BEST 16-BIT Shoot Em Ups of All Time

foreign [Music] hold on guys you'll get your chance because in this video we're pitting the very best at the Mega Drive PC engine and Super Nintendo have to offer the very top contenders from each console with the best graphics music gameplay arcade ports horizontal and vertical Shooters Technical showpieces and more now that I've already ranked and reviewed every single shooter in three massive videos we can compare them side by side how many S A and B tier games each console earned and determine once and for all which rule Supreme as the all-time 16-bit king of Shooters but don't just take my word for it I pulled my entire YouTube Twitter Instagram and Discord shooting Community to get your top picks as well the Fanboys and girls are out in force for this one but remember this is a battle of the best of the best every single game here from every console is incredible every game is a not to be Masterpiece but much like Highlander there can be only one so let's get spicy and find out who takes home the shooting Crown right now the Mega Drive has a ton of beautiful impressive games like Musha eliminate down and gayares but when it comes to the number one choice to represent the console there's one game that stands Above the Rest like no other Thunder Force 4. [Music] truly mind-blowing what technosoft pulled off not just in terms of all the Parallax and effects or the vertical scrolling color changing backdrops but just the entire presentation how huge bosses pass through an approach on screen the visuals haven't aged a bit it's the go-to shooter for Mega Drive fans to fawn over and flaunt [Applause] the PC engine's claim to fame is none other than Lords of Thunder sure Sapphire is technically amazing but the digitized backdrops and enemies didn't age nearly as well and it's not as interesting design wise Lords on the other hand ooze is cool with probably the best and most varied enemy and Boss Designs of the generation next to the parodius games every stage has Behemoth style enemies constant changes in scenery Parallax and effects and never grow stale [Music] it may not be as technically impressive as Thunder Force 4 I mean really what 16-bit shooter is but it trumps it in art design and creativity there really was nothing like it at the time with the original Thunder Force Duo of programmers opting for a fantasy theme and giving them incredible flexibility to make a gorgeous game that stood out from the crowd the Sega CD did get a port and while close it's not quite as colorful and is missing graphical nuance and effects of the PC Engine original which you can see in the head-to-head comparison I did in a previous video so Lords of Thunder on PC engine gets the nod as the most stylistically impressive of the bunch was it really going to be any other game but axillary for the Super Nintendo what Konami pulled off with the vertical stages was astounding especially the fire stage and its multi-segmented fire demon boss something many of us including myself originally mistook for mote 7 was actually programmed from scratch by Konami and what an effect at least for its time but it's not just the technical prowess here but the entire game the opening Cloud stage and floating islands is almost Final Fantasy like in its design and a beautiful way to kick off the game [Music] screen filling bosses and cool enemy designs no it's not as wild as Lords of Thunder nor do the vertical stages approach the insanity of Thunder Force 4 but the combination of these never-before-seen vertical stages and great overall art design make it the obvious choice here despite many other beautiful games on the system like pop and twin B Because actually is the one game any Nintendo fan remembers most for its visuals and the winner is really was there ever any doubt nothing but nothing troughs the overall presentation of Thunder Force 4 not the incredible fantasy art and enemies of Lords nor the uniqueness of axillary stages Thunder Force 4 is just a visual tour to force in every sense of the word there's a ton of amazing gorgeous games on every console but there's only one that stands Above the Rest in graphical Flair and that my friends is Thunder Force 4. but what did you the viewers pick no surprise really it's unanimous Thunder Force 4 takes the Undisputed spot in the best 16-bit graphics category [Music] but wait this isn't over yet what about overall which console had the best top tier graphical experience as a whole the top several games for each console stacked up against each other well now things get a lot more interesting [Music] Mega Drive kicks it off with of course Thunder Force 4 but also Thunder Force 3 another fantastic looking game with some killer effects and not far behind as compiles Musha one of the most impressive looking vertical Shooters of the era especially given its early release in 1990 and the game you'll most certainly be seen again in this video Lords of Thunder is here too as is one of my favorites guyares featuring some screen filling memorable bosses but it gets even better with battle Mania 2 probably my second favorite looking game on the console that's as unique As It Gets In presentation and creativity not just oozing cool but wackiness and don't forget eliminate down probably rounding out my top three Lookers on the console and one of the most unknown and underrated Shooters of the generation Ranger X is a hybrid shooter and phenomenal game that's about as impressive technically as the best on the console and once you include CD games like Barry arm and its fantastic pixel art Soul star on Sega CD a tech demo if there ever was one and Ultra impressive 32x games like space Harrier and afterburner looking near identical to the arcade you've got a console chock full of incredible looking Shooters and a serious Contender for the crown color palette and creativity is where the PC engine shines with so many one-of-a-kind exclusives that you'd never see on other consoles date of Thunder developed by the same Thunder Force team is every bit as impressive as Thunder Force 3 but it's games like air Zonk coreyu and starper Roger that are just so damn Charming colorful and unique a pretty stark contrast to the spaceship heavy games of the Mega Drive and who says it couldn't do Parallax please check out aldines and its Endless Sea of layers all done in code or download a basic cue card game that pulls it off easily and the sequel also looks pretty fantastic if the Mega Drive has the most impressive games technically the PC engine is the most colorful and varied look at compile spriggan side by side with Musha and admire how beautiful a game it is probably one of the best looking games on the system that's not to mention the crazy art design of of games like i cho iniki the technical showcase Sapphire or the refined and understated nexer with its super impressive opening stage as Cruisers warp in from below and launch off Fighters that fly in to assault you it's like a Gundam shooter come to life then you have Konami and their usual stable of arcade ports with karate is 2 a real standout not bad at all for a supposed 8-bit console with a 16-bit graphics chip competing in the 16-bit space but this is a category where the Super Nintendo is expected to shine with its later release and known for some gorgeous pixel art pop and twin B looks like it belongs on a 32-bit console while rendering Ranger is a one of a kind again looking like something that only the Next Generation could pull off all three parodius games are some of the most beautiful fun and creative Shooters in existence while our type 3 is the most vibrant and cool looking game in the series cotton 100 is easily the best looking of its series at least until the Saturn games and gratius 3 and un Squadron do a fantastic job of mirroring their arcade