Mega Drive / Genesis shoot em ups

[@mylifeingaming]

Another great vid, on a subject near and dear to my heart. I had both Phelios and Gaires growing up. The latter might be THE best shooter on the system period.

[@roccaturi]

I've watched just a few of these videos and they are outstanding! Keep up these detailed and well-presented examinations of retro games - they are much appreciated!

[@strafefox]

Brian Burnley Thanks! :)

[@DuckAlertBeats]

Man a lot of these games are close to my heart. Brilliant machine for shooters. Nice video man, like everyone says, deserves way more views. No justice huh?

[@thehumbleone1983]

👍👍👍👍👍

[@The8BitDuke]

Super sweet video! I've only played games liked Truxton and MUSHA on the Genesis, but I'm going to keep an eye out for these, for sure! Excellent work as usefully! Between your presentation and Chases' narration, I'd say you guys make a hell of team.

[@feiwong3634]

Awesome video, i played every shooter that exists on Mega Drive, i love all of them but for me, my favourite has to be Gley Lancer, that game i keep coming over and over. Such an awesome library of games!

[@vargas4maggot]

I love the style and presentation of your videos, awesome narration choice just pleasant sounding! What can one say, what hasn't been said already.. I would love to see more of it, longer videos, maybe considering to get more channels together and do a crossover with "The Video Game Years" and the guys from RetrowareTV, maybe have some sections with collection tips and help... I really really appreciate your hard work, it just blows my mind with pure awesomeness. Channels like this keeps me going back to my childhood dreams, experiencing the fun that I had again.

[@homersimbson]

i love your channel , excellent job in showing pictures of games cover and sprites along side the video with game name . really deserve million more subs .

[@kaio0777]

who has the best presentation on the internet splash wave does

[@strafefox]

kaio0777 Haha thanks! :)

[@kaio0777]

Nah thank you for your awesome stuff I am like your biggest fan

[@thehumbleone1983]

Me too great video 👍👍👍👍👍

[@jddeluxe2242]

Love your videos brotha!! Keep them coming!! Your production values are right up there with game sack & game chasers

[@andersdenkend]

Finally another video. "Visually" not as elaborate like some of the most recent ones imho, but I prefer this to a very long draught inbetween videos. Keep 'em coming!

[@EmilianoFraga]

Another great video! One shooter that I like a lot for MD is "Kyukyoku Tiger" (a.k.a. Twin Cobra). Please consider reviewing SNES shooters as well. Thanks a lot!

[@paulobolamsx]

Ótima dica.

[@Dizzula]

Love how you've called Zero Wing "set us up the bomb" at the end of the vid! :)

[@henriquematias1295]

Men you really make good videos. Loved to play phelios, steel empire and mainly elemental master.. Missed Truxton on this list, a game that we play and play and play again and again...

[@ForeverChiIIin]

These videos constantly impress; keep it up it's brilliant.

[@clearyourthirdeye]

Two thumbs up for Elemental Master! Great music and sound, too-

[@claudiosacchi3720]

To me Thunder force IV is still the best horizontal shooter ever. Amazing graphics and badass weapons. Should we talk about the short intro. Btw great video as usual, mega drive was my first console and still my favorite. Did you mention gynoug in your videos? That was a good one too

[@irfanafendi4837]

Ooh! Gotta love that Thunder Force III music! It's by far my favorite SEGA Genesis soundtrack! 😍 And yes, let's not forget the best Toaplan shooter ever, Set Up Us the Bomb!

[@k1tsun31989]

oooh this is one on my favourite genres on the good old mega drive Thunder Force 4 being my main one, still super awesome video and as always can't wait for more. :D

[@strafefox]

k1tsun31989 Thanks :) ThunderForce IV is still one of my all-time favorite games. such a brilliant title.

[@k1tsun31989]

Yeah and you can't not listen to the soundtrack and not get amped up. :)

[@RetroClash95]

wow what a great video, love all the games you guys covered. cant wait for the next one.

