Cave Company Shmup Tier List

A non-definitive snapshot ranking of my favorite Cave games coming from more of a survival than scoring perspective. Will certainly need to learn how to play the games lower on the list, such as Ibara, Pink Sweets, and Muchi Muchi Pork. These games are by no means in any way bad, I am just bad at them! So they really don't deserve to be at the bottom of the list and more is a reflection of my skill at those games at this time. Since this video I have got to the 2nd loop in DOJ, a Ketsui 1-ALL, Mushihimesama Maniac 1cc and Mushihimesama Futari Maniac 1cc. I still feel pretty solid with my S/A/B rankings but haven't gotten to playing more of the games lower than those yet but I imagine there would be some moving and shuffling there.

[@streetmagik3105]

I can't wait till December for the M2 ShotTriggers port of DOJ. Dec. 7th can't come soon enough.

[@aliveman420]

I just bought it for the switch and holy shit. The fact that they have a custom restart button, scanlines, so many other quality of life options and a bunch of game modes like "grey" label, just shows how much love went into the port. I really like live wire's shmups ports, but this is another level.

[@streetmagik3105]

@@aliveman420 M2 ShotTriggers is the goat. My favorite developer.

[@wess_6664]

Great video, I haven't even tried let alone beaten all the cave games yet, but I agree with most of your level S. Ketsui, Mushihimesama and its sequel are awesome. When I get serious about DOJ I'd definitely put it among the top as well.

[@Cyarc]

Nice Ketsui clear!

[@wess_6664]

@@Cyarc thx

[@fazares]

apart from ibara and its sequel, pretty solid list..kudos for the parasite eve ost eheh

[@doggyd5874]

Thanks a lot for these wonderful list. I didn't play all of the cave's products, but I completely agree with the S rank of DDP, DDP DOJ, Ketsui and Mushihimesama. I just would add Deathsmiles in the same S category :) gameplay, story, graphics, musics, path to choose, accessibility, an other cave's masterpeace.

[@JohnGavalas-xh5ub]

Dodonpachi S tier my man! And i don't know what's up with all the hate on both Deathsmiles i absolutely love em anything cave released is kick ass but my personal favorite would be Akai Katana Shin Dodonpachi Resurrection coming in at a close second and Guwange third

[@JohnGavalas-xh5ub]

Dodonpachi DOJ is coming to switch I can't freaking wait man I'm hoping Dodonpachi Saidaioujou comes to switch and PS4 but i highly doubt it i have Deathsmiles 1 and 2 Mushihimesama Espgaluda 2 Dodonpachi Resurrection Progear and Akai Katana Shin for switch and I'm so glad City Connection decided to release it on the eShop here in the United States and man id love to see Ketsui come to switch but like Saidaioujou i highly doubt it

[@Cyarc]

I really love the original, but after playing Akai Katana last year I put it just ahead of Deathsmiles as the best horizontal, that could be attributed to recency bias. I played alot of Deathsmiles on iphone way back in the day though and should try a rank 3 playthrough on arcade some day.

[@will__mem9rno]

what songs/osts did you use in the background? (specifically the one at 6:05 :D )

[@Cyarc]

Bomberman Hero - Milky! Full list below: Parasite Eve II - Mist Ape Escape - Time Station Silent Hill - Eternal Rest Bomberman Hero - Milky 1080 Snowboarding - Review Parasite Eve - Out of Phase Stray - Intruder Resident Evil 4 - Assignment Ada

[@CatFish107]

Squinting real hard at the statement "something needs to fill that tier." I disagree. I also enjoyed the video!

[@Cyarc]

Yeah I definitely would of done things differently in retrospect but I rushed the video so I could get back to playing more shmups!

[@robbiemac13]

Awesome video!! 💪

[@aldoushuxleysghost]

I'm hoping one day, we'll get a better port of SDOJ than the Xbox 360 offering

[@doggosupremme]

Poor deathsmiles II, if they had made it in the style of all their other games, I think people would like it a lot more. Specifically if they made X mode the default mode, it's a little easier than OG Deathsmiles, but the scoring system makes it a blast. Everyone is entitled to their opinions though ;)

[@Cyarc]

Yeah really no game on this list deserves less than C tier and shouldn't hate on DSII that much. I know its on Steam, but haven't picked it up since I have the original Deathsmiles on steam. I will one of these days and will definitely play it more!

