Shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs

) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character movement, while others allow a broader definition including characters on foot and a variety of perspectives.

The genre's roots can be traced back to earlier shooting games, including target shooting electro-mechanical games of the mid-20th-century and the early mainframe game ''Spacewar!'' (1962). The shoot 'em up genre was established by the hit arcade game '' Space Invaders'', which popularised and set the general template for the genre in 1978, and spawned many clones. The genre was then further developed by arcade hits such as ''Asteroids'' and '' Galaxian'' in 1979. Shoot 'em ups were popular throughout the 1980s to early 1990s, diversifying into a variety of subgenres such as scrolling shooters, run and gun games and rail shooters. In the mid-1990s, shoot 'em ups became a niche genre based on design conventions established in the 1980s, and increasingly catered to specialist enthusiasts, particularly in Japan. "Bullet hell" games are a subgenre of shooters that features overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles, often in visually impressive formations.

Shoot 'em ups are similar to hack and slash.

Definition

A "shoot 'em up", also known as a "shmup"
Buchanan, Levi
Top 10 Classic Shoot 'Em Ups
, IGN, April 8, 2008, May 26, 2009
or "STG" (the common Japanese abbreviation for "shooting games"), is a game in which the protagonist combats a large number of enemies by shooting at them while dodging their fire. The controlling player must rely primarily on reaction times to succeed.Ashcraft, p. 70 Beyond this, critics differ on exactly which design elements constitute a shoot 'em up. Some restrict the genre to games featuring some kind of craft, using fixed or scrolling movement. Others widen the scope to include games featuring such protagonists as robots or humans on foot, as well as including games featuring "on-rails" (or "into the screen") and "run and gun" movement.Game Genres: Shmups
Professor Jim Whitehead, January 29, 2007. Retrieved June 17, 2008.
Provo, Frank

, GameSpot, July 7, 2007. Accessed June 17, 2008
Mark Wolf restricts the definition to games featuring multiple antagonists ("'em" being short for "them"), calling games featuring one-on-one shooting "combat games". Formerly, critics described any game where the primary design element was shooting as a "shoot 'em up", but later shoot 'em ups became a specific, inward-looking genre based on design conventions established in those shooting games of the 1980s.

Common elements

Shoot 'em ups are a subgenre of action game. These games are usually viewed from a top-down or side-view perspective, and players must use ranged weapons to take action at a distance. The player's avatar is typically a vehicle or spacecraft under constant attack. Thus, the player's goal is to shoot as quickly as possible at anything that moves or threatens them to reach the end of the level with a boss battle. In some games, the player's character can withstand some damage or a single hit will result in their destruction. The main skills required in shoot 'em ups are fast reactions and memorising enemy attack patterns. Some games feature overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles and the player has to memorise their patterns to survive. These games belong to one of the fastest-paced video game genres.

Large numbers of enemy characters programmed to behave in an easily predictable manner are typically featured. These enemies may behave in a certain way dependent on their type, or attack in formations that the player can learn to predict. The basic gameplay tends to be straightforward with many varieties of weapons. Shoot 'em ups rarely have realistic physics. Characters can instantly change direction with no inertia, and projectiles move in a straight line at constant speeds. The player's character can collect "power-ups" which may afford the character's greater protection, an " extra life", health, shield, or upgraded weaponry. Different weapons are often suited to different enemies, but these games seldom keep track of ammunition. As such, players tend to fire indiscriminately, and their weapons only damage legitimate targets.

Types

Shoot 'em ups are categorized by their design elements, particularly viewpoint and movement:

Fixed shooters restrict the player and enemies to a single screen, and the player primarily movies along a single axis, such as back and forth along the bottom of the screen. Examples include ''Space Invaders'' (1978), ''Galaxian'' (1979), ''Centipede'' (1980), and '' Galaga'' (1981). In '' Pooyan'' (1982), the fixed axis of movement is vertical, along the right side of the screen.

Multidirectional shooters feature 360-degree movement where the protagonist may rotate and move in any direction such as ''Asteroids'' (1979) and ''Mad Planets'' (1983). Multidirectional shooters with one joystick for movement and one joystick for firing in any direction independent of movement are called twin-stick shooters. One of the first games to popularize twin-stick controls was ''Robotron: 2084'' (1982).

