Shoot 'em ups (shmups) are by far some of my favorite type of games, especially bullet hell types.  Got my fix back in the days from titles like Galaga, Lifeforce (Salamander), and the occasional R-Type.  Nowadays, I get my main fix from many Cave/Atlus shooters like, Guwange, DoDonPachi, Espgaluda, and others, like Cyvern, Einhander, and Vasara.  Of course, because many of these shmups never make it to consoles, for many, I do resort to emus (don't hate.. you seriously can't expect a brother to be purchasing some of these hard-to-find arcade cabinets).  

Anyways, just wanted to create a thread for those who are into Shoot 'em ups and don't mind discussing about their favorite shooters, current shooters they are playing, and/or the likes.  Also, shooters like Contra, Heavy Barrel, and SmashTV, and twin stick shooters like Dead Nation, Alien Breed, etc. are welcome too.  Figure this be a good spot for others to find some hidden gems worth playing.

By far, I play mostly Cave shooters.  Current shmups I am playing/switching between now are: Cyvern, Galaga, DonPachi, Guwange, ProGear, Sine Mora, Battle Garegga, and Radiant Silvergun.  With my ps4.. it's mostly on Dead Nation and Resogun.  My favorite shooter of all time though, is Galaga.  Nothing more satisfying than getting into the 100+ stages off only 1 quarter at the arcades.

Any shmup you currently playing?

I picked up Mamuru kun Curse not to long ago, although I've only played one stage so far. Prior to that my last shmup was Touhou 8 2 years ago. I actually got pretty good at that game. Managed to 1cc it on hard. My skills have gotten pretty rusty since then though.

Contra games are welcomed? Great! I've started replaying Contra 4 recently and it's simply as good as the classic titles! It's challenging, yet fair! Hopefully Konami will make another Contra game!

i'm playing pixel junk shooter right now if you want to count that. related but not really a shump imo.

resogun was great but i suck at it.

i'd (probably) kill for an ikaruga remaster on ps4.

Touhou 8's a great game..  haven't played that a while also.  Mamuru was a tad slow for my liking.. maybe it's the, no forced scrolling that did me in.. Just never could quite get into it.

Contra will always be welcome.  because of Contra, up up down down left right left right a b select start became legend among all gamers. lol..

Just got a new laptop, waiting for my new internet to kick in and I will try Touhou for the first time. Where should I start??

I honestly never managed to beat the original Contra or Super C without that code! The Konami Code is simply a Godsend!

yea, ikaruga would be cool.  just makes me sad how much the PS3 was neglected by shmup devs last gen.  I'd kill for those Cave collections that made their way to the 360.. ironic, considering Japanese devs not releasing Japanese shooters for a Japanese console.  I read a while back that the MS environment was easier to work with, but dammit.. many ps3 gamers would of loved those shmups too!

Love shmups. Einhander was one of my favs. xbox live indies have quite a few good ones. gotta give a shout out to metal slug anthology on wii too.