I’ve seen a lot of “best of” lists, and they almost all come down to a three-way brawl between DDP DOJ, Mushi, and Crimson Clover.

What I’m curious about is the list of games to avoid. I’ve already run into one or two.

I accidentally bought Red Raptor thinking it was Red Death because I wanted all of the Project Starship games. Red Raptor is… not good. At least not so far in the half hour I put into it. It feels like somebody made a euroshmup by hearing one poorly described and from screenshots, but without playing or watching one in motion. Also, Q-Yo Blaster. I got it after reading AzorMX’s “Greatest Switch Shmups” article on it. Sounded like fun, but… I can’t recommend it at all. It looks like an old Flash game, in the worst way. Like it’s built with old, low-res Clipart taped onto somebody’s freshman Computer Science project.

So, having that experience, what other games do you strongly recommend avoiding?

  • pasdechance@jlai.luMEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    Using AzorMX’s list (which I also read and enjoy) as a starting point…

    1. Valfaris: Mecha Therion

    This is a cool game, but not a shmup

    1. Tengai

    Psikyo games have input lag (I still love them).

    1. Steredenn: Binary Stars

    Not a shmup, I couldn’t get into this one enough to bother trying to finish a run. Cool music.

    1. Strikers 1945

    Psikyo, see above.

    Games I haven’t played but have been told to avoid on Switch:

    • Steam-Heart’s Saturn Tribute
    • Sonic Wings Reunion
    • IREM Collections
    • CYGNI
    • RavenFellBlade@startrek.websiteOPEnglish
      2·
      10 days ago

      Yeah, I haven’t heard much good about any of the Saturn Tribute games. I guess they all have horrible input lag and are generally a mess, which sucks because I kinda want Assault Suit Leynos 2.

      I have Sterdenn, and thoroughly enjoy it for what it is. I think it qualifies as a shmup, and I’m curious why you disqualify it?

      If the IREM Collections are bad… that sucks. I’ve got all three on my wishlist. I’ll have to look into the consensus on those.

      Is Akai Satan’s Shin a victim to the same input lag as the rest of the Psikyo games?

      Thanks for the response!

      • pasdechance@jlai.luMEnglish
        2·
        10 days ago

        Steredenn’s rogue-like aspect is what turns me off. I like a few rogue-likes, but I think I would enjoy that game if it were just a regular shmup sans rogue-like. I could try it again.

        I also planned on getting the IREM collections but read about wonky emulation, especially compared to the ACA versions of some games.

        • RavenFellBlade@startrek.websiteOPEnglish
          2·
          8 days ago

          I do think Sterdenn could benefit from a “traditional mode”, maybe as an unlockable. The normal game is certainly fun, but having a handful of set levels that are static that players can really learn and fine-tune, witb leaderboards, would be pretty great. The current Daily Run kinda has that idea where everyone plays the same run with the same drops, but you only play it once. I’d love to see persistent levels that let you develop routing techniques, etc.

          Bummer about the IREM collections. I’ll look into them and see if the issues are worth passing on them. There are definitely a few games in there I would love to have, particularly Mr. Heli.

          Also: I don’t think CYGNI is on Switch, at least not in North America. I’ve never come across it.

          • pasdechance@jlai.luMEnglish
            2·
            7 days ago

            You’re right about Cygni. I was sure it was on Switch.

            Mr Heli is such a cool game, super hard but highly replayable.

            • RavenFellBlade@startrek.websiteOPEnglish
              2·
              5 days ago

              I always loved Mr. Heli at a local campground. They had Mr. Heli, R-Type, Raiden, 1943, and Boogie Wings. For the longest time, I thoight I had imagined Boogie Wings because I couldn’t remember the name and nobody else seemed to know about a shooter where your plane has a hook and you can jump out of it to highjack other planes. They had a few other games I hadn’t seen in an arcade before, either, like Kickle Cubicle.

              • pasdechance@jlai.luMEnglish
                1·
                5 days ago

                Lots of quarter-munchers! When my local arcade was open it was very focused on fighting games, and I spent a lot of time watching people play those. I have no recollection of ever seeing a shmup there.

                • RavenFellBlade@startrek.websiteOPEnglish
                  2·
                  2 days ago

                  Yeah, this place didn’t really have any fighting games at all. Had a few pinball machines, all the stuff I mentioned, a Crystal Caverns machine, Missile Command, Joust, and a light gun shooter that didnt have any artwork on the cabinet and I really dont know what game it was, but it was Western-themed. Honestly, a pretty big arcade for a campground.