Great thinktank, gentlemen.
I have attempted to revise and cleanup based on your thoughts. Here's my new draft. Please approve, append, or criticize.
Also, that references link. Plasmo and Thunder Force posted some great things. I intend to post a blanket base of game database references to every game page as it's easier for users to delete references than it is to add, and it's great for users who don't have the knowledge but want to help to pull the bits of unique info from each place to add to this monolith. Any other useful game database sites that should be added?
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Basics
Type: (Horizontal, Vertical, Arena, Slider, Tube, Isometric, Hybrid) (Note: run-and-gun and rail-shooters are considered borderliners, not officially shmups)
Difficulty Style: (Standard, Semi-Hell, Memorizor, Manic Bullet-Hell)
Japanese Spelling:
Developer:
Publisher & Release Date* - East: (Japan, Asia, etc.)
Publisher & Release Date* - West: (United States, Canada, Mexico, etc.)
Publisher & Release Date* - Europe:
Publisher & Release Date* - Australia:
(*Include all [debatable] conflicting release dates)
Original Game System Release: (first console/machine game built for)
System Ports: (all other consoles videogame has been released for)
Available in MAME:
Arcade Hardware: (if applicable)
Stage Count: (& Loops?)
Game Modes:
Estimated Time of 1CC Playthrough:
Default Player Life Count:
Extra Life Extends: (by score or icon collect)
Difficulty Options:
Offline or Online Leaderboards: (by region, world)
Number of Players: (simultaneous or alternating)
Notable Staff Credits:
Common Abbreviations & Pronunciation(s):
Official or Developer Websites:
Images
Post links to relevant screenshots or embed reasonable sized images on the page. (direct hotlinking lightly discouraged)
Screenshots:
Artwork:
Instruction Manual:
Promotional Material:
PCB Manual: (if applicable)
Overall Unique Characteristics
STGs are kinda like golf courses. They all look the same at first glance, but look closer and there are specific things about the title people seek. What differentiates this game from other IPs or the games before/after it? Your weapon types? Memorable bosses? Strange Artwork? Scoring System? A raccoon with giant balls?
Player Mechanics
Describe the controls, selectable ships/characters, what type of weapons you start with and what you can get it to, describe the powerup system if there is one. What is your player size hitbox? What is the enemy or bullet size hitbox? Describe unique interactions with enemies/powerups like the R-Type Force Pod, Triggerheart Exelica anchor throw, or in Geometry Wars 2 with the running through gates to make them detonate enemies.
Version & Port Differences
This section details all the known differences between the same versions of a video game across different gaming machines or different region releases. For example, Xexex Japan has a standard 1hit death like in most STGs, but the Arcade US version granted players a life bar able to take multiple hits before losing a life. Gradius 3 Arcade is often considered the hardest Gradius of all time with many extended stages, memorizor traps, and a 3D stage, while Gradius 3 SNES had a ton of edits, powerup changes, added bonus stages, slowdown, and sound tweaks. Also, feel free to use this space for known issues or tweaks found in MAME versions.
Cousins
Shmup games very similar to this one.
Demonstrations, Replays, Scores, & Superplays
Known list of good youtube/niconico captures and replay listings by player and accomplishment with links where legal. You may also list top or notable scores & scorers, known world records from Arcadia/Gamest and Twin Galaxies.
Scoring System
self-explanatory.
Tournament Recommendation
Can this game be used in score-comparison tournament play? There are several unique identifiers for determining this.
The infinite scoring loop. Often called 'infinites', 'infinite loop', or 'infinite milking'
This is when stage progression freezes until some objective is cleared. Normally this is a boss or midboss fight. What happens is certain games will have these parts where the player can continue scoring points without achieving the objective. If the game never progresses, the player can remain there and score points infinitely, breaking the competition of the game, as it is reduced to who has the longest patience instead of skill.
To determine an infinite scoring loop:
Play (1CC or credit feed) through a game in full, but at every part where stage progression freezes or boss fight encounter, evaluate the following:
Can you score points before the end of the fight?
If yes, are the ways to score these points respawning endlessly?
If yes, does the fight end after an elapsed amount of time? (Is there a boss timeout?)
If no, does the difficulty of this section
noticeably increase the longer you remain at that section?
If no,
you have discovered an infinite scoring loop. If yes, does the timed increasing difficulty level off, cap, or stop at some point?
If yes,
you have discovered an infinite scoring loop
Infinite Checkpoint Abuse
The other infinite scoring loop type is checkpoint abuse. In videogames where dying restarts the player at a previous location (instead of instantly), often it is possible to accumulate more points to a grand total losing a life before a checkpoint than it is to simply reach the end of a stage without dying (depending on the scoring system). If it is possible for a player to obtain an extra life, die, then respawn at a previous location where points can be accumulated and obtain the extra life again, die, and repeat, this is also considered an infinite scoring loop.
Videogames with Infinite Scoring Loops without using tool assists (autofire, throttle, etc.) are recommended to be eliminated from tournament play.
Is Milking Possible? (yes, no)
Milking for score is when there are parts where stage progression freezes or boss fight encounter occurs, that the player can delay or avoid the main objective in order to obtain more points. This can slightly or dramatically increase the overall playtime on a game. Timeouts and other factors normally stop this from occurring infinitely, but knowing if a game requires milking for highest score in the name of being bored during serious play is noteworthy.
Codes, Configurations, & Achievements
Known button codes, Things that can be enabled by dip switch settings, Notable Xbox 360 Achievements or Playstation Trophys (and tricks to get them?)
Game Series
Share more detail about the franchise of the videogame in comparison to the prequels/sequels next to it.
Story
The in-game story or whatever is often written in the instruction manual. Type that out with the cutscene text. Go ahead and spoil the ending since credit feeding is easy.
Trivia, Backstory, & Wise Reviews
Fun facts that don't really go anywhere else, tell an interesting story of how this videogame came about, or share about the videogames or media this title references or other videogames or media that reference this title. Also, intelligent reviews on the shooting game are rare, so post links to great ones you know about.
Strategy
Links, guides, anything and everything talked about in the strategy & hiscore forums goes here. Also, how the Rank works, 1up locations, all that good stuff.
Shmup Term Glossary:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9665
References
http://www.triggerzone.de/gamesdb/index.php
http://shmup.wikia.com/wiki/Special:AllPages
http://www.giantbomb.com/games/?sort=alphabetical
http://shmups.system11.org/viewforum.php?f=5
http://shmups.system11.org/viewforum.php?f=2
http://www.klov.com/
http://www.arcade-history.com/
http://www.shmups.com
http://www.shmup.com
http://www.hk-stg.net/
http://www.arcade-extreme.com/
http://www.stgfan.com/
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11882
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=11597
http://www.system16.com/
http://world-of-arcades.net
http://www.arcadiamagazine.com/another/index_e.html
http://twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=44
http://www.gamengai.com/
http://www.mamedev.com/
http://www.mameworld.net/
http://cowboy.ikaruga.co.uk/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=147
http://www.underground-gamer.com/wiki/i ... Collection
~Index lists of games by abbreviations, years, platforms (possibly split by console regions), developers and publishers, subgenres, perceived difficulty, and other categorizations~
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I should probably write pages to define terms on my template megalist and pre-link them before I begin mass-posting this monstrosity.
The only part of the date that matters most is the year. The month and day can be included if you know it, but that's flexible. Year counts for a lot, and should be one of the eventual search criteria.