counterparts Matt cross scrambled Valkyrie isn't just the best Macross shooter of all time it's also one of the most impressive games on the system and super elasta deserves special mention as well with its blistering performance while juggling copious graphical effects all without a hitch and of course axley belongs in any discussion as one of the coolest looking Shooters of the ERA this is a tough one as all three consoles have so many beautiful and impressive games but I'll have to disappoint the Sega haters out there and make the call for the Mega Drive for all the hated gats due to its low on-screen color limit compared to the competition the end result of the very best games don't bear it out sure they may not be as colorful as some of Nintendo windows and PC engines very best but as a whole this list of games are so impressive graphically so memorable on multiple levels and sometimes so technically competent weather on cartridge or on the 32x that Sega gets the nod for most impressive and memorable visuals overall not an easy call for me being a huge fan of all things PC engine personally but looking at it as objectively as possible it felt like the fair call but what did you the viewers pick in an incredibly close decision the popular vote goes to the PC engine by a hair so there you have it I stand corrected with the popular vote going to my nostalgic favorite and with that Graphics are decided and it's time for probably my favorite category when it comes to Shooters outside of gameplay because even the best shooter is only half a game to me without some badass music rolling it backwards and starting with the Super Nintendo we've got some hard choices to make axillary is a perennial favorite of many and a brilliant piece of work [Music] un Squadron and its whiny guitar tracks are incredibly unique and the tunes just stay with you [Applause] parodius da is one of my all-time favorites with its earworm Renditions of classical music [Music] and super elasta is a jazz Lover's heaven [Music] [Applause] it was Konami and the incredible grottiest 3 soundtrack that gets the nod here my opinion it's the best Mainline gradius soundtrack in existence [Music] [Applause] [Music] better than the original and part 2 and never quite equaled since [Applause] next up the PC engine a console that I literally couldn't decide which game to choose because of how good so many of them are Lords of Thunder seemed like the natural and popular choice but Sega also had a port with a very cool remixed soundtrack so that kind of makes it a watch gate of Thunder would have been another killer option giving the Thunder 4 Series a run for their money [Music] but I wanted something different a contrast to the metal tracks and something the PC engine did better than either Sega or Nintendo hummable catchy Melodies that never get old and could just stay with you for days so I went with my gun and my favorite the one game that starts off with a bang and only gets better with every stage that game is Soldier blade [Music] age one is a great track and usually the best track in most games [Music] here stage two even better then come stage three and rocks out with an even better tune [Music] [Music] hard to get any better than that right well say hello to stage four [Music] now I can't wait for stage five [Music] wouldn't have been disappointed [Music] stage six is another good one leading right up to the final boss [Music] forget the ultra catchy Caravan Stage Music [Music] something that'll be ingrained in your mind after hours of playing for score foreign [Music] so yes Soldier blade is my pick because of how consistently good it is from start to finish with chiptunes that I'll never Tire of [Music] I hate to sound like a broken record and choose the same game on Mega Drive but when it comes to presentation Thunder Force 4 truly has no peer and that's just as true for the incredible soundtrack [Music] maybe even more so than the graphics not only are the metal tracks like the intro and metal Squad some of the most blood pumping chiptunes ever made but stage after stage technosoff changes it up with more melodic sometimes even Jazzy Vibes to match the atmosphere fighting back is one of my favorite tracks in the game good especially when it crescendos in the second half with a completely different Melody that's as catchy as it is awesome [Music] [Applause] I could mention plenty of other great music on the Mega Drive whether it be Musha Air Force 3 and Elemental Master the list goes on but it'd be Superfluous the other games in this contest all have got to your music but Thunder Force 4 soundtrack is the Zeus of god tier chiptunes and picking anything else as the winner here would be a travesty so Yamaha fans Rejoice Mega Drive wins again for top overall soundtrack in a shooter and what did the voters decide not surprisingly Thunder Force 4 again making it the ruling king of presentation in 16-bit Shooters a crown it's most certainly earned wear it proud technosoft you deserve it [Music] oh but when it comes to best overall console music as like I said earlier the PC engine game Choice was incredibly hard because it's just an Endless Sea of incredible music [Music] of course Lords and gate of Thunder are some of the baddest Rock and soundtracks of the generation and truly memorable [Music] Sapphire has a thing or two to say about that as well all four Caravan soldier games culminating with Soldier blade have absolutely phenomenal soundtracks that are some of my all-time favorites the opening stage in nexer is possibly the most triumphant sounding music to open a shooting game ever [Music] and it continues its Brilliance from there on out foreign ER is my all-time favorite Konami soundtrack [Music] more so than gradius 3. [Music] [Applause] [Music] and a Boss music poison of snake easily the coolest of all [Applause] the original r-type still a classic [Music] erzog is known for its catchy chiptunes [Applause] the remixed cotton soundtrack by tease music [Applause] absolutely legendary [Music] [Applause] and by far the most underrated but it's really the tip of the iceberg and the more I looked the more I came up with even more games from downloads great ship Tunes to raise Amber's brilliant CD tracks sidearms blows the arcade music away and tatsujin dare I say it's so melodic and better than arcade as well [Music] I'll still play Dragon Spirit for the music Alone [Music] personally have a huge Nostalgia for blazing lasers and its early use of bass [Music] foreign [Music] but it just keeps going with the Darius games by zintata the weird and wonderful compositions of the choaniki series if you've watched my every PC engine shooter video you already know how nearly every game good or bad just sounds so good [Music] I don't know what it is but from the very beginning PC engine devs just love to focus on memorable chiptunes [Applause] thank you even the bad games not really worth playing have good music [Music] yes the Mega Drive is no slouch Elemental Master is one of the greatest soundtracks of all time battle Mania 2 has crazy cool music [Music] as does guyarus and zeroing huh come on [Music] but no matter how many mega drive or Super Nintendo games I could mention here it's both subjectively and objectively not even close the PC engine has over a hundred Shooters in total and nearly all of them have good to great music its library of CD games dwarfs the Mega Drive so this was actually one of the easiest choices in the contest and really in my mind a no contest PC engine runs away with it by a landslide [Music] thank you love music and shooters or chiptunes period let alone the Brilliance of the early CD games and haven't explored the PC engine you're missing out the soundtracks on this console Q card and CD are hard to die for [Music] and in another insanely close call by