The state of shmups today? (Or: Rantings of an old man)

[Ghegs]

Lately, especially after the release of Cave's Mushihime-sama Futari port for XBox 360, I've felt disconnected to the shmup community. I don't really like Cave's games. This isn't because I think they're bad games, they're just not to my taste. I'm just not that interested in danmaku shmups. And sadly, it seems those are the only ones we see made nowadays. The shmup genre doesn't get that many new entries as it is, and the ones that do come, both on the commercial and doujin front, are almost always danmaku. So out of the niche genre that is shmups, we only get new entries to the subgenre that is danmaku. Seems awfully limited.

For fans of danmaku this is pretty sweet, of course. More games they like to play. But to someone like me, it's a bit depressing as it seems that bullets have taken over the shmup genre. This is going to take a bit of explaining, as bullets clearly are an important part of these games.

Firstly, stage design has been replaced by bullets. Rarely anymore are there parts of the scenery meant to obstruct the player. Walls, boxes, rock formations, things like that have all disappeared. The obvious examples of what I mean here are the Gradius and R-Type series. Also Ikaruga, specifically stages 2 and 3. The stages are easily recognizable from each other even if you saw them without a single enemy or bullet in them. Instead of those, the focus is on enemies and the bullets they spawn.

Stage design no longer plays a part in controlling what paths the player can and should take through the stage, that job is now solely handled by the design of enemy movement patterns and the patterns their bullets weave. It feels like the scenery may just as well be completely black because there's nothing connecting the stage itself to the player.

It's only fair to acknowledge here that games with player-obstructing scenery is mostly limited to horizontal shmups, though the aforementioned Ikaruga stands as a testament that they can work pretty well in vertical ones as well. Granted, they probably wouldn't work in a danmaku all that well.

Secondly, bosses have been replaced by bullet spawn points. Elaborate bullet patterns are shot out but the boss shooting them might as well be a shapeless blob. And sometimes they are, actually. The point is, there is no connection between the boss' graphical design and the design of their attacks. This makes the visual design feel, to me, very generic and interchangeable.

In comparison the famous Gradius Big Core has four laser cannons pointing out of it. And when it attacks, four laser beams come out, one for each cannon. A simple, yet clear and effective connection between the enemy's visual look and its attack. The mecha-fish bosses of G-Darius have turrets attached to them (and you can destroy them too), they open their mouths to lauch bullets or enemies at you, they shoot their fins at you, sometimes they even try to ram you with their bodies. The bosses in Raiden Fighters series, the big military vehicles, they have plenty of destroyable parts. Missile launchers that fire missiles, turrets that shoot bullets. There's form alongside function in all of these.

So, in a nutshell: I feel danmaku shmups lack personality. Yes, even Death Smiles and Mushihime and ESPGaluda. Which is a bit ironic, considering these games have actual characters (as opposed to just generic spaceships) who might have actual in-game discussions with each other and the bosses and whatnot. But in comparison to games like Zero Gunner 2, the R-Types, the Gradiuses, and so forth, where every stage feels unique and every boss feels unique they come across as rather bland. I understand in danmaku the uniqueness comes from the bullet patterns, but it's just not "doing it" for me. I realize this is a fully personal preference.

But to me shmups are more than just about dodging bullets. Even though this sounds very New Games Journalism, I like to have the whole experience with unique bosses, interesting stages and varied enemies. And it seems to me that the modern shmups just don't have those, at least not in the way I'd like to see them.

Gameplay must come first, yes. I'm the first one on the barricades defending gameplay against pointless visual flamboyance, which I'm sure some would consider elaborate, highly specialized bosses to be. And I'm most certainly not saying danmaku shmups are bad and should disappear altogether. I just wonder if there can't be room for both danmaku and non-danmaku? Perhaps even a game that combines aspects from both subgenres? Sure there's a huge backlog of shmups more suited to my taste for me to play (and I do play them)...but it'd be nice to have some new ones to look forward to as well.

[Rob]

It feels like the scenery may just as well be completely black because there's nothing connecting the stage itself to the player.

I think Futari does a better job of this than Cave's previous games. Some small steps, but like the floating islands on level 1, ice jutting from the ground on level 2 or even just the upper scrolling layer on stage 3 make the stages feel less like "boards".