[@PyronsLair]

video remake of what is good I never get tired, congratulations again!

[@strafefox]

Thanks man :)

[@HagenFlachmann]

Nice video dude. I actually didnt know some of these. I definitely need to get my hands on an Empire of Steel cart after watching this.

[@jumboparas2020]

Those are some fine shoot em up picks! Kudos! Im actually looking a fine shoot em up for the ps1.. Hope you can cover some of those on your future episode.

[@yvain85]

I was so surprised when I saw that you put Empire of Steel in the list. I love this game. The gba remake is pretty good, even if I don't know which version I prefer... Both have their own charms. I love shooters where you have a health bar, like U.N. Squadron, because they are more forgiving than the classic one shot equals death (even if I must admit, Empire of steel is pretty challenging). As usual, a very good video and list :)

[@strafefox]

yvain85 Thanks and I still have to play the gba version some day :o

[@MintythecatIsABeast]

I had no idea that there are fifty MD shmups. Thanks, that was great.

[@amanloop]

Battle Mania is so underrated, yet so brilliant!

[@SoftOtaku]

Very well done! Looking forward to watching your channel explode!

[@strafefox]

SoftOtaku I hope not literally ;) Thanks!

[@LightLegion]

Apollo and Artemis? That's what I thought at first. But then again, this IS the Greek pantheon.

[@ZaDoo22]

I love shoot em ups! I think I'm gona take a look at the Megadrive.

[@defenestrandojogos]

Everytime i loose mais breath... AMAZING!

[@strafefox]

***** Thanks so much =)

[@SenorShot]

Realmente Celsão o Mega tinha diversos jogos sensacionais nesse estilo!! Tem muitos aí que eu nunca tinha visto!!

[@driribeiro6544]

Gosto muito de shoot them up. Baixei sky force e air atack classic pro Android

[@321cheeseman]

Aw, no mention of Crying/Bio-Hazard Battle?

[@strafefox]

Cheeseman Bio-Hazard Battle, great game, if I ever do a part2 I will certainly mention it.

[@kenny0709]

How is this channel only on 32k subs? Awesome content and presentation!

[@Dre_aka_sleepysandman]

Just sub. Really good stuff on your channel. A lot of stuff you review and go over was apart of my childhood. Some old school reviewers do not have the knowledge behind a lot of the old school game or go into detail.

[@strafefox]

Andre Wills Thanks!

[@tritian5874]

I'm curious what would be the outcome for a poll to be set up to see if more people prefer vertical or horizontal style shmups. I absolutely prefer vertical shooters.

[@Murshus]

I'm unaware of these games. I have found it a very interesting video. Thank you

[@strafefox]

Thanks for watching! :) great to hear you found it informative

[@n00bfishie]

I always thought of PC Engine as the king of SHMUPS during the 16 bit age, rather than Mega Drive (at least in Japan), so the MD exclusives here were mostly new to me. Thanks!

[@tarquinnff3]

Great video. Lots of really awesome titles. Thanks for sharing. :D

[@ThunderThouin]

Awesome... I loved Gaiares and it's 8 Meg Power !

[@thehumbleone1983]

Great video to one of the best of System I loved the Mega master drive

[@waldemarne]

Great review. I only miss Thunder Force II and Tatsujin :) Congrats and thanks for sharing!

[@THESHMUPMASTER]

Another fantastic video! You have a new fan here :)

[@strafefox]

+SHMUP Master Groovy! :) Thanks so much!

[@strafefox]

+SHMUP Master Groovy! :) Thanks so much!

[@loneck]

Bio-Hazard Battle was also awesome shoot em up.

[@PXLISATION]

Great Video ! Thx :D But no pic, or no talk of UndeadLine !!! A great Vertical Megadrive Shmup ! ;)

[@GoldStandardGames]

Aero Blasters, Fire Mustang, MUSHA, TF IIII, Good times!

