IKnow there's been threads about everyone's favorite Cave game, but with Toon Shooters (a great game by the way), it got me thinking that it would be nice to list people's favorite shumps that are not made by Cave. Here's our list based on the replies so far: Phoenix HD Danmaku Unlimited Space Invaders Infinity Gene Storm Strikers R-Type Super Crossfire Gridrunner Toon Shooters Vetica Shogun rRootage Dariusburst SP RayStorm Lightning Fighter Icarus-x Mythlia Super Laser Tyrian Flight Unlimited Hypership Out of Control Bathtime Boogie Wonton 51 Absolute Instant A Little Turbulence Ultrablast Gods of Niburu Space Ship Ion Peter Pog Pollushot Air attack Sky Combat Flying Hamster Space Tripper Buster Spirits Buster Red Grazor Elite ISUD Skyforce Skyforce Reloaded Boss Battles Neon Wars Act of Fury Apache Overkill Last Cannon Velicispider Super Blast 2 Starfire HD Battle Squadron One Neoteria Turbografx-16 Gamebox (Gradius, Salamander, R-Type) WarBlade HD iStriker iFighter 2 Space Tripper Exexe Picopico Fighters Space Inflaters Hyperwave Super Bsquadron
A few of my favorites that I can recall off the top of my head: Super Crossfire (my favorite..if you can count this as shmup) Gridrunner Danmaku Unlimited Space Invaders Infinite Gene Toon Shooters Vetica
I have a TON of shmups, but these are 10 of my favorite non-CAVE ones: Danmaku Unlimited Storm Strikers Shogun Phoenix HD rRootage DARIUSBURST SP RayStorm Space Invaders Infinity Gene Lightning Fighter TouHou: Fantasy Night (sadly no longer in app store)
Phoenix hd - the nest noncave shmup. IMO There's also mythlia, super laser, Tyrian, flight unlimited,hyper ship ooc, bathtime boogie, wonton 51, absolute instant, Turbulence, Ultrablast, gods of Niburu, Icarus-x, space ship ion, Peter pog and pollusshot to go along with what's listed above.
Really? I love Icarus-x on my new ipad, it great graphics like phoenix does, but I find the gameplay much more fast and furious. I really like the music too, it is rocking, and I like it cause it is quite a rockfest. Lightning fighter and Danmaku will be coming out with hd versions soon, if they do, they will probably rocket up my charts, but they both dont look too good on my new ipad graphically wise. Highly recommend Icarus-x to anyone, plays well on an iphone too, and the file size is very small which helps. I own tons of shmups, but the one I want the most is dariusburt, been waiting for a sale since it is kind of expensive, but none so far. But this game looks like it is really fun, right? Also, anyone have space inversion 2 for the ipad? Didn't like the graphics so didnt buy the first version, but now that they have an ipad version, it looks pretty cool for a space invader clone.
Great lists so far. I agree with a lot of the choices. Phoenix HD is pretty high on my list as well. And Icarus-X came a long way from when it was first released with a devoted dev behind it. I actually think Absolute Instant is underrated. I know some may have thought it's kind of gimmicky with the hyperjump aspect, but it added a nice twist on it. Another one that's still one of my faves is R-Type, which plays surprisingly well on the iOS. Flying Hamster is one that's often overlooked as well.
Recently got Raystorm, Rayforce and Dariusburst and think they're really well made and very complete shmups. Others that I enjoy: -Phoenix HD -R-Type -Shogun -Danmaku and Stormstrikers
Ok, here is a list: Awesome ----------- Space Tripper Dariusburst Icarus-X Space invaders infinity gene Lightning fighter Danmaku Super crossfire Blazing star Toons shooters Irootage hd Toon shooters Phoenix hd Good ------ Storm strikers Absolute instant Buster spirits Buster red on nightmare mode Grazor elite Sky combat RType Decent -------- Isud Skyforce Skyforce reloaded Boss battles hd Hypership Neon wars Act of fury Apache overkill Last cannon Velicispider Super blast 2 Don't have space invaders infinity gene, rayforce, raystorm, or dariusburst, which would probably be high on my list. Also, wanted to mention two games which aren't exactly shmups, but have a lot of shmup mechanics, and would be enjoyed by us. Centipede origins Color bandit Both of these games have great graphics and are fun to play. Of course, I still like cave shooters better than any of these, but many of these are far cheaper and smaller in size. Also, lightning fighter and danmaku are coming out with hd versions, so those would probably soar to the top of my list once I can play them in retina ipad mode.
I have Storm Strikers, but not Danmaku Unlimited (same dev). With a few posts naming it, sounds like Danmaku is the better one. Think I might have to pick that up. I'll try at some point to make a list in the OP with those already named.
Dariusburst SP is the best side scrolling shmup, cave or no cave. Phoenix HD is the best non-cave vertical scroller. Honorable mentions to Danmaku Unlimited, Storm Strikers, Shogun, Lightning Fighter, Starfire HD, Battle Squadron One, Space Invaders Infinity Gene, and Neoteria. I'm not even gonna get into all the great shmups of other (non-forced-scrolling) varieties because there's just too many. Also worth checking out, if you aren't jb and don't have emulators, is the Turbografx-16 Gamebox which has (as IAP) Gradius, Salamander, R-Type (better than the other one on the AppStore IMO), Raiden, and several other classics. Edit: Toon Shooters will probably make my list as well, but it's still to new for me to put it up there. I forgot Vetica which I noticed while looking over previous posts, and it's quite cool. There was also once a game called BlastZone2 which had the potential to be one of the best on iOS with a little bit of work to make it "feel right" on iOS, but instead it disappeared from the AppStore. I was hopeful it would return since the dev apparently released on android later so must have still been working on it, but his website forum was closed due to becoming pure spam, and I haven't seen any news in a long time now regarding any return to iOS, which is too bad. Also, there's a related thread here for anyone who wants to see more people's favorites.