Space shooters are a thematic variant of involving spacecraft in outer space. Following the success of ''Space Invaders'', space shooters were the dominant subgenre during the late 1970s to early 1980s. These games can overlap with other subgenres as well as space combat games.

Tube shooters feature craft flying through an abstract tube, such as '' Tempest'' (1981) and ''Gyruss'' (1983). There is still a single axis of motion, making these a subset of fixed shooters.

Rail shooters limit the player to moving around the screen while following a specific route;
Goldstein, Hilary
Panzer Dragoon Orta
, ''IGN'', January 10, 2003; July 17, 2008
these games often feature an "into the screen" viewpoint, with which the action is seen from behind the player character, and moves "into the screen", while the player retains control over dodging. Examples include '' Space Harrier'' (1985), '' Captain Skyhawk'' (1990), ''Starblade'' (1991), '' Star Fox'' (1993), '' Star Wars: Rebel Assault'' (1993), ''Panzer Dragoon'' (1995), and ''Sin and Punishment'' (2000). Rail shooters that use light guns are called light gun shooters, such as '' Virtua Cop'' (1994), ''Time Crisis'' (1995) and '' The House of the Dead'' (1996). Light-gun games that are "on rails" are usually not considered to be in the shoot-em-up category, but rather their own first-person light-gun shooter category.

Cute 'em ups feature brightly colored graphics depicting surreal settings and enemies. Cute 'em ups tend to have unusual, oftentimes completely bizarre opponents for the player to fight, with '' Twinbee'' and '' Fantasy Zone'' first pioneering the subgenre, along with '' Parodius'', ''Cotton'', and ''Harmful Park'' being additional key games. Some cute 'em ups may employ overtly sexual characters and innuendo.

Scrolling shooters

Vertically scrolling shooters present the action from above and scroll up (or occasionally down) the screen.

Horizontally scrolling shooters usually present a side-on view and scroll left to right (or less often, right to left).

Isometrically scrolling shooters or isometric shooters, such as Sega's ''Zaxxon'' (1982), use an isometric point of view.

A popular implementation style of scrolling shooters has the player's flying vehicle moving forward, at a fixed rate, through an environment. Examples are ''Scramble'' (1981), '' Xevious'' (1982), and '' Gradius'' (1986). In contrast, '' Defender'' (1981) allows the player to move left or right at will.

Run and gun games have protagonists that move through the world on foot and shoot attackers. Examples include the vertically scrolling, overhead view games ''Front Line'' (1982), '' Commando'' (1985), and '' Ikari Warriors''(1986). Side-scrolling run and gun games often combine elements from platform games, such as the ability to jump: '' Contra'' (1987), '' Metal Slug'' (1996) and '' Cuphead'' (2017). Run and gun games may also use isometric viewpoints and may have multidirectional movement.Provo, Frank
Bloody Wolf
, GameSpot, July 7, 2007. Accessed June 17, 2008Bielby, Matt
"The YS Complete Guide To Shoot-'em-ups Part II"
''Your Sinclair,'' August 1990 (issue 56), p. 19

Bullet hell

is a subgenre of shooters in which the entire screen is completely filled with enemy bullets.Ashcraft, p. 66 This type is also known as "curtain fire", "manic shooters" or "maniac shooters".Ashcraft, p. 77 This style of game originated in the mid-1990s as an offshoot of scrolling shooters.

Trance shooters

A small subgenre of shooter games that emphasizes chaotic, reflex-based gameplay designed to put the player in a trance-like state. In trance shooters, enemy patterns usually have randomized elements, forcing the player to rely on reflexes rather than pattern memorization. Games of this type usually feature colorful, abstract visuals, and electronic music (often techno music). Jeff Minter is commonly credited with originating the style with '' Tempest 2000'' (1994) and subsequent games including '' Space Giraffe'', '' Gridrunner++'', and ''Polybius'' (2017). Other examples include the '' Geometry Wars'' series, ''Space Invaders Extreme'', '' Super Stardust HD'', and '' Resogun''.

