MiSTer FPGA Forum

hey yall,

a side effect of me getting into the MiSTer and FPGA was learning about SHMUPs and finally taking time to get better at them.
with the low latency of modern TVs and FPGA, the advantages compared to 10 years ago are very appreciated and make getting into SHMUPs more viable and worth the effort.

i wanted to post a list of my personal favorites for the systems i have and use.
please feel free to make recommendations, im sure theres loads im missing out on

• Arcade

19XX
Cotton
Dimahoo
DoDonPachi
ESP rade
Forgotten Worlds
Galaga
Giga Wing
Guwange
Mars Matrix
Progear
Side Arms
Stargate
Time Pilot 84
Tokio
Truxton
Varth

• Turbo Grafx / CD

Air Zonk
Blazing Lazers
Gunhed - Special Version
Ordyne
Paranoia
R-Type
Soldier Blade
Soldier Blade - Special Version
-CD-
Gate of Thunder
Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire
L-Dis
Lords of Thunder
NEXZR
Rayxanber III
Seirei Senshi Spriggan
Spriggan Mark 2
Star Parodier
Summer Carnival '92 - Alzadick
Summer Carnival '93 - NEXZR Special

• Neo Geo

Blazing Star
Prehistoric Isle 2
Pulstar
Twinkle Star Sprites

• Genesis

Advanced Busterhawk Gleylancer
Elemental Master
Musha Aleste
Thunder Force IV

• SNES

Axelay
Choujikuu Yousai Macross
Pocky & Rocky / 2
Pop'n TwinBee
R-Type III
Space Megaforce

• NES

Blade Buster
Crisis Force
Guardian Legend
Gun Nac
Lunar Limit
Summer Carnival '92 - Recca

• GBA

Gradius Galaxies
Invader
Iridion II / 3D
Space Invaders

• WonderSwan

Fire Lancer
Judgement Silversword

• SMS / GG

D.A.R.C.
Flight Of Pigarus
GG Aleste II

• GB

Chikyuu Kaihou Gun ZAS
Solar Striker

• Atari 2600

Demon Attack
River Raid

• X68000

Angel Dive
Chou Ren Sha
Dive On
Illumination Laser
Image Fight
Kaizoku
Last Battalion
Otoko Dama
Phalanx
Silsteel
Sol Feace
Star Trader
Super Star Shooter
Zero Master Striker
Zero Rei
Zugya

The list we needed

May I add:

• Turbo Grafx / CD

-CD-
Chō Aniki

A couple of other titles already present which you forgot:

• Arcade

-Capcom-
1944 The loop Master
Varth
Vulgus

• Neo Geo

Strikers 1945 plus

Edit: how could I forget Gun.Smoke!

Amiga:
Hybris (personal favorite)
SWIV
Battle Squadron
Silkworm (better than the arcade version)
There are other popular ones, like Z-Out, which I haven't really played much yet

Arcade:
Defender
Robotron
Scramble

Cool list! I've got some stuff to check out this evening now.

SNES and Arcade version of U.N. Squadron

SNES Earth Defense Force (EDF)

NEO GEO Aero Fighters (Sonic Wing) series

NES Gradius, LifeForce, Section Z, Burai Fighter

Awesome post here! It's my favourite genre! I will add some titles to it shortly!

As a start, the arcade version of 1942 can't be left out!!

Alkadian wrote: ↑Sat Nov 06, 2021 9:34 pm As a start, the arcade version of 1942 can't be left out!!

this! 1942 is the perennial shmup ...also, 1943 Battle of Midway, 1941 Counter attack, MX5000, OMG we've so many!

Sega Megadrive/Genesis
Arrow Flash
Bio Hazard Battle
Darius II
Eliminate Down
Empire Of Steel
Fire Shark
Gaiares
Gley Lancer
Granada
Grind Stormer
Hellfire
Insector X
Phelios
Task Force Harrier EX
Truxton
Twin Cobra
Vapor Trail
Verytex
Viewpoint
Whip Rush
Wings Of Wor
Zero Wing

PC Engine
Gunhed

Three underrated shmups:

Arcade:
Carrier Air Wing (sequel to UN Squadron)

Genesis:
Omega Blast (homebrew)

Famicom:
Over Horizon

Gyruss
Is it shmup or a shoot em round?

One on MSX needs to be try.
It was done by M-Kai before Judgement Silversword on Wonderswan

SMS: Aleste / Power Strike, Power Strike II (PAL only), Fantasy Zone, Fantasy Zone II, Global Defense / SDI, R-Type, Thunder Blade

Neo Geo: Aero Fighters 2 / Sonic Wings 2, Last Resort, Pulstar, Ironclad

Some additions

Arcade
Sega System 16:
Fantasy Zone
Fantasy Zone 2 Dx

I would add:

- Galseed 2 (x68000)
- Nemesis 90 Kai (x68000)
- Space Manbow (MSX)
- Bari Arm (Mega CD)
- Gate of Thunder (PC Engine CD)
- Z-Out (Amiga)

Great list!

