The shooting genre

Barring FPS games... I'm becoming a fan. It was sparked by getting Super C on VC (although I was a fan of Contra when I was a kid). And now I've started playing stuff like Gradius, Life Force, and Metal Slug. And today Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ for DS came in and I'm really enjoying it. This genre is becoming really cool to me.

Are there any obscure games or just really good games in this shooting/run and gun genre that I should look into?

I already know Ikaruga and played it when it first came out.

Chō Aniki: Kyūkyoku Muteki Ginga Saikyō Otoko

Tokyo is a fucking ridiculously hard level on Riding Hood. I quit.

I'm not personally a big fan, but you might want to check out Gunstar Heroes. It's like a cartoony Contra, but more chaotic, and with a health bar (or health "number"). You can also combine weapons for different results. There's also Sin & Punishment, which might control a little weird (you move the cursor with the analog stock of the GCN or Classic controller, and use the other buttons on the controller to move your character left or right, jump, and fire; I think Type C controls on the Classic controller work well), but there's a Wii disc-based sequel coming in the next few months which should have more intuitive controls, thanks to IR.

No one here has a PS3. Too bad so sad.