How many shmups could there be?

TKGB_Mental_Gear · Post by **TKGB_Mental_Gear** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 7:48 pm

I've noticed that almost every game system, almost every game platform, almost every game company has at least one shmup in their catauloge. To count them all would be impossible but can anyone round a number up?

I'm not counting fan made shmups but original creations.

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 7:54 pm

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:01 pm

500, exact.

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:23 pm

Couting them isn´t really impossible, it just takes an enormous amount of boredom and spare time.

But yeah, there has got to be tons of them, and mostly generic or bad ones. And when we look back in ten years, there will be a equal number of first-person shooters, racers and ghetto exploration games.

Pixel_Outlaw · Post by **Pixel_Outlaw** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:35 pm

Let the lights of the heavenly dome be the number. One need only look up and let the glorious celestial beacons number the cases. Are we not all vagabonds traversing the infinite cosmos? The left hand mirrored is the right hand, yielding two hands, and so fourth shall be the count folded and mirrored infinitely.

RyanDG · Post by **RyanDG** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:45 pm

Unfortunately, before we could begin to count the games, we would have to come up with an accepted definition of what constitutes a shmup.

And that won't ever happen.

Pirate1019 · Post by **Pirate1019** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 1:08 am

RyanDG wrote:Unfortunately, before we could begin to count the games, we would have to come up with an accepted definition of what constitutes a shmup.

And that won't ever happen.

Geometry Wars rocks my socks!

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 1:12 am

For thousands of years before video games there were games. Do you think among them there were shmup equivalents?

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 1:32 am

CMoon wrote:For thousands of years before video games there were games. Do you think among them there were shmup equivalents?

ball & cup games

Also, I doubt the Super A'Can (from Taiwan)'s library included any shooters...maybe a shame since the machine could've done a decent one.

tada · Post by **tada** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 2:50 am

CMoon wrote:For thousands of years before video games there were games. Do you think among them there were shmup equivalents?

Dodgeball.

And maybe the real-life events that the 194x series are virtual replications of.

D · Post by D » Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:53 am

What is and what isn't a shmup has been established allready.
There are no borderliners. A shmups is not a game with a shmup stage.
We could list them all and also for every system

Raiden arcade
Raiden snes
Raiden ps
Raiden lynx
Raiden Jaguar
Raiden 2 arcade
Raiden 2 ps
Raiden DX arcade
Raiden DX ps

This idea is awesome. The cool thing would be that you would get an understanding of all ports of your favorite game.
Let's do this!

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:12 am

D wrote:What is and what isn't a shmup has been established allready.

Really? I must have missed that announcement. I know there's a concept that some of the lovely folks on this site adhere to (sometimes a bit over zealously), but I'm unaware of any official definition

But yeah, I'd hate to have to wade through all the shmups that've been made over the last 30 years. That's a lot to compile (A PUN!). And when you tack on all the ports that added little bits or took them out (or just botched everything)... that's just too mind numbingly tedious to consider doing alone.

God · Post by **God** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 2:21 pm

Unfortunately, before we could begin to count the games, we would have to come up with an accepted definition of what constitutes a shmup.

Not necessarily. Someone can just write a definition and count the games that fit it. Other people agreeing isn't needed unless he needs help counting.

There's only a handful of competing definitions anyway, isn't there?

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 5:46 pm

There is only one correct definition, and that's mine.

tada · Post by **tada** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 5:55 pm

I think the best bet would just be to count the number of items in the indices of the Hi Scores or Strategy boards. I'm pretty sure that if they are in those lists, they're generally agreed upon by us to be shmups. With 2000+ of us, I doubt there's a shmup we don't know about.

ROBOTRON · Post by **ROBOTRON** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 6:19 pm

No way to tell.

I couldn't even give you an exact number for Atari 2600 shmups.

They release homebrews one every 10 minutes.

D · Post by D » Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:33 pm

shmup = forced scrolling, 2d pane

VorpalEdge · Post by **VorpalEdge** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:46 pm

D wrote:shmup = forced scrolling, 2d pane

Obviously no shooting is required.

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:47 pm

D wrote:shmup = forced scrolling, 2d pane

So Atomic Runner's a shmup, and Defender isn't. Gotcha

doctorx0079 · Post by **doctorx0079** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:01 pm

tada wrote:I think the best bet would just be to count the number of items in the indices of the Hi Scores or Strategy boards. I'm pretty sure that if they are in those lists, they're generally agreed upon by us to be shmups. With 2000+ of us, I doubt there's a shmup we don't know about.

There are shumps that aren't listed there because no one cares about them. For example, there was no Exed Exes board until I made one. Because I CARE.

RyanDG · Post by **RyanDG** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:11 pm

D wrote:shmup = forced scrolling, 2d pane

zomg, Space Invaders isn't a SHMUP because it doesn't have forced scrolling?

*Queue more arguments.*

shoe-sama · Post by **shoe-sama** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:21 pm

Space Bomber has no scrolling at all.

RyanDG · Post by **RyanDG** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:21 pm

In all seriousness though... I've found that this site's Xenocide files plus Xenocide files updates are pretty good at finding a good number of the main commercial releases. If you were really wanting to count all the SHMUPS that have been created, it would be a good place to start.

ubersaurus · Post by **ubersaurus** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:23 pm

D wrote:shmup = forced scrolling, 2d pane

Yeah, sorry. That doesn't work. Under that definition games like Space Invaders, Asteroids, Galaga, and Tempest don't count as shooters. And I can't imagine there being many people who would look at those and think "oh, it's just Pac-Man"

Forced scrolling didn't come along until Xevious, and there were enough "primitive" shooters to go around before and shortly after that time frame. It's outright silly to claim that they aren't shooters because of that. What else would they be? Shooting games? Which is the same damn thing?

doctorx0079 · Post by **doctorx0079** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:02 pm

How about to start with, a shmup is a shooting game where you don't use a light gun and you move in two dimensions . .

EDIT: two dimensions or less . .

D · Post by D » Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:10 pm

Those games have a primitive form of scrolling, by using scrolling stars instead of an entire background. I typed the previous comment with my ps3 pad

Now I'm behind the keys again

Anyway, if we create such a list we could use it when people ask how many ports there are.

How many would there be? including ports I'd say about 1500 perhaps
Will we just do consoles and arcade games or include computers as well?
arcade: 400
consoles: 600
computers: 500

I don't really consider asteroids a shmup, but then again what else can it be?
So asteroids and Fantasy Zone are shmups?
But Mercs is not because you are controlling a platform type character?
Maybe we should include these types of games into the shmups definition?
I'm not worthy at all to make these decisions.

*Seeking guidance*
Somebody summon the oracle........

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:22 pm

Can't. Gloria Foster's dead.

Nuke · Post by **Nuke** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:53 pm

Over 9000!

tada · Post by **tada** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:55 pm

doctorx0079 wrote:EDIT: two dimensions or less . .

A one-dimensional shmup would be awfully dull.

Master O · Post by **Master O** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 12:03 am

Nuke wrote:Over 9000!

*watches the Vic Viper shoot Nuke's core for saying that stupid line...*

Anyway, as for the number of shmups, I'd guess over 3000 - 4000 overall, but I'm probably not even close.