Finally! Every KONAMI Shooter Ranked and Reviewed! Two Months in the making and as EPIC as anything that's come before. Thank you to everyone who joined the Premiere! See you in the comments. ► Join my Patreon! www.patreon.com/shmupjunkieslushfund Looking for the Hardcore 101 Konami Shooters book? Get it here: amzn.to/3zH2wD0 Watch the History of Gradius by Chris B Crisps here: th-cam.com/video/Qk7-X8ZxP7I/w-d-xo.html Check out the Dire and Bette Channel from my Gradius Gameboy segments here: th-cam.com/channels/aeFJ96obeIjbjVQR5SXsDg.html Watch Tobe Polystars on Video Game Esoterica: tinyurl.com/4vv994sa Gradius MSX Dossier series by ShmupsBR: th-cam.com/video/rVI2uTxbol0/w-d-xo.html
@@robertlawrence9000 I did yes but have been way too busy with the video to open it just yet. Hoping to have some time to play around with it this coming week though.
@@ShmupJunkie There could be some improvements. It has a bit more lag than a real Genesis system. I wish the CRT filter was a little better but it's not the worst. CRT filter is a bit dark for my liking but turning up the picture brightness helps some.
I'm only at the Parodius section, but the dedication you put into these projects is inspiring, and your enthusiasm for this genre is infectious. Your PC Engine and Mega Drive videos are my old-school shooter bibles and an incredible resource for anyone who didn't grow up with these games like me. Thank you for not only keeping this scene alive but actively introducing it to a whole new generation of fans. Long live shmups!
Every video shmup junkie makes gets more and more epic! Konami is my fave dev of all time and Gradius is my fave frenchise, this needs to be shown in theaters! TH-cam aint good enough!
What is there left to say? The glowing reviews speak for themselves, we are all thankful for what you bring to the shmup community! This is one of my favorite videos of yours, you really outdid yourself, my friend! Congratulations on another epic contribution! 🎉👏🏽🍻
Thanks! I think this one came out really well. And of course could give Axelay some love and appreciation. It was great to see you join in the chat for a while too.
Thanks for the shoutout! I'm glad to see some love for the MSX and X68000, as well as for Konami itself, which had a golden age in the past but nowadays is totally irrelevant. I'm with you on the oldschool bit of the shmups, and as much I love the modern bullet hell titles, my heart totally belongs to the 8/16/32 bit era, which is an era when Konami was a colossal videogame maker. I am also glad to see someone else saying good things about Nemesis 90 Kai / Gradius 2, Knightmare, Hinotori and Space Manbow, which were isolated to the MSX/X68000/japanese computer bubble for so long. Great video! Keep up the good work!
You're welcome my friend and I hope people go and check out your Dossier videos on MSX. I doubt there is a better set of videos out there on the subject. And I really enjoyed your Metallica and metal insights on the Gradius lineage too. I never knew that about Konami at the time.
Love that bell system from TwinBee and Parodius. It adds so many more thought processes than just shooting down enemies. "Which power up do I want? Can I shoot it enough times to reach that power up? Should I focus more on enemies right now? Maybe I should just take all the yellow bells for points and maybe get a 1UP." That's the kind of interesting decision making on the fly that needs to be in more shmups. Great video dude! This be an excellent time capsule for future generations to check out.
Thanks! And thank you so much for the contribution. I'm getting close to be done with the Every SNES Shooter video so it should be out in a week or two.
2:11:53 Yes, the GBA does indeed just sound like that. It didn't have a dedicated sound chip, so any game audio had to fight for resources on the cpu. The worst part is that Gradius Galaxies actually sounds really good by GBA standards.
Your videos just get more and more impressive. In my opinion this one is your best yet. Congratulations on getting it out, and thanks for pouring so much thought and care into all your content. They’re some of the very best retro game videos on TH-cam, both in terms of production quality and actual depth of knowledge and experience. Your enthusiasm is contagious. In the past couple years you’ve introduced me to lots of great games and given me a much clearer historical sense of the genre as a whole. Thank you!
I love the enthusiasm he puts into the reviews of each game and how detailed they are. You can see that he REALLY has a passion for gaming. This is one of the best channels of all youtube. I hope it goes VERY far. :D
This is great, Junkie! Your large format works are required viewing for the shootemup population. Great production value, info, summaries, and personal takes.
Bro you just keep outdoing yourself. It's crazy how much time and effort must have gone into this video. So many games and different versions of games I hadn't even heard of. You're one of a kind.
That's why I was dark for a good couple months without any other videos haha. It's a ton of work but I prefer to release something I'm proud of and others can enjoy and use as a reference in the future. So it was worth the effort.
@@ShmupJunkie Well you're setting a gold standard few will be able to follow. Just remember we don't always expect this crazy amount of work. Probably don't deserve it either!
OUTSTANDING! I love your "Every Game Reviewed" format. It's an engaging mix of comprehensive series reviews and light documentary in your personal style. I appreciate your objectivity of each game in contemporary and current context. You're also great at providing context for pro, intermediate, and beginner shmup fans. I enjoy that kind of inclusive viewpoint, and you're among the best at providing it in your videos. It makes every one a real joy to watch and fun to watch again several times over. Thank you for all your hard work - this one paid off big time!
Thank you so much for the thoughful comment, much appreciated. It's always a balancing act keeping each game within a short length. Going deep enough and provide my assessment, but not overly deep or technical like scoring minutia etc, but then also not these lazy overviews across most of youtube where you can tell they played the game for no more than 5-10min and have no business rendering an opinion. It's a really tough juggling act and writing the scripts takes a lot of time. So thanks to you and everyone for being patient. Putting out a good product takes time but I'm happy with how it came out.
My first Konami shooter I played was Gradius 3. I was going to college the day it arrived at Electronics Boutique. As the professor droned on, all I could think about was playing it that day. I didn't have a backlog of games like today, so getting that game was an event. I'll never forget how excited I was when I bought it. I carefully unboxed it careful not to bend the beautiful manual. I played it for the rest of the day. Wow, for a 4 meg game this one was a labor of love by Konami. It had great replay value too.
I never got to own a SNES myself, but a friend next door did and is where I saw and played most of them. I remember Gradius 3 well. Despite it running slow as it did, we were pretty entranced with the amazing look and sound of the game. And it was still a lot of fun to play. We sure played the heck out of it!
One of the best youtube channels hands down. i really appreciate the effort and production quality, specially that you know how to keep volume levels balanced through your videos entirety.
I admit it took me some time back in the day to get into Axelay. The vertical levels just have a feel to the control that took some getting used to. Like the game was kicking my ass despite not being overly hard. But once I got how it wanted me to play I really got to enjoy it. Was a huge bummer they never made another.
This video was such an amazing trip down memory lane for me. Had the biggest smile on my face for 2+ hours. Thanks for all the hard work and effort you put into making these, it truly was a treat to watch and experience!
You're very welcome. It's such a ton of work but worth seeing it come out well in the end. I hope they remain something people come back to and enjoy long after I've stopped making more.
Thanks! will watch it later tonight, as the main event of the day... or most probably of the week :) and btw I am getting a new tv today so this will be THE movie to 'celebrate' its arrival :))
Thank you so much. And congrats on the new purchase. I hope it’ll look good on the big screen and TH-cam doesn’t overly compress the video abs scanlines. Please enjoy. I know several of my subs that watch the new vids on the big screen.
I'm savoring this video. Watching it through several days, a couple of segments at a time. This way, I can let what I saw sink in and I'll enjoy it even more. Thanks for the huge amount of work, Junkie. I'll for sure be referencing and rewatching this analysis again and again in the future.
It took me some time to get through this, but I absolutely love these videos where you dive into so many or the incredible details. Thanks for putting this together!
