Why shmups are such a niche genre

[TrevHead (TVR)]

personally i think the reverend is banging his head against a wall preaching to those at the EG forum. As even if he did outline the aspects that make shmups fun to us fans no one there would agree or even understand it as most gamers nowadays believe them to be bad game design (looking at face value atleast) that most genres dropped years ago.

Preaching to the non shmup crowd is exatley the same as a priest preaching to his church congregation the pleasures of whips, nipple clamps and sounding

[Obiwanshinobi]

Preaching to the non shmup crowd is exatley the same as a priest preaching to his church congregation the pleasures of whips, nipple clamps and sounding

...if not yoghurting and rainbow drink.

[Acid King]

Not a big fan of Stuart Campbell, but good for him for even instigating that discussion. Typical shitty replies from the Eurogamer crowd though.

[JoshF]

Everyone destroy your arcade sticks and joypads. A shmump is on the iPad.

[Exarion]

What kind of game is it? Is it an RPG?

whats the game all about? i felt that the item description was vague. is this a JRPG? i want in on the action too... but first i need to know what i'm getting myself into!

DeathSmiles are the enemies in Killer 7.

nothing western gamers will really play. this is some japanese style game
touhou ftw!! I'd love it.

That game looks really weird and stupid. I can't tell what's going on in that video, and the resolution has nothing to do with that fact.

Quotes about DeathSmiles from mainstream gamers/less knowledgeable touhou fans. There were more sensible comments, along the lines of "I don't like shmups" or "I never liked cave", but those were not the majority. I've only listed some of the worst.

[Dragoforce]

...And we have the final answer. Shmups are niche because gamers in general are idiots.

[gs68]

nothing western gamers will really play. this is some japanese style game
東方 ftw!! I'd love it.

ｗｗｗｗｗ

[BryanM]

Some Guy wrote an article on genre decay awhile back. Apologies if it already was mentioned in this threadmonster.

When will the fps finally lay down and die? It's been 20 years since Wolfenstein. Time to move on ffs.

[DEL]

Quote:
nothing western gamers will really play. this is some japanese style game
東方 ftw!! I'd love it.

Its amazing how time has buried the genre . The current video game generation not even being born when shoot'em ups were the most popular genre (pre 1992 & SFII).

The video game developers have also buried it of course, but what amazes me is the level of cluelessness many current gen gamers have about recent history. Its like games just jumped from Space Invaders and Donkey Kong straight to Call of Duty. Nothing happened inbetween.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

I rteally need to get back to making a you tube vid that introduces ppl to shmups, bullet hell in perticular, where i run tru some basics and enlightened ppl as to the mentality of the gamers who play these games and the mentaltity its best to have while play these games. And post the damn thing as a video reply on that hardest video game boss.

Unfortunatly my voice sucks for recording and even though ive written a couple of script drafts i need to refine it again or make the vid a 2 or 3 parter since i cover quite abit. Unfortunatly i cant really cut any of it overwise the end product will suffer in the end

[Exarion]

>Review("Espgaluda II")
ERROR! Critical review failure! Cannot play game.ESPGaluda2! Complexity limit exceeded!
>Discard("Scoring System")
Removed: Awakening mode, OpenFeint
>Review("Espgaluda II")
ERROR! Critical review failure! Cannot play game.ESPGaluda2! Difficulty limit exceeded!
>SetPlayType("Credit Feed")
Removed: Difficulty
>Review("Espgaluda II")
ERROR! Review too short!
>Create("Fake Info")
Added: Wave beam attack, Lifebar
>Review("Espgaluda II")
Done.

[Plasmo]

Even at the highest difficulty, though, Espgaluda is still very easy. Sometimes you are faced with literally a wall of bullets and no way to get around them, but if you die, you simply hit continue and keep going. No harm, no foul.

Instead of worrying about high scores and lives, the focus is on what makes us all so happy: blowing things up.

Oh yeah and the never ending ammo is definitely a plus for espgaluda 2. I like unlimited ammo in shmups.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Christ thats the worst review ive read in a long time.

[lmagus]

That's a very very sad review.

