after about 6 months of work, I finally 1 credit cleared mushihime-sama futari black label maniac mode.. (now onto god mode!)

And the top voted shmups of all time per the 2012 voting thread are as follows: 01. Battle Garegga (AC/SAT)
02. Mushihimesama Futari / 1.5 / Black Label (AC/360)
03. Ketsui kizuna jigoku tachi (AC/360)
04. DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou / Black Label (AC/360/etc.)
05. Armed Police Batrider (AC)
06. DoDonPachi (AC/SAT/PSX)
07. Batsugun / Batsugun Special (AC/SAT)
08. Raiden Fighters Jet (AC/360)
09. ESPGaluda (AC/PS2)
10. Mars Matrix (DC/AC)
11. Mushihimesama (AC/PS2/360)
12. Gunbird 2 (AC/DC)
13. ESPGaluda II (AC/360)
14. Radiant Silvergun (AC/SAT/360)
15. Dragon Blaze (AC/PS2)
16. Strikers 1945 II (AC/SAT/PSX/PS2)
17. R-Type (AC/PCE//PSX/etc.)
18. Ikaruga (ARC/DC/GC/360)
19. Giga Wing (AC/DC)
20. Battle Bakraid (AC)
21. Soukyugurentai / Terra Diver (SAT/AC/PSX)
22. Ibara (AC/PS2)
23. DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu/1.5/Resurrection (AC/etc.)
24. Muchi Muchi Pork! (AC/360)
25. Gradius Gaiden (PSX)

Honorable Mentions (per next highest vote):

Akai Katana / Shin (360/AC)
Blazing Star (AC/NG)
Cho Ren Sha 68K (PC/X68)
Crimzon Clover (PC)
Cyvern: The Dragon Weapons (AC)
Dangun Feveron (AC)
Darius Gaiden (AC/SAT/PS2/etc.)
Deathsmiles / Mega Black Label (AC/360)
Dimahoo / Great Mahou Daisakusen (AC)
DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu Black Label (AC/360)
DonPachi (AC/SAT/PSX)
Einhänder (PSX)
Eschatos (360)
ESP Ra.De. (AC)
Fire Shark / Same! Same! Same! (AC/GEN)
G-Darius (AC/PS2/PSX)
Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou (AC/SAT/FC/etc.)
Gradius V (PS2)
Guwange (AC/360)
Hellsinker (PC)
Imperishable Night [Touhou 8] (PC)
Perfect Cherry Blossom [Touhou 7] (PC)
Pink Sweets ~Ibara Sorekara~ / Arrange (AC/360)
Progear no Arashi (AC)
R-Type Delta (PSX)
Raiden DX (AC/PSX)
Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive (AC/360)
RayForce/Layer Section/Galactic Attack/Gunlock (AC/etc.)
Recca [Summer Carnival '92] (FC)
Strikers 1999 / Strikers 1945 III (AC)
Thunder Force III (GEN/MD/SAT)
Thunder Force IV / Lightening Force (MD/GEN/SAT)
Twin Cobra / Kyukyoku Tiger (AC/PCE/etc.)
Undefined Fantastic Object [Touhou 12] (PC)
Under Defeat (DC/AC)

you can find the results thread discussion here

Jonas Kyratzes is a very humble yet intelligent game developer who primarily develops text driven point and click adventure games. He likes to read and you can tell through the fantastic throwaway and main dialogue sections of his game. It's simply fantastic. Jonas is the guy behind 2012's "The Sea Will Claim Everything" a personal favorite of mine, and quite possibly my 2012 game of the year. The Sea Will Claim Everything: Jonas Kyratzes new project, "Ithaka of the Clouds" is a crowdfunded project which is currently being funded on indiegogo (please see the below link) http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/334915 This installment will wrap up the Lands of Dream series as mentioned in his crowdfunding video. The guy even opens up on reddit for discussion regarding his new game: reddit please notice this game despite the limited attention it's currently receiving, and help fund one of the (possibly) best indie titles of 2013! Eurogamer PC Gamer

was just announced! Holy hell this is my most anticipated game of the year and I'm pumped that I know when to expect it's release. It's going to be released on May 30, 2013. There is still no pricepoint, but I'm expecting that it will cost anywhere between $80-90. There hasn't been any more talk from CAVE regarding the simultaneous worldwide release (which if it was localized in PAL/NA regions, it would probably be released in those regions for $40-60). regardless, the japanese release will more-than-likely be fleshed out, and I plan on on importing either way. the original trailer can be seen here for anyone interested.

