Personal Shmup-isms

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:26 am

Having done some on-and-off work with the "semi-official" shmup glossary up till now, I've wondered what kinds of completely "unofficial" shmup terms some users here have come up with, that only they use. Here are a couple of mine...

"Bastard Bullets": Bullets released by an enemy at point-blank range just as it dies, inevitably taking you with it. Inspired by the muttered "You bastard!" that their occurrence sometimes inspires from me.

"B-TYPE": Stands for "Bigger-Than-You Plane Enemy." Term I use to describe most any shmup boss that looks pretty much like a regular ol' airplane, but bigger and better-equipped (of course) than you.

"Stare Down": Term I use to describe the practice of staying directly front-and-center facing an enemy (usually a boss) even as it sends a truckload of spam in all directions, since directly in front of it, despite what one would think, is the safest spot in this case.

"Cranky Mode": When a boss is worn down considerably and starts throwing its nastiest stuff at you.

Those are a couple of 'em, anyways...so what such terms have you just sort of made up yourself, which haven't exactly "caught on," at least not yet?

I'm interested to hear.

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:35 am

"Popcorn Enemies" - Enemies that go down in one hit. Sometimes I also call them "Bite-sized enemies."

"Sniper Tanks" - Those bastard tanks in Raiden and many other traditional vertical shmups that come out of nowhere and pelt you with a single fast aimed bullet.

"The Shotgun Effect" - The technique where you get right up into an enemy's face and shoot them at point-blank range. You get more shots in and they all hit as well. Works well with wide spread weapons.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:36 am

"Popcorn" is actually in the glossary, but "bite-size" is new, heh heh.

EDIT: Actually, so is "sniper," though the specific "tank" definition isn't.

russ · Post by **russ** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:41 am

Not sure if these have already been named, but here's mine:

"Tap-dodging" - Dodging tactic where you gently tap the joystick/d-pad in one direction to avoid bullets from enemies that shoot constantly directly at you.

"Bullet leading" - Used in conjunction with Tap-dodging, once you get close to the end of the screen, move at full speed in the direction in which you were tap dodging to create a hole in the bullets that the enemies were shooting. Quickly squeeze through the hole and begin tap-dodging in the other direciton.

Did those descriptions make sense?

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:46 am

I've got a few more:

"Zap! You're dead fool!": Bosses that have those big-ass lasers that give you a warning before they instantly vaporize your ass and you go "WTF just happened?" Even worse if the boss give little or no warning.

"Santa-ships": My term for those powerup carriers, since when you crack one open it's like Christmas time.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:50 am

russ: I think that both of the terms you mentioned are widely-used enough to have made the glossary.

FatCobra: "Santa Ships," hee hee, I like that one.

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 5:01 am

BulletMagnet wrote:FatCobra: "Santa Ships," hee hee, I like that one.

It's even funnier if you say it out loud. Plus, most powerup carriers are slow and fat and it's always a jolly sight to see them.

Post by **Ghegs** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 6:25 am

"Pattern-breaker": when fighting a boss and he's shooting a pattern at you. You know how to dodge the pattern, but then a popcorn-enemy or the boss itself shoots a random bullet into the fray, messing up the pattern's shape and often your dodging.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 10:36 am

Crap Challenge - Any challenge I don't like, usually associated with older games like Gaiares.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 3:36 pm

I'm disappointed, I was expecting "Whack-a-Mole" to make an appearance. Because you've let me down, Robert, I will destroy you!

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:06 pm

BulletMagnet wrote:I'm disappointed, I was expecting "Whack-a-Mole" to make an appearance. Because you've let me down, Robert, I will destroy you!

What's the definition for "Whack-a-Mole?" Enemies and bosses that pop out of the ground or teleport randomy?

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:14 pm

Heh, I'll wait for Rob to explain it, but I will offer this semi-old thing:

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:20 pm

BulletMagnet wrote:Heh, I'll wait for Rob to explain it, but I will offer this semi-old thing:

LOL....

His avatar fits in those holes perfectly!!!

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 6:00 pm

I was trying to remember phrases I use repeatedly, but seriously my memory is disappearing on me lately.

Whack-A-Mole - A term for tedious, challenge-less level design in some classic shooters, where the ship is overpowered and enemies don't often shoot.

Naps - Slang for Compile shooters that contain a lot of space drifting and whack-a-mole gameplay. Redundant, usually preceded by "Compile."

Danny · Post by **Danny** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 6:32 pm

"WAAAOOOHHH! tama heru!" (or 弾丸の地獄) = "WAAAOOOHHH! bullet hell" in japanese. I often yell this out, speicaly when playing hard/unfair shumps!

thought I'd just add that one in

p.s: looked this up on an translation site years ago when I was bored lol.

cfalcon · Post by **cfalcon** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 6:51 pm

Well, it's not general purpose, but among my friends, stored energy and all things related to it in Ikaruga is "juice".

"Get juiced here..."
"Do you have enough juice?"
"Juice him when you are black!"
"Juice Dispenser" (any enemy that shoots a beam that is easily absorbed)
"Release your juice!"

etc.