Simply sensational! I was glued to the screen following everything, many games I knew, but some I don't think I would even imagine they existed. Congratulations on the great work and greetings from a big shmup fan here in Brazil.
Welcome back! My first Konami shooter game was Stinger. I think I rented it. It was hard back when I was a kid. I didn't understand why in horizontal scrolling stages, a single hit destroyed the ship, but in vertical stages, you could take an extra hit (you lose your bombing ability on the first hit). The Konami code doesn't work on it. My next Konami shooter was Life Force on the NES. I used the Konami code, but I didn't need all of the lives. It was easier than Stinger.
Thanks! It does feel like I was gone lol. Even though I was working on the video pretty much daily for two months. I really liked the vertical stages in Stinger but the horizontal ones not so much. Especially juggling the bells vertically versus how Parodius does it later. Kind of an early experiment I guess. No comparison though Life Force was killer. I still like playing the old nes game sometimes for nostalgia.
@@ShmupJunkie Finally got around to watching most of this video. Regarding Gradius V, Treasure made the game, but they also brought in Hitoshi Sakimoto to score the music. This duo were also the ones behind Radiant Silvergun. In looking at Sakimoto's soundtrack history, while his early career was in shmups, the bulk of his career was in RPG music. Gradius V was one of the few shooter soundtracks he did in between a lot of RPG music.
Yeah! Looking forward to this! I remember playing Gradius at the convenience store as a kid, and Life Force (Salamander) at the bowling alley. Also spending hours with my best friend playing Gradius on his NES when the home port became available. I’m not ashamed to admit that we made liberal use of the Konami code. I was delighted to learn of the Parodius series years later. Never had a chance to play it in the arcade, but was able to enjoy it through the magic of emulation. I just wish it would come to the Nintendo Switch.
We all used the Konami code no shame at all. It helped learn the game until we eventually didn't need it. Was the same with Contra too. Konami would earn some serious brownie points if they gave us a Parodius collection or similar. Perfect collections exist already for many of their series on the PSP that are so well done, that just getting identical releases on modern hardware would be more than enough.
Excellent job man, loved hearing your take on so many obscure titles - Space Manbow FTW! So much great info and quality footage here, this is really an excellent companion to go with that book from HardcoreGaming 101, an absolute essential for any old school Konami fan!
Thanks man, glad you appreciated and enjoyed it. I really enjoyed your works and detail on the Gradius and Salamander games so far too. You and ChrisB are the only ones to have really done good history vids on the series. This is definitely a nice companion to the book. And I hope mentioning it and linking will sell some more copies as it's such an awesome work. I love mine.
I never was really into shoot em up type games until I started watching your channel. I am still terrible at them, but you have helped me understand this genre of games so much better and the variety and fun it can provide. Thank you!
Thank you so much. It's a big reason I started and am still going. I feel like I've played a small part in keeping the love for the genre going and getting some new people into giving them a shot. It's not for everyone, but it's also not about being amazing at them. I have a lot of friends that still think they suck yet love playing them and always have. It's almost understood that some of the games may never be completed. And it's more about the experience and just having fun with them when you want to and slowly improving over time if you enjoy it enough. As kids we played them that way and not competitively.
Thanks! Yeah, it's been painful though with no video for so long. As the channel was growing really well after the last couple bangers, but has completely stagnated and nearly shut down over the last month. TH-cam is a "what have you done for me lately" kind of service haha. But I wasn't going to skimp on a huge vid like this and made sure I took all the time needed to make it kick ass. It came out great and think everyone is going to love it. Here's hoping it'll get us closer to 30K!
Amazing video as always! Ended up watching the whole thing in one sitting. There were quite a few games I hadn't heard of before, and several I hadn't played in forever. I'll definitely be trying to fire some of these up soon!
Thanks! And really glad you enjoyed it. Crazy you could watch it through in one sitting. And even more glad you discovered new games through it. One of the best thing about making these.
KONAMI shooters are a huge part of my gaming life, 40 years of incredible music, fun and greatness that I've never forgotten and never will. Pure joy to see them homaged like this. THANK YOU. Well deserved shoutout to @ChrisBCrisps BTW!
I feel the same and why I chose Konami as the next project. Just a ton of love for all of their old games not just the shooters. And they made so many more than people realize. They may not have been know as an STG company but they made more than just about anyone.
Halfway through the video, currently at the Solar Assault section but i just wanna take a few second to say that i love your reviews here from what i've seen so far.The amount of dedication put into the editing/recording can be seen here and you deserve lots of credits.
thank you, that's much appreciated. And please take your time and watch in segments as you are able. Enjoy it. I know it's long and takes time to get through. I'm just glad you and others are enjoying it.
HOLY SHIT Miki Higashino was the composer for the original Gradius???? I had no idea! Her Suikoden 1 soundtrack is my single favourite OST of all time.
Man you've outdone yourself yet again! this video blew me away with how much coverage you packed into almost 3 hours! anyway my takes on some of these selections: Super Cobra - I HAD that portable Entex LCD version of the game, it was probably the earliest videogame I remember! Gradius - man yeah enough freaking said! loved the NES version but if I can figure out PSX games on my HDTV, I may hunt down Gradius Deluxe Pack (and for sure Gradius 3-5 on PS2!) Gradius II: Gofer's Ambition - Might be my favorite entry in the series! Definitely one I'm really trying to learn, for sure. also what a soundtrack! Burning Heat! might be my favorite Gradius song ever (it's certainly my favorite song in DDRMAX2, the first time I'd ever heard that remix of it) and the voices! Gofer taunting you the entire way. Gradius III I definitely remember as a launch title for the Super NES!! I had heard about the SA-1 hack but I'd probably have a hard enough time with the stock version IDK if I'm ready for it, haha. (and the konami code thing, LMAO! the trick is to use the shoulder buttons, man I wonder who came up with that troll?! XD) Gradius GAIDEN - another one I emulated, definitely tough as nails but certainly it's one of the best in the series!! Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius - I downloaded an ISO of the PSX original years ago and just fell in love with the game! Easily my favorite entry in the series. Probably gonna have an easier time affording the SFC version, though. one of these days! Nemesis - the wife and I just started collecting for game boy and this was one of the first pickups, a fun gradius port for OG gameboy! nice to have extra lives and a level select built in, too. Gradius Rebirth - It is an absolute fucking crime that you can buy the soundtrack on vinyl, but you have to pirate the game itself as it hasn't been re-released in any way shape or form! I checked out the rebirth games on the wii originally, they were actually pretty fun sequels! yeah I think all the rebirth games were rather short. Sky Jaguar - funny enough this and Knightmare got unofficial sequels on Nintendo Switch! IDEK how they got past konami's lawyers but I did buy the sequel it's neat, if repetitive.
Gradius II is definitely my fav in the series too and my second fav soundtrack after Gradius III which I also love. Ok third if we are counting Salamander, but damn they are all good! I was able to get rebirth loaded on my Wii and keep it around mainly for the virtual console releases still on there. I just realized I failed to show any of those old LCD games they made. Damn lol
Gradius III SNES will always hold a special place in my heart for getting me into shoot em ups. I remember doing an attempt a day for a week when I first got it over a Christmas break, and by the end of the week I was able to finish it. Gradius V being made by Treasure is pure poetry considering their origins as ex Konami employees. Treasure came full circle. I appreciate your channel! You can hear the passion you have for each game, and it's nice to see in depth coverage for a relatively niche subject.
It holds a special place for so many of us. Especially since it’s the version most of us played and still do. They really took an overly difficult and unfair arcade release and turned it into an excellent game with the home port. And you’re very welcome. I enjoy making these despite the massive amount of time they take. I really feel they’ll last a long time and be revisited here on TH-cam. I’m almost done with the next one! Should be out in just a week or so.
