If you had to pick between these 3 shooters.....

[TheAlphaOmegaX3]

 If you had to make a choice between:

GRADIUS II
 
GATE OF THUNDER
 
WINDS OF THUNDER

Which one would you pick up first? I was kinda leaning on Gradius 2 but if one of the others is that much better..... I know alot of you guys have played these and would love your opinion. BTW, reason I ask is due to finding a good deal and recently sold a couple of my SNES items and can only choose one for now. Thanks for any insight!

[Otaking]

Winds of Thunder.

[Flare65]

Winds of Thunder.

+1

Go for Gates of Thunder next.

[SignOfZeta]

Gate of Thunder, no question.

[BlueBMW]

All three?  Or Nexzr!

[NightWolve]

I can't speak for Gradius II, but Gate of Thunder is one of the greatest shooters I ever played with a legendary soundtrack on par with the funding and quality level of the Ys soundtracks. Ryo Yonemitsu made Ys soundtracks legendary and someone called "Groove King" was responsible for Gate of Thunder's soundtrack working for Red and Hudson Soft.

[nectarsis]

All three?  Or Nexzr!

This....but if I HAD to choose one of the 3...Gate all day.

[esteban]

I say (my way is more fun...and progresses from "universally appealing" to "niche audience"):

UNIVERSALLY APPEALING (easy):
Lords of Thunder...it has the biggest aesthetic "wow" factor. It is truly unique in its visual presentation. It is a lot of fun to play...even for casual shooter fans. A lot of people are telling you to buy the "best" game first...but I think you should go for the best visual treat first (don't worry, the game itself is solid). Then...

CASUAL SHOOTER FAN (easy):
Gate of Thunder: a fantastic game with a more "mainstream" (for shooters) aesthetic. Probably a stronger game than Lords (I have argued as much in the past), but it can't quite match the fantasy theme of Lords (the atmosphere).

GRADIUS FAN:
Gradius II is a great game (again, I posted about the game years ago), but I would say that it is for Gradius fans. You know what you are getting here. Haters are gonna hate (they are WRONG...the Gradius series DOES allow you to recover from setbacks and/or checkpoints, even if you are reduced to a pea-shooter). I raved about Gradius II when I first got it for the PCE years ago...and I haven't really changed my mind.


MANY PEOPLE PLAY SHOOTERS THE WRONG f*ckING WAY:

You should never turn off the console because you died and lost your powerups.

The entire point of the goddamn genre is to figure out a way to SURVIVE, even with a pea-shooter.

Use continues when you a learning a new game (or trying to beat a challenging game), because you have to practice, and you have to experiment with different strategies for survival.

You want a repertoire of survival skills, NOT A "PERFECT PLAYTHROUGH"

A *perfect* PLAY-THROUGH can be the final product after lots and lots of *organic* practice, experimentation, and pure desperation.

But your games should always have *some* spontaneity (even if *you* have to initiate it...for example: by not playing the exact same way every time)

/rant

[Black Tiger]

Lords of Thunder
Gate of Thunder
Gradius II

Lords of Thunder has so much more replay value and variety than Gate of Thunder.

Gradius II doesn't deserve to be in the same list.


If you're looking to buy one, then the Gate of Thunder 4-in-1 is the best value.

I can't speak for Gradius II, but Gate of Thunder is one of the greatest shooters I ever played with a legendary soundtrack on par with the funding and quality level of the Ys soundtracks. Ryo Yonemitsu made Ys soundtracks legendary and someone called "Groove King" was responsible for Gate of Thunder's soundtrack working for Red and Hudson Soft.

Guys who did music for Duran Duran did the GoT soundtrack.

[NightWolve]

I can't speak for Gradius II, but Gate of Thunder is one of the greatest shooters I ever played with a legendary soundtrack on par with the funding and quality level of the Ys soundtracks. Ryo Yonemitsu made Ys soundtracks legendary and someone called "Groove King" was responsible for Gate of Thunder's soundtrack working for Red and Hudson Soft.

Guys who did music for Duran Duran did the GoT soundtrack.

Oh no kidding, no wonder it's one of the greatest soundtracks in videogame history. I ripped it along with the Ys I-IV and FF 4-5 tracks to record for cassette and have for listening in the car BITD. I never thought about wanting videogame music on-the-go until I encountered Ys Book I&II and Gate of Thunder.

[Zero_Gamer]

Gate of Thunder. It's the best balanced of the three. One of the best shooters of all time imo

[TheAlphaOmegaX3]

Thank you guys for all your opinion's! So many great shooters ( and games in general for that matter) on the PCE. Of course I want all three lol, but I can only pick one for now.

Gradius 2 may seem out of place when mentioning these legendary shooters. See, names like R-Type and Gradius to me are like the godfather of shooters. I have a love affair with both series. I have also really enjoyed a few of the Darius releases very much. I haven't played any of the Soldier series until I purchased my PCE, so it was just until recently I learned of them (don't kill me! lol). Now I want all three Hu-Cards! With my new found $60 I wanted to buy a CD game for my system. Yep, I knew what some of the most talked about shooters for the CD were. Happen to find out I could actually afford one of the games and it made the choice that much harder.

It really is a great conversation and I got some very good input. I  will sleep on it and make my choice in the morning. I'll also update this with my choice for any that actually give a crap lol. Thanks again!

[ClodBuster]

Why having to decide between all these wonderful babies - when you can have them all for little money on the Wii Virtual Console.

Then you can think later about which game you'd like to spent your hard earned cash for a physical copy.

I for myself like all three. For showing off among friends and having them a try, Winds and Gate might be more appropriate. Gradius II is harder to get into for people not familiar with the power up system and the graphics aren't as detailed, but no wonder, its arcade counterpart is a few years older than the other two. To me, it has the most tightly and masterfully designed levels. I also praise its gameplay and music highly. One of the games I really like to play every now and then for 1-2 hours until I'm fed up of dying.

[sunteam_paul]

Gate of Thunder is the best shooter I ever played, so easy choice.

[shubibiman]

Of the three. Gate of Thunder is the only PCE exclusive and the more fast paced game of the three.

Winds of Thunder is great too but maybe a little bit more difficult so if your a noobie at shmups, Gate would be your best choice.

Gradius 2 is, IMHO, the best episode of the Gradius series after Gradius V. This port is quite faithful to the arcade and deserves being played.

Very difficult choice but if you want to get the real PCE feeling, Gate of Thunder has my vote.