How long have you been playing shmups?

[SAM]

The first shmups game I played is Moon Cresta, I think. Its in the '80 as a kid in an arcade.

The shmups that really get me hooked in playing shmups are 1943, R-Type & Kiki Kaikai.

Later when I got an NES, I got shmups carts, like 1942, MagMax, Gradius, Twinbee, Salamander & 1943.

But I didn't get into playing shmups seriously until around early '00, when I re-discovered shmups, while playing with MAME.

Even though, I had been playing for quite some times since then, I still stuck at playing shmups.

I really wish to know how long does it takes to be good at playing shmups?

[Super Joe]

Since Galaxian in the local chippy ! Late 70’s, Christ I’m ancient.

[guyot]

1990-1991ish. Would have been Gradius on the NES. Didn't become a big fan until I got Parodius on the NES a couple of years later. Loved Parodius.

[porchka66]

Played my first shmup 1986 at the age of 17: Terra Cresta on my beloved Commodore 64.
Damn, time flies by...

[heli]

Indeed gradius on the NES.
All games was 2D back then so it was nothing special.
Later i only wanted the newest graphics with the best 3D,
then i found out those games are not so fun hard to play.
Then i got a saturn and dreamcast to play shmups and buy for PS2 also,
since then i buy and no more copy, these are the only games that are worth the money.

It is a whole different genre then those 3D movie like games.
I play them both, i buy for 5 euro, play it one week or two, then give away or sell or save for later.
That is 75 cheaper then a re-released shmup no one wants to buy.
There you have it no one wants it thats why they are so expensive and almost not for sale second-hand for a normal 5 euro price.

[Sengoku Strider]

Probably something on my friend's C64 or Amiga, quite possibly R-Type. I did play arcade stuff like Time Soldiers a bunch...does Gauntlet count as a shmup? I remember blowing all my paper route money on that one. First one I owned for myself was probably Asteroids on the 2600 in '89 or so. Yeah, my parents bought me the wrong console.

[Mortificator]

The first game I played was probably Galaga and the first I owned was Xevious. I spend quite a bit of time with R-Type back in its heyday, but after that there was a period where I barely shmuped at all (one exception being Einhander). It wasn't until the 2000s with MAME that I really got into the history of the genre and hit up all the arcade majors.

[pablumatic]

Either 1979 or 1980 playing Space Invaders on the Atari 2600. Not sure exactly. I was 3 or 4 years old at the time.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

Early 80s with Gorf and Moon Cresta. This topic could use a poll.

[Eaglet]

Around 10 years now!

It started with me thinking modern gaming trends were crap, and remembering how much I liked games in the 90's.
Then there were just a couple of factors that happened to pull together to build up the perfect storm.
An interest in great (mostly japanese) VGM, a deep dive into 90's anime (mostly OVA's) and becoming a fan of CGR on YouTube.
I decided to buy and play a lot of SNES games and got a Saturn with an Action Replay and some japanese games.

The first real STG I played and cleared was Axelay. Really loved Konami's output on the SNES (LET'S ATTACK AGGRESSIVELY). Rayforce (Layer Section) was a big step up in difficulty but I loved it. About half a year after all this I happened upon a place in my town that was a combination of a café, a retro game store and a game center. First Arcade STG I tried was DDP DFKBL and I fell in love with the spectacle. Since then I became a more frequent visitor and eventually happened upon sven666, when he was visiting, and started talking. He learned that I was interested in Garegga (I had listened to the soundtrack on YouTube and thought it was crazy good), so he eventually put it in one of the cabs. Needless to say, it was all downhill from there.
Started buying a lot of arcade PCB's, to the point where I had pretty much all games I was interested in, except for the really expensive ones (only Futari BL was in that category, but I got it for cheap).

Fast forward a lot of years later and there are only very few games I like enough to put the time into or have time to play, coupled with starting a family and needing more moniez, I have sold off most of the games I bought. Total net earnings are around 200-300% given what I payed at the time.
A seemingly ridiculous investment at the time, that actually turned out to be a wise one.

Will continue playing Garegga and Batrider indefinitely!

[kid aphex]

Since 1988. Gradius on the NES was my intro to the genre.