It's only fair to acknowledge here that games with player-obstructing scenery is mostly limited to horizontal shmups, though the aforementioned Ikaruga stands as a testament that they can work pretty well in vertical ones as well. Granted, they probably wouldn't work in a danmaku all that well.

Shikigami II had a good stage (3-1 or 2) that shows they can.

[sikraiken]

People should definitely read Ghegs' post all the way through, he wrote up something good and thought-provoking.

Looking through the entire catalog of available shooters, I've come to realize that I do not like most of them, even though I've played majority of them before 2002, and many of them after. I like ridiculously hard games; I like a challenge.

Blazing Star, Rabio Lepus, R-Type, Parodius, Fantasy Zone, Dr. Toppel's Adventure, Kiki Kaikai, Omega Fighter, "classic" Cave (Donpachi, DoDonPachi, Dangun Feveron, ESP.Ra.De, Guwange, Progear) - just to name a few - are games that have serious personality, interesting stage design, etc., and true definition that I actually like. They aren't all incredibly difficult, but there's something that brings me back to them anyway.

I look at majority of doujin stuff and I'm not sure what happened. Even looking at Touhou stuff, they all feel/look generally the same to me. That's the direction Cave seems to be going in too. Yes, you see things here and there, but it's nothing like what it used to be. What are we left with?

It's difficult to be creative in a good way in this genre, especially since the genre itself is confined by so many variables. I feel like the fans are one of the poorest parts of this because they eat up absolute garbage - both new and old. It would be nice if companies would look to the past to see what made these games so great in the first place. There's a long history, and definitely not a lack of material to build off of.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Will Cave return to their roots of what made some their classic PCB titles original and fresh + not to mention make a new PCB title with lovely 2-D hand-drawn sprites instead of pre-rendered sprites (a homage to like how it was done in the mid-1990s)? Of course, Cave admitted to using pre-rendered sprites in it's ESP.Ra.De PCB for the three main playable characters for realism as hand-drawn sprites would not work well in this particular instance.

Sad to say, there will come a time when Cave won't be doing anymore shmup titles as they've expressed desire to move on to other genres/projects. That will truly be the end of an era for the current shmup industry's premire danmaku developer as we know it.

Yes, there are still plently of new ideas and concepts for both danmaku and non-danmaku shmup titles to co-exist in today's niche shmup market. It's just that the shmup devs wish to put "all their eggs in one basket" with the current danmaku scene for the foreseeable future as that is where the profit margins are. Just like with the niche horror/gore film scene (including both mainstream Hollywood & indie film makers), it's the horror fans that support the industry for it to continue to make more new films and this same analogy applies to the niche shmup industry as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Ganelon]

I'm definitely with Ghegs. Is it so hard to create a new memorizer shooter nowadays? So many loli characters. And it's like the background is just wallpaper; no interactivity. And those sickening sweet gumdrop bullets. Great for everybody who likes that stuff but I'd appreciate some variety too. The only problem is if someone releases anything more traditional, it gets bashed for being "a simple and outdated memorizer."

[BulletMagnet]

Just as an opening snippet, have you played "Mamoru-kun" yet? I just picked it up recently, and it's definitely not going to appeal to everyone, but it does invoke a lot of what you mentioned about stage design and adding "personality" to its enemies and bosses. If you haven't tried it at least those aspects of it might be up your alley.

As for the meat of this post, even though I'm a fan of "danmaku" games I definitely see where you're coming from, and agree to a pretty good extent. Off the cuff, at least, I would place most of the cause for the "lack of personality" you cite on two factors -

1) Convenience. As you say, cooking up unique stage and boss design elements to challenge the player is certainly nice, but it also takes more time and effort (and, presumably, capital) to enact than simply rearranging the bullets you've already got. Though they've seen a mini-resurgence recently, shmups are still a niche genre, and developers can't afford as many "extravagances" as they used to - when an asteroid and a thick hunk of bullets will have pretty much the same effect on the player in terms of how they react to it onscreen, it's a lot quicker to program the latter in as opposed to having someone draw up, shade, rotate, etc. the former. I definitely miss blowing bits off of bosses, but since doing so affects what kind of attacks they can throw at you, it means more effort to "balance" their assaults when there are a lot of possible configurations to work with, so more are just sticking with the single health meter (and maybe a few popcorn pests).

