I think the best starter shmup is the shmup you think looks the coolest. Battle Garrega was my first, but the aesthetic of futuristic WW2 was right up my ally so I persevered, and then from there I branched out to everything else

@TheElectricUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Garegga is awesome!

I personally grown love for shumps with Jamestown on Steam. Game is a real hidden gem and quite forgiving for the begginers. Lots of people believe that it's almost stricly for multiplayer, but if you dedicate 1-2 hours a day, you'll sure beat it even with the very first ship, which are a lot of them in this game especially with the Jamestown+ edition. So yeah, very fun game with stunning pixel art and one of the greatest soundtracks ever, even beyond shmup genre

@openSUSE5

3 жыл бұрын

Jamestown was my first shmup too! It has many difficulty settings, so new players have room to grow and it's far more accessible and appealing to a western gaming audience than the typical Japanese shmup. Also, the fact that it's an indie shmup means that it can serve as a gateway drug for indie gamers to the genre.

@AlbertBalbastreMorte

Жыл бұрын

It's still one of my top shmups. It's so pretty and compelling I recommended it to non-shmup fans and they loved it.

As insane as Dodonpachi can get, it was the first SHMUP I played that hooked me and got me into the genre. I just wanted to boot it up and blow stuff up even just credit feeding unaware of the concept of a 1cc at the time. Even though it will kick a beginner’s ass for a long time, it still felt good to play all the time. Finding a game that you consider fun and sticking with it even if it might be considered difficult is the first step. That along with Imperishable Night and Blue Wish Resurrections were the games that really pushed me and showed me a world beyond credit feeding. Once there were a few games I found that clicked with me for whatever reason, it comes down to slow and steady improvements and learning from mistakes.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

DDP is amazing and awesome, no doubt about it. It was my first shmup as well! I think that it's a great shmup to get into for people who are already familiar with emulation (console ports are not good, sadly), and are prepared for the grind to come. :-D Not everyone is that way, but for those who are DDP is a great place to begin.

@GameBoyGuru

4 жыл бұрын

I’ll throw a vote towards Blue Wish Resurrection. It wasn’t my first danmaku game, but I think it’s the first one where I didn’t immediately feel overwhelmed, the mechanics were digestible enough right away, to where I felt like I could actually accomplish a clear. I haven’t yet, but it gave me a greater sense of my own ability to adapt to the mechanics than previous games I had played.

Imperishable Night was the game that really got me into shmups, I used to play it every day in school when I had the chance. The practice mode was really helpful, it might not have some of the options that modern games tend to have but damn is it convenient for working on specific patterns. It's difficulty was also very fair and the bullet hitboxes were very forgiving (those giant orbs were waaay smaller than they seemed).

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

That's awesome! Yes, I think it is a fantastic place to begin! :-D Ha that's great you used to sneak some games in school.

In my shmup infancy, I liked Galaga but the game that really got me into the genre (and my first 1CC) was Steel Empire for the Genesis. It provided a solid foundation for the harder stuff that I got into later like Musha, Robo Aleste, Radiant Silvergun & Ikaruga,

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

I love Musha! The game is like a prototype of sorcerer striker and other raizing games :-)

Hey everyone! Thanks so much for watching the video and leaving me all the great feedback! Because you guys brought up so many solid points, and because I sort of ran out of time to provide some further explanations in the video, I thought leaving this pinned comment will be very helpful. The first thing I want to talk about is the idea that Touhou does not play like CAVE games (for the most part), and there are skills that you are going to need in CAVE games (like precise routing or bullet manipulation) that Touhou games don't necessarily test in the same way. Like a few of you guys mentioned, Touhou patterns tend to be very clean and telegraphed compared to most CAVE bullet patterns. This is absolutely true. The same could be said about how the routing in Touhou typically works compared to CAVE, and that you will need to learn new routing skills when you transition into playing a CAVE game -- I also agree with this. However, the reason why I have chosen Touhou over CAVE, for beginners, is actually because of those reasons. I would consider careful routing and bullet manipulation to be intermediate skills, not beginner skills. For beginners, like your friend who you play fighting games with that is willing to give the genre a try, the biggest task they are going to want to focus on is the essential skill of tracking bullet movement with their eyes and then learning how to accurately move their character around screen and dodge the said bullets. This is what Touhou excels at teaching. Touhou patterns are typically very clearly telegraphed and easy to understand visually. There is not usually much ambiguity about what needs to be done, whereas CAVE games love mixing up how the bullets move and what the patterns want you to do (which is great! just not for beginners). With Touhou, though, beginners can focus completely on their fundamental skills of bullet tracking and precise character movement. No matter how arcade players may feel about Touhou, it cannot be denied (and there is a lot of evidence of this among the western superplayers) that the players who invest a lot of time and practice into Touhou games typically have outstanding bullet tracking and precise movement skills. So this is the main reason why I feel Touhou is a great place to get started. To move onto the second step and the step that many of you guys were more interested in, like routing and bullet manipulation, this is when the transition game is introduced, if the player wants to start playing CAVE. And I do want to say that, depending on the player's skill or determination coming into the genre, it is perfectly possible to skip right into a CAVE style shmup (this is what I did). However, when trying to create a universal recommendation, I don't like to recommend CAVE or similar style games as the starting point because CAVe games will also test the player's intermediate skills very quickly (like routing and bullet manipulation) and have oppressive level design (which is a beautiful thing! just a lot to handle for new player). However, if playing Touhou is distasteful for the player for one reason or another, then the player can feel free to play an alternative. Again, my Touhou recommendation is my universal pick, but everyone has differences and so it's not a one-size-fits-all situation. My picks for the best transition games are: Crimzon Clover World Iginition, Blue Revolver, Mushihimesama, Danmaku Unlimited 3, Dodonpachi Ressurection (DFK), ZeroRanger, and Refrain Prism Memories. Also, check out Lunarstrom's comment for a detailed breakdown of Touhou IN and why it's a strong place to start within the series.