less than 10 votes the voters once again chose the PC engine [Music] amazing graphics and Killer music can sure make an average game into a great one but which games taken on gameplay and mechanics alone are just so dang fun that even without their presentation would still keep you coming back and this category is a deep one we're looking at responsive and intuitive ship control well-designed enemy patterns and variety expertly balanced gameplay a good scoring system and hard modes for replay value unique and well-implemented mechanics that make a game interesting overall performance and just all out fun and replayability and on the Mega Drive the popular favorite has got to be Musha yes the Thunder Force games are good but their presentation somewhat outclasses their gameplay but compiles Musha plays as good as it looks throws endless variety and challenges your way and has Flawless performance with near zero slowdown the difficulty level is challenging yet fair at least until the end game where it'll straight up murder you if you die and power down seems to be a thing compile like to do its weapon system isn't all that unique and simplified for compile standards so there aren't a lot of mechanics to sink your teeth into or exploit but Musha is Simply Fun and ultimately replayable along with a great hard mode aside from the late game frustration it's really hard to fault on most counts at least until you get to the scoring where it's broken due to a late game exploit that will let you counter stop it but regardless of minor faults which most great games still have mucha is the choice in a game that most fans still play today it's a classic [Music] thank you [Music] Soldier blade is what I call Hudson's Musha and my most replayed game on the PC engine next to Lords of Thunder refined to Perfection and controls like a dream letting you zip around the screen at Max Speed speed killing enemies dodging like a pro and unleashing your special attacks constantly as you cycle through weapons unlike Musha Soldier blade has a fantastic weapon system with gameplay Nuance as you hold three colors at once which defines your weapon type using your special eats up the next color shifting your weapon and creating a constant dance of dropping them for damage when another enters the screen it's fast it's fluid it's strategic and it's addicting as hell your single option is implemented brilliantly used for both damaging enemies and absorbing shots a very necessary mechanic to mastering the game and cranking the DPS on bosses the game is the perfect length and stages constantly vary and never overstay their welcome enemy variety is Awesome with tons of popcorn and large enemies alike and the difficulty curve is perfect until the very end with you respawning at death now it does get tough but almost never ever frustrating no matter how many times I beat it I just can't stop playing it especially the Fantastic hard mode with added suicide bullets making it a heck of a lot of fun it also has a broken scoring system just like Musha allowing you to exploit it for scoring lives however unlike Musha you don't really play the main game for score as the star of the show is the two in five minute Caravan modes some of the best ever produced with so much depth and Nuance that you could spend over a hundred hours practicing and still not come close enough to maxing them out so Soldier blade is a near perfect main campaign supported by a dedicated scoring mode that just blows near all other 16-bit Shooters out of the water look I love Musha you know I do but Soldier blade taken on straight gameplay and scoring overall is greater than Musha oh but this ain't over yet not if Konami has anything to say about it and they certainly do the port of one of their greatest games of all time parodius da if you watch my every SNES shooter video you may remember that parodius dot was the only game on the console that I awarded an S Plus ranking to and called it better than gradius it plays and controls just like classic gratias and its Dynamic upgrade system along with a simplified Bell mechanic taken from Twin B for both additional power-up options and scoring along with its multiple and well-balanced character types it's an incredibly deep nuanced and versatile combo that creates a ton of replayability and a not broken scoring system you won't find a game with a more diverse cast of characters and enemies or stage in Boss variety parodius kinda kills in that area and it checks every single gameplay and mechanics box with ease before even mentioning how perfect an arcade Port it is [Music] now that's not to say that the early grottiest formula was Flawless gradius syndrome is in full force here with a challenging rank system and some points in the game that are nearly unrecoverable after death and this is one long game 11 stages if you count the bath house along with an extra omage score attack stage that's awesome as well so there's a ton of content and it's by far the most challenging and deep of the three games on display I absolutely love parodius da and it's my favorite nostalgic shooter konami's ever produced that makes this decision all that much harder for me as on a personal level I love the speed and style of gameplay of soldier Blade the most with Musha a very close second and in a completely subjective contest it would get my vote just like many who probably chose Musha because they simply love Musha but looking at the choices objectively via the criteria even taking my personal preference into account I can't in good conscience give the victory to any game but parodius dog [Music] there's just no game on the mega drive or the PC engine that trumps this Konami Masterwork in refined deep gameplay meaning best gameplay goes to the Super Nintendo and pro roadius da and how did the people vote probably not surprising given its popularity Musha just edges out Soldier blade for the win with parodia's dog getting very little love a travesty if you ask me but the mob is spoken Musha takes the popular vote for best gameplay [Music] speaking of great arcade ports the Super Nintendo didn't just have parodia's die but also had the sequel gokujo parodius though unlike da it had to tone down the visuals to remain playable and still has some noticeable performance issues when things get busy and while gradius 3 is certainly a better way to play than the arcade original I have to go with da as the top pick on the SNES aside from the gameplay which I just covered already the graphics are nearly arcade identical and it even has the extra stages parodius dot is really one of the greatest 16-bit arcade ports of all time and the pick again for Nintendo but konami's work on the PC engine super CD with the phenomenal gradius 2 Port is nearly right up there with it it's the version that I actually prefer to play over The Very brutal arcade original it's still hard but without being quarter eating frustration hard with all the core gameplay intact the music is arcade identical being recorded to CD and the visuals are as close as one could expect to matching the arcade however notice I said close no as much as I like to claim that this port is near identical to the arcade it's not quite there it does have a number of graphical downgrades and changes to keep it running smoothly and those that know both versions will be able to pick them out it's splitting hairs as this port is amazing but it's there just like die it also has an exclusive stage added so if you're more a fan of gradius 2 than you are of Proteus da this will be your choice it's so close to Arcade it's scary but it's not as close to Arcade as perotious and my personal take is that doth is an even deeper more varied game with extra scoring longevity and replay value I'll play them both endlessly but the not for the better Port still goes to