2) Practical implementation. Sure, watching a hidden platform suddenly rise from the ground or a boss swinging a laser sword at you is cool to watch, but by their very nature these sorts of assaults fundamentally change the way the game is played, at least in most instances - generally, when dealing with bullets, you already know where they're coming from (i.e. the enemy) and where they're going (i.e towards you) and can react, at least in some measure, off the cuff. When the ceiling suddenly comes crashing down or a half-screen-wide laser toasts you, however, survival suddenly becomes much more memory-based - while whether you mind this or not depends on your personal preferences, developers are wary of making the player (and reviewers) feel too much like there was no way to avoid having died at some point without having played before. Granted, there are ways to make such attacks more predictable and less "cheap", but that sort of kills the point of them for many players, and you're right back where you started.

That's the way I see it, anyhow...back in the day, shmups could be "showcases" as much as anything else, while these days they tend to need to focus largely on practicality at the core, and leave much of the "surface appeal" to the lolis or other lowest-common-denominator factors. In some ways I like not having to worry about being crushed by a giant mech foot from nowhere, but I can also understand a longing for the "old days". Where the genre's headed from here, who knows, but for now methinks it's kind of settled in, out of necessity as much as anything else.

[Udderdude]

Just as an opening snippet, have you played "Mamoru-kun" yet? I just picked it up recently, and it's definitely not going to appeal to everyone, but it does invoke a lot of what you mentioned about stage design and adding "personality" to its enemies and bosses. If you haven't tried it at least those aspects of it might be up your alley.

Fun game, and I agree it has a lot of personality, but it falls apart if you try playing it for score. Also has the dreaded loli/shota syndrome.

[TodayIsForgotten]

I know exactly where ghegs is coming from and If i were to make the same exact post, the only thing that would be different is the wording. Shmups seem a dime a dozen nowadays. Yes, you can't really innovate in a shoot em up but its not about innovation. Maybe go back to the older days and incorporate more than just an element into the newer games or start making newer games as if they were in the 90s

Having to chain enemies in one game is enough for me. I don't need to see it in a handful of other games. For me, chaining just gets boring and frustrating. I know you can make the correlation that shoot em ups can be much like puzzle games...i hate puzzle games so when i have to plot out how to chain every level till the end...ZzZ. And games that have all these crazy requirements to score just turn me off. I know I am more of a retro shootem up player who dabbles in the more hectic ones. I don't mind the manic or bullet hell but make it simple with scoring (raiden 4, mushihimesama futari) so that it's fun. Hard enough to where you aren't getting frustrated, but to the point where you want to keep trying that level out or that crazy sequence to net you a lot of points.

I'm sure this will never really happen but I guess if you are patient and don't think about it and when that day comes you can be thankful. Or maybe not...shit.

[8 1/2]

I find that my nostalgia for memorize-em-ups is often stronger than my love to play new entries in the genre. For the classics that I've already memorized, there's a unique and deep sense of accomplishment that I truly don't find in most danmaku shmups (the Thunderforce series comes to mind). Yet, playing them now, as with their development, I find that it's mostly a lost art.

Recently I picked up Thexder Neo on the PSP, having never played the original, and started to get really into it for the first couple of days. That old rush came back of picking apart stages bit-by-bit, and every new stage I reached seemed like a real accomplishment. Yet, I soon reached the later stages and hit a wall where any further progress was simply impossible without complete mastery of each screen. There was simply no wiggle room, no chance for a lucky break or a skillful dodge, and I found myself drifting away from the game.

This is the same reason I prefer Metal Slug over Contra. It's a question of in-the-moment reactions vs steadfast exection. Breaking down a gameplay system and then executing the patterns perfectly is a classic joy, but these days I'm less willing to be punished for something I could not have anticipated.

