I used to play video games a lot when I was working at a games company and the games were mainly RPG's and 2D fighters (Xenogears, Alpha 3....). Although I'm no longer in games (at the moment), I do buy them sometimes for research purposes such as the recent Odin's Sphere (because it's 2D and looks beautiful and also plays quite well), but I just find that I don't spend the time playing RPG's anymore.(which is probably why play 2D shooters more)

Games Playing Now:

Ibara (ps2)
The Adventures of Little Ralph (ps1 - great platform game! Short and sweet)
Valkyrie Profile 2 - but I'll probably exchange this. I like the characters but the story isn't really doing it for me...

I do agree with ptoing on the matter. Having bullets that look like "real" bullets together with a slightly larger hitbox on a background of similar contrast can make gameplay tricky (Although Battle Garegga is a fantastic game). It's interesting seeing the comments and views on the artwork, selout, AA etc on the actual enemies. When playing a shooter for the first time, I usually checkout the backgrounds in some detail but not the ships (I don't know why that is). As long as I can see the ships and the bullets on the background, I've never really care for the ship details. This thread however has made me appreciate the ship designs alot more.

Still though...Gameplay first, ships sprite later...and if it needs a fat peice of AA, selout, odd colour mix to do that then it's cool with me. Now....let me checkout those Ketsui sprites....

Wow!! Your really going for it and looks very full on! I find it a bit difficult to crit as I don't know what the game is about and wouldn't want to put in suggestions that aren't doable, due to hardware limitations

Looking good though...