da over gradius 2. and finally we have Sega king of TOA plant ports Galore they got snubbed by Konami but rescued by TOA plan whether that Infamous zeroing Hellfire twin Cobra fire shark and truxton even the super impressive grindstormer they all had their pros and cons but it's the one port surprisingly done by an outside party that takes the original game to the next level and then some and that's slap fight MD not only does it do a great job of replicating the gameplay and copying the look and sound of the arcade original but improves upon it by adding a completely new special mode which is like an entire second game in and of itself all new graphics all new bonuses and secrets to find that make this game so addicting to Loop for score and to top it off the new music was done by legendary composer yuzo kashiro and the results are some of the most stunning music on the system [Music] as an arcade Port it's completely without grievance and As Good As It Gets but is it the better game overall when you have multiple games that are near Flawless ports all fantastic in their own right you're forced to consider which is the actual best game overall the best game as a game and not just the port quality and in this case my choice is still going to be parodia's dog [Music] one of my top 10 favorite Shooters of all time and it being a near Flawless port on the snass and gives it the win in my book however the people love gradius or maybe the people love PC engine either way gradius 2 gets the popular vote for best arcade port and with how good a game and Port it is it's hard to argue foreign [Music] ports across all three systems as the picture looks very different here the Super Nintendo has two excellent parodius games a somewhat maligned yet profoundly loved gradius 3 along with a solid super EDF acrobat mission is also well done versus arcade and we can't forget about one of the best arcade ports ever only second to parodia's Daw in my mind in quality and that's the upgraded and improved un Squadron the SNES also had a smattering of quite disappointing ports starting with super r-type compared to r-type 2 a poor man's riding by micronics and some older middling stuff like Space Invaders kind of a mix showing overall the Mega Drive blows the SNES out of the water here in terms of overall quantity and quality of arcade ports even without Konami all the tour plan ports I mentioned earlier all several of them being done by tour plan themselves but it doesn't nearly end there sega's ride and Port is X excellent even if a bit dull in the visuals Atomic Runner is second to only slap fight MD in being the most impressive conversion on the system above and beyond the arcade original and a game I gave an S ranking to in my review you have airbuster AKA aeroblasters one of my favorite early 16-bit Shooters and a gorgeous looking and sounding port the Darius games especially Darius extra as a recent game is some insane work with a touch of M2 only not counted in the previous contest since it wouldn't be fair to count a recent release individually the vapor trail is a good one too [Music] now like any console it did have its Duds a super thunderblade anyone and space Harrier 2 wasn't all that great either nor was Galaxy Force 2 but it makes up for it with its awesome 32x ports the Mega Drive handily beats the SNES for overall arcade Port library buddy here comes the PC engine with a hundred plus strong library and a ton of arcade ports that kick some serious ass like the Mega Drive the PC engine also got a bunch of tour plan ports with tatsujin and kyukyoku tiger being better at least in my opinion but not quite as good with the others like zeroing Hellfire and Dyson poo and it never got fire shark at all nor grindstormer or slap fight MD but that's where the similarities end with absolute barn burner ports of the original gratius gratius II and salamander pretty much my top three favorite nostalgic grottiest games the Hue card Port of parodius Da is limited by memory not on the level of the snesport but still very good and a ton of twin B while also downgraded is still the version I'll play all day versus the insane arcade original but we're just getting started our type anyone the original blue mines with how well it was converted sidearms is better than arcade with identical gameplay and even better music com's 1941 counter-attack on super Graphics freaking fantastic 1943 Kai better than arcade with its extra stages at the end completely augmenting the late game even xevious by compile takes it to the next level and is one of the coolest ways to play it Galaga 88 is a blast aeroblasters while not quite as good as the Sega Port is very close and also a joy forgotten worlds is another that's clearly better on the PC Engine versus the Sega Port oh yes and cotton which while downgraded graphically still plays like a tree and is one of the most incredible remixed soundtracks of all time [Music] then you've got a grit more UCard games like Iron's Mr Halley and image fight that endlessly fun Dragon Spirit and dragon saber with wonderful chiptunes [Music] and ordyne one of the first early cut em ups to hit the system the Darius games of course both the original and part 2 Ryden and super Ryden are arguably on the level or at least close to the Mega Drive Port though I still give Sega the nod there but space Harrier and thunderblade are actually better on the PC engine than they are on the Mega Drive at least the cartridge versions obviously not the 32x but I haven't even named them all as it would just go on forever just watch my every PC engine shooter video it's endless the only real Duds of the lot is the terrible sync dragon and maybe a boring space invader's release as awesome as the Mega Drive library was once I listed them all out and ranked them up the winner was clear the PC engine doesn't mess around when it comes to Shooters and the arcade ports were no exception winner for overall best arcade ports is Hudson's PC engine and the community agreed by a considerable margin voting for the PC engine as the arcade poor Champion now things get more difficult and spicy as instead of ranking a specific aspect of a game we are looking at best overall and we start with the best vertical shooter and three top tier games each deserve a spot at the top of their respective consoles kicking it off with the Super Nintendo and super elasta the game compile used to show the industry how it's done zero slowdown Ultra fast gameplay while pushing some very nice Graphics color and effects in a way that made all other devs hide in shame there's no other SNES shooter that plays this good while looking this good at the same time is it the best looking of the three contenders no I'd give that to Musha which is a visual tour de force is it the best in music I give that to Soldier blade and it's incredibly peppy and addictive tunes that never get old I find super elastic music to be incredibly well done [Applause] but also a bit too atmospheric and laid back for my personal taste though the sound effects are great and super nostalgic with plenty of bass and great callbacks to their older games like blazing lasers but the play control stage Hazard variety and creativity is absolutely Ace super elaste is quite brilliant on the gameplay front dare I say A Cut Above the much more straightforward Musha however it also Scrolls at a much slower pace for the most part and focuses on stage hazards and level layouts to augment the enemy placement it's fantastic and unique for a shooter but also not as kinetic it is however super accessible to novice players and phenomenal on the wild difficulty it hits both level of players perfectly and all in between one issue though is it's super long and unfortunately it starts to recycle level assets down the stretch which is a knock I often make against