/vr/ - Retro Games

>>6014425
So far it's alright, but /shmupg/ entirely derailed usually and it waa nothing but Discord drama for a while, I've been in some bad threads but /shmupg/ took the crown, seems alright now.

>>6014579
The fact that you ask this question is already a sign that you probably will, most people just straight up jump into the genre and pick up some bullethell game made for veterans, and then have a miserable time because the initial learning curve is so incredibly steep.

Personally, not retro but Sine Mora EX is probably the best forgiving shmup that I can recommend, incredibly cheap to pick up, very unique artstyle, has traces of bullethell but isn't punishing if you fuck them up, and it lets you pick stages so you can quickly memorize and learn stages, to then directly apply your knowledge to progress. It teaches you what shmups are about, provides every challenge you can expect in other games, and dying feels fair and part of the experienfe. If I play it now I breeze through it, but when I played it it took me a full day to finish and several breaks because I was so invested.

Darius after you get a taste for them is a great series, not easy but not ridiculously punishing either, also has several parodies called Parodius, so it's a series that can be played and learned for a while.

Deathsmiles is a western shmup for the 360 clearly made to appeal to western audiences that don't have muxh experience with shmups, your hitbox is very clearly defined, it has very clear cut layouts that it walks you through to help you figure out your playstyle.
Deathsmiles will walk you down a very ridiculously expensive and hard to justify path if you get into it though, since Japan had a ton of very good Japan exclusive 360 games.