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

[Captain]

Who introduced the autobomb? Plus was Layer Section the first to do the lock on shot?

I don't think so, since I've seen many old shooters where you also drop bombs to the ground to kill ground-based enemies.

Crosshair or no crosshair the bombs are still the predecessor to lock on lasers.

[Drum]

Thanks for bumping this and reminding me that I'm stupid for not updating the first post with a compiled list.
Before I do: Does anybody know the first shmup where the pickups gravitate towards you? I know Coryoon is an early case of something similar - has a power-up that collects them for you automatically - but that's not quite what I mean. I guess there's also Strikeforce, where you have a bunch of little helpers who will go towards you when you get close and also pick ups weapons/bonuses for you when you get close to them (so long as you have some guys on-board. I think they also act as an extra hit, but I need to play more. Strikeforce seems like a pretty fun game.

[AntiFritz]

Just reread this thread and wondered, which game was the first to have a visible hit box? It wasn't something modern like Perfect Cherry Blossom was it?

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Just reread this thread and wondered, which game was the first to have a visible hit box? It wasn't something modern like Perfect Cherry Blossom was it?

It depends on what you mean by 'visible' - if you're talking about what the earliest shmup to overlay a glowing circle over the character sprite to represent the hitbox like in PCB, Mushi, etc, I'm not sure, but there are games out there that came out years before PCB that had a visible hitbox in the sense that the character sprite was drawn in such a way that it made it clear where your hitbox was (Giga Wing, namely, the cockpit is designed to stand out on all the ships because it's the hitbox location). I imagine there's earlier shmups than Giga Wing that incorporated the visible hitbox into the character sprite itself rather than draw an extra sprite on top of the ship.

[trap15]

I believe the first "visible" hitbox might be Tiger Heli, with the cockpit being the hitbox.

[AntiFritz]

I was actually thinking of the glowing dot kind but didn't think of stuff like cockpits etc.

[BrianC]

Vangaurd (1981) had vertical and horizontal sections and 4-way shooting.

[copy-paster]

As far as I know about shmup stuff here's first shmup with... :

Multiple screen at once : Darius (1986)
Open-world elements / Horiz and Vertic shmup : Time Pilot (1982)
Using 3D elements : Gyruss ? (1983)
popularizing Horiz shmup : Defender (1983)
Mysterious Image : Nazca lines in Xevious
Life-form / organic setting : Salamander first stage / Life Force

[LordHypnos]

Looks like Terra Cresta (1985) might be the first game with blaster burn. It looks like it comes from a power up
here's a clip that starts a little before the power up pick up

As far as I can tell, the first actual bullet reflecting mechanic in a shmup is actually in Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth. came out a bit less than a year before Giga Wing, I believe. Any earlier examples?

What about focus shot? Depending on your perspective, this is no different than any other speed change mechanic, but I think it's worth mentioning that Zero Rei (1994), an X68000 doujin caravan game, allows you to switch between a narrow, powerful shot with slow movement, and a wide, less powerful shot with fast movement. Are there any earlier games than this that have something similar?

Anyone know what the earliest game to give you bonus enemies for killing enemies quickly was? As in most caravan games, or, for example, Dangun Feveron or Ikaruga. Been wondering this for a while.

[Perikles]

Looks like Terra Cresta (1985) might be the first game with blaster burn.

Depends on the semantics, I suppose. Argus fits the description better for Terra Cresta offers moreso a strange wave-beam thingamajig than a conventional blaster burn, although the outcome is of course the same.

Anyone know what the earliest game to give you bonus enemies for killing enemies quickly was?

I can't say for certain if it is the first game (probably not), but one early example of a title where this is absolutely essential (albeit for survival reasons rather than scoring opportunities) is Star Force. If you destroy a wave of enemies that's currently on-screen, the next one will appear, completely regardless of the stage you're currently in. Since some enemy formations are incredibly dangerous, you want to delay taking out comparably harmless foes too quickly so that you can make some better stage progress and 1. trigger a few nasty enemy patterns either near the end of a stage, 2. when there is favourable terrain for you to fight these guys (you're e.g. nothing but a ritual sacrifice if those unhallowed shrapnels show up during the stretches with both lines of arrows on the screen) and 3. when mid-bosses are about to spawn, thus interrupting the sequence. For a game released in 1984, that's a surprising amount of strategic as well as tactical planning.

What about focus shot? [...] Are there any earlier games than this that have something similar?

Pistol Daimyo no Bouken.

