Topic: Best Switch Shmups

@wasilewski Oh no, not R-TYPE, my wife already complains about being neglected! If R-TYPE releases on Switch she may never see me again!

@Jack_Goetz Thanks for the good news . You could also have told us that Zerodiv's next games are Sengoku Ace and (ahem) Taisen Hot Gimmick

Cool. SENGOKU ACE is apparently the first game developed by Psikyo and comes from the creator of the AERO FIGHTERS aka Sonic Wings series. The latter being a big fave of many of us here, so might be one to keep an eye out for?

@GrailUK I would have done but they're not titles I'm familiar with. I've only just really started getting into shmups with these Switch releases, after having ignored them for the last 25 years!

@JasmineDragon when you buy it don't tell her

Rive! It's brilliant! Hard as nails twin stick action. I find it tough even on normal! It's a real challenge. Controls are tight, performance is fantastic and it looks great. A beautiful swan song from Two Tribes.

@Curlynob Agree 100%. Rive is glorious.

I would love to see them release Hyper Duel; though it would have to be Sega as they now own the licenses for title developed by Technosoft (which includes the Thunderforce series); also it needs to be the superior Saturn version.

This thread has got me in the mood for a shmup, so I went browsing the eshop, looking up these recommendations, but visually I am drawn to Sky Force Reloaded. Should I get excited for it, what's the word on it?

@gcunit: I'm stoked for Sky Force Reloaded. It was a mobile title first (highly rated), then on Steam (highly rated), and the YouTube gameplay clips look great . . . and no border. It seems to me the developers were fans of Star Soldier 64 because there seem to be elements borrowed (some of the special weapons, the atmosphere, the woman's voice) and I love that game.

Bought RIVE on the Switch. It's fun, although it makes my hands hurt, and I hate the main character's incessant yammering. Also, a lot of the difficulty seems to come from stage hazards surprising you.

That won't work, she always knows. I think she can tell by how I'm swearing at the badguys. Apparently swearing at Rabbids doesn't sound the same as swearing at dragons.

@gcunit Played a ridiculous amount of Sky Force Reloaded on my phone a year or two ago. It's a fantastic shooter, with a very solid grind mechanic for power-ups and some very competitive leaderboards. The campaign isn't that long, but it's all about the high scores, and going back on higher difficulties and scratching out every last point. Don't know how that feel will translate to Switch, especially with physical controls, but it should offer more than an ACA Hamster vertical shmup.

@Krull That's the one thing making me anxious about it - I read a few Steam reviews last night and saw more mentions of the word 'grind' than I'd care for.

I was playing Zero Gunner 2 the other night and I wasn't getting taken out by the invisible bullets like the last time. I played for a good while and used all 3 choppers and not once was I taken out like before. The difference this time, I was playing on normal difficulty instead of easy. So it seems at least Normal difficulty is free of that damn glitch and because of that, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. Brilliant Game! With the coming update hopefully that will be that and we can enjoy it without any worries. ZG2 and Strikers II will likely cause some movement up the top of my shoot-em-up ranking list. Not yet though,I still need to spend some more time with them to decide where I'll place them. I also had a good session on Pulstar and absolutely loved it . I'll be coming back to that beauty many a time.

Having a switch is a dream for shmup fans. I've played a lot of EtG, but this thread has forced me to put more on my wishlist (RIP my wallet). Which shmups would you like to see come to the platform?

Also, keep your eye out for Last Encounter. It's a cooperative twin-stick shmup coming to Switch later this year. I do PR for them and we've loved showing it off to everyone. We're going to have a beta for it soon if you're interested!

@snow silence: interested indeed!

Zerodiv have said that Sengoku Ace aka Samurai Aces will be released soon . I've never played it but it looks like more Strikers and Gunbird style vertical shooting them all action so can't wait for that.

I was playing Caravan Mode on Pulstar the other day,where you have 5 minutes to score as much as possible. I've never really bothered with Caravan Mode before, always went for High Score Mode instead, but for Pulstar it works really well. Lasting for 5 minutes with 3 lives in Pulstar is a tough challenge in itself but I had great fun attempting it. After countless attempts I succeeded and managed to place 8th on the leaderboard,which I was fairly chuffed with.

I think this mode is great for challenging each other for high scores across various shooters. The fact it's timed means our scores should all be pretty close and there will be no runaway winners so even shmup masters won't be untouchable. I'm going to create a new thread "SHMUP High Score Challenge" and mention some of you who I know plays them. If the thread takes off it gives us all a little more value out of our games. It's more fun than just competing against randoms on the leaderboards anyway. In setting my 5 minute high score for Pulstar I played the first stage over and over for close to 5 hours making it now my most played arcade game.

I'll make the thread in the next few hours and give you all a mention. Hope to see you there.

Just bought Zero Gunner 2 on a whim.

After playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 & Breath of the Wild back to back I needed something a little smaller in scope, and while I'm not terribly good at shmups (probably just terrible, lol) I have enjoyed what I played, and this stood out to me the most out of the eShop's offerings (Well, RXN as well, but that's nearly $40!).

Playing on Child difficulty, I made it to Level 6 before getting game over (told you I was terrible), but at least the option of lower difficulty modes means I have a chance of beating it, and it seems like good fun.

@OorWullie Splendid idea and huge congrats on your PULSTAR achievement.

Played some more ZERO GUNNER 2 - last night and agree. The game feels noticeably smoother and the invisible bullet glitch has been fixed although bullets do still get obscured by the green power up pellets. I assume in the arcade original the bullets were visible on the 'top layer' and the power ups would go under the bullets? In any case, the game is certainly more playable now. Well done ZeroDiv.