it it's already a great game that didn't need that extra filler to be great so while a game I often replay and really enjoy the competition here is stiff and it's not going to take the top slide speaking of compile competing against itself OSHA is their lightning in a bottle game easily the best of the three in terms of outright presentation and so dang impressive considering it was released back in 1990 the level of artistry and effects work in The Parallax and levels puts nearly every game of the generation to shame and has been copied by so many others since the music is metal as hell one of the first console games to Pioneer it really long before Thunder Force 4 was a thing [Music] but again it's the gameplay and performance where compile shines here with it playing as fast and furious as anything they'd ever made aside from maybe Lords of Thunder or Thunder Force there's very few games that just make you feel like a rock star while dodging bullets it has that certain something that keeps us coming back despite its flaws what flaws oh you know much like many earlier compile games including old favorites like blazing lasers its difficulty is a bit unbalanced quite easy for a good chunk of the game than suddenly hitting late death syndrome where wiping out at the end will have you chain dying without much hope of recovery better off starting over and the long stages yes another compile staple aren't always a blast once they're easily cleared until you reach the late game it doesn't take long to get good enough to cruise and the broken scoring limiting its replay value to survival and fun but while perfect it's not fun it is impressive it is awesome it is and I still replay it and love it on hard mode because Musha can be magic and is the game to be in this category laughs [Music] so can Soldier blade beat it that depends Soldier blade looks excellent especially for a hue card game but it can't go toe-to-toe with Musha in visual presentation no Musha is exceptional for 1990. Soldier blade does have incredible stage variety though and never gets repetitive or dull with constantly cycling enemy types and creativity through levels just without the extra graphical flash of Musha conversely the music just absolutely owns with some of the catchiest damn chiptunes of the generation which of course you already know from my glowing praise in the music category but despite how good the music is for me the overall presentation has to go to Musha over Soldier blade now gameplay is another story because Soldier blade is better than compile that's right I said it Soldier blade is the refined culmination of all compiled did so well hone to Perfection and improved and you know this for my award to Soldier blade in the best gameplay category over Musha earlier it's that type that focused and just that fun dodging bullets and speed killing enemies Never Felt So Good foreign [Music] the game is not unbalanced in difficulty or unfair at the end stage 6 boss notwithstanding which will hand you your ass if you happen to die there it's simply the best pace and balanced of the three the difficulty is fair on normal but not so easy that you'll just Coast through it until you suddenly hit a difficulty Spike and the hard mode is Awesome with suicide bullets and forcing you to really Master Your Weapon swapping and bomb dropping game especially on that final stage it's as fast moving fast playing and Furious as Musha and then some and to top it off Soldier blade wins by a mile in scoring with its extra two and five minute Caravan modes that can be endless fun taking that Ultra fast speed killing gameplay to new levels of perfection to max out your score so this is a really tough call what do you value most overall presentation or gameplay balance the thing is both still have great gameplay I just feel Soldier blade has the edge and is better balanced and paced both have great presentation but Musha has more than an edge being clearly Superior in the graphics category which game do I love and play most Soldier blade Musha is a tour de force that gets cut a lot of slack because of it it's rocket but Soldier blade is the complete package not as impressive as Musha while it aces everything else Musha is not overrated and one of Mega drive's very best games and if you're a Sega fan you already made your choice long ago but taken as objectively as possible with two games I love to replay it's Hudson Soldier blade that takes the win for me and in this category the community overwhelmingly went with a popular choice and I don't blame them as if I grew up with a Genesis instead maybe I would have done the same yes I said Genesis that's what it was called in the U.S get over it so it's Musha that takes the victory for the popular vote foreign Supreme as the vertical King overall the Mega Drive mostly has some excellent tour plan ports with truxton fire shark twin Cobra and grindstormer it's also the king of ground-based Shooters as I'm a huge fan of Elemental master undeadline and twinkle tail oh and slap fight MD which was a serious Contender for best arcade Port along with an excellent riding port and vapor trail but you know that's about it those are all the top tier or close vertical Shooters on the console PC engine also has tatsujin and Q tiger arguably both equal or better ports though again I'd absolutely give the overall nod to Sega on the tour plan front and the PC engine Port of Ryden is no slouch even if I give the nod to Sega there too but that's where it ends [Music] because the PC engine only gets started from there you've got blazing lasers the compile game that literally kicked off the 16-bit vertical shooter Revolution or how about compile spriggan a game so beautiful it even looks better than musha's side by side and a great game in its own right all four soldier games super final Soldier blade and star proger all fantastic even better the PC engine had naxer a game so good and refined that I nearly picked it over Soldier blade as my choice for best vertical shooter Konami gave Hudson a very nice Port of the Tana twin B and if you're going to count salamander or at least half of it it's one of the greatest homeports of the game ever these games alone are enough to send Sega crashing and burning but that's just the tip of the iceberg 1941 counter-attack Ginga foucade and setsu Sapphire by the team that brought you Thunder Force the original image fight and Exclusive Image Fight 2 dragon saber the sequel to Dragon Spirit and override an absolute sleeper that's a blast to play and really I have to stop because I can still keep going for a while yes that's how deep the PC engine library of excellent and above vertical Shooters goes the Super Nintendo yeah okay it does some really good ones especially pop and twin B and flying hero and of course the awesome axillate if you count half the game as well but that's really kind of it the SNES was much more a horizontal console by far so look for it in the next category so this was the second easiest decision I had to make after best music overall going to PC engine [Music] it's not even close folks if you love vertical Shooters specifically the PC engine wins by a landslide and guess what the community agreed in overwhelming fashion showing once again how knowledgeable a community we have and clearly declaring a winner that deserves it PC engine takes both mine and the popular vote [Music] foreign could there be a bigger elephant in the room there really is no other choice to represent besides Thunder Force 4. yes there are many out there that prefer the streamlined and more accessible gameplay of three and I'd say in terms of mechanics great games like chiaris and eliminate down are as good or better but you really can't argue with the awesome that is Thunder Force 4 it's still an insanely fun and replayable game