History

Origins

The concept of shooting games existed before video games, dating back to shooting gallery carnival games in the late 19th century. Mechanical target shooting games first appeared in England's amusement arcades around the turn of the 20th century, before appearing in America by the 1920s. Shooting gallery games eventually evolved into more sophisticated target shooting electro-mechanical games (EM games) such as Sega's influential ''Periscope'' (1965). Shooting video games have roots in EM shooting games.

Video game journalist Brian Ashcraft argues the early mainframe game ''Spacewar!'' (1962) was the first shoot 'em up video game.Ashcraft, p. 72 It was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1961, for the developers' amusement, and presents a space battle between two craft. It was remade four times as an arcade video game in the 1970s.

Emergence of shoot 'em up genre (late 1970s)

'' Space Invaders'' (1978) is most frequently cited as the "first" or "original" in the genre.Bielby, Matt
"The Complete YS Guide to Shoot 'Em Ups"
''Your Sinclair'', July, 1990 (issue 55), p. 33Buchanan, Levi

, IGN, March 31, 2003. Accessed June 14, 2008 A seminal game created by Tomohiro Nishikado of Japan's Taito, it led to shooter games becoming prolific. It pitted the player against multiple enemies descending from the top of the screen at a constantly increasing speed. Nishikado conceived the game by combining elements of '' Breakout'' (1976) with those of earlier target shooting games, and simple alien creatures inspired by H. G. Wells' '' The War of the Worlds''. The hardware was unable to render the movement of aircraft, so the game was set in space, with a black background. It had a more interactive style of play than earlier target shooting games, with multiple enemies who responded to the player-controlled cannon's movement and fired back at the player. The game ended when the player was killed by the enemies. While earlier shooting games allowed the player to shoot at targets, ''Space Invaders'' was the first where multiple enemies fired back at the player.
* It also introduced the idea of giving the player multiple lives and popularized the concept of achieving a high score

With these elements, ''Space Invaders'' set the general template for the shoot 'em up genre. It became one of the most widely cloned shooting games, spawning more than 100 imitators with only the most minor differences (if any) from the original. Most shooting games released since then have followed its "multiple life, progressively difficult level" paradigm, according to Eugene Jarvis.

Golden age and refinement (late 1970s to early 1980s)

Following the success of ''Space Invaders'', shoot 'em ups became the dominant genre for much of the golden age of arcade video games, from the late 1970s up until the early 1980s, particularly the "space shooter" subgenre. In 1979, Namco's '' Galaxian''—"the granddaddy of all top-down shooters", according to IGN—was released. Its use of colour graphics and individualised antagonists were considered "strong evolutionary concepts" among space ship games. Atari's ''Asteroids'' (1979) was a hit multi-directional shooter, allowing the player to shoot in any direction by rotating the game's spacecraft.

The ''Space Invaders'' format evolved into the vertical scrolling shooter sub-genre. SNK's debut shoot 'em up '' Ozma Wars'' (1979) featured vertical scrolling backgrounds and enemies, and it was the first action game to feature a supply of energy, similar to hit points. Namco's '' Xevious'', released in 1982, was one of the first and most influential vertical scrolling shooters. ''Xevious'' is also the first to convincingly portray dithered/shaded organic landscapes as opposed to blocks-in-space or wireframe obstacles.

Side-scrolling shoot 'em ups emerged in the early 1980s. '' Defender'', introduced by Williams Electronics in late 1980 and entering production in early 1981, allowed side-scrolling in both directions in a wrap-around game world, unlike most later games in the genre. The scrolling helped remove design limitations associated with the screen, and it also featured a minimap radar. ''Scramble'', released by Konami in early 1981, had continuous scrolling in a single direction and was the first side-scrolling shooter with multiple distinct levels.

In the early 1980s, Japanese arcade developers began moving away from space shooters towards character action games, whereas American arcade developers continued to focus on space shooters during the early 1980s, up until the end of the arcade golden age. According to Eugene Jarvis, American developers were greatly influenced by Japanese space shooters but took the genre in a different direction from the "more deterministic, scripted, pattern-type" gameplay of Japanese games, towards a more "programmer-centric design culture, emphasizing algorithmic generation of backgrounds and enemy dispatch" and "an emphasis on random-event generation, particle-effect explosions and physics" as seen in arcade games such as his own ''Defender'' and ''Robotron: 2084'' (1982) as well as Atari's ''Asteroids'' (1979). ''Robotron: 2084'' was an influential game in the multi-directional shooter subgenre.