I’ve finished Dangerous Seed on the Sega Genesis core yesterday after several attempts.

Real challenge is only at the last couple stages. But great game overall. I really recommend it!

Dangun Feveron is also a thing in the beta CAVE 68000 core... just saying

Still needs some tweaks, but it's there It's ranked #13 after all in the Top 25 Shmups of All Time, so it must have some merit

Jlz wrote: ↑Sun Nov 07, 2021 1:07 pm I would add:
- Bari Arm (Mega CD)

Thank you for this! It took ~half an hour to download from the archive @100kbps , but it's rad!

Btw, for those of you struggling to find CHDMAN in a working form, here's what I use (complete with .bat scripts)

MiSTer_Kirk wrote: ↑Sat Nov 06, 2021 11:36 pm Sega Megadrive/Genesis
Truxton

of course \m/

How about some 8-bit Shmups ?

Sega Mastersystem
Aleste
Astro Warrior
Power Strike II

Atari 800
Dropzone
Laser Gates
Threshold
Thunderfox
Warhawk
Zybex

Commodore 64
Armalyte
Delta
Metal Dust
Parallax
Sanxion
Uridium
Zynaps

Atari 2600
Allia Quest
Beamrider
Demon Attack
Mega Mania
Pleiades
River Raid
Solaris

NES
Gradius II
Over Horizon

Arcade
Astro Blaster - Sega
Astro Fighter - Data East
Espial - Orca
Galmedes - Visco
Starforce - Tehkan
Star Jacker - Sega
Vulgus - Capcom

I really enjoyed Magical Chase on the Turbo. In terms of witch shooters I prefer it over Cotton.

I would add two for the Genesis:
Trouble Shooter/Battle Mania and its Japan only sequel Battle Mania Daiginjō.
The mechanics are similar to Hyperdyne Sidearms, which is also excellent, both the PC Engine port and arcade original.

MiSTer_Kirk wrote: ↑Sun Nov 07, 2021 10:24 pm How about some 8-bit Shmups ?

Arcade
Starforce - Tehkan

Fantastic arcade shmup - There's port for the X68000 by Dempa, but something feels amiss.

I have tabulated the submissions from this thread into this barebones Google Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

Feel free to ask for edit permission or copy and modify it to implement it to your liking.

That's a nice sheet.

Minor nitpick, but it's Galseed 2, not Gaiaseed 2

MiSTer_Kirk wrote: ↑Sun Nov 07, 2021 10:24 pm How about some 8-bit Shmups ?

Arcade
Astro Blaster - Sega
Astro Fighter - Data East
Espial - Orca
Galmedes - Visco
Starforce - Tehkan
Star Jacker - Sega
Vulgus - Capcom

I seem to be missing all of the above, except Star Jacker and of course Vulgus

Different .mra naming maybe?

A few of my favorites not already mentioned...

NES:
1943
Commando
Elevator Action
Duck Hunt

SNES:
Super Smash TV

Atari 2600:
Astroblast
Spider Fighter
Space Invaders
Asteroids
Space Jockey
Defender

Commodore 64:
Blue Max

ao486:
Doom

Not yet on the MiSTer, but:
Star Wars the arcade game.

thorr wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 7:18 pm NES:
Commando
Elevator Action
Duck Hunt

SNES:
Super Smash TV

While these four are indeed great titles, I believe they fall more in the categories "run and gun" or "shooting gallery" than "shmup". I have added the rest to the list. (Not Star Wars, until it is playable)

barfood wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 7:43 pm

thorr wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 7:18 pm NES:
Commando
Elevator Action
Duck Hunt

SNES:
Super Smash TV

While these four are indeed great titles, I believe they fall more in the categories "run and gun" or "shooting gallery" than "shmup". I have added the rest to the list. (Not Star Wars, until it is playable)

No problem at all. I was a bit confused myself because a few of the other titles fall into that category as well, so I was questioning what I thought the definition of a SHMUP was. Super Smash TV is almost identical to Robotron in many respects for example. It's like Robotron meets Gauntlet. Elevator Action is definitely not a traditional SHMUP. Commando is similar to Gun Smoke. Doom is definitely not a traditional SHMUP and I see and agree that should not make the list.

Ah, good catch with Robotron! I hadn't noticed it. I removed it too, despite how much I adore the game.

Once again, I might not be the best maintainer for this sheet, so anyone is welcome to ask for edit access.

lamarax wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 6:22 pm

MiSTer_Kirk wrote: ↑Sun Nov 07, 2021 10:24 pm How about some 8-bit Shmups ?

Arcade
Astro Blaster - Sega
Astro Fighter - Data East
Espial - Orca
Galmedes - Visco
Starforce - Tehkan
Star Jacker - Sega
Vulgus - Capcom

I seem to be missing all of the above, except Star Jacker and of course Vulgus

Different .mra naming maybe?

Apologies, for some reason I keep thinking about MAME 2003plus, which is on my Pi4, not on the Mister. I think it's because I have the Pi running on the same CRT as the Mister, and only use it when I want something the Mister doesn't yet support.

Commodore 64:
Slap Fight