It's not that I'm getting lazy a shmupper, because I spend more time now than I ever have at truly mastering each title I play, but rather that my time is simply more precious as I get older. I need a sense of making progress, as simple as that sounds. When I play something like Futari, I have a solid chance, even on my first play, at getting somewhere. Maybe I'll get a few magic dodges in stage 4, not even really understand how I did it, and get into stage 5 before I'm really ready to be there. So, when it comes time to get in some gaming, my question is, "Do I want to work on memorizing stage 7 of Thexder in the hope of possibly getting to see stage 8, or do I want to play some Futari and maybe pull out a quality run that encompasses nearly the whole game?"

[Ghegs]

@BulletMagnet:

I admit I have not played Mamoru-kun. And from some videos I just watched it does indeed look to be more to my liking, like you said. Actually the game looks to be more of a run 'n gun than a purebred shmup, but let's not get into that. If I can find a cheap copy I might pick that up. Even though I think watching those videos might've given me diabetes.

You're of course right that it's far easier and faster to just put in some bullets instead of a more unique obstacle. There's no fighting that. It's just a shame that doing the convienient thing is also leading to the homogenization of the genre. Though there are some recent releases that tried to do it "the old fashioned way" - Omega Five, for instance. The game certainly has its problems, but I don't think stage design is one of them. But it makes you wonder if the developers could've fixed the more serious flaws in the game by focusing some of their energy (and budget) away from the stages and into refining the gameplay. And that new mech shmup from G.rev looks rather promising in this regard, I'm looking forward to seeing how that turns out.

As for your point about practical implementation...you seem to think here that rigid memorizers are the only options available. There's games like the Darius and Raiden Fighters series, Border Down and Blazing Star, for example, that aren't danmaku but aren't generally considered memorizers either. I think G-Darius is one of the finest horizontal shmups ever made. And Raiden Fighters games does a very cool thing with its stage design where you need to uncover bonuses by hovering over bushes and houses and stop tanks from destroying buildings by bombing at the right moment, not to mention picking the bosses apart piece by piece. There's lots of middle ground to be found.

And:

Where the genre's headed from here, who knows, but for now methinks it's kind of settled in, out of necessity as much as anything else.

This is true, I find it extremely hard to even imagine that we'd see an R-Type -inspired shmup released in the arcades in this day and age. However, this only applies to commercial releases. I'm honestly surprised that the doujin community is so fixated on creating danmaku shmups. I can't tell the many "magical girl shooting out a gazillion bullets" -shmups apart. You'd think there'd be more variety there, when the worries of making the deadline or upsetting the players and reviewers are much less pronounced. It felt like a breath of fresh air when I saw that the Hydorah demo was finally released.

@Rob: Y'know, I totally forgot about SnS2. I remember always playing on the edge of my seat on that stage. And the Tetris-boss was rather cool as well. Good times.

[BIL]

And that new mech shmup from G.rev looks rather promising in this regard, I'm looking forward to seeing how that turns out.

As a fan of Seibu / Raizing-style monster boss machines, I'm anticipating that one too. Whatever anyone thought of Under Defeat, it had no end of multi-part bosses to demolish.

edit: Seisou Kouki Strania, I think it's known as right now.

[Zweihander]

At least the "stage design replaced by bullets" trend has potential. Some devs (like that one guy who makes those shrine maiden shmups) just don't tap into it, is all.

[Rob]

I think G-Darius is one of the finest horizontal shmups ever made.

G Darius had some cool backgrounds but I think it also had the same problem you have with Cave games, like the action sits in front of a projection screen. Especially true for G Darius since there are some really over-the-top scenes that weren't even close to being matched by action.

[Exarion]

As for all the magical loli shmups, I can easily tell you where all those came from:
1. Somebody makes a popular game (touhou series)
2. other people see the popularity and copy (swarm of other magical loli shmups)
3. Original is forgotten, all games of the type become hated by everyone except fans of the original (happening right now)

Short explanation: everyone is copying touhou.

To your other points: i personally wish the stages were different other than bullet patterns, but i don't think that the bosses are lacking character when they actually talk to you. I have noticed a "scrolling wallpaper" for backgrounds, except in the few cases where the background does something interesting. I personally don't like walls, maybe because I've seen to many poorly made flash/java shmups that use them to increase the difficulty without making the game any more interesting.