[LordHypnos]

Thanks for the info
Makes a lot of sense that Star Force would have had that, given how influential that game was to Hudson Soft's shooters.

[Nahar]

I'm thinking on which game could have been the first to introduce a timer for a boss to just leave the screen. I'm pretty sure a protoshmup already did that, but I have it in the tip of my tongue.

[Sumez]

That's an interesting one, actually. I think it might have been a thing for as long as boss fights have existed though. Pretty sure Gradius 1 bosses do it, right? I think Fantasy Zone bosses do...
And then there's games like Flying Shark or where the stage keeps scrolling at the same pace, so it will always end at the same time regardless of whether the boss was left alive. 1943 specifically *challenges* you to beat the boss before it times out, and rewards you based on how much you managed to destroy.

[BIL]

I'm thinking on which game could have been the first to introduce a timer for a boss to just leave the screen. I'm pretty sure a protoshmup already did that, but I have it in the tip of my tongue.

SNK's Sasuke vs Commander (1980), maybe? It's known for advancing the concept of boss battles in general. Each has an onscreen timer, with the player awarded more points ("MAGIC BONUS") for faster kills. If the timer expires, the battle ends and the game carries on as usual.

Quite a distinctive gallery STG. Also features revenge attacks; with true Shinobi endurance, shot zako will tumble downscreen to take out the player. An early example of the "Character STG," too, though Namco's King & Balloon from the same year may beat it there. (depends how you regard K&B's anonymous turret crew)

EDIT: haha, apparently they're both from October, with K&B listed on Wikipedia as the 31st... so perhaps SNK really did pip Namco to the post, there.

Shame it's so punishingly garish to look at. A creative game that I find more immediately engaging than its storied forerunners Space Invaders and Galaxian. The killer FC port of Guevara actually included it as a hidden minigame at the port team's request, my first encounter with it.

[Nahar]

I'm thinking on which game could have been the first to introduce a timer for a boss to just leave the screen. I'm pretty sure a protoshmup already did that, but I have it in the tip of my tongue.

SNK's Sasuke vs Commander (1980), maybe? It's known for advancing the concept of boss battles in general. Each has an onscreen timer, with the player awarded more points ("MAGIC BONUS") for faster kills. If the timer expires, the battle ends and the game carries on as usual.

Quite a distinctive gallery STG. Also features revenge attacks; with true Shinobi endurance, shot zako will tumble downscreen to take out the player. An early example of the "Character STG," too, though Namco's King & Balloon from the same year may beat it there. (depends how you regard K&B's anonymous turret crew)

EDIT: haha, apparently they're both from October, with K&B listed on Wikipedia as the 31st... so perhaps SNK really did pip Namco to the post, there.

Shame it's so punishingly garish to look at. A creative game that I find more immediately engaging than its storied forerunners Space Invaders and Galaxian. The killer FC port of Guevara actually included it as a hidden minigame at the port team's request, my first encounter with it.

Also let's not forget Destroyer, by Fernando Yago. It had bosses, but they didn't time out. Maybe we're onto something with Sasuke vs Commander.

[asdsdf1]

Names for boss attacks:
First I know is Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (2002)

Split screen multiplayer:
First I know is Twinkle Star Sprites (1996)

Just reread this thread and wondered, which game was the first to have a visible hit box? It wasn't something modern like Perfect Cherry Blossom was it?

I was actually thinking of the glowing dot kind but didn't think of stuff like cockpits etc.

Shikigami no Shiro(2001) has a glowing dot hitbox.

[davyK]

Splitting enemies appeared in Space Invaders Part II / Deluxe ('79?)

Players joining up was an option in Space Duel ('82).

Bonus for enemy formation was in Time Pilot ('81).

Vanguard had continues ('81) - even the 2600 port had that!

[BIL]

Looks like Terra Cresta (1985) might be the first game with blaster burn. It looks like it comes from a power up
here's a clip that starts a little before the power up pick up

Konami's Juno First (1983) has the rocket blast fury, but tbh it seems a bit far into the decade to really be (haw!) first. I bet there's some crazy 70s/earlier 80s pioneer ala Defender. Or perhaps on the Euro PC scene. Otherwise, good on Konami!