The 2012 top 25 Shmups of All Time voting has begun. Show your shmup support and go participate! If you're new to voting, please make sure you read the rules before you post because your post may be grounds for termination! Find the official voting thread here Find the official discussion thread here my list: [25] [Battle Garegga] [24] [Ketsui] [23] [DoDonPachi DaiOuJou] [22] [Mars Matrix] [21] [Psyvariar 2: The Will To Fabricate] [20] [Ibara] [19] [Mushihime-sama Futari] [18] [Armed Police Batrider] [17] [Cho Ren Sha 68K] [16] [Pink Sweets] [15] [Kingdom Grand Prix (Shippu Mahou Daisakusen)] [14] [Dragon Blaze] [13] [DoDonPachi] [12] [EspGaluda II] [11] [Chaos Field] [10] [Ikaruga] [9] [Batsugun] [8] [Akai Katana Shin] [7] [Twinkle Star Sprites] [6] [Under Defeat] [5] [ESP Ra.De.] [4] [Radiant Silvergun] [3] [Soukyuugurentai] [2] [Truxton] [1] [Radirgy Noa Massive]

To Spy Party - and it's one of the most intelligent and innovative stealth games I've ever played. You either play as a spy or a sniper, and as the spy you have objectives to complete within a party room... but you need to blend in among the party scene, because it's the snipers job to figure out who the player is as opposed to the AI. The AI is extremely smart, so you need to make your character mold into the world seemlessly while completing the tasks. AWESOME

1. DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou 2. The Kingdom of the Wolf 3. Dragon's Crown 4. Double Fine Adventure 5. Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs 6. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance 7. Project Zwei 8. Anarchy Reigns 9. The Cave 10. Beyond: Two Souls 11. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch 12. The Rabbit's Apprentice 13. Routine 14. Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm 15. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture honorable mentions: stasis,

Does anyone want an invite?? :)

I have found my favorite game of the year and more-than-likely my favorite point and click adventure of this generation. The Sea Will Claim Everything by Jonas Kyratzes. It's delightfully intelligent/witty, humorous, and strangely political and philosophical. I've taken over 20 screenshots of my favorite dialogue portions in the game, but here's just a screenshot of the dialogue that popped up when I clicked on a random candle: In addition to TSWCE, another fantastic point and click adventure released yesterday by Wadjet Eye known as Primordia. I was able to play a little bit of it last night and it seemed very promising. I've been considering buying the physical edition which will only be available until December 10, 2012 too. some more information/excellent news has been provided by Famitsu regarding DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou [quote="Famitsu"]- arrange mode is programmed by Ikeda, Ichimura and Yagawa (wow!), it'll be totally different from previous arrange modes and will be focused on story, with voice acting by Aya Hirano - it will feature a new elemental doll, Saya (http://www.senpaigamer.com/sites/def...daioujou-2.jpg) - vertical scrolling, but 16:9 aspect ratio, like Jamestown and Gigawing - supports coop multiplayer up to 3 players (not specificed if online or offline), there's only one score counter shared between players - there will be an anime intro, sung by Aya Hirano - Yagawa is in charge of the port (in previous games he only did arrange modes) - it'll be their last game for 360 - they're working toghether with Microsoft - there will be a big announcement on March 2013

For any shmup fans out there that are having a hard time finding a used copy of MMP/PS for less than $120.00, search no longer! MMP/PS will be getting a $30.00 re-release as shown in the following amiami posting: http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?gcode=TVG-X36-1242&page=top this bundle is incredible and shouldn't be passed up.