Were shmups ahead of their time?

[Laurel_McFang]

When you look at them in terms of their design decisions, mechanics (gimmicks), and other facets were shmups as a genre actually ahead of the curve in terms of game play and design? I was just playing that stikers 1945 psp port on vita and was thinking that in terms of strategy the game is actually rather deep, when to send in your fleet to shield you, choosing the moment to let loose with your ulti. All of these things make a difference. The danmaku itself is primarily procedural, shmups build entire obstacle courses out of random integers long before it became a common feature (that one genesis / mega drive rogue like that flopped with standing). But when you look at modern indie games and the way the designers are navigating these virtual worlds shmups had many of the design choices we see in modern indies before these things existed. They were not as linear as platformers and had more variety in mechanics than most genres that shared a time period with. They had new game plus (loop +1) before most games did too. They were built for replay ability and not narrative. I will leave dissension or unearthing further similarities with newer design principles to you to uncover.

[EmperorIng]

It was one of the first genres ever in video-games (sports games came before it), so in one sense "yeah" it was ahead of the curve and another sense the genre didn't really come into its own until the mid-to-late 80s, with a lot of other genres.

When Space Invaders came out in the 70s, it was essentially a carnival game made into computer form.

As for more modern shmups, it might be a stretch to compare bullet-hell patterns to randomly-generated levels. Randomly-generated levels are often just left random, whereas bullet patterns, for sheer sake of playability, can't be entirely "random."

Strikers 1945 (2) is a great game though. Switching between bombing and using charge attacks to take out larger foes keeps the game fresh and exciting on top of all the mayhem on screen.

[Doctor Butler]

They certainly offer a lot of depth, more so than most other 80's titles, and many contemporary AAA games. Especially other single-player games, such as The Last of Us, Bioshock, or Skyrim, games which focus on superficial depth; narrative, graphics and world-building, but at their core are very easy, and playing them is simply a matter of going through the motions in order to complete.