LogFAQs > #927106561

Radiant Silvergun. Boring choice, but it's a classic for a reason. Better than Ikaruga in every way aside from maybe presentation - the artists at Treasure were awful in the '90s.

Close second would be Mars Matrix. A brutal shmup that uses one button for everything, but uses bombs/shields in a very unqiue way. Using momentum for bombing feels incredible. Giga Wing is also good, but not *as* good.

Also, Psyvariar Delta recently released, and that's definitely up there - particularly Revision. Hands down the best implementation of grazing I've seen in a shmup.

As an aside, I think Psikyo is overrated to hell and back. With the exception of Zero Gunner 2, I don't care for their shmups. Especially their side scrollers like Sol Divide, which I downright hate. I kinda like the randomized stages, but when I think of generic shmups, I think Psikyo. Boring bullet patterns, boring gimmicks, boring scoring mechanics, and tedious second loops. They're straightforward to a fault.