Let's make a list of shmup gameplay innovations & firsts.

[mouser]

Probably stretching it, but....

Checkpoints after dying: R-Type?
Ship Selection at start of game: ?
First humanoid as ship: ?

[toapfan]

Probably stretching it, but....

Checkpoints after dying: R-Type?
Ship Selection at start of game: ?
First humanoid as ship: ?

What about Gradius?
Maybe the first humanoid as a ship was introduced by Section Z.

[Drum]

How about selectable weaponry, or multi-directional firepower?
Or adjustable ship speed?

Thunder Force III was in 1990 which had adjustable ship speeds, and the original Thunder Force (1983) as mentioned by Despatche consisted of multi-directional gameplay, and therefore firepower I suppose.

There's probably earlier titles than those though, I think.

Regarding adjustable speed: In Star Fire and mmmaybe Starship 1 you can adjust the speed on the fly.
In Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom you have a throttle that adjusts the speed which actually adjusts the speed of the entire game (because everything is coming towards you no matter what). Like every Sega rail shooter, it gives you points every second - in this case faster speeds give you more points per second (which is what makes it the best of Sega's rail shooters). So it's kind of an on-the-fly difficulty adjustment.

Multi-directional fire: There are a bunch of contenders here. There's Space War!, of course, so if we're counting strictly multiplayer vs games, that's that. Gun Fight (Tomohiro Nishikado of Space Invaders fame made this) in 1975 gave you a stick to modify the direction of your fire up and down. It's strictly two player vs, like Space War!, so it depends on whether we're counting that type of deal. If we're not, there's Safari in 1977 which used the same setup only it's a timed shooting gallery. The first real contender to what would become Robotron-likes is probably Sheriff in 1979. It gives you a depressable rotary knob to adjust your fire in every direction and is actually a self-contained game unlike the stuff mentioned earlier. Asteroids, of course, allowed you to rotate your ship 360 degrees so I guess that's the first without an independent firing stick/knob (that I can think of).

Multi-directional movement: If not Space War! it's probably Asteroids. If we are talking about scrolling, I guess Defender? Jump Bug is the first game you could call a shooter that has player-directed multi-directional scrolling (in the pyramid level). Before that was Vanguard which has horizontally and vertically (auto)scrolling sections. Game that brought it all together is ... Time Pilot (1982)?

[bobusan]

Special Moves (I'm sure there was a shooter with SF style quarter circle specials, double tap dash moves etc., but I can't remember which)

@Despatche : Special moves in Batsugun ? Can you describe it a bit ?

I thaught more about XIIStag or Psyvariar 2 for the moves described by Iseething.

Nice topic by the way.

[tinotormed]

Let me think about it...

Star Soldier (1986, Hudson Soft) - timed destruction and head bonuses

Starship Hector (1987, Hudson Soft) - caravan score attacks

Donpachi (1995, Cave) - get point system

Espgaluda (2003, Cave) - Kakusei and overheat bullets (whenever going for score)

Zanac (1986, Compile) - Artificial rank system

Triggerheart Exelica (2006, Warashi) - Anchoring enemies to bullets and other enemies

Blazing Lazers / Gunhed (1989, Compile) - Mixed life recovery extends (checkpoint and insta-respawn)

Strikers 1945 (1995, Psikyo) - Blinking medal bonuses

[BIL]

Special moves in Batsugun ? Can you describe it a bit ?

You don't have special moves in Batsugun/Batsugun Special per se - what Despatche is referring to are the joystick motions needed for some scoring secrets. Basically doing a specific Tiger Knee-esque motion while certain large targets explode will reveal hidden pigs for points or experience.

I thought of Skull Fang - iirc the fighter type planes have command moves. Been ages since I briefly played it, though.

What about beam battles ala G-Darius and Border Down? Any shooters with them pre-dating Metal Black (1991)?

[Muchi Muchi Spork]

Maybe the first humanoid as a ship was introduced by Section Z.

I, Robot was 1983. There was probably one before that though.

I guess you could call Berzerk (1980) a shmup? Or is that a stretch?

[RNGmaster]

Espgaluda (2003, Cave) - Kakusei and overheat bullets (whenever going for score)

Never used again by any non-Galuda game.

Strikers 1945 (1995, Psikyo) - Blinking medal bonuses

Present in Raiden DX, which was released earlier IIRC.

[Obiwanshinobi]

If you believe Bosconian's chaining (1981, Namco) doesn't count, explain it.
Here, after one minute and a half a formation attack occurs and when the formation's last remnant rams itself into a rock, you can clearly see that "1000" caption. That indicates the player got bonus points for wiping out the whole formation.

Zanac (1986, Compile) - Artificial rank system

In what sense artificial? It's explained by the settings (you fight a mechanical equivalent of an immunological system - the more you mess around within the "organism", the more antibodies it sends out). There's a similar (if more "human") thing in the aforementioned Bosconian - if you fail to destroy the spycraft quick, it reports back to the base and it sends out a formation. If you dawdle, you trigger the condition red alert and the base gives you all it's got.