[@verythrax]

Loved it! How a bout a strafefox treatment to top view games like Crack Down, Gain Ground, Robin Hood (NES) and Gauntlet, among others?

[@Floatillyboats]

Hellfire please!! Talk about Hellfire. Such a great hidden gem!!!!

[@strafefox]

I agree Hellfire is a really solid Shoot'em up! The game was pretty popular back in the day.

[@YeoWren]

Great, as usual! :D But why there are not Mega CD games like Bari-Arm, Dennin Aleste, Keio Flying Squadron or Silpheed, at least presented at the end? Or maybe in a next video? ^^

[@strafefox]

Yeo Wren Thanks! and yeah I saved the add-on shooters for a future ep :) Also have to include Kolibri

[@ryzmaker11]

+Yeo Wren The Mega -CD doesn't have a lot of shooters but the quality is quite high, the 4 games you mentioned are all awesome & very different to each other which is even cooler. Also the 32X, which has impressive ports of Space Harrier & After Burner II. Never played Kolibri but it's seems pretty unique!

[@thingsiplay]

Great list and thank you. Found some games I never heard of.

[@miked4377]

classy job! as always...those are some great shooters! want get some of them! even though they are pricey......

[@slingshotdon]

It don't make sense you should have over a million subs awesome editing g

[@ryzmaker11]

Great selection ;) 4 dope shooters (Elemental Master, Gaiares, Battle Mania Daiginjō and Steel Empire) and a good lil’ one (Phelios). Tecno Soft never disappoints on Mega Drive, pure awesomeness 8))) And this is one of many reasons why the Sega 16-bit wonder rocks so hard: it has many of the best games developers around, with Tecno Soft but also Game Arts, Treasure, NCS, Core Design, Konami… And Sega themselves, of course! (Just, did you say that Zero Wing is... Mediocre?! No way! It’s a fine shooter with good level design, excellent music and all! And it's an excellent port since it even improves on some aspects over the arcade original. Just play the japanese version in case the awful engrish annoys you ;))

[@benjaminzuniga5750]

Well, you says that verytex is mediocre

[@irfanafendi4837]

All your Zero Wings are belong to us!

[@merlijn2000]

Wow great vids! Can you do a Compile/Aleste compilation? That would be awesome. If you need footage of the games, I can provide.

[@vinirio]

You should make a video about Chrono Trigger... such an all-time SNES favorite!

[@TransKingFormers]

awesome video like always hopefully your next shoot em ups video will be on the sega saturn

[@XxWOLFERxX]

No Truxton? Or did I miss it?!? :(

[@strafefox]

XxWOLFRxX well truxton already gets a lot of coverage on classic-game-room ;)

[@McCoy-00]

Just wait until Strafefox sees the PC Engine, that’ll be something

[@StaticTV80]

Nah the Genesis is the best shmup machine.

[@McCoy-00]

@@StaticTV80 well the pc engine had a lot of them to, but I see your point

[@dirty_tuna]

A lot of these I didn't know about. You may like Bio-Hazard Battle, didn't see it in the ending montage.

[@Aaron-lr1di]

Love your accent haha. You should be a video game voice actor.

[@CocoHutzpah]

These games exuded such style

[@MaddSweetGT500]

Air Buster is another one that I usually don't hear many people talk about. I love that game. Or maybe because this game isn't exclusive to SEGA. Still, its hella awesome.

[@AlyxxTheRat]

Gaiares is one of my favourite games for the MD.

[@jasonsea6110]

Ever heard about Dangerous seed from Namco? Music is quite awesome for a 1989 game.

[@strafefox]

Yeah sure! Although it's a long time ago since I last played it. I will give the soundtrack a listen! thanks for the tip.

[@MisterLiker]

What is the name of the song at 0:20? Could it be that it is from Ecco?

[@strafefox]

It's from another master piece: Thunder Force IV, the hard mode ending.

[@MisterLiker]

Thank you a lot. And by the way, great work. ^^

[@Guernicaman]

Was Fantasy Zone released on the Genesis/MegaDrive? I thought it was on.y on the Master System, as far as SEGA consoles were concerned.