I was an MSX Kid, and I'm glad to see those games here, especially Knightmare, which had a classic Brazilian hack, tough as nails and character-building. Plus Gradius ans Salamander on Arcades, my real intro to gaming competition. Thanks for the great video!
Another S tier video. It has inspired me to go back and play some old Konami shmups as well as learn about many that I knew little or nothing about. I had to watch this in a few sittings to absorb the volume of information.
It's taken me like a week and a half watching this on and off while I work to get through it. Once again, you are a damn machine sir! Incredible work and you've given me a number of new games to try my hand at. Love your stuff!
Another great installment in your encyclopedic software house/console shmup history series. Every installment is so rewatchable.Its great and so accessible.If I'm in a toaplan mood them I can go and watch that , or Compile and so on! Thanks again for the awesome work!
Thanks! That's how it goes for me making them too. I don't always know which console or developer I want to do next. It depends on my mood that month and what I am feeling nostalgic for or want to play most. I'm hoping they all last a long time and help more people discover them.
Gradius V is by far my favorite Konami/Shoot-em-up game because of the Graphics, Music, Bosses or pretty much every thing about it I just hope there would be a remastered collection of the Gradius games or a Gradius VI which would be really cool
Great video! While I'm definitely not a shmup expert, but Konami's great games introduced me to the genre properly, so I'm really nostalgic towards them.
I'm almost done the video but one rookie mistake I wanted to point out was that Axelay isn't using mode 7 at all in its vertical stages backgrounds, that effect could be done on other hardware as seen in special stages in sonic 3d blast on genesis.
Also, yes GBA is suppose to sound like that because it wasn't known for its sound capabilities but konami did manage to pull off decent music in aria of sorrow while dropping the ball completely in gradius and harmony of dissonance (go listen to it and let me know). I mean in dissonance , the tunes themselves are good, but the quality is just bad.
I played the original Gradius MSX games as a kid and I was hugely impressed. We were a group of friends and some of us had an MSX. Buying an MSX cartridge was such an event that we all gathered to talk about the game and enjoy it. When we got Nemesis 3 it was like the end ofe the world. It was not getting any better than that :DDD . Amazing video man. Great job.
This video was something I came back too a few times to complete. Lots of great info for a new shmup connoisseur! Love your videos man, keep up the great content!
So, not sure someone explained it yet, but the GBA had the original sound chip from the GB, but anything more advanced (sampled audio) had to be done in software, which required CPU time. You had to pick between using the CPU for the game itself or the audio. So Galaxies suffers from the choice to used sampled audio while prioritizing the CPU for gameplay. Awesome video, and always fun to see your takes on games. Edit: Listen to a lot of GBA music and you'll notice it sounds noisy. That's the CPU sound vs gameplay problem in full swing. The GBA Castlevania collection on modern consoles actually has an enhanced audio option (on by default) that uses remastered audio so your ears don't bleed.
A few have chimed in yeah, though opinions have been mixed. Some say it sounded much better on the hardware and others say they have the real thing and it sounds poor there too lol. So opinions are divided. Either way a shame since the compositions are still really good for the most part.
@ShmupJunkie, you beautiful human! This review is next-level amazing. Here I am, struggling to string two sentences together, and you create this masterpiece! How long did it take you to make this work of art?
@@DrAhmedAshry lol, well thank you. When I make these huge compilation videos my hope is that they’ll be useful and entertaining to future generations interested in these games and consoles. And a nostalgic look back for those of us who played and still play them. Almost like a fun encyclopedia to watch. They take hundreds of hours to make but it’s always been worth it.
Fantastic video! This (and frankly all your videos) oozes quality with passion you have for the subject. I really enjoy hearing your take on the games and often finding myself agreeing with you! Konami were one of the greats. My journey with them started with Scramble on the Vectrex. I remember me and my brother playing that for hours on end, along with the built-in game Minestorm as our introduction to the world of Shmups (still have my original Vectrex, games and overlays - amazing it still works fine!). Of all Konami shooters, Parodius had to be my favourite, it’s one of my go to games and still played a lot to this day. It has the perfect mix of silliness, chaos, visuals, and a great soundtrack to round it all off! I had no idea that it came out on the earlier systems, I first had the PAL version on the SNES here in the UK along with a copy of it on the Sega Saturn. So many great games that I need to check out from your videos! Have been playing a lot of PC Engine titles that I discovered from your channel. That was a rare system here in the UK, the only time I ever saw one was a gaming convention back in the very early 90's and the occasional mention in magazines! Was a real hidden gem for me, enjoyed that so much on the MiSTer that I ended up picking up a TurboExpress for the pure novelty of it.. What a system!
Hi Shmup Junkie! I love your videos they are really interesting and fun to watch, you are so creative! I have a question - do you know which of the shoot em ups have the most available powerups? Usually i see some shoot em ups only have 5 or so until the powerups become bonus points instead. Is there any of them out there that you can become so powerful that eventually you "break the game" so that it becomes so easy because of the amount of powerups acquired builds up to an extreme? that's a fascination that I wonder about and would like to see. Best wishes corehex
Incredible work as always. I jumped in like 45 minutes late but almost done with the video now. So many games ive never even heard of. Thanks for all you do for this community Junkie!!
@@ShmupJunkie of course! Your videos are always something I look forward to. Funnilly enough, you really got me interested in the PC Engine. So much so I bought my own duo RX last month! I only have a couple games so far, but the system is region modded so I can enjoy both TG16 and PC Engine games. I've been loving it so far! It's definitely the one 16 bit era console I had virtually no exposure to growing up except for seeing a bunch of ads in comic books all the time. It was an oddity to me for sure, so being able to get into it as an adult has been an amazing experience overall. And it's really all thanks to you.
Haha, good call. I didn't include the LCD handheld games. I don't think I've ever seen one in the wild before but looks like they got some vids of it on youtube.
Epic! Your long videos are a real treat, looking forward to whichever Developer you will cover next. This one is really interesting for me, because I've neglected Konami a bit. I have quite a few of these games, but have never gotten into them much. This makes me want to try some of them again, maybe a few will hit differently now.
This is an amazing well put together video! It was a joy from start to finish. As a kid I never cared for shooters because I played D-Force on Snes and I just assumed all shooters were boring. Once I got older I got Gradius III so I decided to check it out and instantly I was hooked. Snes Gradius III, famicom Gradius II, Nes life force, and the snes parodius games are probably my favorite shooters of all, but I also love a ton others including Super Aleste on Snes. I’ve already watched this video plus your video on every mega drive shooter. I hope you make a video about every famicom/Nes shooter and a Snes video. Thanks!
Thanks! And absolutely I plan to work on SNES as the next project. I get a lot of requests for it not surprisingly. Even if it didn't have as many it sure had a heck of a lot of good ones I still play often. What a terrible entry point with D-Force! haha. I'm sorry for that.
Thank you. Yes, massive amounts of time, hundreds of hours. I just take it in steps and try and enjoy the process, even if it takes a really long time to finally put the video out. It's worth the effort.
What a masterful video!! Thank you so much. It was a joy to watch it through. Also, thank you for the excellent covering of the MSX titles. As a kid in the eighties in the Netherlands, I played all of these little known gems. Konami gave the MSX so much love back then!
Shump Junkie's videos are always well made! This one is no exception. The scenes from one to another are well transitioned; and the narration shows lots of research.
Konami has tons of great shmups like Gradius, Twinbee, Axelay, Parodius, etc., and I've had alot of fun playing them. I have both Gradius and Parodius collections on my Playstation Portable, & my favorite games of them are Gradius Gaiden & Sexy Parodius.
I'm rewatching many of your videos and I hope you'll find support enough so you can keep on creating content like this. There's so much content and potential ahead. Every Arcade Shooter Part 1 of 100 (2 hours each part)! Just kidding, here's hoping for the NES and 32-bit consoles when you possibly get to them!
