shmups - I'll list a few and explain my reasoning for one
done wrong:
ikaruga, sine mora
most newer "mainstream" shmups have completely random drop rates, scoring opportunities, and control issues (built around analog control systems)... which completely destroys competition due to randomness and overall replayability. everything I just explained is referring to Sine Mora, but the game I will actually talk about - especially seeing as it's the most popular among gamers - is Ikaruga.
I consider Ikaruga one of the best starting points of the genre. It's a commercial success for Treasure due the amount of popularity the game has received (it's been ported from arcade to dreamcast, gamecube, xbox 360, nesicaxlive, android, and now pc/steam). It's a beautiful game, with a gimmicky yet fun polarity system, and I actually consider it one of the best co-op games to play for survival - the way the game is set up, you and your partner are doing the exact same or exact opposite simultaneously per the polarity mechanics and bullet spreads. So what's the problem?
most scoring systems in games are completely arbitrary to the actual gameplay at hand - some make absolutely zero sense. But what do you do when you've 1 credit cleared a shmup you've been playing for survival? you find another reason to create replayability in the same title which many rely on scoring mechanics.
Ikaruga has a scoring system set in place, and it even makes some sense on screen - everything is based around the polarity colors. you basically chain 3 enemies of the same color in a row and you continue this process throughout the entire gaming basing your pathways on your chain. If you do not kill 3 enemies in a row your chain will break. So what's the problem? The scoring system is a complete drag. It implements a very similar chaining system to dodonpachi/dodonpachi daioujou which is legitimately one of the worst scoring systems in the genre. Once you achieve your normal 1CC, you have to relearn the entire game to learn how to score - as is with nearly every other shmup - but scoring can actually be a lot of fun and can completely revitalize the game for someone who has already dedicated themselves to a full clear. Ikaruga is the exact opposite in that the scoring system is boring and overly tedious.
The game is perfect to draw people into the genre with no prior interest. It sucks though, because most interest in the genre starts and dies with Ikaruga. No one knows where to go from there. You constantly hear about Ikaruga from critics being praised as one of the best shooters ever, but you never hear about any other titles in the genre - which leads me to believe that many of these critics start and stop at Ikaruga. It's funny though, this reviewer from rockpapershotgun has been playing Ikaruga for survival, he goes on to call it one of the best shooters ever made, and then he mentions he just started scoring and can't help but be disappointed (that's because it's not the perfect shmup you say it is dude!)
that's because it doesn't have great replayability, but that doesn't stop it from being a great title to play casually!
done right:
battle garegga, progear, mushihimesama futari
I can go on about how these 3 games destroy Ikaruga in both terms of replayability and scoring, but I'll stick to Progear as it's the most fun I've had playing a shmup
Progear is a horizontal steam-punk inspired bullet hell shmup developed by CAVE. It has only been released in arcades due to Capcom's copyright on the IP as the publisher.
Progear has a gem leveling-based scoring system. The controls are based on a two button layout (shot and bomb). By tapping shot you get a rapid fire, by holding shot you get a lock on shot. Your goal is to use rapid fire by tapping to kill enemies when other enemy's bullets are on top of the enemy you're killing. Once you kill the enemy, all the bullets on top and in a radius around the enemy ship turn into gems. Every time you pick up a gem, the next color is in the line (unless you cash out). It goes grey > medium grey > large grey > red > medium red > big red > green > medium green > big green > platinum. once you build your gem counter up to platinum, you will hold down locked shot, and the bullets on top of the next enemy you kill will turn into the highest scoring item which will shoot up your score and start you off from the grey gem again.
you can milk larger enemies to build up your gem counter to platinum, cash in, build up to platinum, cash in, platinum, cash in and then kill the enemy.
I actually had more fun learning the scoring system in Progear than actually playing for survival.
you take a game like Progear that is fun to play for survival, add in a scoring system that is just as fun to learn, and you have a complete package of blissful replayability.
here's a bonus few paragraphs about battle garegga - which has a scoring system almost as tedious as ikaruga, but it redeems itself in seamlessly tying in scoring with survival. In Ikaruga you can play the game for score or survival, in battle garegga you need to play for score in order to survive.
Battle Garegga was released in the late 90s in arcade and later ported to the Sega Saturn. From it's appearance, Garegga looks like your standard run-of-the-mill shmup, but it's much much more. The first title of Raizing's Shinobu Yagawa's "Bat Trilogy" this game still sees an insane amount of competition till this day. Battle Garegga does a fantastic job of creating a rank-based game which ties in scoring and survival into the perfect combination of replayable bliss*.
*it's actually the opposite of bliss and one of the most extreme forms of masochism I've encountered in a video game. Probably the worst title to recommend to a new comer and I would never wish my worst enemy the pain of learning how to play a Yagawa shmup for the first time - but once you do... it's insane and there's no going back.
Battle Garegga employs a rank system in which the difficulty of the game is continually increasing. Any time you shoot, pick up an item, move, use a bomb, or stay alive... the rank increases which in turn gives enemies more bullets, faster bullets, more hp, etc. The only way to lower your rank is to kill yourself and the only way to kill yourself is to gain enough lives by scoring. The amount of lives you have in stock also affects how much your rank goes down when you suicide which is why the majority of pros play the entire game on their last life. The scoring system in the game is a medal chaining system in which enemies will drop medals at different intervals. There's about 20 in total, and you continually work your way up to the highest point value medal - in which all medals following will be of the highest point value. The catch is... if you miss a single medal and there isn't a medal of the same value that remains on the screen... your medal chain will start from the beginning.
The scoring/rank system is actually so much more intricate than how I explained, but on top of that... Garegga also has one of the best soundtracks in any shmup I've played. The replayability of BG is actually insane.
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