Best 5 PC shoot em ups

I'm not too familiar with the genre, but is there a reason Raiden wasn't included? It's the first game of this type I found, so I always think of it when I think about the genre.

I remember playing this game a lot at the arcades but I have only seen the arcade version of it and wasn't aware that there was a PC version! Wow, I am glad you mentioned this.

Interesting choices. Except for steel saviour, these are not really games I like. I find it surprising that you included almost no manic shooters at all — even small classics like Imperishable Night or Perfect Cherry Blossom, or maybe the unique Warning Forever. Also, you might be interested by Urban Uprising, which is also quite enjoyable in my opinion.




And ↓Darklaga↓ if you ever write a similar article for PocketPCs ;)

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Original post by animaniac I remember playing this game a lot at the arcades but I have only seen the arcade version of it and wasn't aware that there was a PC version! Wow, I am glad you mentioned this.

Oh, I missed the PC part. I thought you were talking about every platform. I was only aware of the arcade version as well.

It is amazing how different geographical places get different games. I have to admit that I wasn't even aware that there is a whole sub genre called "Manic Shooters" with just 1 collision pixel in the middle of the hero sprite and 2000+ bullets flying around the screen (check the wikipedia entry here: Bullet Hell) I have never seen such a game at any of the arcade places while growing up in Athens/Greece. Neither on the PC for that matter. I did a little bit of research on the net following your post and they seem to be some sort of a Japanese invented subculture of a game. I found an interesting one: PROGEAR Screenshot but this isn't available on the PC. I also checked the other games you mention including DARKLAGA. Warming Forever does indeed look interesting, I am off to bed right now but I ll try to download a demo and play it tomorrow probably. As for an article on Pocket PC shoot 'em ups I think its a good idea but I would expect to see a similar situation to that of the PC. Unfortunately although the technology exists, there aren't many real gems out there.

I just wish I could find a copy of Einhander.

Raptor's my favorite of all time.

You should check out Perfect Cherry Blossom, that game is crazy. Warning Forever's good too. Haven't played any of the others though, may check them out.

I'm not really a genre connoisseur, but I always liked funny games, so I nominate The Last Eichhof (Freeware):



Swiss beer FTW! [totally]

On the subject of funny games a while ago one of my students at the college came to me with this: Crack Attack

Another one of my students is currently developing a game called "SupaCow". I 've seen some of the screenies and it looks utterly crazy. The youngsters have a pretty wild imagination lol.

Also, thanks about Cherry Blossom and Einhander. I checked Einhander's graphics and they look pretty good. No PC version though. Another fantastic one is Ikaruga but again no PC version :(

Ok, seriosly, where is TYRIAN on that list?!
Have you missed that one?

Jets n guns? Fuck off. Pretty graphics and little else, IMHO.

fwiw i should have the first beta demo of captain courgette uploaded tomorrow

Captain courgette??? Thats probably the funniest game name ever lol.

About Tyrian, it is indeed a fantastic game if not a bit on the dark side of things. Originally I intended to write an article about the best 10 PC shoot 'em ups but I couldn't find 10 good ones worth mentioning. Tyrian was number 6 on my list purely because it didn't have the polished graphics of Jet's n guns/Steel Saviour or the gameplay of Raptor/DemonStar. Nevertheless it is indeed a game worth knowing about if you like shoot 'em ups.

Tyrian:






By the way Jet's and Guns apart from good graphics also has an excellent soundtrack and thats why it made it in the list. It was too good graphics/sound wise to ignore. I get your point about gameplay though. Maybe in a future Best 10 list I will move it down and put Tyrian a bit higher.

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Captain courgette??? Thats probably the funniest game name ever lol

wait until u hear the music (once i record it) its gonna be the ziggy stardust of the 21st century
btw windows demo uploaded (nvidia only) get details at www.zedzeek.com

One of my personnel favorites, might be very simple but its extremely addictive, Its TITANS ATTACK!, its also indie :-D give it a try at www.puppygames.net

I watched the Captain Courgette video. It looks really good. I 've also shown it to some of my students and they quite liked. I 'll be waiting for the finished version.

Ah yes good old Raptor, played it a lot during the good ol days. Good article about a sector of games you don't hear much about!

Tyrian - Best shooter I've ever played, and I still play it to this day. (There is a windows version called Tyrian 2K)

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Original post by animaniac Captain courgette??? Thats probably the funniest game name ever lol. About Tyrian, it is indeed a fantastic game if not a bit on the dark side of things. Originally I intended to write an article about the best 10 PC shoot 'em ups but I couldn't find 10 good ones worth mentioning. Tyrian was number 6 on my list purely because it didn't have the polished graphics of Jet's n guns/Steel Saviour or the gameplay of Raptor/DemonStar. Nevertheless it is indeed a game worth knowing about if you like shoot 'em ups. Tyrian: By the way Jet's and Guns apart from good graphics also has an excellent soundtrack and thats why it made it in the list. It was too good graphics/sound wise to ignore. I get your point about gameplay though. Maybe in a future Best 10 list I will move it down and put Tyrian a bit higher.

I just noticed that you posted Tyrian. What version is that you are showing? I've never seen a version where the HUD looks like that.