Super glad you're enjoying them as I do enjoy making them. As long as they do well and people keep watching I'll keep at it long as I do as well. I'm currently doing a shorter, fun culmination episode of the 3 16bit consoles and comparing the best games from all of them in various categories, picking some winners. It'll be a bit spicy but entertaining haha. But yes, I get a lot of requests for Saturn, NES and even PS1, so those would be on the list. Though I think Neo Geo will happen as it's shorter and would be a nice break for me with under 20 games to cover haha.
Yes, it's important to always have fun in the process and to never let it become a job, if possible. I'm looking forward to your future projects and the upcoming NEO GEO focused video!
Thanks! All these “every shooter reviewed” videos are insane work hundreds of hours. But they’ve been really popular and I enjoy them too. It’s like an encyclopedia for shooters on various consoles and developers. And it helps a lot of people discover new games they weren’t aware of. I’m working on one for the SNES at the moment which will have some overlap from this video, since Konami had a few games ported. But I can focus on the ports instead. Really glad you enjoyed it.
OMG, YOU ARE BAAAAACK!!!! For a moment there, I thought something had happened to you. I'm glad you are alive and well. The shmups community miss you. I miss you. Thank you for another great supersized video.
Yessir I was just busy making a massive video that took months to do. Always keep an eye on my community tab if you want to know what's up. I was keeping everyone up to date there on how it was going and even posting little segments of the video for everyone to watch in the meantime. I hope it was worth the wait.
Well all I can do is send a huge round of applause your way for this truly epic undertaking 👏👏👏👏 Thank you for the time and effort poured In to this epic that has been well worth the agonising wait. God only knows what you have planned for the next video but I can guarantee that I’ll be on board for it. Congratulations buddy!!
yo the only shmups i can play are touhou and tyrian so ive always known i was missing out on a lot. this really lets me glance at such a rich tapestry of creative titles. i LOVE your energy and enthusiasm. you can really feel the love you have for these games in this review. thank you for your hard work man 👍
You're welcome. And BTW Touhou games are fantastic for gaining some serious skills playing these games. Some of the best players I know are younger and started with Touhou. In an older video I made on How to Shmup I had a segment on Touhou 7 and 8, using their easy mode for training.
An epic journey through the Konami cannon...er, canon! As always I come away from your work more informed, and my enthusiasm for the genre energized. I've got old favorites to revisit and new challenges to look forward to.
What a amazing big video :) , a blast to watch from the start to end. You are on of the best youtubers in these types of videos, I love you videos on Neo Geo shump videos too. Great job!
@@ShmupJunkie If you do it, we will heard "brutal" a lot :D . Neo Geo shumps are the hardests, I´m trying to finish Last Resort and I keep falling, A LOT..
Hi there, just found your channel and man... this content is incredible. I really appreciate all the work that must have gone into making this and all the passion that you clearly have for this stuff, not to mention the shoutouts to other content creators and boosting their content too. Sorry for not commenting anything on the topic of the video, but I just had to say how amazing this video is. Also, my favorite Shmup of all time is Gradius V.
As always top notch video bro! I've bought a few konami collections on ps4 all under 3 bucks on the last sale worth the buy! Bought a shooter collection and almost all the castlevania classics!
Gradius 3 has my heart to this very day. The SNES version is one of the first games I ever played in my life, the moment i was old enough to hold a controller. I'd regularly get to the level High Speed Zone (level 8). Brutal game, the music is engraved in my head forever. Amazing game.
I loved Life Force. Although simple u used to really like Time Pilot. I all but forgot about Ajax! I would always sink quarters into it, and it always seemed to only be at bowling alleys and grocery stores but never at my arcade. Gyrus was another fave of mine too. Great vid!video! Brought back many great memories.
I appreciate the references to channels that you got footage from. 👍 Had another channel I was subbed to steal my footage from a game, and then banned me from the comments when I recognized it.
Dude, that's messed up. I do my best and if I accidentally miss something on a massive project like this, which is quite possible, I'd gladly make sure and add it to the description and any other way I can. I actually like using other people's content that I know and actively try to give them a shout and some exposure. There are so many incredible players out there like Refkey_STG that deserve a lot more viewers for their talent. So I want to shout them out as often as possible. Don't really get the reason to use it and not credit it. There's nothing to gain from it.
Thanks again for an amazing video!!🎉 Thunder Cross is what got me into shooters back in the day and it's still the golden standard for me because of the music that gives you no other option but to get excited about the game and the controls and the power ups feel just right.
This is the first video I've watched from you. Excellent production values and knowledge of all the games. Definitely a load of passion and hard work went into this video. As a shmup fan I'm totally bowled over by how good this is. I plan to go through all your back catalogue and seriously enjoy your output. Great news on your next video, that being the SNES shmups. Super Aleste/Megaforce is a sensational blaster and imo the best. You've just got another subscriber. Best of luck with future videos 👍
Awesome! Welcome and I hope you enjoy the others too. I’ve slowly tried to improve the production value with each one. I did one just like this for Toaplan as well it’s one of my favorites. It even has Tetsuya Uemura in there listing his top 5 favorites! I did videos for mega drive and pc engine as well. Really glad you found me and hope you enjoy. We have a really great community here and you can likely tell by a lot of the commenters.
Finally! Every KONAMI Shooter Ranked and Reviewed! Two Months in the making and as EPIC as anything that's come before. Thank you to everyone who joined the Premiere! See you in the comments.
► Join my Patreon! www.patreon.com/shmupjunkieslushfund
Looking for the Hardcore 101 Konami Shooters book? Get it here: amzn.to/3zH2wD0
Watch the History of Gradius by Chris B Crisps here: th-cam.com/video/Qk7-X8ZxP7I/w-d-xo.html
Check out the Dire and Bette Channel from my Gradius Gameboy segments here: th-cam.com/channels/aeFJ96obeIjbjVQR5SXsDg.html
Watch Tobe Polystars on Video Game Esoterica: tinyurl.com/4vv994sa
Gradius MSX Dossier series by ShmupsBR: th-cam.com/video/rVI2uTxbol0/w-d-xo.html
Did you pick up a Genesis Mini 2? It's pretty great
@@robertlawrence9000 I did yes but have been way too busy with the video to open it just yet. Hoping to have some time to play around with it this coming week though.
@@ShmupJunkie There could be some improvements. It has a bit more lag than a real Genesis system. I wish the CRT filter was a little better but it's not the worst. CRT filter is a bit dark for my liking but turning up the picture brightness helps some.
Fix this comment 😉
@@ShmupJunkie I miss Konami. I even love their logo. The Gradius arcade was way better than the NES version.
I'm only at the Parodius section, but the dedication you put into these projects is inspiring, and your enthusiasm for this genre is infectious. Your PC Engine and Mega Drive videos are my old-school shooter bibles and an incredible resource for anyone who didn't grow up with these games like me. Thank you for not only keeping this scene alive but actively introducing it to a whole new generation of fans. Long live shmups!
Shmup Junkie is probably the best person in the world!
I'll just be happy if I'm making the best shooting vids in the world. I can live with that.
Aww, so cute...
No, Don Tango. You are.
Call me Vic Viper!
Yeah He did best shoot em'ups on video game series
Every video shmup junkie makes gets more and more epic! Konami is my fave dev of all time and Gradius is my fave frenchise, this needs to be shown in theaters! TH-cam aint good enough!
Ha! You won't be disappointed this video came out great and kicks ass. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow.
That would be epic on a movie screen
Silent hill the best frenchise
What is there left to say? The glowing reviews speak for themselves, we are all thankful for what you bring to the shmup community! This is one of my favorite videos of yours, you really outdid yourself, my friend! Congratulations on another epic contribution! 🎉👏🏽🍻
Thanks! I think this one came out really well. And of course could give Axelay some love and appreciation. It was great to see you join in the chat for a while too.
