Escape Sequences, Speed Zones, and Going Fast

[XoPachi]

I've been playing Armed Police Unit Gallop lately because I really just love this game's aesthetic entirely.
It hit me that this game is basically just entirely comprised of Gradius-esque speed zones on a throttle. This is interesting for the obvious reason of it being probably one of the few shooters to have a genuine time attack side to it. I'm also reminded of the brief escape sequence before finishing off Galst Vic in SuperNova.

How common is all of this in the genre? I feel like we could stand for more and I bet that there's loads of games I haven't played with them. Speedy shooting is a ton of fun!

[FRO]

I'm not sure how common it is for games to be all speed zones. I'm only aware of Gallop and Kingdom Grand Prix for well known games. There was one I heard about a few months ago that was releasing, but it was more a top-down racing game with shmup elements, though I don't recall the name. As a rule, I'm not a fan of speed trap levels in shmups, but if the whole game is designed around the concept, like the aforementioned titles, it can be fun, if done well. I think in both of those examples, it's a good balance. But careening through a bunch of obstacles and getting smashed into a wall or barrier is usually not my idea of a good time.

[MathU]

It's not common enough that's for sure. The very first time I fought the mine stage boss in Super R-Type I knew I wanted more of it. IREM clearly agreed and made Gallop, and later we got Kingdom Grandprix, but the idea seems like it died there. There's also an old DOS game that I wonder if anyone else is familiar with here called MegaRace. At first glance it appears to be a racing game but it's actually similar to a scrolling shooter in the sense that you have to shoot down enemies and dodge and collect stuff while moving (power-up and power-down symbols on the road). I've always wished there were more racing games with a combat focus like that and more scrolling shooters like racing games.