The Rise of 3D SHMUPS (Arcade-style shoot 'em ups) | Johnny Grafx

[@MetalJesusRocks]

Really cool look at 3D shmups! I enjoyed this video a lot. 👍

[@Johnnygrafx]

Glad you enjoyed it man!

[@kyral4978]

This guy has 7k viewers and he's putting out vids like this? Dear Metal Lord, please bless this channel in the name of Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost B.C..

[@GAMECLOSET]

Oh, and Einhander- OMG yes! Love that game... even though I stink at it!

[@unclepatrick2]

You are not the only one that sucks at Einhander .

[@jeanbinjourjr4472]

Yuuuuuppppp, save the best for last ENIHANDER!

[@Johnnygrafx]

Always save the best for last!

[@kyral4978]

That comment you made at 8:05 is actually a deeper insight than you realize. Unless there's extreme letterboxing on the sides, vertical shmups on 16:9 monitors mean short view AND attack range. Many classic arcade games used 3:4 monitors tilted on their side, so its even more extreme than you think. Vertical shmups on modern hardware often force players to stay to the middle and use spread and homing weapons. That extra view distance means modern 3D indie shmups could copy classic arcade game design on modern hardware without laying their flat screen monitors precariously on their sides.

[@Sinn0100]

1. Radiant Silvergun (SAT) 2. Thunder Force IV (GEN) 3. Battle Garegga 4. Einhander (PSX) 5. Blazing Star (AES/MVS/CDZ) 6. Phantasy Zone (GEN Mini 2) 7. Lords of Thunder (TG-16CD) 8. Blazing Lazers (TG-16) 9. Salamander Secret (TG16 mini) 10. R-Type (TG-16/SMS) Honorable mention- Bangai O (Dreamcast) Pulstar (AES/MVS/CDZ) Ordyne (Supergrafx) Galaga 90 (TG-16) UN Squadron (ARC/Snes)

[@tarantinoish]

Radiant Silvergun? The first game that popped in my mind when reading the title was Einhander though. Great game. Nice video.

[@Johnnygrafx]

Yeah that one occurred to me but the video was already pretty long so it just didn't quite make the cut off 😅 definitely a cool game though! Glad you enjoyed the video, friend.

[@entertainmentwizard2703]

Great video, shocked Radiant Silvergun didn't make the cut!

[@Johnnygrafx]

Yeah in hindsight I probably should have included it. Definitely a great game there. Glad you enjoyed though!

[@VenusFlycast]

Many of these games are still impressive for their genre today, especially the spectacular G-Darius.

[@Johnnygrafx]

Yup! Unlike a lot of early 32-bit games, the shmups tend to hold up nicely.

[@retrobeliever]

So many great titles in here, I actually for awhile didn’t care for SHMUPs but now over the last year I’ve been playing them a ton, mostly at night as a way to relax. I appreciate them and the difficulty and don’t look at them anymore as something I have to beat but more so how far can I get 🤷🏼‍♂️ Another great and fun vid John and nice shirt 😉❤️🎮

[@Johnnygrafx]

Yup that's a great way to look at them! Glad you enjoyed! And yes that's one of my favorite shirts now 🙂

[@retrobeliever]

@@JohnnygrafxExcellent!!!

[@AnthonyRiddle]

G Darius is my favorite Darius game too. I find it more easy and more fun than the others. I love trapping a mid boss and fighting with them helping.

[@Johnnygrafx]

Yeah G-Darius is a blast. You don't hear people talk about it, but it really is one of my favorite shmups at this point.

[@GikeroMage]

I beat both MGS and Mort The Chick as a child so the combo reference hit unexpectedly hard. Thanks for the chuckle. My dad bought a pawn shop PS1 bundle. We got Syphon Filter 2, Tekken 3, Mort the Chicken and 3Xtreme. No memory card. I sat through the Cube Dictator's speech so many times. Lol

[@joshradcliff4301]

Soukyu Gurentai, probably my favorite of this era along with the ray games

[@Naedlus]

G Darius' capture ball system was amazing. I was so happy to find that I could pick this up on Steam with different version options. Love charging up the beam weapon and then casually just holding autofire. Really takes some of the stress out of boss beam battles when you realize the game has handed you a cheat button.