Thanks for the shoutout! I'm glad to see some love for the MSX and X68000, as well as for Konami itself, which had a golden age in the past but nowadays is totally irrelevant. I'm with you on the oldschool bit of the shmups, and as much I love the modern bullet hell titles, my heart totally belongs to the 8/16/32 bit era, which is an era when Konami was a colossal videogame maker. I am also glad to see someone else saying good things about Nemesis 90 Kai / Gradius 2, Knightmare, Hinotori and Space Manbow, which were isolated to the MSX/X68000/japanese computer bubble for so long. Great video! Keep up the good work!
You're welcome my friend and I hope people go and check out your Dossier videos on MSX. I doubt there is a better set of videos out there on the subject. And I really enjoyed your Metallica and metal insights on the Gradius lineage too. I never knew that about Konami at the time.
Thanks for showing and reminding me of Super Copter!! OMG. Tears poured out just looking at that
Love that bell system from TwinBee and Parodius. It adds so many more thought processes than just shooting down enemies. "Which power up do I want? Can I shoot it enough times to reach that power up? Should I focus more on enemies right now? Maybe I should just take all the yellow bells for points and maybe get a 1UP."
That's the kind of interesting decision making on the fly that needs to be in more shmups.
Great video dude! This be an excellent time capsule for future generations to check out.
Thanks for another excellent video, keep it up!
Thanks! And thank you so much for the contribution. I'm getting close to be done with the Every SNES Shooter video so it should be out in a week or two.
2:11:53 Yes, the GBA does indeed just sound like that. It didn't have a dedicated sound chip, so any game audio had to fight for resources on the cpu. The worst part is that Gradius Galaxies actually sounds really good by GBA standards.
I wonder if it sounds better if played through a gba player on the gamecube?
Your videos just get more and more impressive. In my opinion this one is your best yet. Congratulations on getting it out, and thanks for pouring so much thought and care into all your content. They’re some of the very best retro game videos on TH-cam, both in terms of production quality and actual depth of knowledge and experience. Your enthusiasm is contagious. In the past couple years you’ve introduced me to lots of great games and given me a much clearer historical sense of the genre as a whole. Thank you!
I love the enthusiasm he puts into the reviews of each game and how detailed they are. You can see that he REALLY has a passion for gaming. This is one of the best channels of all youtube. I hope it goes VERY far. :D
Thank you. I hope so too! I'm really enjoying making videos like these and hope to keep going.
This is great, Junkie! Your large format works are required viewing for the shootemup population. Great production value, info, summaries, and personal takes.
Bro you just keep outdoing yourself. It's crazy how much time and effort must have gone into this video. So many games and different versions of games I hadn't even heard of. You're one of a kind.
That's why I was dark for a good couple months without any other videos haha. It's a ton of work but I prefer to release something I'm proud of and others can enjoy and use as a reference in the future. So it was worth the effort.
@@ShmupJunkie Well you're setting a gold standard few will be able to follow. Just remember we don't always expect this crazy amount of work. Probably don't deserve it either!
OUTSTANDING! I love your "Every Game Reviewed" format. It's an engaging mix of comprehensive series reviews and light documentary in your personal style. I appreciate your objectivity of each game in contemporary and current context. You're also great at providing context for pro, intermediate, and beginner shmup fans. I enjoy that kind of inclusive viewpoint, and you're among the best at providing it in your videos. It makes every one a real joy to watch and fun to watch again several times over. Thank you for all your hard work - this one paid off big time!
Thank you so much for the thoughful comment, much appreciated. It's always a balancing act keeping each game within a short length. Going deep enough and provide my assessment, but not overly deep or technical like scoring minutia etc, but then also not these lazy overviews across most of youtube where you can tell they played the game for no more than 5-10min and have no business rendering an opinion. It's a really tough juggling act and writing the scripts takes a lot of time. So thanks to you and everyone for being patient. Putting out a good product takes time but I'm happy with how it came out.
My first Konami shooter I played was Gradius 3. I was going to college the day it arrived at Electronics Boutique. As the professor droned on, all I could think about was playing it that day. I didn't have a backlog of games like today, so getting that game was an event. I'll never forget how excited I was when I bought it. I carefully unboxed it careful not to bend the beautiful manual. I played it for the rest of the day. Wow, for a 4 meg game this one was a labor of love by Konami. It had great replay value too.
I never got to own a SNES myself, but a friend next door did and is where I saw and played most of them. I remember Gradius 3 well. Despite it running slow as it did, we were pretty entranced with the amazing look and sound of the game. And it was still a lot of fun to play. We sure played the heck out of it!
@@ShmupJunkie I played it so much I would use the game to test colors on my tvs.
One of the best youtube channels hands down. i really appreciate the effort and production quality, specially that you know how to keep volume levels balanced through your videos entirety.
Axelay is such a classic, the game does so much stuff that was ahead of it s time. A treasure style shmup before treasure :-)
Xexex screams Treasure too.
I admit it took me some time back in the day to get into Axelay. The vertical levels just have a feel to the control that took some getting used to. Like the game was kicking my ass despite not being overly hard. But once I got how it wanted me to play I really got to enjoy it. Was a huge bummer they never made another.
You are most definitely the best game content creator
Impressive work! You truly are the Shmup Junkie!
This video was such an amazing trip down memory lane for me. Had the biggest smile on my face for 2+ hours. Thanks for all the hard work and effort you put into making these, it truly was a treat to watch and experience!
You're very welcome. It's such a ton of work but worth seeing it come out well in the end. I hope they remain something people come back to and enjoy long after I've stopped making more.
Thanks! will watch it later tonight, as the main event of the day... or most probably of the week :) and btw I am getting a new tv today so this will be THE movie to 'celebrate' its arrival :))
Thank you so much. And congrats on the new purchase. I hope it’ll look good on the big screen and TH-cam doesn’t overly compress the video abs scanlines. Please enjoy. I know several of my subs that watch the new vids on the big screen.
Massive video! I can feel the love for the genre in every second of it. You are THE Shmup-guy on the internet!.
I just love your passion!
I'm savoring this video. Watching it through several days, a couple of segments at a time. This way, I can let what I saw sink in and I'll enjoy it even more. Thanks for the huge amount of work, Junkie. I'll for sure be referencing and rewatching this analysis again and again in the future.
It took me some time to get through this, but I absolutely love these videos where you dive into so many or the incredible details. Thanks for putting this together!
Simply sensational! I was glued to the screen following everything, many games I knew, but some I don't think I would even imagine they existed. Congratulations on the great work and greetings from a big shmup fan here in Brazil.
It was fun doing voiceover work again (been a long time, not counting our videos). Thanks for having me!
It was great having you do it buddy and it worked out well! At least I thought so.
@@ShmupJunkie So did I. Hopefully everyone else liked it too.
Welcome back!
My first Konami shooter game was Stinger. I think I rented it. It was hard back when I was a kid. I didn't understand why in horizontal scrolling stages, a single hit destroyed the ship, but in vertical stages, you could take an extra hit (you lose your bombing ability on the first hit). The Konami code doesn't work on it.
My next Konami shooter was Life Force on the NES. I used the Konami code, but I didn't need all of the lives. It was easier than Stinger.
Thanks! It does feel like I was gone lol. Even though I was working on the video pretty much daily for two months. I really liked the vertical stages in Stinger but the horizontal ones not so much. Especially juggling the bells vertically versus how Parodius does it later. Kind of an early experiment I guess. No comparison though Life Force was killer. I still like playing the old nes game sometimes for nostalgia.
@@ShmupJunkie Finally got around to watching most of this video.
Regarding Gradius V, Treasure made the game, but they also brought in Hitoshi Sakimoto to score the music. This duo were also the ones behind Radiant Silvergun.