[@strafefox]

Yes there is a Fantasy zone game for the Mega-Drive called Super Fantasy Zone. (Although it was never released in North America)

[@SpartanFromSpain]

Is that song from thunder force 2 @5:24?

[@strafefox]

From ThunderForce 3 actually.

[@SpartanFromSpain]

strafefox Great thanks, i was going through the sound test on TF2 and no wonder i couldn't find it :D

[@Mzee1084]

I never got into the bullet hell or proto bh games much. I did have Fire Shark on the Genesis, which was pretty good though. It was a WW1/WW2 themed vertical scrolling shooter. Never got into the sci-fi-anime art style either, which seemed to be most of these games.

[@ROTTERDXM]

Great selection; Elemental Master blew me away when I played it for the first time with its soundtrack, so much so that I finished the entire game in that one sitting. First Genesis game I seriously played after only ever playing lots of Streets of Rage 2/3. I STILL listen to the soundtrack at least once a month. Fun fact: Irving Force has used a riff from Elemental Master in his track 'Meat Grinder City' kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5nbq52CnZWsa6s Gaiares and Steel Empire are both very much deservedly on this list. Very engaging and epic in scope. I sort of miss Hellfire here, considering its fairly rare weapons switching system. Great videos man, appreciate it.

[@strafefox]

Thanks! And yeah Hellfire is another cool shooter. :)

[@neogenesis7706]

I own every single shooter released on the genesis/megadrive. gaiares, elemental master, bio hazard battle, eliminate down, Hell fire, trouble shooter 2 and lightening force are my favorites.

[@JohnHassink]

Please, from what is the music in 0:19 to 0:56?

[@strafefox]

It's from the best shoot'em up ever! :) Thunderforce IV, hard ending

[@JohnHassink]

Thank you! :) Seems I really need to play that game.

[@Mephianse81]

Nice narration ***** !

[@johnv7317]

I don't know I should feel sorry for the person who did the translation of Zero Wing or congratulate the person for making the best Engrish line in video game history. Most likely am going with the second option.

[@Utoobyourself]

Nicely done.

[@sheepthehack]

QUESTION!!!!! Does anyone know what the game is on the TOP SCREEN at 0:13 ??? tnx in advance!!!

[@strafefox]

That's Seiken Densetsu 3 for the SNES (the follow up to Secret of Mana), really cool game with amazing graphics and music

[@sheepthehack]

@@strafefox much appreciated!!!

[@retrogamer41_sepiamta]

You guys forgot some worthy shmups like Forgotten Worlds, Dangerous Seed, Burning Force and Truxion.

[@Segasocks]

Really enjoyed that!! :D

[@strafefox]

Great to hear! They were originally meant to be separate episodes, but it didn't feel right, so I packed them together :)

[@SPac316]

Steel Empire is getting remade for the 3DS and it should be out soon. It'll have enhance visuals and sound.

[@strafefox]

SPac316 Cool! I was not aware of that

[@AvatarRaziel92]

i'll ask myself how more modern games would look like - touhou as example. Best Console ever. :3

[@Feelin_DanDy]

I was never good at shoot'em ups, MY EYES!

[@lxs077]

great videos!! keep it up!!

[@b_08_amitkumarsahu90]

I remember phantasy zone it is awesome

[@MrFixer1983]

Great video, keep up to make those nice video's ;) Komt er ook een review van Mega Turrican (Turrican 3)? Ik heb deze spel vroeger echt vaak gespeeld. Op MegaDrive zelf en de Amiga 500 versie, de Amiga versie heeft de beste soundtrack, maar de MD de beste controls ;)

[@strafefox]

MrFixer1983 Dank! :) Mega Turrican zal zeker in toekomst nog wel eens langs komen. vette soundtrack heeft dat spel!

