worth playing just to understand what people mean by "gradius syndrome". still a solid game, but heavily reliant on trial and error

see also: r-type, darius, sexy parodius

historically significant for being the first actual bullethell game

basic, no-frills bullet hell. noteworthy for its music and zun's whole DIY appeal

aesthetically stellar and punishingly difficult. touhou but awesome

see also: radio zonde

maybe the only gamegear title anyone gives a shit about besides madou monogatari

transformation mechanic is super fun and adds depth to the scoring system while also throwing a bone to new players who just wanna survive. sequel used to be arcade/xbox 360 exclusive but is now on switch

check out the more cyberpunk-themed spiritual predecessor too, esp ra.de

(xbox 360/arcade exclusive) features a batshit insane scoring system that's so addicting it'll actually make you want to play for score beyond just having bragging rights

fantastic spritework. quintessential cave shmup

see also: ketsui, mushihimesama, battle garegga

very fucking hard, but in a way that's less about dodging 1000000000 bullets and more so regards how effectively you use your many different weapons

ikaruga is rsg's spiritual successor and has a similar design philosophy where it's less about your reflexes and more about your smarts

game's cool as fuck bro just look at it

play this if you've got someone else to run the multiplayer with

weird shit

charming for its many different character interactions. brutally difficult. has a sequel too

check out psikyo's other work as well, including the samurai aces series (especially sengoku blade)

swinging anchor mechanic alone makes this worthwhile

boss rusher with neat risk/reward dynamics. order field is safer but you deal less damage; chaos field is harder and you hit like a truck