@Daniel-it1dp

4 жыл бұрын

Not seeing a comment from a Lunarstrom that you reference. That said, I recently ordered Ketsui Deathtiny, Battle Garegga, Super Hydorah, and Shikhindo for PS4 and Akai Katana for 360 because i got the bug and I’m trying to get back into Shmups 😃.

@ZatohRondohoon3227

3 жыл бұрын

Touhou Vs DoDonPachi When??

@sebastiandelatorre8260

2 жыл бұрын

Where do i buy this game?

@redmage8719

3 ай бұрын

​@@ZatohRondohoon3227Touhou beats Dodonpachi hands down in my book.

@ZatohRondohoon3227

3 ай бұрын

@@redmage8719 👑

I've played shmups casually since I was a kid, back in the R-Type/Gradius days. What got me hooked on the genre and interested in playing for score though was Crimzon Clover. That game has my heart man ❤.

@TheElectricUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Ccwi is awesome!!

As an avid player, I started out with the classic Konami shooters, Zanac on NES, and then went intermediate with games like the Raiden and Thunderforce series, and other Megadrive/Genesis as well as NEC Turbografx 16 shmups.

My first shmup was Defender,but Truxton is where I really started playing them

@TheElectricUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Truxton is a fun one!

Definitely Jamestown+, 7 whole levels full of unique art, music and excellently designed bosses. Great difficulty curve as well, I just beat all the levels individually on legendary, and am working my way up until I feel ready to try a gauntlet (arcade mode) 1cc. And half the reason I want to beat it so badly is so I can play deathsmiles haha, such an addicting genre once it clicks. Great content too, I like your video about gameplay density.

Ill tell you guys what got me into the genre, like what got me hooked. Tyrain. It's an older game, but I had so much fun with it cause of the killer music and the customizable weapons. And a little later UN Squadron, which also has customizable weapons. I feel like those light RPG elements are really cool, and fans of rpgs may be into these games. Though recently, I have to say Blue Revolver with it's amazing aesthetic and presentation has re vitalized my love of the genre, and this channel as well. Though I think some Touhou games could also be good choices to get new people interest in the genre.

Fantasy Zone and TwinBee got me hooked. Mainly FZ, though. I would recommend starting with any shooter that M2 has put some love into. There’s my two cents. Woohoo.

Might I make a suggestion since this is a video that is targeted to new(er) or even returning shmup players that you either not use acronyms (too late for that now 😆 but in case you do another similar one) or at least provide a legend to them in your video description. Some of these turn up all sorts or mixed results in google.

I've always liked shmups, but the one who hooked and made me understand how this games are played being really approachable but deep enough to progress and eventually 1CC, was Battle Bakraid. You just have to be sure you choose Flame Viper first, and watch a 5min video explaining its mechanics if you struggle.

Imperishable Night was the game that got me into Touhou, and later into SHMUPs. I was 12 at the time (now I'm 28) and found it through a Let's Player called Vardoc1. He kept dying over and over again in the first few stages, which I found pretty funny. The thing that pushed me into actually downloading the game was the soundtrack. It is GODLIKE!!!

best shmup to start with: Space Invaders

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

The Beginning of it all! :-D Thanks for watching!

@iwanttocomplain

3 жыл бұрын

Then Galaga and Defender.

@BlueflagAlpha

3 жыл бұрын

And then 1942

@loltoheaven777sreplaystora6

3 жыл бұрын

@Magnus Kingsley Please don't believe this. It's a bot.

@iwanttocomplain

3 жыл бұрын

@@giorgiomacchi6428 I suppose so. Is it the first on a horizontal plane? It’s kind of rare in that it’s not scrolling. Only Fantasy Zone seems to follow that formula. Also, kind of, Jetpac.

As much as I prefer non bullet-hell shumps, easy mode Touhou really was a great help, as it taught me the basics of the genre, and provided me just enough challenge for a newbie like me to need to try and be actually able to win. Also, I'd say Gradius Galaxies on the GBA is a great introduction to horizontal shooters.

Thanks for all these vids dude, they are cool 😎 I’m gonna add my 2p worth here, I think the ‘Danmaku Unlimited’ games on mobile have a good claim to be the beginner’s choice. They have scalable difficulty levels (admittedly 1 less than normal and 2 more!) and you can figure out the solutions with 1:1 move speed. The patterns are amazing, a bit like Touhou, and they have different modes with online leaderboards. And are on Steam. And Switch....

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

Oh yes! I'm a huge Dan 3 fan (I'm actually playing it in shmup slam), so you won't hear any arguments here :-) The reason why I didn't choose Dan 3 is the big resource requirement on PC to run the game and the lack of strong training options and replays. However, it is absolutely one of the best games to get started with.

@run1cc347

4 жыл бұрын

The Electric Underground yeah ok, I take your point there. I’ve played it on iOS and so take the resources for granted 🙈 Agreed that it doesn’t have great training or replays. Keep up the good work!!

Judgement Silversword on Steam. Awesome game that has the bonus of not being a bullet hell/puzzle. Shield mechanic is awesome.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

Silverword is great! :-D

@BaquePhotography

3 жыл бұрын

Reflected yeah an original wonder swan JS cartridge will run you 500 bucks.

@BaquePhotography

3 жыл бұрын

@Reflected Oh I'm sure your correct. I stopped collecting a while ago.