[@Johnnygrafx]

Agreed, G Darius rules 🙂

[@demonsty]

this is a killer vid, man

[@Khardankov]

That enemy-capturing mechanism from G-Darius first sort-of showed up on the Mega Drive - check out Gaiares. One of the MD's best shooters. (Also - Those G-Darius explosions look a lot better on a CRT.)

[@opaljk4835]

I absolutely love TFV. It gets a bit of a bad rep, but looks a lot better on the Saturn if you get a chance to check it out. It’s got a lot more detail and effects

[@StrelokBogard]

I think thunder force 5 greatest sin is keeping the camera static for most of the levels, you saw how the others 32 but 2.5 shooters play with the dynamic camera as the stage scroll, well Thunder force 5 was content with polygonal graphics with the camera set on the position of 2d shooters for most of the levels(and the back grounds were kind of empty). All that being said,I do love that game… God,I do miss a new Tecnosoft shooter coming out

[@ronniepatterson2827]

Like this upload was made specifically for me? Loved all these great titles, & still say Einhander is the greatest shmup of all time - full stop.

[@ddaodao9332]

Thanks for the awesome video.

[@Johnnygrafx]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@WalrusFPGA]

silpheed came out in 1986 originally! the sega cd port is just an enhancement of that, but largely the gameplay is the same. in the context of its age, its quite good for the time.

[@Johnnygrafx]

Oh yeah, very cool for the time! I really like the PS2 one a lot.

[@dayla8634]

I was mainly listening and I kept hearing gunbear. There is a bear schmup?! nope. It was ganbare.

[@memermetalthemiddleagedaut99]

g-darius was also available on ps2 on tatito legends 2, I managed a copy for £6, just putting it out there for those looking at options

[@Deson_Bowenford]

Ah Yes, G-Darius or in my mind "You Bastards!! Leave my Giant Pterodactyls alone!!"

[@Johnnygrafx]

😂😂😂

[@GAMECLOSET]

There's a ton of SHMUPS here and I love your in-depth appraisal of them. You had several comments that made me snicker too. One example is the olive brach comment. That was great. RayStorm & RayCrisis are great ones and I ordered the trilogy from Simply Limited (I think) two years ago this coming July. Still haven't seen it and they keep saying "It's coming". I want this HD trilogy badly, so I wait like a schmuck. That Darius collection I was wondering about... for $20 why not? I still want Star Soldier though... Overboard on the CTA? I don't know if I would say that as many KZbin gurus that I watch say Sub CTAs need to be unique or integrated as opposed to just popping up randomly doing "ding ding" with the nautical bell we always hear. So, I felt your approach was unique enough to get attention to those not subscribed. I try working in different stuff myself as you know and one guru feels you shouldn't ask whatsoever- therefore treating these watching like adults that know if they want something or not. (I don't know if I agree with that strategy.) Excellently executed, fun, informative and funny as always, my friend! Thank you!

[@Johnnygrafx]

Glad you enjoyed! Yeah I dunno if CTAs work or not honestly. If they do then the difference is negligible as far as I can tell. I mostly just do them at this point to make myself laugh while I'm editing lol. Once they stop being funny I'll probably just stop doing them.

[@joahvannimoussa3510]

I kinda like Thunder Force 5's visual style, maybe because I'm a sucker for muddy PS1/Saturn graphics...

[@mattmaddogwheaton4724]

Einhander feels more like Blade Runner meets Gundam both in the storytelling and mecha designs.

[@Johnnygrafx]

Yeah it definitely does

[@williamoverton7775]

you left out philosima... the alpha.