Some games experimented with pseudo-3D perspectives at the time. Nintendo's attempt at the genre, '' Radar Scope'' (1980), borrowed heavily from ''Space Invaders'' and ''Galaxian'', but added a three-dimensional third-person perspective; the game was a commercial failure, however. Atari's '' Tempest'' (1981) was one of the earliest tube shooters and a more successful attempt to incorporate a 3D perspective into shooter games; ''Tempest'' went on to influence several later rail shooters. Sega's ''Zaxxon'' (1981) introduced isometric video game graphics to the genre.

The term "shmup" is believed to have been coined in 1985 by the British Commodore 64 magazine '' Zzap!64''. In the July 1985 issue, the term was used by the editor Chris Anderson and reviewer Julian Rignall.

1985 saw the release of Konami's '' Gradius'', which gave the player greater control over the choice of weaponry, thus introducing another element of strategy. The game also introduced the need for the player to memorise levels in order to achieve any measure of success.Ashcraft, p. 76 ''Gradius'', with its iconic protagonist, defined the side-scrolling shoot 'em up and spawned a series spanning several sequels. The following year saw the emergence of one of Sega's forefront series with its game '' Fantasy Zone''. The game received acclaim for its surreal graphics and setting and the protagonist, Opa-Opa, was for a time considered Sega's mascot. The game borrowed ''Defender's'' device of allowing the player to control the direction of flight and along with the earlier '' TwinBee'' (1985), is an early archetype of the "cute 'em up" subgenre. In 1986, Taito released '' KiKi KaiKai'', an overhead multi-directional shooter. The game is notable for using a traditional fantasy setting in contrast to most shoot 'em up games filled with science fiction motifs. ''R-Type'', an acclaimed side-scrolling shoot 'em up, was released in 1987 by Irem, employing slower paced scrolling than usual, with difficult, claustrophobic levels calling for methodical strategies. 1990's '' Raiden'' was the beginning of another acclaimed and enduring series to emerge from this period.

Run and gun and rail shooters (1980s to early 1990s)

Run and gun games became popular in the mid-1980s. These games feature characters on foot, rather than spacecraft, and often have military themes. The origins of this type of shooter go back to ''Sheriff'' by Nintendo, released in 1979. SNK's ''Sasuke vs. Commander'' (1980), which had relatively detailed background graphics for its time, pit a samurai against a horde of ninjas, along with boss fights. Taito's ''Front Line'' (1982) introduced the vertical scrolling format later popularized by Capcom's '' Commando'' (1985), which established the standard formula used by later run and gun games. Sega's ''Ninja Princess'' (1985), which released slightly before ''Commando'', was a run and gun game that was distinctive for its feudal Japan setting and female ninja protagonist who throws shuriken and knives. SNK's '' TNK III'', released later in 1985, combined the ''Front Line'' tank shooter format with unique rotary joystick controls, which they later combined with ''Commando''-inspired run and gun gameplay to develop '' Ikari Warriors'' (1986), which further popularized run and gun shooters. ''Ikari Warriors'' also drew inspiration from the action film '' Rambo: First Blood Part II'' (1985),The History of SNK
, GameSpot. Accessed February 16, 2009
which it was originally intended to be an adaptation of. Contemporary critics considered military themes and protagonists similar to Rambo or Schwarzenegger prerequisites for a shoot 'em up, as opposed to an action-adventure game. The success of ''Commando'' and ''Ikari Warriors'' led to run and gun games becoming the dominant style of shoot 'em up during the late 1980s to early 1990s, with the term "shoot 'em up" itself becoming synonymous with "run and gun" during this period.

Konami's '' Green Beret'' (1985), known as ''Rush'n Attack'' in North America, adapted the ''Commando'' formula to a side-scrolling format. Later notable side-scrolling run and gun shooters include Namco's '' Rolling Thunder'' (1986), which added cover mechanics to the formula, and Data East's ''RoboCop'' (1988). In 1987, Konami created '' Contra'', a side-scrolling coin-op arcade game, and later a NES game, that was particularly acclaimed for its multi-directional aiming and two-player cooperative gameplay. By the early 1990s and the popularity of 16-bit consoles, the scrolling shooter genre was overcrowded, with developers struggling to make their games stand out, with exceptions such as the inventive ''Gunstar Heroes'' (1993) by Treasure.