The best games to start with imo would be Elemental Master (Genesis), and Life Force (NES). Neither game is stupid hard, I'm not sure about Life Force, but I think Elemental Master is a little expensive. I would also recommend an Everdrive for NES, SNES, and Genesis, they are easy to use and that way you get access to a lot of Compile games which would be a good way to prep for Cave games. Again, this is just my opinion.

My first introduction to STGs was one I don't ever see mentioned these days: Triggerheart Exelica. It was extremely accessible, had interesting mechanics, and had a varying difficulty depending upon how well you were doing. As an early teen, I became obsessed with wanting to own the original version, so I bought it on Dreamcast, and explored it's library to find gems like Karous and Radirgy. This was also around the time that I found Touhou, trying to complete them in chronological order. (I got stomped because I was too stubborn to play anything lower than lunatic. From there, I got really into the genre. I bought every Cave game not region locked for the 360, sprinkling in Treasure games like Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun. To this day I have never 1CC'd a danmaku game. But I still love the genre none the less.

I have some reservations about Touhou being best. Difficulty curve, popularity and availability are certainly good, as is the possible difficulty selections covering large amounts skill levels. I think my issue is that Touhou structured quite differently from other shmups, how it designs the stages (enemies, their size, etc.) and fights are very structured heavily around spell cards - where there is heavy emphasis on dodging. This does not necessarily translate well to other shmups. Another thing I have issue with is the leniency of post-PCB games - particularly death-bombing. I think it is bit of crutch that helps player to survive early on and might come to bit later in games without such feature where you are assumed to bomb in response or planned ones. I have trouble naming other good contenders, though. I mostly got in through IN/DDP/ESPRade. As mentioned, CAVE's games have arcade difficulty curves, which make them difficult to approach for beginners. Other arcade shmups have availability issues. Crimzon Clover is probably good as well, although it might be bit confusing or visually excessive? Siter Skain trilogy is good, but might be dated visually. Ultimately though, I think the recommendation should probably mirror their tastes in way, do they want to get into heavy bullet hell shooting or something more maniac, aesthetic, etc. And if they are willing to dish out cash for the game in first place. There are good free shmups around. Blue Wish Resurrection, Cho Ren Sha 68k. Only ones I'd actively avoid recommending is high-difficulty games or some that have mechanics far-removed from most of shmups (Ikaruga). Although I have to note that I haven't played Touhou in ages, so I might be completely uninformed and lost my touch.

@dingo535

4 жыл бұрын

Love the Siter Skain trilogy, they definitely helped get me further into shooting games. Which entry do you think? I feel like Reflex is pretty tough, even with the reflect shield.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

This is a really interesting perspective and not one that I necessarily disagree with, but I have some additional thoughts that I will put in a pinned comment here shortly that will talk about this subject and provide further clarification. Thanks for watching!

Thunder Force 3, because it's a pretty easy game overall, and if you don't own the console Genesis/ Megadrive emulation isn't hard.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

Thunder Force 3 is a great pick! I focused more on new-school style shmups in this vid, but I know Gameboy Guru and Shmupmaster love Thunder 3 and the Thunderforce series. Thanks for watching!

Solid video really enjoyed it. I'm haven't played shooter games sence the 80s and 90s so I'm excited how shooter games,like cave and Raiden,R type and the rest of the Japanese shump game. Great video really enjoy them,.keep up the Great videos👍

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks!!!

I would say dodonpachi is the best to start with because within the first 10 seconds it just feels so smooth and the quality/fun immediately shines through...

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

Dodonpachi is how I got into shmups as well! I'm providing further explanation in a pinned comment, but DDP is a great alternative choice, based on the player's pre-existing knowledge of emulation and experience with the genre.

Started with Raiden Project and In The Hunt on PS1 at 6 years old. You'd think starting that early would mean I'd be good at shmups, but I still can't play on anything higher than very easy and I still die often... But I do have to say the Xbox 360 era was a golden age. I was around 18 when all the shmups started coming out for 360 and I just imported all of them that were region free and grabbed an arcade stick as well. It totally rekindled my love for the genre.

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

Yes the 360 era was huge! I sometimes like to sit and imagine how much my channel could have grown if I was making content during that time ha

My first few shmups didnt hook me (Ikaruga, Darius Gaiden, Terra Diver), but it wasnt until dodonpachi where i was hooked. Fast paced, adrenaline pumping excellence. Cave fan for life after that.

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

Yes same here!!! Cave has that effect :-D

Taking your advice and I got the game Touhou 8! Thanks!

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

Glad to help!

What worked for me was...The Guardian Legend on NES. Relaxed difficulty and it sort of "sneaks" the shooter elements into a format that players new to the genre are already familiar with: The overhead action-RPG.

Might be an odd choice, but I feel like Blue Revolver makes for quite a good starting point. It's certainly not exactly beginner friendly in its difficulty as such, but its challenge mode in particular really teaches the genre essentials quite effectively.

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah blue revolver is also a great starting point!

Nier Automata and Furi got me curious about the genre. I still haven't gotten too deep into shmups but I'm looking forward to getting stuck in. My first 1CC was Crimson Clover and the first dip into the genre for me.

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

OH that's great to hear!! I really hope my channel can help get you hooked in!

@redmage8719

3 ай бұрын

My first 1ccwas Mushihimesama followed by Dodonpachi Resurrection soon after. These days I prefer Touhou and Deathsmiles.