In looking at Sakimoto's soundtrack history, while his early career was in shmups, the bulk of his career was in RPG music. Gradius V was one of the few shooter soundtracks he did in between a lot of RPG music.
Yeah! Looking forward to this! I remember playing Gradius at the convenience store as a kid, and Life Force (Salamander) at the bowling alley. Also spending hours with my best friend playing Gradius on his NES when the home port became available.
I’m not ashamed to admit that we made liberal use of the Konami code.
I was delighted to learn of the Parodius series years later. Never had a chance to play it in the arcade, but was able to enjoy it through the magic of emulation. I just wish it would come to the Nintendo Switch.
We all used the Konami code no shame at all. It helped learn the game until we eventually didn't need it. Was the same with Contra too. Konami would earn some serious brownie points if they gave us a Parodius collection or similar. Perfect collections exist already for many of their series on the PSP that are so well done, that just getting identical releases on modern hardware would be more than enough.
I've beaten Contra without the code,but even the would use it in 2 player
Axelay,salamander and gradius 1 are my favourite shmups from konami
Excellent job man, loved hearing your take on so many obscure titles - Space Manbow FTW! So much great info and quality footage here, this is really an excellent companion to go with that book from HardcoreGaming 101, an absolute essential for any old school Konami fan!
Thanks man, glad you appreciated and enjoyed it. I really enjoyed your works and detail on the Gradius and Salamander games so far too. You and ChrisB are the only ones to have really done good history vids on the series. This is definitely a nice companion to the book. And I hope mentioning it and linking will sell some more copies as it's such an awesome work. I love mine.
ok, i can see why the wait was long! dude this is more of an epic documentary then a review video because of how massive this collection is. Amazing!
Thanks for making this. Konami hold a place in my heart as one of the developers that got me into video games. You’re hard work really shows here.
I never was really into shoot em up type games until I started watching your channel. I am still terrible at them, but you have helped me understand this genre of games so much better and the variety and fun it can provide. Thank you!
Thank you so much. It's a big reason I started and am still going. I feel like I've played a small part in keeping the love for the genre going and getting some new people into giving them a shot. It's not for everyone, but it's also not about being amazing at them. I have a lot of friends that still think they suck yet love playing them and always have. It's almost understood that some of the games may never be completed. And it's more about the experience and just having fun with them when you want to and slowly improving over time if you enjoy it enough. As kids we played them that way and not competitively.
Wow! You made it to 25k subs
Even with so much downtime between vids, I'm still happy to see you're channel growing. Congratulations pal 👍
Thanks! Yeah, it's been painful though with no video for so long. As the channel was growing really well after the last couple bangers, but has completely stagnated and nearly shut down over the last month. TH-cam is a "what have you done for me lately" kind of service haha. But I wasn't going to skimp on a huge vid like this and made sure I took all the time needed to make it kick ass. It came out great and think everyone is going to love it. Here's hoping it'll get us closer to 30K!
You are a national treasure and your work here is massively appreciated.
Amazing video as always! Ended up watching the whole thing in one sitting. There were quite a few games I hadn't heard of before, and several I hadn't played in forever. I'll definitely be trying to fire some of these up soon!
Thanks! And really glad you enjoyed it. Crazy you could watch it through in one sitting. And even more glad you discovered new games through it. One of the best thing about making these.
KONAMI shooters are a huge part of my gaming life, 40 years of incredible music, fun and greatness that I've never forgotten and never will. Pure joy to see them homaged like this. THANK YOU.
Well deserved shoutout to @ChrisBCrisps BTW!
I feel the same and why I chose Konami as the next project. Just a ton of love for all of their old games not just the shooters. And they made so many more than people realize. They may not have been know as an STG company but they made more than just about anyone.
Halfway through the video, currently at the Solar Assault section but i just wanna take a few second to say that i love your reviews here from what i've seen so far.The amount of dedication put into the editing/recording can be seen here and you deserve lots of credits.
thank you, that's much appreciated. And please take your time and watch in segments as you are able. Enjoy it. I know it's long and takes time to get through. I'm just glad you and others are enjoying it.
Yeah......good timing! Playing GRADIUS 3 with a SA1 Chip last couple of days!
You doing Gods work
That SA1 hack is killer, super hard but not impossible. I love it.
Gradius V and all the Parodius games are peak Konami to me.
HOLY SHIT Miki Higashino was the composer for the original Gradius???? I had no idea! Her Suikoden 1 soundtrack is my single favourite OST of all time.
Man you've outdone yourself yet again! this video blew me away with how much coverage you packed into almost 3 hours! anyway my takes on some of these selections:
Super Cobra - I HAD that portable Entex LCD version of the game, it was probably the earliest videogame I remember!
Gradius - man yeah enough freaking said! loved the NES version but if I can figure out PSX games on my HDTV, I may hunt down Gradius Deluxe Pack (and for sure Gradius 3-5 on PS2!)
Gradius II: Gofer's Ambition - Might be my favorite entry in the series! Definitely one I'm really trying to learn, for sure. also what a soundtrack! Burning Heat! might be my favorite Gradius song ever (it's certainly my favorite song in DDRMAX2, the first time I'd ever heard that remix of it) and the voices! Gofer taunting you the entire way.
Gradius III I definitely remember as a launch title for the Super NES!! I had heard about the SA-1 hack but I'd probably have a hard enough time with the stock version IDK if I'm ready for it, haha. (and the konami code thing, LMAO! the trick is to use the shoulder buttons, man I wonder who came up with that troll?! XD)
Gradius GAIDEN - another one I emulated, definitely tough as nails but certainly it's one of the best in the series!!
Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius - I downloaded an ISO of the PSX original years ago and just fell in love with the game! Easily my favorite entry in the series. Probably gonna have an easier time affording the SFC version, though. one of these days!
Nemesis - the wife and I just started collecting for game boy and this was one of the first pickups, a fun gradius port for OG gameboy! nice to have extra lives and a level select built in, too.
Gradius Rebirth - It is an absolute fucking crime that you can buy the soundtrack on vinyl, but you have to pirate the game itself as it hasn't been re-released in any way shape or form! I checked out the rebirth games on the wii originally, they were actually pretty fun sequels! yeah I think all the rebirth games were rather short.
Sky Jaguar - funny enough this and Knightmare got unofficial sequels on Nintendo Switch! IDEK how they got past konami's lawyers but I did buy the sequel it's neat, if repetitive.
Gradius II is definitely my fav in the series too and my second fav soundtrack after Gradius III which I also love. Ok third if we are counting Salamander, but damn they are all good! I was able to get rebirth loaded on my Wii and keep it around mainly for the virtual console releases still on there. I just realized I failed to show any of those old LCD games they made. Damn lol
Gradius III SNES will always hold a special place in my heart for getting me into shoot em ups. I remember doing an attempt a day for a week when I first got it over a Christmas break, and by the end of the week I was able to finish it.
Gradius V being made by Treasure is pure poetry considering their origins as ex Konami employees. Treasure came full circle.
I appreciate your channel! You can hear the passion you have for each game, and it's nice to see in depth coverage for a relatively niche subject.
It holds a special place for so many of us. Especially since it’s the version most of us played and still do. They really took an overly difficult and unfair arcade release and turned it into an excellent game with the home port. And you’re very welcome. I enjoy making these despite the massive amount of time they take. I really feel they’ll last a long time and be revisited here on TH-cam. I’m almost done with the next one! Should be out in just a week or so.
I was an MSX Kid, and I'm glad to see those games here, especially Knightmare, which had a classic Brazilian hack, tough as nails and character-building. Plus Gradius ans Salamander on Arcades, my real intro to gaming competition. Thanks for the great video!
Incredible video encyclopedia, great job Junkie!