Sega's pseudo-3D rail shooter '' Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom'' demonstrated the potential of 3D shoot 'em up gameplay in 1982. Sega's '' Space Harrier'', a rail shooter released in 1985, broke new ground graphically and its wide variety of settings across multiple levels gave players more to aim for than high scores. In 1986, Arsys Software released '' WiBArm'', a shooter that switched between a 2D side-scrolling view in outdoor areas to a fully 3D polygonal third-person perspective inside buildings, while bosses were fought in an arena-style 2D battle, with the game featuring a variety of weapons and equipment. Reprinted from In 1987, Square's '' 3-D WorldRunner'' was an early stereoscopic 3-D shooter played from a third-person perspective, followed later that year by its sequel '' JJ'', and the following year by ''Space Harrier 3-D'' which used the SegaScope 3-D shutter glasses. That same year, Sega's ''Thunder Blade'' switched between both a top-down view and a third-person view, and featured the use of force feedback, where the joystick vibrates.

Bullet hell and niche appeal (mid-1990s to present)

A new type of shooters up emerged in the early 1990s: variously termed "bullet hell", "manic shooters", "maniac shooters" and , these games required the player to dodge overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles and called for still more consistent reactions from players. Bullet hell games arose from the need for 2D shoot 'em up developers to compete with the emerging popularity of 3D games: huge numbers of missiles on screen were intended to impress players. Toaplan's '' Batsugun'' (1993) provided the prototypical template for this new breed, with Cave (formed by former employees of Toaplan, including ''Batsugun's'' main creator Tsuneki Ikeda, after the latter company collapsed) inventing the type proper with 1995's '' DonPachi''. Bullet hell games marked another point where the shooter genre began to cater to more dedicated players. Games such as ''Gradius'' had been more difficult than ''Space Invaders'' or ''Xevious'', but bullet hell games were yet more inward-looking and aimed at dedicated fans of the genre looking for greater challenges. While shooter games featuring protagonists on foot largely moved to 3D-based genres, popular, long-running series such as '' Contra'' and '' Metal Slug'' continued to receive new sequels.
Magrino, Tom
Contra conquering DS
, GameSpot, June 20, 2007. Accessed February 17, 2009
Rail shooters have rarely been released in the new millennium, with only '' Rez'' and ''Panzer Dragoon Orta'' achieving cult recognition.
Maragos, Nich
Space Harrier (PS2)
, 1UP.com, January 1, 2000. Accessed February 17, 2009

Treasure's shoot 'em up, '' Radiant Silvergun'' (1998), introduced an element of narrative to the genre. It was critically acclaimed for its refined design, though it was not released outside Japan and remains a much sought-after collector's item. Its successor ''Ikaruga'' (2001) featured improved graphics and was again acclaimed as one of the best games in the genre. Both ''Radiant Silvergun'' and ''Ikaruga'' were later released on Xbox Live Arcade. The ''Touhou Project'' series spans 26 years and 30 games as of 2022 and was listed in the Guinness World Records in October 2010 for being the "most prolific fan-made shooter series". The genre has undergone something of a resurgence with the release of the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii online services,
Staff
Top 10 Tuesday: 2D Space Shooters
, IGN, March 6, 2007. Accessed February 13, 2009
while in Japan arcade shoot 'em ups retain a deep-rooted niche popularity. '' Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved'' was released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2005 and in particular stood out from the various re-releases and casual games available on the service. The PC has also seen its share of dōjin shoot 'em ups like ''Crimzon Clover'', '' Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony'', ''Xenoslaive Overdrive'', and the ''eXceed'' series. However, despite the genre's continued appeal to an enthusiastic niche of players, shoot 'em up developers are increasingly embattled financially by the power of home consoles and their attendant genres.Ashcraft, p. 88

See also

* Beat 'em up
* Space flight simulation game

References

Bibliography

* Ashcraft, Brian, (2008) ''Arcade Mania! The Turbo-Charged World of Japan's Game Centers'', (Kodansha International)

External links

*

{{Video game genre

Video game genres
Video game terminology