Spoiler

Actually... now I'm wondering about time-limited bonus modes, ala the "Fever Mode" of Puyo Puyo et al. Again, 1983 seems a bit recent, but Juno's got one of those as well. Snipe the prisoner transport, then nab ur fren to temporarily turn the screen a bloodening red, each kill netting successively bigger bonuses. An immortally satisfying mechanic, at any rate.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

What's the first shoot 'em up known to have full speed rapid fire as a standard feature? I mean holding shoot fires shots as fast as possible and it's not possible to fire quicker by tapping. As far as I know it'd be Omega Fighter from 1989, which is also likely the first to have a slowdown special ability (it certainly predates Espgaluda by many years) in addition to being a rare early example of a pointblanking based scoring system (albeit not the first), but I'm curious if there's others that exist. I wouldn't be surprised if there's another arcade or console release that predates this with this as a standard feature.

Something like Gradius (1985) would be an example of rapid fire as a powerup. You don't have to tap the button once you get the laser upgrade but otherwise you do benefit from tapping. There are likely some games that have rapid fire powerups that function temporarily that may have come before Omega Fighter but I'm mostly interested in rapid fire being a default rather than a bonus feature / item.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Coreland's Rafflesia from 1986 definitely does that though maybe not in the way you're expecting as the game asks you for an extra effort in order to use it. Possibly not the first rapid fire STG but certainly the only one clearly evidencing you should not cheat, I guess.

[BIL]

Aww jeez. Slight clarification to Juno First's Booster Burn; it's technically just your laser's hitbox covering the entire ship. It'll work even if you're reversing at top speed with the front retros blazing. Still, looks cool. Also incredibly useful for swatting enemies on your six.

Beyond the item-triggered bonus mode, whose blood-red sky instantly recalls Puyo's "Fever Mode" terminology, I also wonder if Juno was an early example of enemy chaining; each kill during Bonus Time gains successively bigger pots, up to 3200pts where it stabilises. A well-placed crowd mow will rocket your score up! Distinct from the formation bonuses of Bosconian and 1942; any and all enemies are fair game.

With Western STGs being my blind spot, and Juno's striking resemblance to Defender (ala its peers Tutankham and Gyruss, riffs on Robotron and Tempest), I suspect there's earlier examples of this in Williams et al.

[Sumez]

I wouldn't be surprised if there's another arcade or console release that predates this with this as a standard feature.

Doesn't qualify as "you can't tap faster", but the default hold-to-fire in the Famicom port of Salamander (1987) is pretty effecient. As far as I can tell, it won't fire as many shots at a time as proper 30hz autofire does, but it will fire again immediately once a shot disappears, meaning you can still use it to pointblank enemies for extremely heavy damage that the game doesn't seem balanced around - despite the fact that you can't disable it. Bosses go down in seconds.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

What's the first shoot 'em up known to have full speed rapid fire as a standard feature? I mean holding shoot fires shots as fast as possible and it's not possible to fire quicker by tapping. As far as I know it'd be Omega Fighter from 1989, which is also likely the first to have a slowdown special ability (it certainly predates Espgaluda by many years) in addition to being a rare early example of a pointblanking based scoring system (albeit not the first), but I'm curious if there's others that exist. I wouldn't be surprised if there's another arcade or console release that predates this with this as a standard feature.

Something like Gradius (1985) would be an example of rapid fire as a powerup. You don't have to tap the button once you get the laser upgrade but otherwise you do benefit from tapping. There are likely some games that have rapid fire powerups that function temporarily that may have come before Omega Fighter but I'm mostly interested in rapid fire being a default rather than a bonus feature / item.

If you take a look at the December of 1986 released Capcom's Hyper Dyne Sidearms arcade jamma pcb, it has two fully auto-fire power-ups in being full-on straight auto-fire in both right & left horizontal directions (that even Cave's stgs titles of Deathsmiles/Deathsmiles X II utilizes as part of it's basic gameplay/game mechanics considering that they're both regarded as yoko-based stgs to begin with) + three-way auto-fire in horizontal, up & down positions. Even the Romstar sold/distributed USA region Sidearms jamma conversion kits had those two distinctive types of auto-fire functionality as well when it made it's grand debut in the American arcades in early 1987.