[Wittischism]

Galaga cocktail table in a Pizza Hut, mid 80s. Probably the first video game that I ever played, as far as I can remember.

[Gamer707b]

Don't remember my first shmup. I grew up in the 80s arcade era, so it could've been something there. but my earliest memory was a shmup similar to Galaga on my Odyssey 2. It was too hard for me being a little kid so my dad took the game back. Didn't play them much at all till about 7 or 8 years ago. Started watching randon Saturn shmup youtube videos and it started to pique my interest.

Started buying them on the different consoles I have and the rest is history. I love them now! Probably my #1 or 2 favorite genres. I do take breaks from them, but always go back. I've been bit by the shmup bug. Funny thing is, years ago I played a lot of rpg's and no shmups. Now it's the complete opposite. Shmups really fit my taste as I've gotten older. Sometimes I don't want to spend hours with a game. Just play a few credits, progress a little further and go back to it later on. Ive 1cc'ed a few 16 shooters but not much else. My favorites of the genre are Ikaruga and Battle Garegga.

[XoPachi]

My whole life.
Still bad at them.
SuperNova was my first video game.

[Marc]

My first were Galaxian / Space Invaders coin-ops, I distinctly remember playing both on tabletop machines in the pub. First home shmup was Astrosmash on Intellivision, and a bunch of rip-offs on Spectrum. Penetrator was a cracking Scramble clone at the time.

And strangely enough, and the riper old age of 43, I'm waiting for a new Astrosmash on a new Intellivision.....

[danmakujira]

First ever was probably Pulstar on a Neo emulator on my dads computer when I was a kid, but it was so hard for me I didn't think much of it.
Then, Aero Fighters 2 on the Neo Geo CD I bought with birthday money; I had been playing the Neo my whole life via emulation, wanted an AES but best I could get was the CD console.
Then later on when I got a Dreamcast, I discovered Mars Matrix and that solidified my love for the genre.

[StrzxgvNuvWvfld]

Most of my life! I have vague memories of playing some Space Invaders style (as in fixed screen, enemies at the top) games in arcades when I was very young. Not completely sure what they were.

The first arcade shoot em up I really loved was Salamander, which was followed by R-Type 1 & 2, Gradius 2 (or Vulcan Venture here in Europe), X-Multiply, Image Fight and others.

[Bawa]

If I were to guess, I'd say probably a year.
I remember starting it when I last switched jobs and it made a year last week since it happened.

[Jonpachi]

I was always into them in the old days, and would spare a few quarters for a run or two on Galaga, but it wasn't until the Dreamcast that I really became obsessed. I would credit Gunbird 2 for really igniting the flame, as it was the first game I owned that supported Tate. I can distinctly remember pulling my big heavy 32" CRT out of the entertainment center, tipping it over on its side, and cozying up on the floor in front of it. After that, I bought a Saturn and started my collection properly.

[To Far Away Times]

Since about 2006 or so. That was when I first played these games with the intent of 1CC'ing.

I did drop quite a bit of time into the Ikaruga port on gamecube before that, but I was playing with continues and trying for stage scores. That was sort of a one and done at the time though. I wasn't a shmups fan back then, I was an Ikaruga fan.

The first shmup I really got into because it was a shmup was the Touhou series, and then I focused on Imperishable Night for a first 1CC. Then I branched out to other Touhou games from there.

The first time I took the plunge on a commercial shmup that wasn't Ikaruga was with the Xbox 360 port of Mushi Futari. I was hooked by that point.

[EmperorIng]

I didn't get into the genre until around just before the time I joined this forum, so it might have been 2011. 10 Years Now! I was a teen in school, burned out on the game drought for the Wii, had a little extra cash to burn, and found a spare sega Saturn in a used game store in a mall (a Disc Replay). It had three games on the shelf under it: Darius Gaiden, Panzer Dragoon Zwei, and Virtua Racing. I was curious. I left without buying anything that day and logged on to some forums I was then browsing, asking if picking it up was worth it. The overwhelming response was: get it! I came back a few days later with the games still there, and scooped them up!

I remember putting in Darius Gaiden, hearing the vocal lines "Close your eyes, close your head" and being immediately hooked by the visuals and music. By the time the opera singing came in on the second stage, my heart was already changed. I didn't know it at the time but I became a fan for life!

