Good Shmups on the SNES?

[Tanegashima]

This is the primary reason Nintendo sucks, they're shmups blow hard. Sega & SNK will always reign supreme in the shmup dept.

[108 Stars]

Rendering Ranger was Japan-only, and only 5000 copies were made I believe.

[mick_aka]

Super Aleste, worth owning a SNES for IMHO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYIHAgvqWJc

YouTube does it little justice.

[sonicwatcher6969]

U.N. Squadron was voted BEST SHOOTER EVAR by Gametrailer's Handsome Greg and Little Tom, I think.

I think it tied with Gradius III for a position top 10 SNES games.

[Joe Redifer]

No, it was BEST SHOOTER EVAR!

Wow, Space Megaforce (aka Super Aleste) even sounds like Blazing Lazers.

[DigitalSpace]

Space Megaforce (my personal favorite SNES shmup)
U.N. Squadron
Axelay
Phalanx (don't let the old man with the banjo on the box and label fool you)
Super Nova
D-Force
R-Type III
Darius Twin
Earth Defense Force
Biometal (despite the music - who the hell thought that crappy dance song "Get Ready For This" was fitting for a shmup?)
Gradius III (even with the slowdown)

[AD2101]

U.N. Squadron was voted BEST SHOOTER EVAR by Gametrailer's Handsome Greg and Little Tom, I think.

Then there was that horrible screwattack video on the "10 Best shooters ever" which was basically a list of second-rate Nintendo games. UN Squadron took #1 on that list too, although im not sure it might be the same list that your talking about.

And I can't take any old school shmup that ISN'T 1 hit kill seriously on terms of best ever, sorry.

[Joe Redifer]

That's the list I'm thinking of. I get Game Trailers and Screw Attack mixed up. I just remember one of the "DJs" referring to himself as handsome-somebody-or-other.

[Drixxel]

The best of the SNES shmup bunch include (IMHO) the likes of:

Axelay
Caravan Shooting Collection ... I've been putting a fair bit of time into this lately. A cool compilation of old school shmups.
Flying Hero - Bugyuru no Daibouken ... A rather fun cute-'em-up
Gradius III ... I can look past the technical shortcomings. Great music & atmosphere.
Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius ... Outrageous Parodius times.
Parodius Da! ... See above.
Pop'N Twinbee
R-Type III
Space Megaforce ... The best SNES vertical shooter.
Spriggan Powered
U.N. Squadron

It's a pity that most of these were Japan exclusives. There were still other decent shmups, such as Acrobat Mission, Aero Fighters, Bio Metal, Blazeon, Darius Twin, Phalanx, Strike Gunner, Super E.D.F., Super R-Type, Thunder Spirits.. all playable, but not exceptional. Crap like D-Force and Imperium are perhaps better ignored.

Dezaemon, the almost Mario Paint-like SNES shmup creator, is a worthwhile curiosity.

[Dirt Ball Gamer]

PC engine and sega own the 16 bit shmups. SNES had a few really good games I will admit.

[JFLY]

The 3 Parodius games, Macross, and Gradius III are pretty good Super Famicom shooters, though I still prefer my shooters on my Genesis/MD or PC-Engine.