[Zweihander]

As for all the magical loli shmups, I can easily tell you where all those came from:
1. Somebody makes a popular game (touhou series)
2. other people see the popularity and copy (swarm of other magical loli shmups)
3. Original is forgotten, all games of the type become hated by everyone except fans of the original (happening right now)

Short explanation: everyone is copying touhou.

Wow, so it's like Final Fantasy 7, except replace "magical loli shmups" with "spikey-haired emo RPGs". Sad how sometimes the most unremarkable example of a genre is set on the pedestal...

[Voxbox]

I've been playing Darius Burst all day, and that game proves that some shmup developers still know where it's at. It's a small but potent piece of shmup, showing that they got the heart and knowledge, maybe just not the time and resources. Fish bosses, Zuntata, route selecting, wall stages <3 This is what other games should copy

I find that shmups today are either to the hardcore extremes or some aweful casual-nonsense. I guess that's the state of the genre today, it's either targeting the nerds or those who doesn't even care. From the ordinary gamers perspective, shmups dont exist.

I'm no fan of Cave either, or any danmaku games that are heavily based on pixel perfect dodging, but I must say that DoDonPachi, ESP.Rade and Progear all have great personality, and that is probably the only reason I enjoy them. I'm defenitly not a fan of heavy memorizing either, but Ikaruga's got one of the awesome presentations ever, making me want to play it even though I'll never beat it or get a decent score. It's definitly hard for new games to live up to the classics of the golden age.

[lgb]

Wow, so it's like Final Fantasy 7, except replace "magical loli shmups" with "spikey-haired emo RPGs". Sad how sometimes the most unremarkable example of a genre is set on the pedestal...

but if that example is set on the pedestal, it's not really unremarkable

[Zweihander]

Wow, so it's like Final Fantasy 7, except replace "magical loli shmups" with "spikey-haired emo RPGs". Sad how sometimes the most unremarkable example of a genre is set on the pedestal...

but if that example is set on the pedestal, it's not really unremarkable

HALO is put on a pedestal. This clefts your theory in twain. Also, FF7's success wasn't really thanks to any achievement on the storytelling, gameplay, or graphics front, but due to clever advertising and hip-looking ANIMU characters.

[AraraSPAMWitch]

I honestly think DeathSmiles is the kind of fusion you ask for at the end of your piece, and am somewhat confused as to why you lump it in with those soulless danmaku games, as it clearly is not pure danmaku (as the developers stated when they made the game, they wanted to do something outside of that subgenre). Yeah, there's a ton of bullets if you play on the higher difficulty levels, but the environments play a huge role in both survival and scoring. The top-bottom scrolling really reminded me of old-school megadrive horis, and the bosses, with their specific attacks (i.e., scythes, apples, rock walls and falling flames, etc...) seemed to have more personality than most of the old school horis...Even without the characters, I personally find that game more unique and interesting than ANYTHING from the older era, but that's me. But I don't think it fits in with your criticisms of the rest of danmaku games, which are certainly valid.

I think that the predominance of danmaku in the shooter scene today, and this is entirely speculative, is that developers felt the model of environmental hazards had reached its apex and was not developing further. Compare some of the more recent (I'm going to use the term very loosely) games based around that model--R-Type Final, Otomedius, Gradius V, all of which I enjoyed to a degree--to the older generation, and there's very little, if any progress, beyond earlier games. They feel the same, and I think developers have decided that this model of design cannot progress. The danmaku subgenre offered developers new ways to increase challenge, to create complex mechanics, and, more importantly, to offer a visceral rush. Bullets can be like crack--once you have some, you need more and more to get that rush, and arcade developers need to give players that rush to succeed. And if you play DFK or ESPII, or hell, even non-cave games like Psyvariar2, you feel a marked difference from Batsugun or DonPachi or even stuff like the first Mushi. That said, even danmaku will reach (or has reached) that same ceiling the earlier type reached, so I expect to see more stuff like DeathSmiles.

So yeah, I'd give DeathSmiles a second look. If you can't stand it, c'est la vie, but it addresses some of the concerns you have. There's also a doujin game called Trouble Witches that combines danmaku elements with obstacles, enemies with multiple, game-affecting segments, and creative bosses, it's worth a look. Haven't play Mamoru-kun since I need to be saving my $$$, but it's probably a decent game.