From anything Gradius that is two player and allows for Option retention (player 2 dies, his options are on the screen for him to reclaim or player 1 to steal):

"This is a story of four options..."

(Said as a reference to the fact that they do all of the work, are invincible, and are the only things that last from level 1 till the end, having been towed by a long line of quickly terminated red and blue Vic Vipers- usually mentioned whenever someone picks up some options from a hard place, like inside of a wall, while still flickering after a respawn or whatever)

IlMrm · Post by **IlMrm** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 8:20 pm

BulletMagnet wrote:Heh, I'll wait for Rob to explain it, but I will offer this semi-old thing:

It's a two player game, that boy is setting Rob up for that little girl. Notice the grin on that little girl's face as she's readying. Rob's walked into their trap!

alpha5099 · Post by **alpha5099** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 3:02 am

IlMrm wrote:
BulletMagnet wrote:Heh, I'll wait for Rob to explain it, but I will offer this semi-old thing:

It's a two player game, that boy is setting Rob up for that little girl. Notice the grin on that little girl's face as she's readying. Rob's walked into their trap!

Yep, I'm a wiley mother fucker. Bwahaha, Robert, judgement day is upon you.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 3:06 am

cfalcon wrote:"Juice Dispenser" (any enemy that shoots a beam that is easily absorbed)

Heh, I like that one too.

It's a two player game, that boy is setting Rob up for that little girl. Notice the grin on that little girl's face as she's readying. Rob's walked into their trap!

I am SO leaving this behind before it turns REALLY ugly.

FRO · Post by **FRO** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 12:38 pm

russ wrote:"Tap-dodging" - Dodging tactic where you gently tap the joystick/d-pad in one direction to avoid bullets from enemies that shoot constantly directly at you.

Can anyone say Psykio?

Platypus[gEc] · Post by **Platypus[gEc]** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 1:12 pm

FRO wrote:
Can anyone say Psykio?

Psykio

What did i win?

Zweihander · Post by **Zweihander** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 2:15 pm

cfalcon wrote:Well, it's not general purpose, but among my friends, stored energy and all things related to it in Ikaruga is "juice".

"Get juiced here..."
"Do you have enough juice?"
"Juice him when you are black!"
"Juice Dispenser" (any enemy that shoots a beam that is easily absorbed)
"Release your juice!"

....why did that whole thing sound completely wrong?

Diabollokus · Post by **Diabollokus** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 2:34 pm

Could have been worse, ''he got his white juice all over my black ikaruga'' would have been one.

cfalcon · Post by **cfalcon** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 6:26 pm

Much worse than that, I've actually heard the horribly unsubtle "blow your wad" in reference to *anything* that's limited in shmups- bullets, bombs, whatever. It was even in the Star Control II instruction book as a tip for playing as the Spathi in a duel, as I recall.

alpha5099 · Post by **alpha5099** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 5:50 am

cfalcon wrote:Much worse than that, I've actually heard the horribly unsubtle "blow your wad" in reference to *anything* that's limited in shmups- bullets, bombs, whatever. It was even in the Star Control II instruction book as a tip for playing as the Spathi in a duel, as I recall.

You do know that "blow your wad" is often used in non-sexual senses, right? I hear it almost exclusively to mean impulsively spending a large amount of cash.

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 6:03 am

Here's one I use when someone really messes up in their shmup game, or any other game for that matter:

"KERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR---"

It's the Gameover sound from Ikaruga...yeah I'm addicted to that game.

It's the equivalent of someone saying BRICK in basketball.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 6:09 am

"Hijo de la c#!n6ada"

Any enemy that rams my ship from behind or snipes me.

Metal Gear Okt · Post by **Metal Gear Okt** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 2:11 pm

"Jedi" and the corollary "Jedi Rule"

It's when you're playing a bullet-hell type shooter (DOJ,GW2, MM, whatever) and you're pulling off insane escapes where bullets are passing through your ship's sprite but not its hitbox.

Of course, the second you try to point this out to someone, you bite it. Hence, the "Jedi Rule".

Post by **Ghegs** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 2:21 pm

Metal Gear Okt wrote:"Jedi" and the corollary "Jedi Rule"

It's when you're playing a bullet-hell type shooter (DOJ,GW2, MM, whatever) and you're pulling off insane escapes where bullets are passing through your ship's sprite but not its hitbox.

Of course, the second you try to point this out to someone, you bite it. Hence, the "Jedi Rule".

I call this "ninja".

"I was pulling these absolutely ninja dodges all over the place..."

cfalcon · Post by **cfalcon** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 2:41 pm

"You do know that "blow your wad" is often used in non-sexual senses, right? I hear it almost exclusively to mean impulsively spending a large amount of cash."

Actually, no. This makes sense, though.

Presumably because of the sexual connotations, I've never heard it used in that way (growing up, I know for a fact that my relatives have never used such a term). I suspect it's just a community difference, like "pop" versus "soda" or something.

Wow.

One thing that's interesting about Shmupisms is that they usually come up with two-player games, because those are the ones you need to communicate about. Ikaruga is obviously one of the most popular shmups ever, but I think the two reasons why so many things come from it is because it's often played with a friend and because much in that game doesn't map straight over to more traditional games.