While I vacillate some, ESP Ra.De. is most frequently at the top of the list of my favorite vertical shooters. It's ridawesome (ridiculously awesome). You play as one of 3 characters. Of course they all have diff firepower. And you even start on diff stages based on which char you choose. You have three buttons, normal fire (and hold), small bombs (limited but plentiful) and special attack (hold button for bigger attack that uses more energy). There's bonuses and stuff to collect and everything you could think of in a game like this (except direct rescues - I'll have another Vert Shooter GOTD with rescues soon).
It seems a little obvious to write this now, but the graphics, control, scoring and overall gameplay are all off the charts. It's just a home run in every way.
Interestingly, it's successor - ESPGaluda was not functional in the previous version of MAME I was playing - but now I'm playing the latest and greatest. So, I'll have to see how it and Ketsui and a couple of other newer shooters compare, but it's gonna be hard to supplant ESP Ra.De. at the top of the totem.
EspGaluda is a deeper and longer game, you should read about the play system at
ReplyDeletehttp://www.world-of-arcades.net/Cave/Espgaluda/Espgaluda.htm
if you want to play it.
The current MAME WIP builds posted on the SHMUPS forum play Espgaluda 2 will full sound too, but the need a very good PC (3ghz+ i5 processor)
Too bad most of them are gone, I never had the chance to play Ketsui other than on the Nintendo DS lol. Maybe someone will figure something out ...
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