what's the deal with shmups?
Friday, August 19, 2005
The shoot em up genre (or 'shmup' for short) is one of the oldest video game genres, and over the last few years has undergoing a resurgence in popularity.
Going back to 1978 when Taito famously almost caused a coin shortage with Space Invaders, up to the recent 'bullet storm' variations from Cave - this is a genre that has always tested the player's reflexes and skills to the maximum.
However, comercially in recent times this genre has struggled to hold its own against the onslaught of the aesthetically more impacting 3D adventures, but the challenge and excitement that this genre offer has always been maintained.
If it is something that you have never tried, then it is an often expressed view that there really isn’t all that much variation to them – the direction or travel is either to left-to-right or vertical.
Lots of newer gameplay innovations have found their ways into hit titles of recent years, such as:
Chaining: Getting a pre-defined sequence of targets and repeating for increased score (a Treasure speciality).
Bullet Storms: Dodging waves upon waves of enemy fire that come so thick and fast they almost fill the screen; first glance suggest dodging is nigh impossible, but closer examination show that while the enemy fire is often animated in arcs, circles and other similar shapes – gaps do exist! (a Cave speciality)
Danger Zones: Dodging bullets, yes, but in addition rewards are multiplied for allowing your ship to graze the path of enemy fire (Shikigami).
But what of storylines? This is a factor that has become very polished with the advent of CD and DVD storage. Looking at Metal Gear Solid (as an example), when witnessing the extended cinematic cut scenes, it can strike a stark contrast against the bare bone five level shmup model which many shmups offer (often setting the player right in the thick of the action with little or no introduction).
This is where the emphasis between these two game types change – the aim with many 3D big budget adventures is to provide many of today’s players with a level of narrative immersion as standard, whereas the shmup is almost always about mastery – whether its the total time taken to complete, the skill displayed in completing or just plain scoreboard mastery – the slim structure of most shmups encourage a sharpened skill set.
In fact, witnessing the skill of many of the world’s top players has grown into a large and thriving community with the advent of online video streaming and cheaper DVD production costs – and there are many sites and DVDs that have recorded many amazing feats of this kind of skill.
Over the next series of articles, Forenoon Filings will take a look at some of the current leading lights of the shmup scene, both current and past.
Going back to 1978 when Taito famously almost caused a coin shortage with Space Invaders, up to the recent 'bullet storm' variations from Cave - this is a genre that has always tested the player's reflexes and skills to the maximum.
However, comercially in recent times this genre has struggled to hold its own against the onslaught of the aesthetically more impacting 3D adventures, but the challenge and excitement that this genre offer has always been maintained.
If it is something that you have never tried, then it is an often expressed view that there really isn’t all that much variation to them – the direction or travel is either to left-to-right or vertical.
Lots of newer gameplay innovations have found their ways into hit titles of recent years, such as:
Chaining: Getting a pre-defined sequence of targets and repeating for increased score (a Treasure speciality).
Bullet Storms: Dodging waves upon waves of enemy fire that come so thick and fast they almost fill the screen; first glance suggest dodging is nigh impossible, but closer examination show that while the enemy fire is often animated in arcs, circles and other similar shapes – gaps do exist! (a Cave speciality)
Danger Zones: Dodging bullets, yes, but in addition rewards are multiplied for allowing your ship to graze the path of enemy fire (Shikigami).
But what of storylines? This is a factor that has become very polished with the advent of CD and DVD storage. Looking at Metal Gear Solid (as an example), when witnessing the extended cinematic cut scenes, it can strike a stark contrast against the bare bone five level shmup model which many shmups offer (often setting the player right in the thick of the action with little or no introduction).
This is where the emphasis between these two game types change – the aim with many 3D big budget adventures is to provide many of today’s players with a level of narrative immersion as standard, whereas the shmup is almost always about mastery – whether its the total time taken to complete, the skill displayed in completing or just plain scoreboard mastery – the slim structure of most shmups encourage a sharpened skill set.
In fact, witnessing the skill of many of the world’s top players has grown into a large and thriving community with the advent of online video streaming and cheaper DVD production costs – and there are many sites and DVDs that have recorded many amazing feats of this kind of skill.
Over the next series of articles, Forenoon Filings will take a look at some of the current leading lights of the shmup scene, both current and past.