challenging as well 100 Unforgettable with a presentation unmatched in the generation obvious by its win in both graphics and music categories so no need to beat around the bush with this one the Mega Drive has a ton of great side scrollers but Thunder Force 4 is the King of the Hill standing up to Thunder Force 4 is the Original Thunder Force Duos game on PC engine gate of Thunder baby [Music] if there's one game that could give Thunder Force a run for its money it's gate gate of Thunder is Thunder Force 3 on the PC engine same programmers and in my mind even better so for those that insist that part 3 is better than part four you've got your winner here too the CD soundtrack is freaking amazing it rocks hard and stands toe-to-toe with the best [Music] the graphics are really well done and on the level of Thunder Force 3 with a killer intro to get you properly hyped the performance is completely Flawless without a hint of slowdown to be had unlike Thunder Force 4's buckling under the load of its graphical magnificence and the gameplay mechanics are vintage Thunder Force slightly tougher than part 3 but nowhere near the difficulty of four there's really nothing to not like about gate and its most PC engine fans favorite horizontal shooter on the console even besting Lords of Thunder in most cases yes gate is that good and no I still can't let it win against Thunder Force 4. why because again Thunder Force 4 is just mind-blowing as a 16-bit game it does things that no other 16-bit shooter did allowing for the occasional performance hiccups to be forgiven and it rocks Like A Champion [Music] even inferior to gate of thunder in some respects but overall it's still unbeatable in my opinion and if you're not one of the crowd that just doesn't like or hates on part 4 you'll likely agree foreign it would take a completely different game out of left field to even stand a chance for Nintendo and that's why I went with our type 3 because it's a phenomenal r-type game with the same ingenious mechanics of the original implemented expertly when it comes to gameplay mechanics Thunder and gate aren't in the same league the interplay of the force pod and mastering its use is one of the most challenging and satisfying aspects in the history of shooting and our type 3 is a top 3 r-type game it looks fantastic with bold colors and great use of the hardware and the music while not amazing across the board like the previous two games is still quite good the problem with our type 3 is that it wins the Battle of mechanics but loses the war of Gameplay at least for the average Joe because our type 3 is hard as hell irem is iron except no substitutes it'll turn off anyone but the most expertive players from stage 4 onward requiring tons of memorization and replay and you either love it or hate it but pick up and play is the last word you'd use to describe it given how good yet how Niche that makes it in terms of gameplay and that it doesn't hit the graphical Heights of Thunder Force 4 nor the musical Heights of either it's a phenomenal game that's just not quite capable of dethroning the King and King it is Thunder Force 4 is insanity in a cartridge and still the king of 16-bit horizontal shooters [Music] but is the Mega Drive the overall king of horizontal Shooters it very well might be guaranteed the PC engine isn't running away with this one as both the Mega Drive and SNES were both horizontal Heavies aside from three Thunder Force games Sega hat some of the best of the generation of the 12 games that I ranked as s tier in the Mega Drive video eight of them were horizontal if kairis wasn't number one it sure was in the running as was eliminate down one of my top three favorites on the console and Incredibly underappreciated both battle Mania AKA troubleshooter games were super fun but the second game is downright amazing one of the best looking sounding and unique games on any of the consoles there was nothing else quite like it Atomic Runner was just a hair away from being my choice as the top arcade port on the console better than arcade air Buster is the slightly Superior version over the PC engine Port done by kaniko themselves and just a hair away from s tier itself biohazard battle is one of the coolest B-movie style Shooters with a super Bassy soundtrack and one of the best bestiaries in a shooter [Music] the Gale Lancer another fan favorite with great music and Incredibly accessible gainuke by the makers of choniki only it's even better if not as weird and ridiculous TOA plan ported both Hellfire and zeroing both the superior ports done by TOA plan themselves now Sega didn't have many cute em ups I guess they were too cool for that but KO flying Squadron on CD was one of the best Sega even had Lords of Thunder even if it's not as good as the original it's still a solid Port even steel Empire is memorable and one of the best and fun beginner shoot em ups around that's not even counting the later fan and M2 Port of Darius extra nor the brilliant Ranger ax something you'd expect from a company like treasure themselves I don't know if it counts as horizontal but I'll tell you it's fantastic where Sega lacked on the vertical front they made up for two-fold in the other plane Sega is absolutely the console to beat here and I'm not sure it can be [Music] the Super Nintendo was another horizontal Powerhouse with most of their top games there actually is kind of both but we have our type 3 grottius 3 and un Squadron three amazing games then not one or two but three parodius games all phenomenal one even a console exclusive Macross scrambled Valkyrie is hands down the best Macross shooter ever released on any console and one of the best games on the system cotton 100 is easy but beautiful and super EDF is underrated as well biometal is known among fans as one of the very best the SNES had to offer if you simply took the percentage of Super Nintendo horizontal Shooters quality versus quantity not another single console could touch it but despite how awesome of a lineup this is it's just not enough to overturn the much larger equally killer lineup That Sega had to offer the only other console with enough volume to even attempt to compete with that lineup is PC engine and I honestly didn't know going in whether it could stack up so I started counting the S tiers of the 13 games I ranked s in the PC engine video same as the Mega Drive that includes the amazing gate of Thunder but also konami's perfect ports of both gradius and gratius II the Original r-type still the best in the series and still impressive to this day air Zonk is outstanding and one of the best cut em ups ever and magical Chase is still wonderful and deserving of a mention dare I say that if I absolutely had to choose between the 8S tiers on the Mega Drive and the 8 on the PC engine wow that's hard Mega Drive has the best exclusives while PC engine has by far the best arcade ports I'd go with the PC engine lineup by a hair let's call it even at 8 s tiers apiece can the rest of the PC engine keep up the Mega Drive has 12 a-tier games and some really fantastic ones versus nine on the PC engine and Vantage Sega but check this out remember how the Super Nintendo has an incredible lineup but just can't keep up with Sega in terms of sheer quantity well now the table's turn the Mega Drive has only seven more b-ranked games with the rest see her below the PC engine a whopping 20 and these are still very good games some of them ranked with a plus just barely missing the a tier aldines on super Graphics is a must play two very solid Darius games the gorgeous if overly easy Korean eldis another great cut Em Up along with the impossible but cool race Amber sinistron is another underrated gem in the b-tier I was honestly ready to give this one to Sega and because so many of these b-tier games aren't well known I wouldn't