Average Age?

[nasty_wolverine]

25 and gaming since 6... most of my gaming career includes whatever i could find on the NES (Samurai Entertainment System in India) and when I bought a PS2 when i was 19 (Burnout, DMC, KoF, Onimusha), been into shmups past 3 years... the only shmups i remember playing in the arcades was gradius and galaxian (NES console hacked and put into a DIY cabinet, they even had genesis in a cab).

[nosorrow]

37 here

Enjoyed 1943 and Gun.Smoke (LOVED that one - still do) on the NES as a kid, also played some Gradius, Life Force and Stinger but they didn't really grab me. I played and enjoyed a whole lot UN Squadron on the Super Nintendo in the early 90s, but I never really sought to find similar games. It is not until 1997 that I started looking for games in the genre. A friend of mine was collecting shmups and I caught the virus when he showed me Gaiares (Genesis), of all titles. The first level music blew me away and I loved the graphics (very enjoyable, too). He then showed me Thunder Force 4 (or rather, "Lightening Force") and Space Megaforce. I soon purchased all those games myself and I started playing and collecting the genre.

I'm a rather conservative person in general, so it's not until last year that I started getting into more bullet hell type games (i.e. Mars Matrix, Donpachi, Batsugun, Dodonpachi, Battle Garegga, Radiant Silvergun, Giga Wing). Still, I am bit overwhelmed by much of what I've seen of Cave games for instance (didn't deter me to purchase the Cave box though - still need to grab a J 360 though .

[Jonst]

I'll be 40 in July...been playing stuff as long as I can remember...

[Xyga]

A zombie thread ? Why not.
34 here, started playing sometime in the early 80's with cheap home clones of pong/invaders/pacman, thanks to my older bro and cousin who found it funny to watch le kid me mess with the machines.

[SapphireDensetsu]

15, been into shmups since I was 14 so far as I can recall

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

I'm 19, and of course I got hooked on shmups because of Raiden. I've played it a couple times when I was a kid, and from 5th grade onwards I actually played it more seriously. I remember way back in 5th grade when I discovered Raiden DX in a local family fun center and Raiden X on the internet. Haha, I even recall getting basically all the kids in my 5th grade class to play Raiden X all the time on the school computers

[ACSeraph]

27.

Been playing shmups since we very first got our NES, Captain Skyhawk was actually the first video game I ever "beat". Also loved Gun.Smoke and 1943, and played countless other things throughout the 90's. Got more seriously interested in shmups around the first time I went to Japan after playing the then new Triggerheart Exelica, and, started playing seriously just over a year ago when I decided I was going to true ending clear Triggerheart or die trying.

[Illyrian]

I was 30 about 2 weeks ago.

I've been playing shmups since mid 2008 on and off, with some big periods of not playing here and there.

The first shmup I played was Parodius on the SNES, I literally had no idea what was going on!

[Stevens]

37 here! Didn't really get into shmups until a year ago and the the rest is history.

[BrianC]

I'm 34 and still playing video games. I like both older and newer games. I first got in to shmups playing games like Life Force on NES and UN Squadron in arcades.

[d3vak]

I'm 25! In the 90's I enjoyed very much games like "Sonic Wings", "S.T.G.", "U.N. Squadron" (damn unbeatable game), "Axelay" and so... time passed by and around 2007 I bumped into this video here:
THE HARDEST VIDEO GAME BOSS EVER!
I was truly amazed, then found out about the upcoming release of "Deathsmiles" and the rest is history.

I think the main reason why it is hard to see much younger people around here is because of the high costs of importing games and NTSC-J X360's since there's where the best shmups are. Other than that...maybe because they're mostly "casual" games which can make us feel very satisfied in short amounts of time...which can mostly fit our "adult" schedules quite well.

[lemonhead]

43, but feeling like 63

[Jonst]

40 today!

[nosorrow]

"U.N. Squadron" (damn unbeatable game)

I saw my kid brother (he must have been 17 or 18 at the time) beat it on very hard in the late 90s! But I agree, I find it very tough myself.

As for the topic at hand, I'm 37 years old.

[Astraea FGA Mk. I]

29

The first shmup I played was on the NES I'm not sure which one I should figure that out.
The first shmup I bought was Einhänder what a surprise

[jonny5]

32. I barely even play games these days

[soprano1]

28, turning 29 next month. Used to be able to sit my ass all afternoon playing rpg's, now can only play portable games. Just don't have the patience anymore, i guess. Or time

[nasty_wolverine]

turned 26 yesterday, i am getting old

[broken harbour]

32 here, I took a long break from gaming from about 2001-2007, so I basically missed the PS2 generation. Always liked shmups but only now, later in life can I afford to collect.