Not only the guy doesn't take the time to learn about the game, which makes it obvious he doesn't like the genre, but he goes as far as lying and would make newcomers not want to buy the game, instead of doing the opposite.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

i wierd thing is, is that he says he likes the game. but paints a picture the game that is totally carp and not worth buying. Ive read reviews where the reviewer doesnt like the game but gives enough info about the game so that ppl reading can make up their own minds as to weather theyll like it.

[Taylor]

They have updated the review due to the bitchy comments. ;P

[Exarion]

They have updated the review due to the bitchy comments. ;P

And they still have plenty of errors.

Sometimes you are faced with literally a wall of bullets and no way to get around them

Second, you'll want to use your powerups at opportune times to defeat the enemy. Examples of these powerups are shields and a wave that disintegrates all bullets onscreen, among others.

First off, by killing various enemies, their bullets will turn into gems that power up your character.

taking the least amount of damage possible

They also completely forgot about kakusei/awakening mode, and most likely there are still more errors I didn't catch.

At least some of the other reviews played the game.

[lmagus]

they didnt fix anything, they simply added a few more lines at the end of the review.

[Kollision]

This might be most uninformed and dreadful review I've ever read in my entire life.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

they have altered parts of it and tacked on some scoring aspects but its still bad, still i wish i had made a screen shot of the original because it was so utter fail that it was good in a way

[Vyxx]

What kind of game is it? Is it an RPG?

Urge to kill rising...

[EPS21]

What kind of game is it? Is it an RPG?

Urge to kill rising...

I remember telling some Japanese dude about Mushihime-sama and he guessed it was an RPG. Just goes to show how this genre is perceived by those who don't know anything about it.

[MachineAres 1CC]

...And we have the final answer. Shmups are niche because gamers in general are idiots.

Thread over, we have a winner.

[gs68]

Playing for score is like coffee or wine: Not everybody has the taste for it.

Just as some people dismiss coffee as bitter bullshit, many see scoring as an exercise in masochism and having no life.

On a tangent, honestly I want to see people use a term other than "masochist" to describe one who challenges himself or herself in video games. It carries the implication that gamers seeking challenges are unusually-minded freaks.

[BryanM]

Just as some people dismiss coffee as bitter bullshit

Coffee is a nice condiment for milk and sugar.

What is definitely utter bullshit is meat loaf. You should put the ketchup and onions on the beef after it's cooked. Some folks is just sicko perverts.

On a tangent, honestly I want to see people use a term other than "masochist" to describe one who tries to better himself or herself.

'
Fixed~

[JoshF]

Better Living Through Shump.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

what i find all too common is that ppl wont give a game a chace or with shmups the whole genre because of the stupid cool factor or "what is good and bad" by comitte. By this i mean reviewers bashing games (insert most shmups) they review while on the other hand singing the praises of games they and their peers find cool for exatly the same reasons they bashed other games (for shmups this would be ikuraga). Another simler case of this is of a fellow gamer i know who is a total megaman nut who doesnt know anything about doujin games. So i introduced him to Rosenkreuzstile which for those who dont know is a doujin megaman clone that instead of robots uses lolis (which my friend had no problem with lolis) ts got a good presentation (great music) and is widly thought of as one of the best doujins there is.

Anyway i thought he would really dig it, but to my suprise he quickly dismissed it as a shitty megaman clone. Wierd thing is, that if they kept mega man and the robots in the game and passed it off as a total fangame then said megaman nut would of been all over it. Me been a fan of shmups which is such a narrowly defined genre the notion of dissmissing a game because it copies from the best games in its genre is a great thing and if done well can be allot of fun.

[captpain]

What is definitely utter bullshit is meat loaf. You should put the ketchup and onions on the beef after it's cooked. Some folks is just sicko perverts.

Don't start this unless you want to finish it. I will not stand for meatloaf-bashing.

[Jockel]

What is definitely utter bullshit is meat loaf. You should put the ketchup and onions on the beef after it's cooked. Some folks is just sicko perverts.

Don't start this unless you want to finish it. I will not stand for meatloaf-bashing.

Meat loafs are awesome.
They'll do anything for love.

[Herr Schatten]

What is definitely utter bullshit is meat loaf. You should put the ketchup and onions on the beef after it's cooked. Some folks is just sicko perverts.

Don't start this unless you want to finish it. I will not stand for meatloaf-bashing.

Meat loafs are awesome.
They'll do anything for love.

But not that.