[Observer]

This is true, I find it extremely hard to even imagine that we'd see an R-Type -inspired shmup released in the arcades in this day and age. However, this only applies to commercial releases. I'm honestly surprised that the doujin community is so fixated on creating danmaku shmups. I can't tell the many "magical girl shooting out a gazillion bullets" -shmups apart. You'd think there'd be more variety there, when the worries of making the deadline or upsetting the players and reviewers are much less pronounced. It felt like a breath of fresh air when I saw that the Hydorah demo was finally released.

@Rob: Y'know, I totally forgot about SnS2. I remember always playing on the edge of my seat on that stage. And the Tetris-boss was rather cool as well. Good times.

Mmm, there are quite a lot that precisely stray from that or keep it at a bare minimum:

From Kamui and Reflex to Ether Vapor (an all-in-one shooter, goes from vert to hori, goes into a Panzer Dragoon-like mode and more), Exception (a shooter that starts as a hori, then begins to change directions throughout the stages, doesn't have bullets per se but offers a 'cube hell', heaps of 'laz0rs' (c), walls, obstacles, elevators, doors and stuff you have to interact with, besides having co-op mode and a multiplayer version!), Cloudphobia (manly-mecha-Macross-missile-barrage all over the place with a heavy focus on flying at full speed, avoiding obstacles, comboing and strategic use of the limited missile stock... besides some kickass bosses and neat graphics... and the download version goes for 840 yen now!), Storm Assault (doujin Gradius, still under development apparently), Pangaea (an upcoming Darius Gaiden tribute, what little is done looks sweet), Naginata Destruction (vertical 1-stage tactical shooter, hard as nails and has excellent music), Patriot Dark (now freeware, fusion of DDP and Espgaluda's bullet cancel+grazing), Zen-Ichi (quite old school, this one even has 2 player mode and seems it'll be republished at a higher resolution, and it has trains), good ol' Samidare, Diadra Empty (some sort of evolution of Fantasy Zone with the free roaming mixed with score-based challenges that make the player actually play well to achieve stuff, and it mocks the whole loli thing by adding Pedo Bear as a collectable item that unlocks more weapons...), Hellsinker (a whole pot of surrealism, alternate paths, stages that change direction, obstacles, three different final bosses, two extra stages... and more, much much more), Radio Zonde (same guy as Hellsinker so, yes, it's also quite crazy), Genetos (play through the history of shooters!) and, obviously, Cho Ren Sha 68k.

/endnamedump

Some are bullet hell, yes, but most at least do something different with that.

Look at Crimzon Clover. It's the reason why Cave should port their shit to PC as they suggested with Guwange. It's like the doujin KETUI (or just a damn fine "beating the shit out of brutal mechanical stuff" shooter) and I hope the upcoming demo won't screw things up.

Also looking forward for that G.Rev mecha shooter. That one looks damn sweet!

[lgb]

HALO is put on a pedestal. This clefts your theory in twain. Also, FF7's success wasn't really thanks to any achievement on the storytelling, gameplay, or graphics front, but due to clever advertising and hip-looking ANIMU characters.

thus, not very unremarkable

[Zweihander]

HALO is put on a pedestal. This clefts your theory in twain. Also, FF7's success wasn't really thanks to any achievement on the storytelling, gameplay, or graphics front, but due to clever advertising and hip-looking ANIMU characters.

thus, not very unremarkable

So cleverly advertising a shitty product magically makes it remarkable?

...

I've got some shitty products I'd like to make marketable, and would wish to subscribe to your newsletter, good sir. Where can I begin on the path to manipulating the masses to worship my shitty product?

[system11]

I agree with much of what Ghegs said, although I do enjoy this newer style of shmups too.

You could basically strip the scenery out of most Cave games and it wouldn't affect the gameplay in any way whatsoever, there's no real interaction there. Futari does have a little of this going on, for example stage 3 where parts of the scenery move to reveal an enemy, but it's nothing like the old days where Thunderforce III had cavern walls close in on you, trapping you in a small area for a moment, and it's nothing like the first time you play Salamander and get spiked by a big moving tooth.

I suspect it's far easier to make danmaku games harder too, without making them unfair. In a more traditional shooter it's very easy for designers to create a wall of pain when trying to make something /slightly/ harder. Certainly less to worry about if you don't have scenery to consider too.