[@BASEDSAKRI]

I'm a big fan of cave games but kinda suck at the genre. like I've yet to clear a single game, not even death smiles plus I really don't get the basics of scoring systems. guess I just need to do more research. closest I've come to 1ccing a shmup is crimson clover, inspired by cave games. fun watch tho.

[@Cyarc]

Yeah I get it, like I said I've been playing these games since 2006 and only started getting most of my clears until towards the end of 2022. Some advice would be: Find a controller you like, for me it was switching from sanwa to seimitsu. Learn to score just enough to get the 2 extends. Pick a game and stick with it. For a very long time I would just jump from game to game when I hit a wall. The easier cave clears are dodonpachi resurrection, deathsmiles and mushi futari original black label, but maybe just choose your favorite.

[@onemorequarter1087]

Great list. Good times 🍻

[@NamooNara]

Nice video! Would be great if you could make videos explaining the scoring mechanics, tips and tricks for these games too

[@Systemsprenger82]

The best Crave Shooters for me are Guwange Progear Espgaluda 1 and 2 Akai Katana Shine Deathsmiles 1 and 2

[@JohnGavalas-xh5ub]

Pink Sweets F tier nooooooooo dude you gotta give this game a chance yes its hard but once you figure out the mechanics it gets a lot of fun

[@Cyarc]

Yeah I need to. As you can see I am a little biased towards the Yagawa games because I can’t get the hang of them. Thats totally on me though, I just got to learn them. I know loosing your lives on purpose is mechanic but that always goes against my tendency as player, I guess I just got to give in! I was playing a bit of Muchi Muchi Pork and really need to play that more here too, seems like fun.

[@michaelhoule2134]

Everyone should have to pray at the church of Yagawa. Ibara amd pink sweets are amazing games.

[@Cyarc]

I need to git gud

[@michaelhoule2134]

@@Cyarc me too bud, me to. I love them but I stink at them. I'm no Aquas though.

[@djdedan]

Wasn’t death smiles caves most successful game. I always thought DS was the cave game that could cross over into mainstream but they did drop the ball on the sequel sadly. Feels like lost potential.

[@Cyarc]

Yeah if my memory serves me correctly, it was the first game to be released in the west on xbox 360 with a later release on iphone. I believe it was quite profitable as far as Cave games go as well.

[@letsblocking]

Solid list!

[@AkagiRedSun]

Progear for japan region is much better game compared to USA. It harder but flows better

[@Cyarc]

@@AkagiRedSun Awesome, didn't know there were regional differences.

[@shakesquire84]

4:18 The game tells you how to pronounce it on the title screen…

[@djdedan]

I find it hard to put a cave game below C rank and no you don’t have to fill in every rank just because they exists.

[@RationalMorality]

Yes you do. That's the whole point of a tier list. F doesn't mean terrible

[@Cyarc]

Yeah I hear that and I'm sure games like Pink Sweets are an "S - Tier" game to other players so I do feel bad putting it low on the list when it is a fantastic game!

[@JohnGavalas-xh5ub]

I still can't figure out how to cancel the bullets on Akai Katana Shin lol

[@Cyarc]

So you use shot (not focus) to get the blue steel balls that fills the gauge around your ship. Then you shoot the steel balls for the first bullet-cancel and any balls that hit a bullet turn into katanas, which you then use to cancel the 2nd time for all the gold medals. Really fun when you get the hang of it!

[@moved_...]

Have you tried touhou and over touhou related games

[@Cyarc]

I only briefly played 7 and 8 and that was way back in the day. I decided to try those two out again here and just got the clear on normal for both. Really fun though, Touhou has great bosses and bullet patterns and thats really what shmups are all about for me. Also has awesome music! Whats your favorite? Will need to play some more here so thanks for the comment and reminding me to check these games out!

[@Cyarc]

So I ended up playing literally every official Touhou shmup, even the PC-98 games. Some good stuff there, I don’t know how much of it I will revisit though. My favorites were probably 7,8,10,14 and 16. 12.8 and 14.3 for the spin-offs. I am going to check out the Fantastic Danmaku Festival games next.

[@agentbl]

Why do they call them schmups?

[@Cyarc]

Shoot 'em ups!