blame anyone for riding the PC engine off not knowing they exist but once I crunch the numbers the PC engine outscored the Mega Drive by quite a bit the PC engine just empties its massive pile of solid games all over the game room floor and the PC engine comes out on top winner for overall horizontal Shooters goes to the overwhelmingly massive shooting library from Hudson however and no surprise to be honest the community went with Sega in an overwhelming way so this one settled while PC engine easily takes vertical honors Sega takes the best and popular votes for horizontal overall now let's have a bit of fun and pick out the best cut em ups Sega didn't really have many but it did have some excellent ones Panorama cotton is easily one of the most impressive while twinkletail is definitely the best top-down Run and Gun style cut Em Up and a guilty pleasure even super fantasy zone is Far and Away the best version of the game with probably the most impressive use of color on the console and one I gave an A plus ranking to but it's kale flying Squadron that I chose to represent being the very definition of a traditional cutem up executed well beautiful graphics and easily the most creative enemy and Boss Designs a great CD soundtrack that matches the game in atmosphere perfectly foreign [Music] early stages to becoming quite challenging after the first few the cd-based cutscenes and voice acting is also a real standout really adding a ton of charm to the game you can even shoot out your baby dragon options creating some interesting give and take between damage dealing and defense KO is a seriously underrated Gem and one of sega's must play games an easy pick for the Sega CD it wasn't nearly as easy choosing for the PC engine because it sure has a hell of a lot of them what else is new so let's save the rundown for the next segment and go with the obvious and most popular choice air Zonk what's not to love about this game it's frantic very fast paced visually impressive with lots of Parallax and Ultra colorful and just oozes charm and cool from every pore air Zonk doesn't try to be cool it simply is cool and that extends to its companion and transformation system so bizarre and complex that it'll keep you coming back to try and play in different ways and to top it off the music is some of the most catchy and memorable of any cute Em Up [Music] you can see why I gave this one an easy S rank in my video review it's both approachable and beatable but not overly Easy and will take some practice but it's just so dang fun and memorable I personally place it a level above KO in this contest Advantage PC engine [Music] but then there was parodius really any Proteus it's just not fair is it so many good games but when it comes to cut em ups there's parodius and there's everyone else I'll go with da here again as being the most accurate and complete arcade Port as well as the top performing but any three of the parodius games could potentially win this contest they're all that good super impressive and fun visually phenomenal music in every game and the classic grottiest formula with a deep and engaging scoring and rank system that's really hard to talk they are top to bottom exceptional games and really quite Timeless so no need to beat around the bush here as wonderful and fun as KO is and despite how much I enjoy replaying air Zog it's really no contest it's Nintendo that takes the best cut Em Up prize with parodius Annie parodius pick one the Super Nintendo has the best parodians or parodiasis and the community agreed as they should Nintendo takes the unanimous Victory with parodius but in addition to three amazing parodius games the SNES also had the beautiful pop and twin B and one I ranked in the a tier in my review with cotton 100 and the unusual yam yam rounding out the seven total games that's six out of seven games with either an s or an a tier ranking for me making this Nest a contender even if short on games overall so how many cute em ups did the PC engine have how about 20. don't act surprised you should have known better by now but again this isn't just quantity over quality we have three top tiers with air zoc star proger and magical Chase then five more in the a tier with konami's ports of the Tana twin B and parodius Dot the Hidden Gem hanatakadaka iram's excellent Mr heli and of course the original cotton then more good ones in the B tier with the beautiful corun eldest super air Zonk and Cloud master and it's all rounded out by several average but still fun and worth playing games in the sea tier like ordyne God Panic raviolipus toy shot boys isn't bad either and the ridiculous toilet kits for novelty alone in any case that's a lot of cute em ups and a tough to beat lineup and Sega ain't gonna beat it with its limited four even if all very good but still only four games but we really can't give this one to any console but the PC engine Far and Away the statistical winner in cutem ups and again the community agreed with the Super Nintendo putting up a very favorable showing especially for only having those seven games but not quite enough to take down Hudson unanimous winner again goes to the PC engine [Music] foreign from the stunning vertical stages of axillate and true 3D polygons of Star Fox to the improbable scaling of Soul star on the Sega CD there was no shortage of impressive games that defied their Hardware so choosing the most impressive game per console was no easy task except on the PC engine [Music] which clearly holds one game that stands Above the Rest and everyone knows it as Ginga fukade and setsu Sapphire released very late in the system's life on the expensive arcade card Sapphire defied what was possible using sheer ramp power to pull it off as if you're not familiar the arcade card it used is unlike the 32x or any Nintendo FX chip but simply the equivalent of adding a boatload of ram to your computer and that massive amount of memory allowed the Thunder Force Duo team to pull off some incredibly trippy effects clearly there's no polygons here but painstaking animations made to mimic the polygonal effect through massive Ram Power this is an 8-bit CPU and 16-bit graphics card with a massive Ram chip pulling off some Saturn level pre-rendered looking visuals Sapphire is very good but not great with a pretty phenomenal soundtrack by tease music everybody but there's no denying it's by far the most visually Advanced game on the console and an easy choice on the PC engine the Mega Drive was a much harder Choice as there are multiple games each very different from each other with some very impressive Feats of programming Ranger X was on my list for its creative use of Parallax layers and effects giving them a 3D look few other games in the console pulled off then you have soulstar with true scaling on the level of a 32x game Crazy impressive of course you have the 32x super scaler games but that's practically cheating at that point but the game that really sells me is the one that pulls it off on a base Mega drive without any extra horsepower or add-ons and that's Panorama cotton not because it's faux scaling is as good as a 32x game or Soul star it isn't it's the incredible way it's integrated into the game and its level of imagination that sets it apart sunsoft took their concept to another level with branching paths multi-directional scrolling vertical horizontal changing directions throughout each stage moving from one environment to another flying out of buildings through floors and across ever-changing environments it's not just about what you do but how you do it and Panorama is a perfect example it's not just a single gimmick executed well but that endless variety on tap as stages progress something rarely seen in a 3D rail shooter of this type all on a cartridge it still impresses me to this day and the reason