It was Blazing Lazers for me. I had the unfortunate experience of having StarForce on the NES be my first shooter. Thought I HATED the genre after that. 25 years later gave Blazing Lazers a try. Then Ikaruga. Then Radiant Silvergun. Etc. If you have to go by developer then I say Compile. The speed and awesome weapon load-outs make you want to play just to explore what kind of ass-kicking options are at your disposal. It’s the same incentive-type feeling when you discover “spread” in Contra for the first time and start doling out punishment😀 Might be why I lean more toward Compile-style shooters over outright bullet hell, but there’s a few bullet hells that I think balance both effectively. I just don’t find slow, twitch movement gameplay navigating a screen that’s 98% bullets (and memorizing an “ideal” route) AS exciting as having massive firepower with adrenaline-inducing “reactionary” gameplay. But that’s just me😂

@MrERLoner

Жыл бұрын

Yep zanac and zanac neo are super slept on

Radiant Silvergun (Sega Saturn) and Sin & Punishment (Nintendo 64) are my favourites. You can get Radiant Silvergun on Xbox One and Sin & Punishment was released on Wii U. It's an N64 game so it should be easy to emulate on PC. It has a great Wii sequel. Ikaruga is also amazing and on many platforms. Also Star Fox 64, anyone can enjoy that game. The Radiant Silvergun soundtrack by Hitoshi Sakamoto is brilliant. From my perspective I think that these are the best, most enjoyable and approachable shoot em up games for the average person.

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

I love sin and punishment too! Here s my 1cc vid of it kzread.info/dash/bejne/dWSAucRuntPXl8o.html

Pretty interesting answer.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

:-D I'll pin some additional comments above as well.

Played my first Shooters on SNES and Mega Drive back in the 90s. I allways enjoyed them put never preffered any of them over other Genres. Ikaruga on Game Cube changed that. Loved the System, the amount of bullets ect. Since I was a huge Dreamcast Fan I had to have the real deal. Since then, I got allmost every Shooter on the System. Mushihime Sama Futari was my dooropener to Danmaku Games. Love this game to death!

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

GameCube is one of my favs too!!! So under rated!

Thanks for the recommendation of Danmaku Unlimited 3. I first discovered shooters through the Ikaruga Appreciate DVD and was blown away by the creativity of the game mechanics. I have it on PC, but after 20 hours it was still way too difficult for me as a beginner. Dankamu Unlimited 3 is far more suitable and I'm having a great time with it. Thanks!

I swear level 3 of any cave shmup is like running into a brick wall :D

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

I remember thinking level 3 of DaiOuJou white label was impossible when I first played it.

Yes!! couldn't have explained it better!!

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

:-D Thanks for watching my dude!

Espgaluda(1) is a pretty good example of beginner friendly, yet very attractive and addictive shmup

my first experience of shmup is playing gradius on a famiclone on bootleg gba multicart(which also famicom games),but most iconic experience for me is seeing msx port of gradius during retro hk2016 which encourages me to buy a msx with gradius and started to play more physical then emus......ahhhh so i am always to tell others play gradius if they wanted to start playing shmups/stgs -an opinion from a unusual 20 year old retro gamer who lives at hk when the same gen are playing shitty mobile games and lol very good content btw sir! i willing to hear more

I started with Ikaruga but didn't love shmups until I played Gunbird

@jbbrolic

3 ай бұрын

My choice for beginners is Gunbird 2 because it's easy on low difficulty to really get used to controls but has the addictive flashy visuals schmups started getting in the late 90s. Ikaruga is probably my favorite overall on DC.

The game that got me into shmups is Gradius 3 took me a year to 1cc it

My introduction to the genre was Recca at a young age, and I loved it. Then I got a Ketsui Death Label for DSi and spent many hours with it. I don't know why but to this day when I want to play Ketsui, mostly I play the DS version. :)

Oh wow my main game got picked. I generally agree with the points you made and my general thoughts on the matter is that we need games that are accessible and get people hooked. Arcade games do that, but generally do it best in, well, the arcade where the culture is different from playing at home. I think crimzon clover has an okay difficulty curve given its novice mode, and is just so satisfying to play that I think that's a good pick for new players if they're not into the whole touhou aesthetics. Movement is the number 1 important skill a new player needs to train. It's always something I look for to check a player's skills. At the moment I'm learning stick and just that change has turned me from a moderately good player to completely useless. IN in particular has a good amount of movement in the stages which can get you used to getting comfortable between changing between shot and laser to manage your movement speed. Another good part about IN is that it has a very distinct visual change between shot and laser, changing your entire character sprite and the way your shot works. The amount of playable characters also allows people to try various different types of shots, with magic team being 'traditional' shot and laser, netherworld being a reverse laser and shot, with a rolling gun as a part of its laser, a homing shot type characteristic of touhou and a unique shot type that I've rarely seen in any shmup. The shot variety is designed well with the stages as each shots unique properties allow you to tackle the stage enemies in different ways, which is a good introduction to routing imo. As a side note, since I've picked IN to death, if you ever want subsidiary information for this upcoming video series Mark such as how scoring works and how this changes how the IN stages are played, where to find the best replays or just other tidbits, I'm more than happy to provide.

Touhou might as well be a boss rush so I’d recommend Blue Wish Resurrection since it’s free and accessible. Touhou enemy layout between bosses has a horrible flow and just isn’t fun. BW has masterful design and keeps you engaged all the way through.

I agree a ton. IN was my first shmup as well. I remember thinking I'm not good enough to git gud at all. And it took years before I started playing shmups on a regular basis(I would only play touhou on a rare occasion, I'd just pick a random game from the series and play until my credit is due and then leave). Then, at some point, I realised I'd regret if I didn't get at least a normal clear of a touhou game. It was difficult, because it required at least some discipline, but that clear finally made me realise what kind of a mindset shmup players have, and that I enjoyed playing shmups.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

That's great! I'm glad my answer connected with you! That's cool you kept going with the game and the genre, that's always the hardest part with getting players hooked on the genre, the first big difficulty wall.

