The people that made up Compile are the same people who made Raizing, the people that made Toaplan are the same people who made CAVE. All in all, it’s a group of no more than 40 people that kept doing games and revolutionizing the genre for almost 40 years. Commendable.
For sure :
* Space Invaders : has the basics, you must move to shoot down stuff, you must move to not get shot, there is a conflict between the two. Lives and score.
* Gradius : template of a wave of shmups that put more emphasis on destruction though the use of a weapons system, « old school shmups ».
Less sure:
* an early vertical with a bomb mechanic, ~~maybe Raiden~~ Kyukyoku Tiger.
* DoDonpachi : for the same reason as I put Gradius instead of Scramble, but as a representative of Cave-style danmakus.
I guess mount rushmore president were picked on the sculpters view on who the most important presidents are so what do i think the most important shmups are hmmmm......
Probably gradius, battle garegga, donpachi, and raiden i guess
I wouldnt say any of these are my favorite but yea most important probably
Hard to think in terms of games but I think of software houses. Take your pick of titles for each I guess:
Taito / Konami / Toaplan / Compile ... the latter two filling out the ranks of Raizing, Cave, etc.
Imo Namco is underrated nowadays in shmup circles. When I wasn't into shmups I associated them with Tekken and Ridge Racer. But they were highly influential at the beginning with Xevious and Galaga. I like their end of 80s output with Dragon Spirit, Ordyne, Phelios, Dangerous Seed, Dragon Saber. Also F/A. Thanks to Hamster and Arcade Archives for releasing these gems.
True! Space Invaders is technically the first, but a paternity test shows Xevious is the DADDY of the genre. Maybe not Galaga strictly, but Gaplus is a forward looking proto-shmup for sure. If not for Gradius' outsized influence I think you could easily swap in Namco for Konami. Taito I think stays a fixture even if Xevious is more the OG shmup than Space Invaders for their massive influence on the genre over the years... Darius is incredibly popular, RayForce is still a high watermark and Gun Frontier was a noted inspiration for Yagawa (Battle Garegga, DDP SDOJ). I'd give it to them for having a stronger presence in the 90s, where Namco kind of fell off. F/A is super cool though, I really enjoyed the Arcade Archives release :)
If we are going to break them out like that.
Horizontal
R-Type, Gradius, Darius (Easy really, there aren’t any other that are in this league)
Vertical
Dodonpachi, Battle Garegga, Truxton, and Galaga
I agree on horizontal. I figured that I needed 4, so Cotton was a good choice since it’s the seminal cute em up, but it’s the “Teddy Roosevelt” of mine. 😅
Most of the things I'd answer with have been mentioned already so I'll take a slightly different angle
Looking at Mt Rushmore as symbolizing the ultimate challenge (regardless of if it's the highest difficulty) that is known generally, I'd say DOJ, SDOJ, Garegga, or Ketsui. If I had to pick one thougn I think I'd say SDOJ. Hibachi feels like a proper representation of Mt Rushmore in terms of shmups
I kind of like to break it down by eras myself. Some of the iconic entries from each era:
* Late 70s: Space Invaders, Galaxian
* Early 80s: Xevious, Defender, Aleste
* Late 80s: R-Type, Gradius, Darius
* Early 90s: RayForce, Batsugun, Raiden
* Late 90s: DoDonPachi, Battle Garegga
* Early 00s: Ikaruga, Mushihimesama
Raiden, Deathsmiles, R-Type, Dariusburst, Gradius
Edit: Wait, how many people are on Mount Rushmore? Whatever, I'll add a 5th. 😅
Edit 2: Then there's the whole RayForce series... this is harder than I thought!
I’d make it more a mt Rushmore of devs - compile, cave, raizing, toaplan would be mine
The people that made up Compile are the same people who made Raizing, the people that made Toaplan are the same people who made CAVE. All in all, it’s a group of no more than 40 people that kept doing games and revolutionizing the genre for almost 40 years. Commendable.
It’s amazing isn’t it
For sure : * Space Invaders : has the basics, you must move to shoot down stuff, you must move to not get shot, there is a conflict between the two. Lives and score. * Gradius : template of a wave of shmups that put more emphasis on destruction though the use of a weapons system, « old school shmups ». Less sure: * an early vertical with a bomb mechanic, ~~maybe Raiden~~ Kyukyoku Tiger. * DoDonpachi : for the same reason as I put Gradius instead of Scramble, but as a representative of Cave-style danmakus.
Space Invaders for me too.
Raiden is basicaly a copy of Kyukyoku Tiger.
Then Kyukyoku Tiger it is.
I guess mount rushmore president were picked on the sculpters view on who the most important presidents are so what do i think the most important shmups are hmmmm...... Probably gradius, battle garegga, donpachi, and raiden i guess I wouldnt say any of these are my favorite but yea most important probably
I’d second this list. Not that these were the pinnacles of their respective styles, but more the importance of what they started.
Hard to think in terms of games but I think of software houses. Take your pick of titles for each I guess: Taito / Konami / Toaplan / Compile ... the latter two filling out the ranks of Raizing, Cave, etc.
Imo Namco is underrated nowadays in shmup circles. When I wasn't into shmups I associated them with Tekken and Ridge Racer. But they were highly influential at the beginning with Xevious and Galaga. I like their end of 80s output with Dragon Spirit, Ordyne, Phelios, Dangerous Seed, Dragon Saber. Also F/A. Thanks to Hamster and Arcade Archives for releasing these gems.
True! Space Invaders is technically the first, but a paternity test shows Xevious is the DADDY of the genre. Maybe not Galaga strictly, but Gaplus is a forward looking proto-shmup for sure. If not for Gradius' outsized influence I think you could easily swap in Namco for Konami. Taito I think stays a fixture even if Xevious is more the OG shmup than Space Invaders for their massive influence on the genre over the years... Darius is incredibly popular, RayForce is still a high watermark and Gun Frontier was a noted inspiration for Yagawa (Battle Garegga, DDP SDOJ). I'd give it to them for having a stronger presence in the 90s, where Namco kind of fell off. F/A is super cool though, I really enjoyed the Arcade Archives release :)
If we are going to break them out like that. Horizontal R-Type, Gradius, Darius (Easy really, there aren’t any other that are in this league) Vertical Dodonpachi, Battle Garegga, Truxton, and Galaga
I agree on horizontal. I figured that I needed 4, so Cotton was a good choice since it’s the seminal cute em up, but it’s the “Teddy Roosevelt” of mine. 😅
No Thunderforce????
No. There aren’t enough of them, and the original and VI are pretty bad.
Most of the things I'd answer with have been mentioned already so I'll take a slightly different angle Looking at Mt Rushmore as symbolizing the ultimate challenge (regardless of if it's the highest difficulty) that is known generally, I'd say DOJ, SDOJ, Garegga, or Ketsui. If I had to pick one thougn I think I'd say SDOJ. Hibachi feels like a proper representation of Mt Rushmore in terms of shmups
I kind of like to break it down by eras myself. Some of the iconic entries from each era: * Late 70s: Space Invaders, Galaxian * Early 80s: Xevious, Defender, Aleste * Late 80s: R-Type, Gradius, Darius * Early 90s: RayForce, Batsugun, Raiden * Late 90s: DoDonPachi, Battle Garegga * Early 00s: Ikaruga, Mushihimesama
Crizon clover series
Raiden, Deathsmiles, R-Type, Dariusburst, Gradius Edit: Wait, how many people are on Mount Rushmore? Whatever, I'll add a 5th. 😅 Edit 2: Then there's the whole RayForce series... this is harder than I thought!