As to your real question:

There's always a harder goal than the one you're working at right now, so you may never feel "good" at the games. Because you have to relearn each one anew, almost all of the time. But over time you become more proficient, learn a few more tricks that transfer from game to game, become more efficient in practice... Then you'll still tell yourself you're bad, but you'll actually have transformed into "pretty ok."

[leodash]

Credit-feeding for about 1-2 months sometime in 2019 when I discovered emulation.

Started playing properly since the last quarter of 2020.

I avoided shmups like a plague when I was a kid because I keep dying at the first wave of Gradius.

[MachineAres 1CC]

Would've been around 1987 for me, playing simple stuff like Galaxian, Space Invaders, and River Raid on my grandmother's Atari 2600. I continued playing whatever random shmups that I could get my hands on through the NES (Legendary Wings, Dragon Spirit, 1943, Silver Surfer) SNES (Raiden, E.D.F.) and PS1 eras (RayStorm, Gunbird, Thunder Force V, Shienryu) whether it was from a video rental store or picking them up at garage sales or whatever. Once the Dreamcast came along, it coincided with me also getting a job, so that really catapulted me heavily into the genre after that, since I could buy whatever games I wanted (and burn copies of them later on) and it's never really stopped since then.

It's been a hell of a long journey, but sticking with it this long and delving so deep into the shmup libraries on just about every home console in existence at this point, it's just made me realize what a big part of my life it's always been. I may not be a super player or anything, but I have some OK accomplishments here and there. I've just never really been able to stop playing many other game genres and focus solely on shmups for any terribly long period of time, I like the balance of being away for a few months or so per year then delving back in again.

found a spare sega Saturn in a used game store in a mall (a Disc Replay).

There was a Disc Replay in a mall? I don't remember that, and I'm pretty sure I've been to all the Chicagoland locations! Unless you're talking about a strip mall, which is where all of them were, lol. (I lived there for 35 years, just recently moved away)

[EmperorIng]

Yeah, the Disc Replay was in a larger 'strip' mall called Village Crossing. Or rather an outdoor mall. It was still operating until a few years ago; I used to pick up dvd's there long after their game selection stopped interesting me.

There was a Disc Replay in a mall called the HIP that as a younger teen growing up where we used to pick up old games (Final Fantasy 3, for then an 'insane' price of $50), and the only local 'arcade' I ever frequented, spending my time playing lightgun games, Soul Calibur, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

[heli]

Ofcourse i had astroids and maybe space invaders way earlyer, it dont counts.
Asteroid with 2 players was fun, space invaders is still no fun for me.

[FRO]

For a very long time. First shmup I owned and played extensively was Lightening Force, and that cultivated an interest in the genre, but I didn't get much more into it until a few years later, when I discovered Malc's shmup site, and in turn, this forum's original incarnation. I had a habit of getting into the games for a while, then falling away for a little while, and coming back again. The last 2.5 - 3 years I've been a lot more serious about the genre, though, and am trying to learn more about how to play more intently.

[davyK]

Space Invaders in the arcade...would have been 1978 or so. I was 12 then.

[WarpedByTheNHK]

I am sure my first shmup was probably either Galaga or Space Invaders in the mid 90s since they were everywhere when I was a kid, but the first ones that really intrigued me were Daioh and especially Raiden Fighters Jet because they had cool looking bombs and weapons (plus you could play as a dragon in RF).

However, I didn't really give the genre a serious try until I learned about Touhou in 2013 and got 1ccs on a few of the games. Even then, I sort of went in and out of wanting to play the genre for years, but each time i came back i loved shmups more and more. Last year I realized shmups had finally become my overall favorite genre.

[XtraSmiley]

How long ago for my first one? Defender in the arcade, about 1987, long after its prime and for about 1 minute before it ate my lunch. 33 years ago!

How long until I played one a lot? Thunderforce III on Sega Genesis right when it came out, 1990. 30 years ago!

How long until I'm good at shmups? Not sure, still pretty bad at all of them! But I was able to eventually beat TF3 and 4, UN Squadron and Axelay (SNES), and make a dent in Gradius III. I never could get far in one of my favorites, Gaiares!

[Mills]

Around 1991/92 I think.