A bullet hell for best start? WTF? My suggestion (in this order): 1944 Aero Fighters series (Sonic Wings) Raiden series

I've turned a lot of friends onto shooters during tournaments I've hosted, and it wasn't Cave and Touhou that hooked them. I pick games for tournaments that no one there have played (or very few of them), and I always pick games that are fundamentally accessible, meaning pick up and play. You don't want convoluted scoring or insane bullet patterns for a beginner. Here are a few games that have hooked people right in front of me: Final Soldier (PC Engine) Salamander (PC Engine) Gate of Thunder (PC Engine) Galactic Attack (Saturn) Blazing Star (Neo Geo) Super Star Soldier (Turbografx) Blazing Lazers (Turbografx) There's a common thread among those games in that they start gently, and let players feel like they can handle it. In the cases of Gate of Thunder and Galactic Attack, there's also a very nostalgic arcade flavor to the visuals that appeal to older players as well. However, the biggest thing is that the games aren't punishingly difficult, even to someone who has never played a shooter. They leave you feeling like you did well, and that you want to do it again to see if you can do even better. The busy bullet patterns in Cave and Touhou games are often too much for a raw new player. They give an appearance of being overwhelming, and untrained eyes don't know where to look. Yeah, they're not so bad once you get a feel for things, but if a person isn't actively trying to get into these games, they csn be demoralizing. Get some PCE caravan shooters out and get some friends competing for high scores. They'll feel good, they'll talk trash, and it will stick witb them enough that next time, you can up the ante a little.

@justsayin4632

2 жыл бұрын

Good choices!

I would actually say Raiden IV; just something about it more appealing to westerners (easier to handle; place on leaderbaords?), likewise if not counting Galaga; Raiden was originally what got me hooked in the 90s as a kid. But...my 8 and 10 yr olds FINALLY seemed to get into shmups via Mushi on Switch, if you got kids make them play lol.

Strikers 1945 got me hooked. When I was a kid I liked aero fighters , raiden 2 and UN Squadron

Wow! YES. Sub'ed!

I've introduced some friend through Touhou 15 mostly because its point device mechanic. Basically, they get a tough game that is forgiving enough to learn through replaying smaller chunks.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

That's a great idea! Yes I think that mechanic is a great learning tool!! :-)

Interesting. I've never spent much time with Tohou though I've played a bit of Perfect Cherry Blossom. Looking at Tohou 8 - it reminds me slightly of the Castle Shikigami games - no.2 in particular.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

For sure! There is definitely a parallel between Touhou and Castle, it would be interesting to learn how much one may have influenced the other.

This may sound like a noob answer but I actually really like Sky Force Anniversary as a starter shmup. It's very accessible. Its inexpensive. You feel like you are making progress fairly easily and it gets you used to pattern recognition. I'm still a noob myself but love the genre. I also think Raiden IV and Raiden V are both good places to start.

@rosstee

Жыл бұрын

This.

I think Cho Ren Sha 68k is a good starting point. It's very simple, the difficulty climb is good, and it's free.

As soon as we finish our game, there will a new contender for this list

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

Ohh awesome! What game?!

@jaguarxeowner1625

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground Broken Portal. There should be a demo ready in time for Christmas :)

Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu because of the hyper system and the style select. The hyper was actually introduced in daioujou but it only destroys enemies and bosses but does not cancel bullets, but in Daifukkatsu, you cancel bullets like crazy (power style definitely is effective in recovery), and thanks to the auto bomb, the player can have an emergency guard in case of being hit and losing a life, it just fires a weak bomb, destroying the enemies and bullets. The best style for the 1CC is strong style because of the wide shot coverage and laser attack strengthened but the main problem is that the hyper gauge charges very slowly. However, it can be quickly charged by activating a hyper and point blanking it quickly before the invincibility wait delay wears off. For a 1 loop clear, it's best to use a hyper when needed, keep the hyper rank low as the higher the rank, the less efficient the hyper will be in cancelling bullets. Another is Deathsmiles (Xbox 360 or steam) because of the adjustable rank level selection allowing you to play any level on any chosen difficulty (in arcade mode, level 1 or 2 can only be chosen ONCE but in the Xbox 360/steam original ver., you can choose any rank difficulty (1 or 2) as many times as you want. Best character to use is either Rosa or Follett. It was technically my first shmup that got me into this genre! However, great summary on this!

Danmaku 3 was my first, but crimzon clover on steam was the game that really solidified my interest.

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

Ccwi is fantastic! Just got the arcade original 1cc :-)

@brosuph1334

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground I saw, congrats dude!

My first experience with Touhou shmups were...interesting. I started with DDC and LoLK, which arent the best to start with (Even when DDC is my fav touhou game). The problem was, that I didnt know it has a focus/slowdown for like 2 month. The shmups I played before (like Platypus), didnt have a focus, so yeah... Was kinda rough for me.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

Oh wow, yeah that does sound rough! I bet the boss fights went on and on ha, props for sticking with it for two months even without focus ha.

@LinieEber

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground Yeah, I kinda started to get used to it, until I watched some gameplay on youtube and I noticed that they were using the focus. Took me a while to figure out which button it was (I played on keyboard at this time).

Touhou and Imperishable Night in particular was my introduction to the genre so at the very least this assessment lines up with my own experiences. I'm pretty sure it's also the only one so far I've 1CC'd more than once (though the only other one I've 1CC'd at all is PCB haha..)

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

That's awesome! Yeah since doing this video I've been hearing how popular IN actually is among players, which I think makes it a great choice on top of the reasons I outline in the video.