Another S tier video. It has inspired me to go back and play some old Konami shmups as well as learn about many that I knew little or nothing about. I had to watch this in a few sittings to absorb the volume of information.
It's taken me like a week and a half watching this on and off while I work to get through it. Once again, you are a damn machine sir! Incredible work and you've given me a number of new games to try my hand at. Love your stuff!
Another great installment in your encyclopedic software house/console shmup history series. Every installment is so rewatchable.Its great and so accessible.If I'm in a toaplan mood them I can go and watch that , or Compile and so on! Thanks again for the awesome work!
Thanks! That's how it goes for me making them too. I don't always know which console or developer I want to do next. It depends on my mood that month and what I am feeling nostalgic for or want to play most. I'm hoping they all last a long time and help more people discover them.
Gradius V is by far my favorite Konami/Shoot-em-up game because of the Graphics, Music, Bosses or pretty much every thing about it
I just hope there would be a remastered collection of the Gradius games or a Gradius VI which would be really cool
Maybe if this video gets a big enough response it will put some pressure on them to outsource a part VI! That would be awesome.
@@ShmupJunkie Yeah man your right I definitely need to share this video to every one and especially Konami
Great video! While I'm definitely not a shmup expert, but Konami's great games introduced me to the genre properly, so I'm really nostalgic towards them.
Historic video, I have no words. Watched as glued.
I'm almost done the video but one rookie mistake I wanted to point out was that Axelay isn't using mode 7 at all in its vertical stages backgrounds, that effect could be done on other hardware as seen in special stages in sonic 3d blast on genesis.
Also, yes GBA is suppose to sound like that because it wasn't known for its sound capabilities but konami did manage to pull off decent music in aria of sorrow while dropping the ball completely in gradius and harmony of dissonance (go listen to it and let me know). I mean in dissonance , the tunes themselves are good, but the quality is just bad.
I played the original Gradius MSX games as a kid and I was hugely impressed. We were a group of friends and some of us had an MSX. Buying an MSX cartridge was such an event that we all gathered to talk about the game and enjoy it. When we got Nemesis 3 it was like the end ofe the world. It was not getting any better than that :DDD . Amazing video man. Great job.
At this point you're definitely one of the best retro gaming youtubers. Konami was truly awesome.
This video was something I came back too a few times to complete. Lots of great info for a new shmup connoisseur! Love your videos man, keep up the great content!
So, not sure someone explained it yet, but the GBA had the original sound chip from the GB, but anything more advanced (sampled audio) had to be done in software, which required CPU time. You had to pick between using the CPU for the game itself or the audio. So Galaxies suffers from the choice to used sampled audio while prioritizing the CPU for gameplay.
Awesome video, and always fun to see your takes on games.
Edit: Listen to a lot of GBA music and you'll notice it sounds noisy. That's the CPU sound vs gameplay problem in full swing. The GBA Castlevania collection on modern consoles actually has an enhanced audio option (on by default) that uses remastered audio so your ears don't bleed.
A few have chimed in yeah, though opinions have been mixed. Some say it sounded much better on the hardware and others say they have the real thing and it sounds poor there too lol. So opinions are divided. Either way a shame since the compositions are still really good for the most part.
@ShmupJunkie, you beautiful human!
This review is next-level amazing.
Here I am, struggling to string two sentences together, and you create this masterpiece! How long did it take you to make this work of art?
@@DrAhmedAshry lol, well thank you. When I make these huge compilation videos my hope is that they’ll be useful and entertaining to future generations interested in these games and consoles. And a nostalgic look back for those of us who played and still play them. Almost like a fun encyclopedia to watch. They take hundreds of hours to make but it’s always been worth it.
Fantastic video! This (and frankly all your videos) oozes quality with passion you have for the subject. I really enjoy hearing your take on the games and often finding myself agreeing with you!
Konami were one of the greats. My journey with them started with Scramble on the Vectrex. I remember me and my brother playing that for hours on end, along with the built-in game Minestorm as our introduction to the world of Shmups (still have my original Vectrex, games and overlays - amazing it still works fine!). Of all Konami shooters, Parodius had to be my favourite, it’s one of my go to games and still played a lot to this day. It has the perfect mix of silliness, chaos, visuals, and a great soundtrack to round it all off! I had no idea that it came out on the earlier systems, I first had the PAL version on the SNES here in the UK along with a copy of it on the Sega Saturn.
So many great games that I need to check out from your videos! Have been playing a lot of PC Engine titles that I discovered from your channel. That was a rare system here in the UK, the only time I ever saw one was a gaming convention back in the very early 90's and the occasional mention in magazines! Was a real hidden gem for me, enjoyed that so much on the MiSTer that I ended up picking up a TurboExpress for the pure novelty of it.. What a system!
Hi Shmup Junkie! I love your videos they are really interesting and fun to watch, you are so creative! I have a question - do you know which of the shoot em ups have the most available powerups? Usually i see some shoot em ups only have 5 or so until the powerups become bonus points instead. Is there any of them out there that you can become so powerful that eventually you "break the game" so that it becomes so easy because of the amount of powerups acquired builds up to an extreme? that's a fascination that I wonder about and would like to see. Best wishes corehex
Super excited to make it through this video, been waiting!
Incredible work as always. I jumped in like 45 minutes late but almost done with the video now. So many games ive never even heard of. Thanks for all you do for this community Junkie!!
Thanks! And glad you made it to watch with us. Plenty of time to finish it off and enjoy at your leisure.
@@ShmupJunkie of course! Your videos are always something I look forward to. Funnilly enough, you really got me interested in the PC Engine. So much so I bought my own duo RX last month! I only have a couple games so far, but the system is region modded so I can enjoy both TG16 and PC Engine games. I've been loving it so far! It's definitely the one 16 bit era console I had virtually no exposure to growing up except for seeing a bunch of ads in comic books all the time.
It was an oddity to me for sure, so being able to get into it as an adult has been an amazing experience overall. And it's really all thanks to you.
Amazing video. Worth the wait! You did forget Gradius on the konami LCD handheld though...
Haha, good call. I didn't include the LCD handheld games. I don't think I've ever seen one in the wild before but looks like they got some vids of it on youtube.
1:02:06 - Trigon - Looks amazing! Never heard of it! Will be sharing it to all my Raiden fans! Thanks for showing me this game!
You’re welcome! If they like Raiden including it’s difficulty I’ll bet they dig it.
Great video. Enormous amount of work went into this. Good job
Oh yeah enormous. So thank you. And I hope it does well for a long while and more get to enjoy it.
Epic! Your long videos are a real treat, looking forward to whichever Developer you will cover next. This one is really interesting for me, because I've neglected Konami a bit. I have quite a few of these games, but have never gotten into them much. This makes me want to try some of them again, maybe a few will hit differently now.
Great video. Gradius V was my first shmup and being playing them since then.
This is an amazing well put together video! It was a joy from start to finish. As a kid I never cared for shooters because I played D-Force on Snes and I just assumed all shooters were boring. Once I got older I got Gradius III so I decided to check it out and instantly I was hooked. Snes Gradius III, famicom Gradius II, Nes life force, and the snes parodius games are probably my favorite shooters of all, but I also love a ton others including Super Aleste on Snes. I’ve already watched this video plus your video on every mega drive shooter. I hope you make a video about every famicom/Nes shooter and a Snes video. Thanks!
Thanks! And absolutely I plan to work on SNES as the next project. I get a lot of requests for it not surprisingly. Even if it didn't have as many it sure had a heck of a lot of good ones I still play often. What a terrible entry point with D-Force! haha. I'm sorry for that.
You did it again, awesome as always! I can't even imagine how much time it takes to put a video like this together.
Thank you. Yes, massive amounts of time, hundreds of hours. I just take it in steps and try and enjoy the process, even if it takes a really long time to finally put the video out. It's worth the effort.
