Let's talk about NES shmups!!!

[BoneSnapDeez]

The NES is boss and shmups are boss so I've concluded that NES shmups must be doubly boss.

I'm a newbie to the genre and only own a few: Dragon Spirit: The New Legend, Sky Shark, and Stinger. I want to get many more because they tend to be fairly cheap and I like NES controls. What games are best, what are the worst, and do any feature hot anime girls?

EDIT: Official List compiled throughout this thread

Currently at 64 titles:
1942
1943
Abadox
AD&D Dragon Strike
Adventures of Dino Riki
Alpha Mission
Burai Fighter
Captain Skyhawk
Crisis Force
Double Strike
Dragon Spirit
Exed Exes
Fantasy Zone
Galactic Crusader
Galaga
Galaxian
Galg
Gradius
Gradius 2
Guardian Legend
Gun.Smoke
GunNac
Gyruss
Image Fight
Isolated Warrior
Kings Knight
Legendary Wings
LifeForce
Lock 'n Load!
Macross
MagMax
Metal Fighter
Millipede
Mission Cobra
Over Horizon
Parodius
Recca
SCAT
Section Z
Silkworm
Silver Surfer
Seicross
Sky Kid
Sky Shark
Spy Hunter
Sqoon
Star Force
Star Soldier
Starship Hector
Stinger
Super Spy Hunter
Tale Spin
Terra Cresta
Thunderbirds
Thundercade
Tiger Heli
Twin Cobra
Twin Eagle
Twinbee
Volguard II
Xevious
Xexez
Zanac
Zombie Nation

[ExedExes]

The NES is boss and shmups are boss so I've concluded that NES shmups must be doubly boss.

I'm a newbie to the genre and only own a few: Dragon Spirit: The New Legend, Sky Shark, and Stinger. I want to get many more because they tend to be fairly cheap and I like NES controls. What games are best, what are the worst, and do any feature hot anime girls?

NES shmups are doubly, triply boss.

Your games are all good, but there's SO much more.

Gradius/Life Force -- The start of a legendary horizontal shmup series -- both games are great.

The Guardian Legend -- If you like a little Zelda-like exploration with your shmups, then you'll love this.

Zanac -- Has the "A.I." system that progressively increases difficulty the more you shoot.

Star Soldier -- Might not have a lot of name recognition, but it did launch a moderately-popular series. Worth a look.

Gun-Nac -- Built on what made Zanac so good, but released very late in the NES lifecycle so it was largely forgotten. Plus, the weapon-shop fast food chick might fit your anime requirement too

Those were probably the popular, well-loved and well known. Check out these shmups too -- NES was definitely not short in this genre:

Abadox
Alpha Mission
Legendary Wings
Twin Cobra
Tiger Heli
Burai Fighter
SCAT
Fantasy Zone

Hope this helps.

[noiseredux]

Lifeforce is awesome and has 2P co-op.

[Hobie-wan]

Guardian Legend is a hybrid shmup/dungeon crawler, but it fulfills the cute anime girl quotient. Zanac is cheap and a must. Gun Nac is hard to find and pricey, but is great. Repros of Recca are available. If you delve into imports, Gradius II and Crisis Force, and Over Horizon are great.

[dunpeal2064]

The almighty Recca is definitely my favorite shmup on the system. It will probably turn a lot of people away due to its difficulty, but the game is faNTASTIC, and I still have a hard time believing this thing is running on an NES. The game was definitely a taste to come from my favorite shmup dev ever, Shinobu Yagawa. You could fairly safely say that Pink Sweets is a spiritual successor to this game.

[o.pwuaioc]

The almighty Recca is definitely my favorite shmup on the system. It will probably turn a lot of people away due to its difficulty, but the game is faNTASTIC, and I still have a hard time believing this thing is running on an NES. The game was definitely a taste to come from my favorite shmup dev ever, Shinobu Yagawa. You could fairly safely say that Pink Sweets is a spiritual successor to this game.

It turns people away by being for the Famicom only, and not being released outside Japan.

[brunoafh]

I'm actually not a very big fan of NES shmups myself as the ported games tend to be very poor representations of the original arcade games.

Having said that, I'd have to say Life Force and Zanac are two that I found to be very good. I'm also quite fond of Tiger Heli but that's just the Toaplan fan in me. Truth is the NES port is pretty bad. The PS1 port is awesome though.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Oh yeah I have The Guardian Legend, didn't list it originally because I wasn't sure if it was considered a "pure" shmup. These are good picks, I think I'll raid the retro game store sometime next year looking for these.

[dunpeal2064]

The almighty Recca is definitely my favorite shmup on the system. It will probably turn a lot of people away due to its difficulty, but the game is faNTASTIC, and I still have a hard time believing this thing is running on an NES. The game was definitely a taste to come from my favorite shmup dev ever, Shinobu Yagawa. You could fairly safely say that Pink Sweets is a spiritual successor to this game.

It turns people away by being for the Famicom only, and not being released outside Japan.

Lol. You realize how many shmups are japan only? Plenty of people talk about abd enjoy Garegga, and its saturn exclusive, japan only, and and runs in the $150 ramge.

A us repro can be had for under $50. My comment was about its difficulty, not its elusiveness. I've talked with mjmjr25, who also tried a repro, and he didn't like the game too much.

[dunpeal2064]

Oh, and if we are counting hybrids, I quite enjoy Xexez.

Zanac is awesome! I still need to try Guardian Legend.