@dearcrowns

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground For it to be such a popular choice means there clearly is something to IN in particular even within the Touhou series that lends itself well to this. Lunarstorm's comment makes that pretty clear as well.

My first shmup was Astro Warrior on SMS. Might be the reason I've always felt more comfortable on vertical shmups than hori. For getting started on the old style shmups my picks would be TF3, Steel Empire and Musha. There's a bunch more 16 bit options but those seem to be not as punishing. Steel empire is probably the easiest to pick up and make a ton of progress on. Now, I'm just getting my feet wet with bullet hell shmups, but the ones that I immediately clicked with upon playing the first couple stages were DDP DFK and Esp ra de psi. I didn't quite click as well with espgaluda 2, mushihimesama, ikaruga or deathsmiles 1, but I can tell that I'll dig into those at some point. I think I'm really going to hit off the Cave shmups versus the older ones with a little more frantic gameplay. I'm looking forward to picking up a few more (DDP DOJ, Ray's Arcade Chronology, newer raidens) to really get to experience the modern shmups. Even just the enhancements in bullet visibility make a huge difference IMO. 😁

For me good shmups for start is Crimzon Clover WORLD IGNITION. Look good, sound great, its cheap and difficulty is balanced.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

Yes! CCWI is a great shmup to get started with. I'll have a pinned comment with further details about why I picked Touhou, but I think CCWI is a very strong alternate pick, it basically has everything.

@atrocity3010

4 жыл бұрын

The difficulty is good for a beginner to shmups if they play on Novice, since it is quite easy. Once they beat that though, there's not much else to do because Arcade mode is the single biggest difficulty leap I've seen not only in any shmup, but in any video game period. Supposedly the original Crimzon Clover didn't have this problem, but actually finding that version is difficult. It might've been arcade only.

LOVE FROM.GERMANY. MAN ITS UBIQUE TRUE KILLER CONTENT MAN.

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks my dude!!

Blue revolver. It has elements from Raizing and Cave shmups without being as brutal and it's on steam

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

Yes, Blue Revolver is a great choice! It came very close to being my top pick, I think it's a great choice overall. Thanks for watching!

I'm trying to get back into shmups and that's a pretty interesting rec to hear, i played IN and didn't grasp the human/youkai mechanic well and the cast of bosses didn't get me too invested so eventually i stopped playing it. I preferred the more straightforward EoSD and through sheer force of will and a lot of bombing i 1CC'd normal mode. I might try to 1CC 1Loop Progear to derust, it was a very accessible shmup for teen me since CPS2 emulation was so easy to set up, i didn't like the mechanics in Dimahoo(i didn't figure out that you didn't need to fully charge to change colors and the treasure gathering left me overwhelmed) and didn't like anything other than the gameplay of Mars Matrix, i liked Giga Wing too i beat it by force feeding the machine with credits.

I started playing shmup on mobile phones, especially the mobile ports of the Strikers 1945 series. And now, I can play Touhou!

@TheElectricUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Oh that's really cool!

Mame was in its hay day in 2008 -2014ish after that most mame romsites have been taken down or are not accessible any longer due to pirate copiers selling mame as a "stand alone" video game alternative. Was ya after 2014 if your looking to use mame. Its not gonna be as fun as it was when it was first made available in 2008. I have all the arcade perfect pixel wells garner crt resolution and sound files of all name roms ever dumped online. And its better than going to arcades to play these things. I amassed this collection for over 10 yrs using mame. I even learned how to redump rom files from some of my actually PCB arcade boards and modded them with new music and gfx mods. Retro arcades will never die..😎😎😎😎

I only played few Touhou games (7, 16, FDF series).. And now that you recommand 8.... Just ordered CD online. Lol

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

Ha that's great though because you can follow along with the upcoming tutorial series if you're so inclined :-D

Sky force series is the best to start

I look forward to that series. Is there a good way to get Imperishable Night?

@lunarstrom8160

4 жыл бұрын

Legally, you have to import it. Search online for sellers e.g. J-list, Amazon. You then need to download updates from ZUN's website, and - if you want to - apply the THCRAP translation patch. A Steam release (and this applies to all Touhou shmups from UFO and earlier) is unlikely as ZUN has apparently lost the files for those games. The more convenient but illegal way is to download it from Moriya Shrine, which is pre-patched and comes with THCRAP.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

Yes! I'll go over that in the first episode of the series :-) Basically there are two ways to get IN, the first is to order it on Amazon for $25, and the second is to pirate it from the shrine. I'll go over this in detail and my thoughts about the situation.

IMHO, Mushihimesama (1) takes the spot of what i would recommend for someone new to shmups, selection of difficulty, nice shot type choices, the beautiful aesthetic of the game, satisfying explosion of enemies, bullet canceling enemies, a relatively simple scoring mechanic to learn per difficulty (imho), a truly challenging "endgame" in Ultra mode, an extra set of modes in 1.5 that can be played as sort of an in between step between difficulties in the main game, plus the MAX modes, one of the best arrange modes in a shmup imo, striking a nice in between of maniac and ultra, the music is in a tier of its own, much like futari, and last but certainly not least, not a lot of "gimmick" patterns. The #1 thing i think prevents me from immediately going to Touhou 7 or 8 (which would be my next 2 recommendations tbh) is that touhou patterns tend to have some gimmick or trick to them that may not be so readily apparent at a pretty high frequency imho, and i personally feel that the more direct approach of CAVE shmups builds upon the skills that are very transferable between shmups better than the Touhou series. Having said all that though lets just say i both agree and disagree with your recommendation haha. Great video btw. I appreciate what you are doing for the shmup community, as someone who only recently "joined" the community after getting into shmups in 2017, the lack of content/resources for shmups has always kinda bothered me. Unlike the fighting game community where there are tons of resources, i feel like what you are doing is a step towards that direction, and i thank you for that.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

Mushi is a really solid choice and I think we can meet in the middle ha. I'm making a pinned comment that will provide some further clarification on why I picked Touhou, but I will also say that, among the people I've talked to who got into the genre via Touhou (Kiwi, KZ, Juju Kenobi), all of them made their transition into arcade shmups with Mushi. So Mushi, in my eyes, is sort of the linchpin between Touhou and Cave, which is important.