[@Johnnygrafx]

Yeah that is definitely an interesting one!

[@soratheorangejuicemascot5809]

Suguri and Sora took what these 3d shmup did with the background. I really can't get made on 3d shmups for what they did.

[@markula_4040]

My biggest problem with most of these games is the aspect ratio. Coming to them much later has me despising the 4:3 as it just makes the play area feel cramped. I didn't have this issue growing up with earlier shooters like Gradius so I don't know what it is. Maybe the leap to 16:9 HD gaming and then coming back to PS1 era shooters instead of playing them when they were newer spoiled me.

[@Johnnygrafx]

I'm with you on that for horizontal ones for sure. 16:9 is so much better for those. 4:3 has never bothered me for vertical ones though!

[@SomaKitsune]

Einhander needs either a sequel or HD remake.

[@Johnnygrafx]

For real! I'd even take a straight up port to ps5.

[@AllfonsoNRG]

8:12 First and last video I watch from this channel.

[@Johnnygrafx]

Fair enough

[@mbe102]

Whoa, what was that game at @2:01

[@Johnnygrafx]

Invasion From Beyond! 🙂

[@mbe102]

@@Johnnygrafx awesome, thank you! Great video btw!

[@VGMFan20XX]

8:12 [F]art

[@bobbobbob321]

Silpheed was pretty interesting, it looked like the only game out of all the ones you presented that tried to really integrate the 3d into the gameplay itself. There's also stuff like 3d touhou but that style of play is too much; it's really, really hard to read a bajillion bullets in 3d as it turns out. Silpheed strikes an interesting balance, though I think it can still be improved a bit.

[@allenc6277]

Well done sir now a shmups on ps4 video thank you.

[@Johnnygrafx]

I have one about shmups on PS5 and most of those have PS4 versions! Planning a follow up to it soon 🙂

[@litjellyfish]

Where is Gradius V?

[@Johnnygrafx]

Eh, the PS2 era is a little further on from what I wanted to focus on here. Great game though!

[@kdsm6424]

G-Darius is an arcade game first and not a ps1 original game The slowdown accuracy (very important for shmup fans) of G-Darius HD is quite literally advertised in the store page Also seems like you played the ps1 version of Thunder Force 5 which has downgraded visuals by a lot, somehow it even lost a lot of transparency and fog effects despite adding it for the ps1 version, tho your opinion might not change much about the visuals Personally I like how angular and sharp the visuals and mecha designs are

[@ownageDan]

for shmups, i still prefer high quality sprites over 3d though :)

[@Johnnygrafx]

me too ultimately.

[@lukeridout1529]

I don't think it's quite 3D but.... Soukyuugurentai. Alongside Radiant Silvergun, one of the the best shmups of that generation. Not actually sure what Soukyuugurentai is - probably proto 2.5D? Never cared much for Einhander. Playfield is super tiny/borderline squished and the weapon system felt a little like a forced durability system. Just not what I want when playing a shmup, I guess. Graphics and overall art design are cool though!

[@nikkiwileman7033]

Out of the two tf5’s that come out on psx and Saturn,the Saturn version is the one ya want to play and own,dunno why ya showed the psx version for when ya were talking about the game all way through when the Saturn version looks a lot better and with stuff cut from the Saturn version when it was ported to the psx and the Saturn version isn’t called perfect system,just tf5,laters

[@Teknoman]

I know you meant R-type Complete, but yeah the "r-r-r-r-r type" vocals in the tracks were corny as hell lol

[@mikejonez9616]

einhander is da best

[@tiarabite]

Hate to be that guy, but what about Starfox?

[@Johnnygrafx]

Just talking about classic arcade-style shooters here! There's a ton of true 3D shooters like Starfox that are sort of a sesperate thing to me.

[@MarquisDeSang]

2D -> 3D -> WOKE

[@lordlex6315]

Says a delusional trumpanzee

[@lordlex6315]

"Woke" is living rent free in your head