Does there exist a shmup where each stage has new mechanics?

[blossom]

I get the feeling I'm one of the few who would like this idea, however I'll float it out here just in case someone can assist me.

I think my dream shmup would be highly influenced by Monster World IV for the Sega Mega Drive. For anyone who's never played the game, it's a wonderful action platformer with a handful of dungeons to visit. You have this adorable sidekick called a Pepelegoo which you can use to float and double jump. The cool thing is in between each dungeon his abilities are changed in subtle ways to suit the upcoming dungeon.

Now let's imagine an R-Type game where your force pod and its capabilities change in some way based on each new stage. Or a Thunder Force game where you obtain the Thunder Sword earlier and then its properties change depending on the stage - what if the sword just didn't work underwater, as an example? That's a boring and frustrating idea, but you get the picture.

A game like this may already exist and I'm overlooking it. Maybe this dream has been forgotten for a reason due to being poorly designed. I dunno, all I know is in my imagination this would make for an interesting game.

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

Axelay unlocks more weapons and lets you use them on each new stage.

Blazeon's main gimmick is copying enemies but new enemies appear on new stages.

Same can be said of Gaiares but you only copy weapons.

Carrier Air Wing and UN Squadron have you buy new weapons for each stage (a rarity of a shop done well in a traditional shmup).

Dangerous Seed gets you more craft between levels and the final fused one has three forms. (The arcade original would just give you a full fusion or the two craft fusion depending on how many times you died, the MD one has you build up)

[Shepardus]

Maybe this dream has been forgotten for a reason due to being poorly designed. I dunno, all I know is in my imagination this would make for an interesting game.

I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea, but it needs interesting mechanics backing it up, otherwise you're just mashing together five bad games and hoping that produces a good game.

I can't think of anything precisely like what you said off the top of my head, but Hydorah has weapons that you acquire in each stage and you choose your loadout for each stage. Akashicverse -Malicious Wake- gives you an extra weapon for stage 5. For stage 6 it upgrades all your weapons while removing the powerful "eliminator" weapon, though it's more of a gimmick to make you overpowered against any normal enemy, kind of like the final stage in Gun Frontier.

[ACSeraph]

The most drastic example of changing mechanics between stages I can think of is Triangle Service's Shmups Skill Test. It sounds weird but it's an awesome game.

[Shepardus]

I just remembered about Genetos. The game plays through the history of the shoot 'em up genre, with each stage representing a certain era, and gameplay mechanics changing accordingly.

[Gespenst]

Einhander fits the description nicely.

[Kollision]

Everyday Shooter on PSN comes to mind

[RawlingGunnar]

How about Thunder Force II? Not only does it change perspective but also how the stages need to be completed to progress in each style.

[WarpZone]

ZeroRanger. It's mostly additive, but the general idea is each stage ends by acquiring a new weapon variant that the next stage is heavily themed around.

[RawlingGunnar]

ZeroRanger. It's mostly additive, but the general idea is each stage ends by acquiring a new weapon variant that the next stage is heavily themed around.

Not to mention

Spoiler

the wild departures later on....

[blossom]

Sadly, I'm not sure any of these games are quite what I had in mind - the closest is probably Dangerous Seed.

Genetos feels more like a generation shift between stages, as the game itself implies, instead of incrementally adding new gimmicks in each stage. Then again... it's possible I'm being too pedantic here, because when I think about it, there's not any good reason Genetos doesn't fit the bill.

I've not played Einhander beyond stage 2 or so. Not sure how closely the game would fit what I have in mind, I'll have to give it a closer look.

[pegboy]

Strike Gunner STG (SNES version). You get to pick a different special weapon for each stage, but once you pick it, you cannot use it again for a later stage. Depending on what you pick the game can play drastically different. Under the highest difficulty the game becomes literally impossible if you pick the wrong weapon on certain stages.