Ikaruga

The Shoot ‘Em Up Video Game Defined
They aren’t as popular as the once were, but in the ’80s and ’90s shoot ‘em ups (or “shmups” or “shooters” in their original sense) once saturated the gaming scene as deeply and thoroughly as FPS games do in the present day. It didn’t matter if you were an arcade goer or console jockey, if you had an itchy trigger finger and unchecked xenophobia, it was your go-to genre for committing obscene levels of digital genocide against faceless alien hordes. Big guns and lots of explosions does not a shooter make–not entirely. In order to separate any action game from a legit Shoot ‘Em Up certain criteria must be met.

A typical shmup sees a player controlling a lone airborne ship (sometimes robots, human warriors, or fantasy creatures), and using its firepower to devastate enemy forces who return fire over horizontal or vertical scrolling battlefields. Early computer and arcades games such as Galaga offered “fixed” single-screen playfields. Shooters feature a wide array of weapon and power ups, and amongst them is typically a large, screen-clearing bomb or mega-weapon.

New weapons are usually gained by collecting them from destroyed enemies during combat, or by the player selecting them between stages as they become unlocked or purchased. Shmups lack platforming elements, which separates them from action and run-and-gun games such as Contra. One-hit deaths are the norm, thus requiring gamers to deftly pilot their on-screen avatars.

That’s the big picture. Now, let’s dive deeper by taking a look at the shmup sub-genres: Fixed, Vertical, Horizontal, and Bullet Hell. As you’ll soon see, the categories aren’t mutually exclusive.

Atari's Asteroids

Fixed Shooters/Shoot ‘Em Ups
Fixed shmups constrain the action to a single screen. These were commonplace during the early years of arcade and PC gaming when technological limitations prevented horizontal or vertical scrolling battlefields that would emerge in later years.

Gamers’ goals aren’t to finish the game (fixed shooters often let you play, increasing the difficulty, until you ran out of lives), but to rack up points in a race toward the high score. Another distinguishing feature is the lack of “bosses,” the often large, overpowered enemies that lay waste to players very quickly.

Fixed shooters aren’t produced at the same rate as they were in the late ’70s and early ’80s, but you can find them in digital download marketplaces such as SEN, XBLA, Apple App Store, and Google Play.

Notable Fixed Shooters: Atari’s Asteroids, Namco’s Galaxian and Galaga, Taito’s Space Invaders.

Konami's Gradius V

Horizontal Shooters/Shoot ‘Em Ups
Horizontal shooters were birthed during a period when arcade, computers, and home consoles packed enough horsepower to handle left-to-right scrolling environments. This new movement method facilitated the idea of “levels,” which immediately made high scores a secondary achievement in comparison to completing a game by beating all levels with a single credit.

This shmup category saw its heyday during the 16-bit era on consoles such as the Super NES/Super Famicom, SEGA Genesis/SEGA Mega Drive, and Turbo Grafx-16/PC Engine.

Notable Horizontal Shooters: Square’s Einhander, Red’s Gates of Thunder and Lords of Thunder, Konami’s Gradius series, Irem’s R-Type series.

Taito's Raiden IV

Vertical Shooters/Shoot ‘Em Ups
Vertical shooters are the top-to-bottom-scrolling cousins of horizontal shmups. They, too, were at their most popular during the 16-bit video game home console era. Their focus on stage progression also made the high score a secondary goal. One-crediting a vertical scrolling shmup became the end-all-be-all mission.

Notable Vertical Shooters: Capcom’s 194X series, Treasure’s Radiant Silvergun, Taito’s Raiden series, Hudson’s Star Soldier series.

The vertical shooters sub-genre is where you’ll find the most challenging (some would say “painful”) type of shmup: Bullet hell. If the term “bullet hell” hasn’t scared you off, check out the blurb below for more information about that crazed category.

Toaplan's Batusgun

Bullet Hell: The Sado Masochist Sub-genre
Bullet hell shooters (also known as “Manic” shooters) is the exclusive realm of the hardcore; weak-willed, Pansy McPansyingtons need to cuddle up to their mothers’ teats. Unlike traditional shooters in which enemies provide obvious safe zones between their attacks, bullet hell shmups such as Mushihime-sama fills the screen with a seemingly never-ending stream of fire. Most manic shooters are played against a vertical scrolling backdrop. The insanity can only be captured with video:

Developers, in an attempt to give the player a fighting chance against the onslaught, include a bit of wiggle room. Your ship’s hit box (the area that tells the computer that you’ve come in contact with an enemy projectile) is much smaller in bullet hell shmups, so you can navigate through the bullet curtain even if a bullet comes in contact with you ship.  In fact, many manic shooters (such as Danmaku Unlimited) reward gamers for zooming head first into sea of brightly colored lasers and missiles by offering huge score multipliers.

Notable Bullet Hell Shooters: Toaplan’s Batsugun, Cave’s Mushihime-sama, and Takumi‘s Mars Matrix.