Shmups trivia..... just a few questions in need of an answer

[Hessu]

I’m checking some history and wondering about the following things:


What was the first shmup to have a bomb that clears the screen?

What was the first shmup to have a weapon power-up? (not a new weapon)

What was the first shmup where you could get another main weapon?

What was the first shmup to have a simultaneous 2 player game? (not counting Spacewar)

[Ceph]

What was the first shmup to have a weapon power-up? (not a new weapon)

Probably Galaga. You can allow your ship to be captured; you lose one life but if you manage to shoot the enemy that holds your ship you get it back and with it a twin-shot.

[Hessu]

That's what I thought too. Any idea what was the first "conventional" power-up?

[mulletgeezer]

I think the first power-up was Moon Cresta, which came out the year before Galaga.

I'm pretty sure the first smart bomb was Defender, a game of many firsts.

I can't think of a 2P simultaneous scrolling shmup before Twin Cobra, though I doubt that was the first. EDIT: Twin Bee was released in 1985, that could well be the earliest 2P scrolling shmup.

First conventional power-up might be Starforce. Did Gyruss have a power-up? I can't remember. EDIT: it does.

First proper new weapon I can think of is Gradius, though it's debatable. Terra Cresta also had a new weapon, when the ship is transformed. Also Tiger Heli had the little helis. All three of those games were released in 1985.

[j^aws]

Would Stargate (aka Defender 2, released 1981) with it's 'Invisio' count as a "secondary" weapon? It turned your actual ship into a death-dealing projectile...

[Hessu]

I was thinking about the buying of weapons. In Gradius you kind of buy them, but was Xenon 2 the first with an actual shop?

[j^aws]

Fantasy Zone by SEGA could be the first with "shops"... circa 1986. I can't think of anything earlier...