----------
It's well-known that the straight horizontal auto-fire power-up's rate of auto-fire is faster than using an external auto-fire pcb enhancement pcb setup with a Sidearms pcb indeed -- Capcom knew that they were on to something special with that type of fully auto-fire power-up setup from the "get-go" (this applies to both the JPN & USA variant Sidearms pcbs).
----------

The very first arcade jamma pcb within the stg genre with up to "three players max simultaneously co-op join-in" at anytime type of deal was considered a groundbreaking & new concept (as it meant more monetary revenue for the local arcade owner/operator assuming that all three players credit-fed it to it's eventual conclusion) was none other than Video System Co.'s "Turbo Force/Hyper Force" stg pcb releases. Turbo Force/Hyper Force is the very first arcade stg release to give up to three players maximum, "full auto-fire capability at the start of a gaming session" once a credit is deposited and begun with no power-up needed nor is it deemed necessary -- was another "newfangled" idea/concept "baked up" by the Video System Co. (pre-Psikyo era) development team.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Steven]

What's the first shoot 'em up known to have full speed rapid fire as a standard feature? I mean holding shoot fires shots as fast as possible and it's not possible to fire quicker by tapping. As far as I know it'd be Omega Fighter from 1989, which is also likely the first to have a slowdown special ability (it certainly predates Espgaluda by many years) in addition to being a rare early example of a pointblanking based scoring system (albeit not the first), but I'm curious if there's others that exist. I wouldn't be surprised if there's another arcade or console release that predates this with this as a standard feature.

Something like Gradius (1985) would be an example of rapid fire as a powerup. You don't have to tap the button once you get the laser upgrade but otherwise you do benefit from tapping. There are likely some games that have rapid fire powerups that function temporarily that may have come before Omega Fighter but I'm mostly interested in rapid fire being a default rather than a bonus feature / item.

It's probably some early twin stick shooter.


I feel weird intentionally replying to a user who hasn't been here in over a decade, but

Who introduced the autobomb?

It's probably Tiger-Heli, isn't it?

[BIL]

It's known as LAND SEA AIR SQUAD in North America, and STORMING PARTY in Europe, but LAND SEA & AIR: FRONT LINE (1986) is indeed the sequel to Taito's criminally unsung Topdown Army pioneer, Front Line. (1982) FL2 is a rather late sequel, undeniably influenced by Capcom legend Senjou no Okami. (1985) Ironically, Tokuro Fujiwara lamented not following up his icon sooner; pipped by Koji Obada of SNK's Ikari, itself stolen with truly shit-eating brazenness by DECO's Heavy Barrel. (a missing link here is Obada's earlier TANK, cleverly stealing Taito's rotary input for a truly original rover; also try its wonderful FC sequel, Great Tank)

Regardless of Capcom influence, Front Line 2 proudly expands upon the original's signature vehicle combat; titular gunboats and helis joining the standby tank. (grudging credit to arch shitbirds / bargain basement porting bros Micronics; their generally awful FC Ikari made some neat-in-theory additions, like a close-ranged knife to counter enemy contact kills, and its own stealable heli)

Anyhoo, FL2 uses a Hit Ratio system; connect 100% of your shots for a whopping 100k SUPER BONUS, post-stage. Land 80~99% for a sternly docked yet still beefy 50k GREAT BONUS. Now, here is innovation! You can recover a lost 100% in several ways: nailing multiple targets with a single piercing shot, or running motherfuckers over with the boat and tank (the otherwise-supreme heli's one weakness), or shredding whole screens via BOMBAAA. You can even surpass 100% this way; you won't earn bigger bonus, but you'll rack up a nice fat buffer. This insures your prize against the odd missed shot and, more creatively, allows the occasional barraging assault. Great for the short, frenzied boss encounters, where hesitation is defeat!

It's an impressively well-balanced scintilla of freedom, in a scoring type known for zero-sum ruthlessness. A precision contest bolstered by fiery fightbacks. I'm surprised I've never seen this in later Hit Ratio shooting games, or earlier ones. I wonder if there's examples on either side? It's a great idea, imo. I could imagine a Gun Shooter where sniping an exploding barrel / hanging girder / steam vent, etc, could multi-kill a passing squad. Likewise, making use of a riskily slow but wide-ranging weapon; shotgun or grenade launcher, etc. Or in a conventional Gallery STG, any long-lived AOE bomber that tends to catch multiple targets, like Garegga's Gain, or Bakraid's mainstay burner.

[OmegaFlareX]

Ninja Princess / Sega Ninja came out a year before LSAS and uses the same hit ratio scoring.

[Daytime Waitress]

Playing the Platypus Reclayed demo got me to thinking...
In that game, when you pick up a second power-up of the same kind, you just keep the same kind of shot-type (i.e.: wide shot -> wide shot).
What was the first shmup to "level" or increase the strength of a shot type when you pick up the same kind of power-up twice or more?