I picked up Imperium a few months ago on eBay (got a CIB for $22, apparantly that's a steal but didn't realize at the time). Anyway, it's a vertical scrolling shooter by Vic Tokai, which was kind of a second-rate developer.

But, I like it a lot! I've heard it described as a poor man's MUSHA, because you have some kind of flying suit instead of a ship/plane, and the game is a little bit sparse in terms of action/variety. But especially for the SNES it is a pretty decent shmup. The soundtrack is also quite good.

What do you guys think about this game? 

Its ok but it could have been better, like it really feels like an early snes title but Space Megaforce also came out the same year and that game push every special effect the snes had to offer as well amazing visuals and music.

I personally like it. I wouldn't compare it to Musha but we all have different opinions. Shooters are my favorite genre to pick up and play just to kill time. Imperium is pretty difficult in my opinion but I do enjoy playing it and actually have been recently.

I recorded a no-death run of hard about a month ago for this one:



I do agree that this is one of the underrated shmups on the SNES, it's actually very playable and also quite challenging and pretty long ~50 minutes. Even though graphically it appears to be a straight rip-off of MUSHA it's mechanics are entirely different with the experience system tied to your score. The soundtrack is also pretty good, honestly I'm surprised it still sells for as cheap as it does consider it's pretty uncommon on top of all that.

Wow, that's something! It is pretty hard. I didn't even realize it had a 'continue' feature the first time I played because it replays the intro first haha. I forgot already about the RPG-esque score/upgrade bit, which is also cool. I suppose it's cheap because it's just not that well known - I had actually never heard of it till I saw the eBay listing and I know shmups pretty well too
 

Played it for maybe 20 minutes back in 2006... need to sit down with this one but based upon first impressions it was fairly lukewarm. Playable, enjoyable, competent, decent. Those sort of words come to mind. But not necessarily something to write home about. Still, a solid entry into the SHMUP library of the SNES.

http://vintage.nintendoage.com/fo...

Man your tempting me to show off my shmup collection on the Genesis as well. I'm only like 5 to 6 titles left from having a complete shmup collection for the system and that also covers Japanese releases. I already have titles like Eliminate Down and Slap Fight down.
 

Eliminate Down down? That's awesome, I have a handful of the Genesis shmups but not approaching a full set. While we're on underrated games, what do you think of Steel Empire? A very solid and cool-looking shooter, I think.

That's the best word to describe Steel Empire, solid. Not only that but unique too, you don't see too many steam punk shooters.

Wow pegboy. Some impressive skills. I never would have made it past the 2 purple enemies on level one. 

Yeah Pegboy is inhuman. I've watched quite a few of his runs and they're all insane. 

Eliminate Down is awesome, sadly I only have a repro of it. I'm a huge fan of Gleylancer myself. 

I like Imperium. It's a good game, and certainly underrated. Steel Empire is slow, but certainly unique and pretty decent. If we're going with Genesis SHMUPs no one talks about that are good, Wings of Wor, Elemental Master, and Grind Stormer.