Free? This is the internet, everything is free. c:

Check out classics like Tyrian 2000, Raptor, Jets'n'Guns and the Raiden series.

Raptor!!! pew pew pew

LMAO@Western shmups

Who cares where they're from, they're all good games. Raiden is Japanese.

they got nothing on cpm

And cpm has nothing on Anvil of Dawn.


(wtf?)

=|

I pay for everything. I'm dense like that.

The XOP bundle was cheap and all three games are really quite decent. The guy claimed to have quit his job because he got so obsessed working on them, or so he says: http://rydia.net/udder/prog/xopbundle/

I have Raiden Fighter Aces (or something like that) on my Xbox 360. Raiden is one of my favorite series.

Scorgasm looks awesome, and I'll buy it but most would be put off by the price: http://www.scoregasm-game.com/

Oh, and I just bought Deathsmiles for the 360 too. This run is nuts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxWY_59XAHA

I never understood the appeal of these games... even less so on platforms where so much more entertaining, engaging and complex games are to be found (>>>>>>>>PC<<<<<<<<HELLO?LOL!FFS...)

For me, if the shmup is programmed correctly, nothing feels more satisfying than blasting everything in sight. The Raiden series is just pure badassery. And Deathsmiles feels and plays smooth as butter.

I prefer more of the action-oriented shooters, as opposed to the slower "bullet hell" shmups.

There is a tiny amount of strategy involved in getting a solid run in some of these games, but with replays now available, they kind of give all that away.

OLD SCHOOL SON, REPRESENTIN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5gwPzefurs

STILL FUCKING BOSS

tyrian / raptor / xenon 2 - pc classics
raiden series - this shits on every other shoot em up

Get mame and play “Pop'n TwinBee“

As mentioned above, grab MAME and run some arcade shmups

Other than that, haven't played too many. From the ones I played/remember, there's Demolition Gunner, a fun bullet hell that's not too long (less than 15 minutes). G-Type is has a novelty of mixing the Gradius-style powerup system with the R-Type force pod. Warning Forever is a constant boss rush where the boss upgrades itself depending on how you destroy it. And there's the x.x games, namely Blue Wish Resurrection (Plus) and Eden's Aegis.

Sonic Sisters and Winger Gear

http://www.kit.hi-ho.ne.jp/zapzap/works_eng.htm

The one is the Starcraft 2 Campaign is pretty good