A couple of classic shmups not mentioned, not certain why they don't get much love here is Battle Squadron One and Tyrian. Both are of the classic variant, which I much prefer over bullet hell, and absolutely great and epic games. Also WarBlade HD are amongst my all time favorites on iOS. And iStriker is also very good, this one is an original on iOS, not a port. There are loads more which haven't been mentioned on this thread, but do a search on shmup, and you'll find numerous threads on the exact same topic. As always, I much prefer if, when people makes a list, that they separate bullet hell from western shmup. They're so far from each other in gameplay that they almost ought to be different genres altogether. I know a lot of ppl don't agree with me on that though..
Icarus-x is very good, but no shooter out there is as perfectly and beautifully designed for, and suited to, the platform as Phoenix HD. Phoenix HD also has essentially infinite replay value. And personally I prefer the wonderful juxtaposition of explosive action with the sweet entrancing tones of the Phoenix music. That will of course be a matter of taste though. Speaking of the Phoenix music, does anyone still miss the original score? I love the new song but still wish sometimes I could switch back to the original. Both have been mentioned Warblade is absolutely awesome, but with only horizontal movement, I would group it more with space invaders/galaga type shooters and didn't count them in my list to limit it to a manageable number of games.
Even though storm strikers is a newer title, danmaku is a much better game in my opinion. The out of the world theme of danmaku is cool, storm strikers looks more like a regular space shooter. The music too I like much better, and for some reason, storm strikers doesn't seem as fun. I was posting, and the developer says he is making a hd version of danmaku, so I am sure it will rock!
One thing I will agree is that phoenix hd has really great graphics, the bosses are gorgeous and the bullets look cool. The music is good, but I might give an edge to icarus-x, but it is kinda techno. But the only thing I don't like about phoenix hd is the slow bullets and slow enemies. To me, it almost seems like everything is in slow motion. It seems almost the opposite of cave games in terms of fast bullets and enemies. I play it on the hardest difficulties, but have really never gotten past level 2 or so, because I kinda get bored. Are the higher levels faster moving? Or do I need to try other ships? While I agree it is a good game, I don't regard it as awesome due to the slower play, but maybe Royce, you can point me towards something I am missing, or let me know the higher levels are funner, then maybe I'll put more time into it. And you say it has infinite replay, does gameplay change after you solved it once? Can you tell me how this would differ from other shooters like cave or others?
Damn, wish I had dariusburst, didn't know about it til recently, but I am jealous, it looks like an awesome game. I was actually going to buy raystorm, but when I found out it wasn't universal, I cancelled my plans. Yea, toon shooters is quite fun, moving up my ranks all the time, and an update is coming that should help. Thanks for the link, saw the thead you mentioned, and I forgot all about Space Tripper! Even though it is not really a shmup, it is an awesome game, it is funner to me than any game I have other than cave games. It plays like deathsmiles and is made by the maker of mutant storm which is one of the best dual stick shooters on the ios. So I'm going to edit my list and add space tripper, super crossfire, and might as well dariusburst too since I know I'll buy it soon.
If you mainly play on ipad, you can indeed pass on Rayforce and Raystorm, even though I'd say Raystorm is a good enough game to endure the black stripes and occasionnal 'swipe out the game area' problems. If your priority is on graphics though, they're obviously very far from, say, Phoenix HD. But you really owe to yourself to try Dariusburst SP, which is very good looking and absolutely great to play. As for SIIG, it still is for me one of the very best game on ios, shmup or not. It is kind of experimental and may not appeal to everyone. But if you find any appeal in its aestethics, you have a great game with a lot of deepness and replayability hidden under its apparent simplicity. It is a different kind of shmup, right between true bullet hell and regular shmup, with very different gameplays depending on the ship you choose, and a real challenge on higher difficulty. Visual, music and game design are out of this world. In a very good way.
Slower moving curtains of bullets are a hallmark of bullet hell, and are also the norm in most Cave games. Phoenix actually has a mix of slow and fast bullets, and I think if you were to find an average bullet speed, it would be faster than most Cave games. There are no levels in Phoenix. It is infinite and procedurally generated, so it is different every time you play. The dynamic difficulty system is brilliant, and allows players of all skill levels to enjoy the game while still challenging themselves. It also has some of the best leaderboards out there, allowing you to compare your score to others in your town, state, country, etc. Phoenix pretty much set the standard for shooters on iOS. Before it, shooters were pretty poor for the most part, slow plodding things with tilt or direct touch control. Firi games brought relative touch to the shmup with their previous title and then perfected it with Phoenix (then Phoenix HD). Without their innovation, who knows if we'd evn have any good shooters on iOS I'm not gonna try to convince you to love Phoenix, but I'd say keep trying it. It sounds like you haven't played much yet (if you are playing at 5-star min difficulty and haven't seen fast projectiles, then you haven't gotten far ).