    Hey, welcome back to the forum! An updated rRootage would be great...I know I've been looking forward to one. It's still among the best in terms of touch controls.
     
  19. Scottola

    Scottola New Member

    Feb 22, 2009
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    noiz2sa, noiz2sa, I've heard and played that before.

    Aaah, ha, it was on my Tapwave Zodiac if I'm not mistaken :)
     
  20. spiffyone

    spiffyone Well-Known Member

    Dec 7, 2008
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    Hell yeah you should submit noiz2sa. I've been wondering when the hell someone was going to do that.

    Other things that should be submitted if permitted by the original dev:

    Cho Ren Sha 68K
    Every Extend
    Tomiki Fighters
    Parsec
    Cave Story (I'd kill for an upgraded version of Cave Story, though I guess WiiWare is getting this one)
     

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