[RNGmaster]

If you believe Bosconian's chaining (1981, Namco) doesn't count, explain it.
Here, after one minute and a half a formation attack occurs and when the formation's last remnant rams itself into a rock, you can clearly see that "1000" caption. That indicates the player got bonus points for wiping out the whole formation.

Chaining involves killing all enemies in a certain amount of time, though. That doesn't show up until Exed Exes (1988 IIRC) where you had to shoot bonus formations quickly before they left the screen to get a bonus.

[Dale]

Probably stretching it, but....

Checkpoints after dying: R-Type?
Ship Selection at start of game: ?
First humanoid as ship: ?

What about Gradius?
Maybe the first humanoid as a ship was introduced by Section Z.

Could be 4-D Warriors

[Obiwanshinobi]

Chaining involves killing all enemies in a certain amount of time, though. That doesn't show up until Exed Exes (1988 IIRC) where you had to shoot bonus formations quickly before they left the screen to get a bonus.

In Bosconian you have to do it quick as well as you can't chase the formation remnants forever (everything that moves on screen is faster than you, whereas you have superior manouevrability).
I've yet to find a video rich in chaining, but this should give you a better idea of Bosconian's overall pacing.

[toapfan]

Could be 4-D Warriors

Probably. Section Z was released in December 1985(according to wikipedia), pretty late in the year.

I guess you could call Berzerk (1980) a shmup? Or is that a stretch?

Well, if you consider it a shmup, then a game like Sheriff (1979) could be considered too.

[Drum]

If you believe Bosconian's chaining (1981, Namco) doesn't count, explain it.
Here, after one minute and a half a formation attack occurs and when the formation's last remnant rams itself into a rock, you can clearly see that "1000" caption. That indicates the player got bonus points for wiping out the whole formation.

Zanac (1986, Compile) - Artificial rank system

In what sense artificial? It's explained by the settings (you fight a mechanical equivalent of an immunological system - the more you mess around within the "organism", the more antibodies it sends out). There's a similar (if more "human") thing in the aforementioned Bosconian - if you fail to destroy the spycraft quick, it reports back to the base and it sends out a formation. If you dawdle, you trigger the condition red alert and the base gives you all it's got.

Woah, did not know about this - this is pretty cool.

Wiki sez that Bosconian was the first game with a continue screen and timer too. Before that, Tempest let you (and any other players) select levels that have already been completed on that machine when you die.

[chempop]

Cool thread, never played most of these games, and probably never will but it's interesting non-the-less.

How about first close range melee attack?
First game with multiple loops?
First TLB (with requirements to reach it)?
First 3 button and 4 button shmup?

[Despatche]

Which shooter had pioneered the multipart body of your ship with no "main" part? I.e. each part is destructible and you fight to the last part, no matter which one it is. Surely NOT Cannon Fodder, but maybe Mercenary Force/Tenjin Kaisen (1990, Meldac/Live Planning/Lenar)? Or was the 8-bit Final Zone like that before?

...Dangerous Seed?

I guess you could call Berzerk (1980) a shmup? Or is that a stretch?

Yes, all those games are (currently) considered "shmups".

Chaining involves killing all enemies in a certain amount of time, though. That doesn't show up until Exed Exes (1988 IIRC) where you had to shoot bonus formations quickly before they left the screen to get a bonus.

1985, much earlier. Galaga (1981) and (I think) Moon Cresta (1980) already had this sort of thing.

How about first close range melee attack?
First game with multiple loops?
First TLB (with requirements to reach it)?
First 3 button and 4 button shmup?

-Either Cybattler (1993) or Dragon Breed (1989).
-Moon Cresta (1980) or Scramble (1981), probably something else.
-Not sure, but I doubt it's Donpachi.
-Spacewar! (1962) takes both, 5 button as well (see also Space Wars/Space Ship, 1977). It was also the first "versus" shmup and the very first shmup of them all.

[Drum]

Which shooter had pioneered the multipart body of your ship with no "main" part? I.e. each part is destructible and you fight to the last part, no matter which one it is. Surely NOT Cannon Fodder, but maybe Mercenary Force/Tenjin Kaisen (1990, Meldac/Live Planning/Lenar)? Or was the 8-bit Final Zone like that before

Gotta be Tac/Scan (1982, Sega). Great game too - tons of great ideas. In Jungler (1981, Konami) you control a ship with a snake tail that can get shortened but there is a 'main' part.

Where did a yo-yo/boomerang type attack appeared first? Zanac (1986, Compile)?

Either Krull (1983, Gottlieb) or Boomer Rang'r (1983, Data East).

For a set of weapons you can cycle through like Thunder Force III: Earliest I can think of is Ninja Emaki (1986, Nichibutsu), but I would honestly be shocked if there wasn't an earlier example. Wiz (1985, Seibu Kaihatsu) is earlier but that's more of a platform shooter.