On the other hand you have a lot of players who /expect/ everything to be like a Cave game, and I'm sure that drives the staleness.

And I'm sick to the fucking teeth of chaining.

Ghegs: If you feel like somewhat of a change - try Guardian Force - it's in one of my cabs at the moment, really oldschool feel to it, not entirely traditional play though.

[boagman]

It's definitly hard for new games to live up to the classics of the golden age.

Really? You think so? I'm going to disagree with you here.

It's not exactly like today's game programmers have it more difficult than the folks who were programming the "classics of the golden age". There's so much more computing power available to them, that the folks of yesteryear would probably have suffered certain cardiac seizure if they'd had as much available to them. I really attribute such a notion more to laziness than anything else. Today's shmup designers simply *choose* to not make any different design decisions, simply because they don't have to. No one forces the issue, and they just continue to put out more vertical bullet-hell shooters.

Earlier programmers were forced to do so much more with so much less. Gameplay and design were essential to making games profitable. The *real* question I have is this: Had all of this processing power been available to those golden age folks back then, would they still have been able to come up with the same or better games as they did?

That's a question that'll keep me thinking for a while.

[Udderdude]

Where can I begin on the path to manipulating the masses to worship my shitty product?

Ridiculous hype and millions spent on advertising.

[system11]

Where can I begin on the path to manipulating the masses to worship my shitty product?

Call it "Windows".

[Zweihander]

Where can I begin on the path to manipulating the masses to worship my shitty product?

Ridiculous hype and millions spent on advertising.

Should I possibly spend more on advertising than I did on development? I know it sounds risky, but I heard it worked for Halo and FF7.

[kengou]

I hold the opposite opinion as the OP: I love Cave. I love their style of game. And I'm not really a fan of old-school hori memorizers (Gradius is the exception because it requires less memorization). I'm happy with the direction Cave is taking the genre, although Touhou can suck it (there is a massive difference in the level of quality between Cave and practically any Doujin dev, in my opinion).

Still, I understand that the shmup genre as a whole is not all Cave and manic bullet hell games. Some people on here (many people, I'd guess) enjoy the older style more than the new/Cave style of shmups, and I think they definitely should be able to keep enjoying the genre as I do. I wish that the shmup genre had more current REAL developers other than Cave and Treasure. That way, everyone in the shmup community could be satisfied. It really is a shame that ONLY people like me can continue to enjoy new shmup releases, while those people like the OP are getting pretty shafted. I really sympathize for you guys.

[evil_ash_xero]

I've definitely had some thoughts on this ever since I started buying shmups again. I agree with a lot of that, but I think Cave really do well with what they do. Games like Guwange and Deathsmiles(I have to disagree with that) have stage interaction, and I think they have lots of personality.

But I will definitely agree that we need more variety from other game makers. Everything does just seem to be swarms of bullets. I really yearn for level design and power ups also. Ikaruga and Gradius V were both pretty stellar, and had distinct level design(V having some AMAZING level design), but most developers don't even bother. It's all about the bullets.

Some fun games, but I would like more variety, and bring back some level interaction and variety of powerups and attacks. Doubt this will happen much, since the amount of actual shmup makers is...well, it's low.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

I sorta do agree with Ghegs that most shmup makers nowadays do over favour bullet hell and there could be a little more varity in shooters, especially the classic memorizer style which you only tend to see are clones of r-type or gradius.

But then again i do prefer vert danmaku shooters so im not complaining as im happy playing any shooter as long as its fun as im not too bothered with eye candy so much. Thats why my current shmup im playing most of the time is Arcanacra black label, which is a flash shmup (although its a very good flash shmup, since most flash games suck imo)

Observer made a good point about doujin games and hes mentioned some fun games. Also I think the shmup indie scene is just like any other indie scene, while there maybe alot of mediocre shmups out there (inc alot of cute horis), there are also some gems to be found. BTW has any1 played the doujin game Galax? ive just watched a couple of vids and it looks like a megadrive/ snes era (vert) shmup. I remember reading somewhere that it had a unusual control scheme and that you could hack the enemies into helping you. The reason i mentioned it is that maybe it's something Ghegs might like.