I gave it an s-tier rank in my review an excellent choice for Sega [Music] but when it comes to games that truly transcend what anyone thought could be possible on a 16-bit console its rendering Ranger on the Super Nintendo that doesn't get nearly enough attention no it didn't start the pre-rendered trend that was Donkey Kong Country but as cool and fun as the dkc games are the visuals haven't aged all that well you can tell it was very early and a look that the 32-bit consoles would perfect not with rendering Ranger which literally looks like it could be on Saturn or PS1 coded completely in assembly by Manfred Trends the man responsible for the turken games what it pulls off on the SNES is unreal you could tell he took a look at dkc and said you know I could do this better and he did zero slowdown and blistering performance with much sharper visuals and fluid movement that defies expectations had someone shown me this back on release and told me it was a 32-bit game I wouldn't have batted an eye how did this mad genius pull off this kind of performance while other games barely chugged along it's all in the developer any console could have pulled off the most impressive game games with the right programming rendering Rangers almost the killer programming award and it goes to Manfred Trends so what would I choose Sapphire on PC engine has Ultra impressive faux 3D polygons via Sprite work but rendering Ranger pulls off that and then some to another level with no extra Hardware so I give the nod to Nintendo there Panorama cotton is completely different so it's like comparing apples to oranges but Panorama also has some very understandable frame rate and performance issues given how much it's trying to do but the Super Nintendo the console most maligned for its slow CPU pulls off an unimaginably impressive looking game while throwing immense amounts of enemies on screen it's simply a game that shouldn't have been possible on a SNES yeah here it is no FX chips like Star Fox it may not be the best game over all of the three in fact I play it the least of the three but in terms of technical Wizardry it's pretty much unmatched and my choice for most technically impressive game of the generation winner Nintendo but how did the community vote it was Sapphire on PC engine narrowly beating out Panorama for the top spot [Music] the people of sapphire and who am I to argue winner of the popular vote goes to the PC engine [Music] hits all come down to this we know the individual winners both mine and the popular votes so which console is the true king of Shooters not left up the chance but a combination of all my reviews all the winners in every category and the popular vote quantity and quality matters my rankings and your votes matter I've crunched all the numbers for everyone to see so let's Dive Right In first I added up all the rankings for every game per console with points being awarded for each the better the ranking the higher the points I even gave bonus or bogus half points for pluses and minuses sorry no points for f tier they're lucky I didn't subtract and buy the numbers the PC engine starts with the lead at 316 points followed by Mega Drive at 253 and then Nintendo at 1 45 not too surprising given the PC engine has a ton of Highly ranked games and the most games by quite a bit while the SNES while having a very high percentage of top ranked games doesn't have merely the quantity now let's look at the winners in this video the Mega Drive started off strong with Thunder Force 4 taking both mine and popular votes for best graphics and music along with the best horizontal game and I even gave the Mega Drive the nod for best graphics overall it also cleaned up in the horizontal category taking the popular vote for best overall Sega came away with a total of 10 category wins [Applause] the PC engine was always going to kick some ass here easily picking up unanimous votes for the best vertical Shooters and arcade ports overall plus some surprising and close victories for the best graphics and music overall in the popular vote follow that up with victories and best cut em ups and Technical showcase and the PC engine wrapped up 13 category wins three more than the Mega Drive and though the Super Nintendo was always destined for an uphill battle it picked up a total of five category wins of its own with parodius leading the way best gameplay and arcade Port along with best cut em up and my vote for most technically impressive game but what about the popular vote what did you the voters decide as the top console [Music] there it is an overwhelming fashion that means that even the huge mega Drive fans that voted for Thunder Force to win that voted for Musha still remained objective and chose the PC engine as the overall winner these are the votes of true shooting fans Not Fanboys or fan girls of a console but fans of all shooting games whatever console is their favorite they still play all three and enjoy the heck out of them because no true shooting fan would deny themselves the pleasure of playing these amazing games for a single console loyalty we all have our favorites but we also love them all but do you know what else voted for PC engine the internet that's right I went and asked chat GPT one of our future AI overlords to choose the top 16-bit shooting console and though very diplomatic pointing out how each had its strengths and weaknesses and all worth playing when forced for an answer replied if I had to choose only one console with the strongest shmup Library among the Mega Drive Super Nintendo and PC engine it would be the PC engine the PC engine has a reputation for being a shmup Powerhouse and boasts an extensive and impressive lineup of shooting games while the Mega Drive and Super Nintendo also had notable shoot them up titles the PC engine's dedicated focus on the genre and its extensive catalog of high quality shmups make it a standout choice for shoot m-up enthusiasts fix that it was closed but the numbers the popular vote and our future overlords agree the PC engine takes the victory in this contest but wait there is one area where the Mega Drive absolutely crushed the other consoles and that's in popularity the Mega Drive video demolished them with over 600 000 views to date that is insane not PC engine Super Nintendo Tola plan or even my big Konami video came close to how well the Mega Drive performed sega's Mega Drive is truly a ratings chug or not and there's no arguing that and if you've missed any other of my big compilation videos whether it be the PC engine Super Nintendo or every Konami or TOA plan Shooters reviewed everyone was a labor of love and an awesome way to discover every game of that console or developer it takes months and months to put them together so please continue to enjoy them while I work on the next you can check any of them out right here [Music]

Channel: Shmup Junkie

Views: 24,772

Keywords: mega drive, retro gaming, bullet hell, pc engine, shoot em up, best shmups, sega genesis, best shoot em ups, super nintendo, super famicom, retro games, top 10, best snes shmups, sega, nec, nintendo, snes, stg, arcade ports

Id: M-9cRK-JoUI

Length: 78min 0sec (4680 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 01 2023

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What's the BEST 16BIT Shoot Em Up Console of All Time? Sega's Mega Drive, Super Nintendo or PC Engine? Which games had the best graphics, music, and gameplay? Who had the best Arcade Ports, Vertical and Horizontal Shooters? The ultimate comparison of Sega, Nintendo, and NEC's consoles. After 3 massive videos ranking and reviewing every single shooter for each console, this video brings it all together and celebrates the very best of each. YOU VOTED for the BEST shmups of the generation. Now find out who is crowned the 16-bit King of Shooters!