The Eidolon (1985, Lucasfilm) enabled you to cycle through weapons too, but that's more of a first-person shooter. It also allowed you to absorb enemy shots as ammo (if you are the same colour as the enemy shot - so it also had a kind of polarity system, only there were four colours).

The lead designer is also apparently a furry and can make you a fursuit:

http://www.avians.net/~legend/

[Kaiser]

Let me think about it...

Star Soldier (1986, Hudson Soft) - timed destruction and head bonuses

Wrong, timed destruction, head bonuses and secret panel bonuses were in the shmup that inspired this one.

http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/romset/starforc

They happened first in Star Force (1984, Tehkan).

[BPzeBanshee]

First TLB (with requirements to reach it)?
First 3 button and 4 button shmup?

-Not sure, but I doubt it's Donpachi.

If Donpachi counts as having requirements to reach it then Raiden Trad (the Megadrive version) does too, it adds a true final stage after stage 8 if you can actually survive long enough to get there. No real requirements besides survival as far as I know, bit out of my league here.

Strikers 1945 (1995, Psikyo) - Blinking medal bonuses

Present in Raiden DX, which was released earlier IIRC.

Raiden DX was released in 1993, so you're right there.

In case people didn't already know, medals in Raiden DX work slightly differently from its predecessor in that it darkens and loses point value from the time it is visibly exposed. At it's most darkest point it will quickly blink once very brightly and if you get it then the point value is considerably higher than what it is normally, if not it stays dark for good.

[Despatche]

Wow, my Tac/Scan prediction was right on the mark.

Ability to change ship movement speed? Games in which it had a real effect on things around you rather than just making the ship move faster (Skull Fang?)

Suddenly, I can answer this one... Gallop, 1991. I'm not sure whether it was released before Battle Formula or not, but I guess so.

[MathU]

3-player support - Turbo Force (1991)?
4-player support - Blast Works (2008)?

[Despatche]

Giga Wing 2 was rocking the 4-player since 2000. There was probably something before that. There might have even been a 3-player game before Turbo Force, knowing some of those crazy Western devs.

[Drum]

Eliminator (1981, Gremlin) supported 4 players, Star Guard (1987, Bally Midway) supported 3.

[RNGmaster]

In case people didn't already know, medals in Raiden DX work slightly differently from its predecessor in that it darkens and loses point value from the time it is visibly exposed. At it's most darkest point it will quickly blink once very brightly and if you get it then the point value is considerably higher than what it is normally, if not it stays dark for good.

Oh, also Air Gallet also had blinking bonuses. Derp!

[ZOM]

Currently looking for the first STG that changes ship appearance when speeding up/down. It surely can't be something as "modern" as Super Star Soldier or Final Blaster?

[Ghegs]

Currently looking for the first STG that changes ship appearance when speeding up/down. It surely can't be something as "modern" as Super Star Soldier or Final Blaster?

Image Fight?

[Aguraki]

player 2 playing differently than player 1?
like raiden player 2 is easier,or another one change requirement I think(ddp?)

[ZOM]

@Ghegs
Haha, totally forgot about that one. Now we're coming closer. I wonder if there's something else out there that was released before '88 and does this.

[Drum]

I was just sucking at Valtric (1986, NMK) and that game has a boss timer. There probably are older examples. It also has quite a lot of bullets on-screen in geometric patterns making it a wee bit bullet hell-esque.

[toaplan_shmupfan]

Power up: This one is kind of tricky. Moon Cresta (1980, Nichibutsu) is kind of a contender - you get extra power when you die. Galaga (1980, Namco) is another possible. The earliest one I know of that comes closest to what was most-emulated is probably Space Fury (1981, Sega).

Moon Cresta is probably the first since the real firepower increase was docking the ships during the docking stages. Dock I on top of II and get three shots. Survive long enough to dock I and II (already docked together) with III for the maximum five shots. Lose ship I early in the game and it's still possible to dock II with III for four shots. From what I could tell, losing a completely docked I/II/II or a II/III ship formation still allowed one more turn with an additional III ship available on the next turn. Yes, that does mean that if one had a completely docked I/II/III ship formation they effectively got cheated out of a turn--they don't get a standalone II ship, they go directly to another III ship.

That type of powerup system was also risk/reward. More firepower, but at the cost of a taller ship profile and wider ship profile.

Then Super Moon Cresta added enemies dropping bombs to add to the hazard of the enemies ramming the ship, no new concepts, but made that powerup system even more risk with no additional reward.

Special Moves (I'm sure there was a shooter with SF style quarter circle specials, double tap dash moves etc., but I can't remember which)

I'm still trying to figure out the exact sequences, but it seems like forward or back lower half circles or something like back-forward then backward lower half-circle (like I said, still trying to figure it out)... those seem to enhance the attacks of some of the stolen larger "midboss" fish in G-Darius. Another one more blatant about the special moves in that they were printed right on the labels near the screen was Twin Eagle II.