[LordHypnos]

23. Only discovered shmups last year, so I have a lot of catching up to do with some of you guys

I've been playing games on and off throughout my life, but not really that much compared to most of you guys, I'm guessing. I used to like RPGs, but I don't have the time / patience for that shit anymore. Basically haven't looked back since discovering shmups... especially Mars Matrix

[nasty_wolverine]

23. Only discovered shmups last year, so I have a lot of catching up to do with some of you guys

I've been playing games on and off throughout my life, but not really that much compared to most of you guys, I'm guessing. I used to like RPGs, but I don't have the time / patience for that shit anymore. Basically haven't looked back since discovering shmups... especially Mars Matrix

Be a man and go play Mar..... oh sorry, you already play it.

[PurpleTheGuy]

Heh, so the day has come, to where I actually post something in the off-topic section. It came sooner than I thought, haha. There's even an art thread in this section, so that's pretty cool!

Anyhow, right now, I'm 21 (Going to be 22 on Aug. 29th).

The first time I've ever played shmups was when I was a little kid (Maybe 4 or so), where my parents would take me to their friends' parties, to where I just play whatever the other kids are playing, to where there were times, where I got to briefly play SNES games, like Super R-Type, Gradius III, and Area 88 (Or U.N. Squadron). I didn't get to 1cc any of these, however, since I never got to play these extensively. Afterwards, there was a large gap in time, where I didn't see shmups again, until Touhou came along, that is, when I've heard of it at some point in 2009 or so, I guess.

Eventually, I moved to just listening to the remixes and looking through fanart to actually playing the games soon after I got to be 18. I got to progress fairly well at these games in a relatively short amount of time, until real life things came let's just say (University-related), and I didn't get to touch back on the Touhou games for more-or-less two years. Going to the Anime Expo last summer (I was lucky to get to go there, because the guys I know at the arcade I go to had plans to go there, and it just so happens I've saved enough money to actually be able to go with them ) made me realise just how long I've been away with these types of games (and gaming in-general). In other words, what was a small break turned out to be an unintended hiatus .

When I got back from the Expo, I promptly started to get back into the Touhou games (2nd time around, the difference was that I actually got to be pretty serious about improving at the shmup genre, and me not wanting to leave the genre this time around, as well as me wanting to make up for two lost years), and after re-progressing again in a fairly fast pace, I began thinking about playing other shmups besides Touhou (I've been quickly getting console shmup games, and other games. Heck, this year was the 1st time I've touched my Xbox 360 and the PS3 in, what, a few years, and I've been gathering games for the PS2, and I've got future plans), and well, it all went on from there. Hopefully, I'll get enough to put together a 1cc list that isn't laughable by the end of the summer, haha.

Yes, I know this isn't an introduction thread of some sort, but since everyone's recalling their experiences with the shmup genre up to now, I figured I'd recall my experience with the shmup genre, as it currently stands. I was going to just say my age, and well, this tl;dr happened .

[Moniker]

Didn't bother to read any other posts in this thread, but I'm 28.

[Gaia]

Almost 25 here.

[Ex_Mosquito]

35 here. My earliest memory of videogames was seeing Missile Command at an airport when I was 4 years old. I was utterly mesmerised by videogames from that point and I made it my mission to hunt out the arcades whenever I was holiday, if only just to watch people play. I wasn't blessed with my own computer unfortunately until I was 8 years old, a ZX Spectrum. At 10 years old I started frequenting local videoshops, Taxi ranks and pool halls to spend my pocket money on the latest arcade games after I'd finished school and weekends (against my Mothers knowledge!) And I have vivid memories of completing Shinobi for the first time whilst wearing rollerskates in a videoshop. From then on it was the arcades that I got my biggest videogame thrills. I did the usual obsessed teenager thing in the very late 80's of playing grey import consoles bought from ads at the back of magazines (C&VG / Mean Machines) to get the very best arcade conversions first. Good times. So yeah, 36 this year...oof!

[Jonst]

^ great memories! Mine are quite similar...swimming pools in the late 80's always seemed to have shinobi,double dragon,out run or afterburner...good times!

[Lord Satori]

My earliest memory of videogames was seeing Missile Command at an airport when I was 4 years old.

At an airport? Where in the hell was that? There's nothing even remotely entertaining at the airports I've been to.

[trap15]

Pretty sure arcades were a lot more ubiquitous in 1984...

[drauch]

Ughhhhhh

[rancor]

At an airport? Where in the hell was that? There's nothing even remotely entertaining at the airports I've been to.

Lol - you youngsters don't even know. The airport in Charlotte, N.C. used to have a badass arcade with at least 15 cabs. This was back in 1986 or so, and I used to play Mario Bros (original - 1 screen in a sewer) quite a bit.

A lot of supermarkets and gas stations back then had an arcade cab or two as well. My local Texaco had Time Pilot, and the nearest IGA mart had Goonies. I think the local hamburger joint (Griffs) still has a Neo Geo big red machine with a 4-slot inside.