Also add Shenmue to the bracket, it got 7 votes if you count 2
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Shmup fans complaining about only one rep.
Rhythm game fans quietly watch until their one rep is also eliminated.
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If I could vote for parts of the Shenmues I liked best I wouldāve done that. I didnāt like being railroaded into the forklift job with nothing else to do at the end of 1. I really liked 2ās Kowloon as a place and as someone here talked about, if I could just exclude the Yellow Head Building from my ideal hypothetical vote that would be great.
Also they needed to add rapid fire to the HD portās Space Harrier. The Yakuzas had it 
The music is great and itās kind of mind-boggling to me that there was never a complete release of all of it? āFREE 15ā, a like 30-second long looping melody and synth pad played briefly when you are in between events in Dobuita, is one of those youtube videos I have looping for hours in a tab at work.
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The forklift job sequence is one of the best representations of working a job in a video game and really underscores the games themes of slow alienation from the people you knew growing up.
Itās great!
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I can see what you mean and I guess at the time I just wanted more flexibility, like at least the option to skip a day of work and roam around. But as you put it, it definitely works in context with the rest of the game.
Eventually we all have to grow up and get a job.
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Quick aside
When I was nominating games, it was more important for me that a game get mentioned than for it to make it into the final bracket. The nomination phase is probably going to be my favorite part of this whole exercise because everybody put a handful of games in their list that were personally significant to them. Iām still going to enjoy this part though because I enjoy bickering.
- Street Fighter III vs Contra: Hard Corps
This matchup is really hard for me. Street Fighter III is one of the most beautiful games ever made. Itās a travesty that Capcom has turned their back on this bright and fluid art style in favor of pushing the limits of how ugly they can make Street Fighter while still raking in money.
Hard Corps is exactly what I want out of a side scrolling action game. It feels like a reaction to Gunstar Heroes, as if the devs wanted to out spectacle Treasure. You have just the right level of control to get out of any situation and some of the gun designs are just bizarre. Each level feels like itās trying to self destruct and take you with it. Amazing.
Iām voting for Third Strike.
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i recently played shenmue and shenmue ii and they are incredible tbh. also in terms of story and themes, yakuza 6 is the most shenmue yakuza game maybe?
Iām gonna start sharing videos of my favorite parts for the games I donāt vote for.
I wanted to share these under āHide Detailsā so as to shorten the length of my post but then they wouldnāt show the preview 
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Itās not that it is just one rep. Itās that it is the most boring and predictable rep. I donāt even know what the rhythm game equivalent would be. Guitar Hero? Thatās a little mean to Ikaruga. Itās just likeā¦whatās the shooter thatās on every best of list? Ikaruga.
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I guess itās a case of gateway drug versus the best of the best. Ikaruga is valuable as an entry point for many but it is very ādefaultā. I could see DDR filling a similar role as an entry into the genre but itās not an easy comparison. This probably speaks more to the frustrations of genre labels than anything.
Assessing Ikaruga solely on its merits as a game, regardless of its genre, still leaves it coming up a little short for me but then Iām not really a shmup/STG/shootlike person.
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The shooters just missed.
Dodonpachi and Recca both got five nominations.
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Wait holy shit the only rhythm game contender is osu? I knew iidx wasnāt going to get in but that actually frustrates me a lot that thatās the only nominee. If we view the nominee as for the DS games EBA/Ouendan, theyāre a terrible representation of the merits of the genre in that nothing they do can be considered as pushing a skill ceiling, which is the primary reward loop of rhythm games. The reward loop in those games is much the same as Gitaroo Man ā do something mentally engaging while a silly story unfolds. I would go so far as to say that they should be considered āmusic gamesā and not ārhythm gamesā. And if we view it as the freeware pc spinoff just called osu, first off that community is dogshit awful and second off that game is a failure to leverage one of the great strengths of rhythm games: tactile input that provides feedback and a primal sense of pleasure. In high level osu, the player jerks a stylus around a tablet and presses a single keyboard key extremely quickly. Thatās not a pleasure-inducing method of input, because the main variable (the stylus) has no mechanical feedback.
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Ok so the rhythm people get the STG struggle.
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i do wonder how many people actually go past ikaruga. itās definitely the one that has cult status, and a lot of people have actually played it, but iām not sure itās actually a gateway for many people rather than just an outlier.
anyway, kokuga > ikaruga
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Yeah, I like EBA but at high difficulty you are just typing out morse code more than doing anything pleasurably simulating music.
Iād have liked for Rhythm Heaven to have gotten a shot but I suspect the noms were split across the series.
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???
I didnāt even notice anyone who nominated it but it is profoundly upsetting
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You phrasing it like this gives me a new sense of empathy with yāall stg nerds 
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I can definitely say I have talked to a decent number of people who will tell you Ikargua is the best STG, but then if pressed a little bit will admit it is the only one they have ever played much of, so.
Out of curiosity, I tried to make a list of every scrolling shooter that had ā„2 nominations but didnāt make it (I probably missed a couple). I really appreciate how bizarre the list is compared to what you would normally hear after asking āWhatās an STG I should play?ā
They are
ZeroRanger
Dodonpachi
Recca
Cho Ren Sha 68k
Radiant Silvergun
Ketsui
Mushihimesama Futari
Zero Gunner 2
Warning Forever
Twinkle Star Sprites (genre blend)
Touhou 8
The Guardian Legend (genre blend)
RayForce
R-Type Delta
Mushihimesama
Gradius V
Giga Wing 2
G-Darius
Deathsmiles
Crimzon Clover World Ignition
Battle Mania Daiginjou
Battle Garegga
Armed Police Batrider
Air Fortress (genre blend)
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