@@ShmupJunkie It's definitely worth it, you rock!!
What a masterful video!! Thank you so much. It was a joy to watch it through. Also, thank you for the excellent covering of the MSX titles. As a kid in the eighties in the Netherlands, I played all of these little known gems. Konami gave the MSX so much love back then!
Fantastic! The video i didnt know i wanted
I can not express how awesome these are man
Amazing work!
You're welcome! Really glad to hear it and that you enjoyed. People are enjoying this series so I keep making them.
Shump Junkie's videos are always well made! This one is no exception. The scenes from one to another are well transitioned; and the narration shows lots of research.
Great video mate! - Plus wow that Gradius Reloaded music is killer, 1:46:50
Awesome Content
Thank you! And for the support as well. I'm always glad to see people enjoying these massive compilations.
Konami has tons of great shmups like Gradius, Twinbee, Axelay,
Parodius, etc., and I've had alot of fun playing them. I have both
Gradius and Parodius collections on my Playstation Portable, &
my favorite games of them are Gradius Gaiden & Sexy Parodius.
You always have thorough, well-put together videos. I’m really looking forward to this one.
Really impressive episode my dude, thank you for an awesome episode and hard work 😁👍
Hats off to you sir. I truly appreciate all your videos as they are so over the top comprehensive and detailed for my favorite genre
love it this kind of long videos of the shmup history i miss the old konami *-*
I'm rewatching many of your videos and I hope you'll find support enough so you can keep on creating content like this. There's so much content and potential ahead.
Every Arcade Shooter Part 1 of 100 (2 hours each part)!
Just kidding, here's hoping for the NES and 32-bit consoles when you possibly get to them!
Super glad you're enjoying them as I do enjoy making them. As long as they do well and people keep watching I'll keep at it long as I do as well. I'm currently doing a shorter, fun culmination episode of the 3 16bit consoles and comparing the best games from all of them in various categories, picking some winners. It'll be a bit spicy but entertaining haha. But yes, I get a lot of requests for Saturn, NES and even PS1, so those would be on the list. Though I think Neo Geo will happen as it's shorter and would be a nice break for me with under 20 games to cover haha.
Yes, it's important to always have fun in the process and to never let it become a job, if possible. I'm looking forward to your future projects and the upcoming NEO GEO focused video!
Wow awesome vid. Can’t imagine how much work went into creating it.
Thanks! All these “every shooter reviewed” videos are insane work hundreds of hours. But they’ve been really popular and I enjoy them too. It’s like an encyclopedia for shooters on various consoles and developers. And it helps a lot of people discover new games they weren’t aware of. I’m working on one for the SNES at the moment which will have some overlap from this video, since Konami had a few games ported. But I can focus on the ports instead. Really glad you enjoyed it.
OMG, YOU ARE BAAAAACK!!!! For a moment there, I thought something had happened to you. I'm glad you are alive and well. The shmups community miss you. I miss you. Thank you for another great supersized video.
Yessir I was just busy making a massive video that took months to do. Always keep an eye on my community tab if you want to know what's up. I was keeping everyone up to date there on how it was going and even posting little segments of the video for everyone to watch in the meantime. I hope it was worth the wait.
What a freaking intro! Great effort put into this awesome video
I do love making my intro sizzle reels!
Well all I can do is send a huge round of applause your way for this truly epic undertaking 👏👏👏👏
Thank you for the time and effort poured In to this epic that has been well worth the agonising wait.
God only knows what you have planned for the next video but I can guarantee that I’ll be on board for it.
Congratulations buddy!!
Incredible video to say the least! Especially liked the Xexex and Axelay parts! Definitely learned quite a lot here
yo the only shmups i can play are touhou and tyrian so ive always known i was missing out on a lot. this really lets me glance at such a rich tapestry of creative titles. i LOVE your energy and enthusiasm. you can really feel the love you have for these games in this review. thank you for your hard work man 👍
You're welcome. And BTW Touhou games are fantastic for gaining some serious skills playing these games. Some of the best players I know are younger and started with Touhou. In an older video I made on How to Shmup I had a segment on Touhou 7 and 8, using their easy mode for training.
An epic journey through the Konami cannon...er, canon! As always I come away from your work more informed, and my enthusiasm for the genre energized. I've got old favorites to revisit and new challenges to look forward to.
What a amazing big video :) , a blast to watch from the start to end. You are on of the best youtubers in these types of videos, I love you videos on Neo Geo shump videos too. Great job!
thank you. I would definitely like to do a video for every Neo Geo shooter someday including the obscure or later games by NGDev.
@@ShmupJunkie If you do it, we will heard "brutal" a lot :D . Neo Geo shumps are the hardests, I´m trying to finish Last Resort and I keep falling, A LOT..
When you died on time further up in the game, it was nearly impossible to build you ship back up to full power.
Hi there, just found your channel and man... this content is incredible. I really appreciate all the work that must have gone into making this and all the passion that you clearly have for this stuff, not to mention the shoutouts to other content creators and boosting their content too. Sorry for not commenting anything on the topic of the video, but I just had to say how amazing this video is. Also, my favorite Shmup of all time is Gradius V.
This was a big project, and you did amazing!
Thank you so much! Appreciate it. It was definitely a massive amount of work.
@@ShmupJunkie Oh, I could tell, and you kept it quality.
As always top notch video bro! I've bought a few konami collections on ps4 all under 3 bucks on the last sale worth the buy! Bought a shooter collection and almost all the castlevania classics!
Gradius 3 has my heart to this very day. The SNES version is one of the first games I ever played in my life, the moment i was old enough to hold a controller. I'd regularly get to the level High Speed Zone (level 8). Brutal game, the music is engraved in my head forever. Amazing game.
I loved Life Force. Although simple u used to really like Time Pilot. I all but forgot about Ajax! I would always sink quarters into it, and it always seemed to only be at bowling alleys and grocery stores but never at my arcade. Gyrus was another fave of mine too. Great vid!video! Brought back many great memories.
I appreciate the references to channels that you got footage from. 👍 Had another channel I was subbed to steal my footage from a game, and then banned me from the comments when I recognized it.
Dude, that's messed up. I do my best and if I accidentally miss something on a massive project like this, which is quite possible, I'd gladly make sure and add it to the description and any other way I can. I actually like using other people's content that I know and actively try to give them a shout and some exposure. There are so many incredible players out there like Refkey_STG that deserve a lot more viewers for their talent. So I want to shout them out as often as possible. Don't really get the reason to use it and not credit it. There's nothing to gain from it.
Another banger video, I see you levelling up those editing skills
The mad lad is back at it again ! Thank you very much for your work mate !
Thanks! The mad lad... I like it haha
Thanks again for an amazing video!!🎉
Thunder Cross is what got me into shooters back in the day and it's still the golden standard for me because of the music that gives you no other option but to get excited about the game and the controls and the power ups feel just right.
This is the first video I've watched from you.
Excellent production values and knowledge of all the games.
Definitely a load of passion and hard work went into this video.
As a shmup fan I'm totally bowled over by how good this is.
I plan to go through all your back catalogue and seriously enjoy your output.
Great news on your next video, that being the SNES shmups. Super Aleste/Megaforce is a sensational blaster and imo the best.
You've just got another subscriber. Best of luck with future videos 👍
Awesome! Welcome and I hope you enjoy the others too. I’ve slowly tried to improve the production value with each one. I did one just like this for Toaplan as well it’s one of my favorites. It even has Tetsuya Uemura in there listing his top 5 favorites! I did videos for mega drive and pc engine as well. Really glad you found me and hope you enjoy. We have a really great community here and you can likely tell by a lot of the commenters.
Wow... This is amazing! Great job and just.... MAN, I can FEEL the passion!
Thanks! I’ve really been enjoying these compilation videos and hope they last a long time for people to discover.