[@MrFixer1983]

Ow dat zal erg tof zijn. Het blijft dood zonde dat ze Turrican 2 zo verneukt hebben op de MD. Want het was wel de beste deel van de 3. En met de beste soundtrack...op de Amiga dan ;)

[@MarkoTulio]

man! the intro is awesome!

Brutal video

[@RDJ134]

Wederom een top video, dank je :D

[@JohnHassink]

Elemental Master looks a lot like Undeadline. :)

[@feisha_thahab]

maaaan just what the doctor ordered.

[@Lightblue2222]

BIO-HAZARD BATTLE

[@bromba9921]

PC engine? Famicom? Saturn?

[@Bloodrunsreddownthenile]

PC Engine was THE shmup system back then

[@Progearspec]

I all ways thought the (pc-engine) was the best when it came to shoot'em ups,from that time period.Though id rate the megadrive second to it since it had plenty of good ones.

[@OGHUGO]

hmm.. no offence but isn't the PC Engine the one that is known best for it's shooters in the 16-bit era..?

[@StaticTV80]

Sorry but the Genesis ruled the 16-bit era in shmups.

[@joeyjojo3780]

thanks bro

[@TiagoEliasu]

Man and about bio hazard battle? Get the idea and make a restrospective?! This is a f brutal game Like thunder force. Onde of the bests ost graphics and theme

[@glynrowson]

Hellfire

[@MarioNintendoh]

subbed

[@strafefox]

thanks! really appreciated!

[@MarioNintendoh]

No problem! :D your channel is great!

[@danmakuman]

I can't say Zero wing is a mediocre game tho. Is not one of the best but sure is fun and the damn music is one big reason to play it.

[@ChaseFace]

Battle Mania Daiginjou looks really fun. Too bad it's expensive. I'd have to buy a new Megadrive on top of that game, so I'd probably just emulate it, haha.

[@strafefox]

***** What? you don't own the best console ever made :)

[@ChaseFace]

SNES is better!!! The only superior aspect of the MegaDrive is the processor speed, but the SNES beats it in color, audio, graphics, and a better controller. :p I could argue this for days!

[@strafefox]

***** There are tons of consoles that beat the Mega-Drive in terms of specs... But in the end it comes down to... the name: Mega-Drive is just the coolest name for a console ever! and it comes in black. and did I mention ThunderForce IV?

[@ChaseFace]

strafefox When you name all of those facts, I concede defeat...

[@hellykerbert2838]

+ChaseFaceShow you got told son.

[@SevenCompleted]

zero wing is a good game

[@aster5031]

10/10

[@franco7363]

Gaiares is #1

[@karlwalker1771]

LOL The SNES/FAMICOM was a truly Superior machine as anybody knows:) Axelay and RTYPE*** Was a fantastic PORT as was any title in its day and the 50htz Limited PAL was nothing compared to the 60 HRTZ NTSC (JAP)as these VERSIONS on the SNEZ/FAMICOM/GENESIS MEGA DRIVE, PAL!! for fucks sake. were fast and furious Conversions of the ARCADE CLASSICS (Please don`t be fooled into playing your Arcade games in PAL!!) as a real shoot em ups GAME/favourite in terms of speed/accuracy to the ORIGINALS:) I, unfortunately, rest my Competitive Case!:) That 60HRTZ, SNEZ/FAMICOM is SUPERIOR AND ALWAYS Beats 50HRTZ PAL ANY DAY OF THE WEEK!! NTFC OR 60 HRTZ is the way to play your childhood games, my friends! Please play your favourite games in 60 HRTZ NTFC and I know you will agree this is A FANTASTIC way to play your games. May I add if you played SONIC in PAL 50 HRTZ then you should play it in 60 HRTZ MODES and you will truly appreciate the extra frames, I rest my RASTER CASE and also give you a new reason to play SONIC 1,2,3 as I am confident you will appreciate and acknowledge this game/title was meant to be played at 60 F.P.S folks, SPEED!!:) Enjoy Sonic as it was meant to be played 60 MHTZ or BUST:)