@Seph4096

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground Yeah i definitely agree, i also fall into that category as i started with Touhou as well.

I got into Dodonpachi myself with Dai-Ou-Jou on the PS2 after I soft modded it with Free McBoot and a USB loader, the game runs on 240p pretty well. on TATE mode. And I know on an arcade PCB it's a lot viable option but as I live in Mexico they aren't well known genre to get into it, I have seen myself SEGA ASTRO city candy cabs but never seen a shmup in arcades in my life. I know that there's Battle Garegga and the first Dodonpachi's on the SEGA SATURN but I didn't get any access to run ISO games on my SATURN, and a SEGA SATURN it's a little expensive but I got mine 10 years ago with 5 games collecting over the decade, so probably Everdrives and other flashcarts aren't emulated though bcuz it plays exactly the same as a cartridge... So yeah I played a lot of shmups on the GENESIS using an Everdrive, may not be accessible bcuz it tend to cost +$100 USD for each system. So what do you think? :3

My recommendation are Raiden Fighters Giga Wing Galaga

sky force anniversary, sky force reloaded and jets n guns 2

7:41 this is CAVE games in nutshell XD. im still get struggle on stage 3 XD

I wanna get more shmups but I want the ones with barriers/shield mechanics like Caladrius and Jamestown. Or games similar to Suguri where you can phase through or destroy projectiles. Any recommendations?

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

Giga wing!!!

@soratheorangejuicemascot5809

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground Is it on steam?

@soratheorangejuicemascot5809

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground Any other game?

Raptor on pc and super fantasy zone on Sega changed my shmup-life

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

I love fantasy zone, I need to talk about it on the channel soon. My fav is when you fly on the ground and opa's cute little feet come out and run ha.

@ruffark

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground haha yes, I was shocked seeing him walk the first time.

Touhou is okay, but a couple things that make it not my favorite even as a beginner shmup (as I'm kind of a beginner too, at least with danmakus). Firstly, tap-dodging is incredibly hard. I don't know what it is exactly, but even with my gaming keyboard it's incredibly hard to make very slight movements for bullet dodging somehow. The other thing that kind of bugs me about it is something I often dislike about some danmakus, where it just throws shapes at you. The thing that blows me away about the genius of Ketsui, where everything is so expertly placed with huge enemy variety and clever bullet-patterns, is that everything mostly feels like it's actually aimed at you to kill you more than just "here's a spiral" or another shape. My suggestion for a beginner danmaku would be eXceed 3rd (it has tracker shot option just like Ketsui, which I think is awesome too). Bullets are fairly slow-moving and very interesting, and it controls great, and yet enemies feel aggressive.

Ketsui Deathtiny is a good starter because you can set difficulty from super easy to arcade in 10 different difficulty levels from 1 to 10. So you slowly climp to arcade level and you dont hit a wall. The mode is Arcade Challenge but no one mentions or uses it so they dont implemented it in der latest release Esp ra de (Super easy, easy,arcade) vs Ketsui Deathtiny 1easy-10arcade. its so much more programming to do 9 other difficulty levels in a game that has 2-ALL. Ever played or saw a Arcade Challenge 7 2_ALL video? Its so nice to play and you dont need to be a god at this game.

@inrptn

4 жыл бұрын

Destiny, you mean Deathtiny? I think Deathtiny is a great starting place too, though it's understandable if someone avoided recommending Cave games due to the stage 3 difficulty spike they are known for.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

That's a great point! Arcade challenge is a cool mode that is perfect for getting into the genre. It's a great alternative for sure. One reason why I didn't pick Deathtiny overall, even though I love the game and would recommend it to all humans on earth is that it's a PS4 exclusive (which is a surprisingly high barrier to many players -- even dedicated Ketsui players) and because arcade challenge mode is a bit tricky to use for non-japanese readers at times. It is a killer mode though and I think playing arcade challenge is a great idea for people getting into shmups, especially CAVE games.

Little off topic, but what shmup, either on console, arcade or both, would you love to see released on PC? Past or present.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

An M2 port of Dodonpachi with Dodonpachi Campaign Version (the lost masterpiece), included! I'd like it to come out on all platforms too so that I can shill it far and wide ha. I'd be so excited because I want to play Campaign version very badly ha.

@neccros007

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground Seems M2 doesn't care for PC... At least that's how I feel towards them, but don't they develop and port on PCs for other platforms? Maybe I'm ignorant thinking this...

Currently playing Ikaruga as my first. Been looking for what i can play after to get into the genre properly as most point out Ikaruga is a bad example for a shmup. I already expected you to call touhou as an entry point though i hoped you wouldnt. I would like to play the game for its mechanics, but hate the games visuals with all of my heart. I can take some weeb stuff in the character selection screen but this is just too much for me to take. Of all the shmups i have seen until now Touhou looks the least appealing to me. Probably gonna jump to crimzon clover next or just bite through the cave difficulty curve you mentioned.

@JetWolfEX

4 жыл бұрын

I apologize for generalizing the Touhou games, I honestly haven't had much experience with them, but I can agree that it's less intrusive than dialogue, I know SDOJ does that Raiden V is also well known for it, I think the distiction here is the charater designs in Touhou are more subdued whereas the Cave games and several other modern game designs are more exaggerated or "fanservice" Muchi pork seems to be the most exaggerated of the Cave games, I really enjoy Ibara but I don't care about the characters in that one at all, I don't play the games for their characters anyway. I've seen some superplayers get into Ikaruga, it's not traditional but there's still a few fans who enjoy it for more than surface value, you could say it's overhyped a bit like there's more focus on Ikaruga than a lot of other shmups and it seems to overshadow a lot of worthwile games regarding more casual players. Personally I enjoy it playing casually but when I try for score I am pushed away by the scoring being almost entirely memorization, it's easy to forget all of my practice and come back to it feeling like I've barely played it. There aren't many possibilities for alternate strategies either, in other games I can still get by on skill alone and I retain what I've learned more consistently. I like Silvergun *a lot* more because I can go about chaining in different ways (only red, only secret yellow, or mixture of both) and the variety of weapons lend themselves to different playstyles, I've seen negativity regarding RS too and I disagree in that case.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

I can respect that my dude. Yeah if the touhou series doesn't appeal to you due to its visuals (which has turned people off), there are great alternatives and CCWI is definitely one. CCWI is a fantastic way to get into shmups, the only reason I didn't choose it is because it's a bit more complicated than the standard shmup (with the break system and everything) and it has the CAVE style difficulty curve. It does have a good Novice mode though, which is great.

I got in because ketsui

@TheElectricUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Awesome!!

Yes relaxing touhou 8 game play touhou is great man

Space invader should be the one

My first was Astro Warrior on Sega Master System. Fuckin old school baby.

I understand how your thought process went when creating this video, but you spend more time telling people who aren't familiar with shmups which shmups they shouldn't play and why... I think this would have been a more effective video if you had picked like 3 best shmups to start with on each of the platforms you want to cover - let's say Switch, PC, PS4 - and then actually tell people about those shmups and the aspects that differentiate them to help people make a choice

10:00 Touhou 10:32 specifically, Touhou 8 Imperishable Night

Very late to the party. Jamestown is very accessible and has great difficulty options, with tonnes of replay value, lots of psikyo/cave style visuals and weapons to get people ready for the more committal and challenging titles. It also goes on sale fairly often on steam and is also on ps4 and maybe other platforms too. Just my 2 cents. Peas.

Galactic Attack/Rayforce is a great beginner shmup. Unfortunately, there’s no recent port.

@TheElectricUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Oh rayforce is such a great game!! Gonna cover it on the channel in the future

@DNGMaestro

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground one of my all time favorites! I think i really deserves a modern, well done port.

I got into shmups with Touhou as well

@neccros007

4 жыл бұрын

Was the Touhou games ONLY on PC? or were there other platforms?

@AbcDefg-zt8xy

4 жыл бұрын

@@neccros007 As far as I know, Touhou games are only on PC

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

:-D Yeah, Touhou does an amazing job at bringing people into the genre, it isn't perfect but I think is the strongest option right now.

@neccros007

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground Are there other doujin shmups (I think doujin is the correct term) always being released/worked on? Or have these indie releases slowed down?? Sorry not up on all the terminology

Newb here. What game was on screen beside him?

@bulb9970

10 ай бұрын

Touhou 8: Imperishable Night

I missed all the Touhou games, where do I get Touhou 8? I keep ending up on Japanese language websites, questionable download links, & translation patches. It's not on Steam. He says accessible to all but my interneting is total fail

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

Google "touhou shrine" and let the magic happen :-)

@Cramsism

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground It's working! thanks. And I'm watching your "Touhou Vs. Arcade Shmup Divide!" which may help me understand how I missed these

Do you have tutorial to setup dodonpachi or touhou emulators/mame setups

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

stay tuned for shmuparch 7 vid! Yes it will show you how to run shmup emulators. Here is the shmuparch 6 vid in the meantime kzread.info/dash/bejne/ZqdkprKCecbKh7g.html

@sirishgi2597

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground awesome awesome

Mine was Jamestown.

How viable is to start playing shmups on keyboard? As a beginner.

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

Very! kzread.info/dash/bejne/mYutr8aEY5uXY6g.html

You seem very focused one certain vertical generation of bullet hell shmups... eh.... thunder force AC? ... Blazing star, both cheap as hell on switch. Also spending 7 mins of this video talking about stgs you wound NOT reccomend (given the title of the video) makes for one boring video, sorry.

There are two kinds of shmups though. Old school and cave style. Old school is about shooting enemies. Cave is about dodging endless elaborate bullet patterns with a 1 pixel hit box then collecting giant gold stars or absorbing things for points. They are completely different kinds of game. I recommend Fire Shark or In the Hunt. Then when you are better, Thunderforce 4 and MUSHA. Then every R-Type game ever. I don’t care for bullet dodging. That’s no fun to me. I like shooting things in my shooting games.

Hello i am about to get into shmups (i already have but what i mean is that i will play to improve) I asked a Japanese Shmup Vtuber who seems pretty skilled at them which game would be a good starting point for beginners. She told me Mecha Ritz: Steel Rondo and Deathsmiles are good choices. What are your thoughts about this? By the way the vtuber is called 夢中ステラ , since she has a shmups channel (a very niche genre as you probably now really well) her channel is extremely obscure and has very few subscribers, check her out if you can, only speaks japanese though. Which game made me want to go back to shmups? Rabi-Ribi, it's not a shmup but it's a bullethell, the closest things to a shmup platformer, there's nothing like it and it's a masterpiece, if you haven't played it, you will like it , i guarantee.

I got in through mobile shmups

"Maybe in the third world country you can play touhou" xD