Your first shooter?

[Skyknight]

Sky Shark, arcade.

Your move.

[50Hz]

Space Impact II on an old Nokia phone, forgot about shmups until I played R-Type Dimensions round a friend's house.
I think I only discovered that vertical shmups were "a thing" around mid-late 2012

[MadSteelDarkness]

Galaxian in the 'cades, followed closely by Galaga. Xevious would have been the first scrolling shooter i played. I thought the graphics were incredible!

At home, i was all about Chopper Command.

[Westerlykraig]

Parodius for Gameboy classic and hellfire sega mega drive very good games both

[Skykid]

Most definitely Space Invaders, Skegness, sometime in the late 80s.

I remember because none of the big arcades - places I'd whittle away hours on end - had it, only a pub lounge in a hotel on the corner of the street facing the Sandview castle on the other side of the road.

We used to go there because the lounge room was always empty, meaning we could go as a family, including my Grandmother, and just sit for an hour or so and not be bothered by drunken Yorkshiremen. It was a dimly lit room with a single pool table - my memory of it is very atmospheric and nostalgic. Of course I never wanted to sit idly while the adults drank Ale and Lemon and Lime (my mum's alcohol alternative of choice) and the only arcade in there was a black and white original Space Invaders in the corner. I actually didn't care for it much then, I was more impressed by the likes of Pac Land, Star Wars and Gun.Smoke at the time - but in the lounge that was all there was, and I always played to make each credit count because my folks would call time on giving me 10p's at some point.

That cabinet is worth a fortune now, I often think of it whenever I hear the value mentioned and wonder what happened to it.

Anyway, sorry for the nostalgia trip. When it came to arcades I was a very lucky kid, and I'm not as old as you might think I am.

[nosorrow]

how old are you?

[Lordgalvar-II]

I remember playing R-Type at this long gone arcade in Bakersfield (it closed over 20 years ago). I was entranced by the art/graphics in R-Type. Space Harrier was the most awesome thing ever back then though and I spent more quarters on it probably because of it's more fast paced/cheap-thrill-ish. It had to have been around 1988.

Around the same time I got a Sega Master System with Transbot and R-Type and I still have them.

The first vert in the arcades I played was probably AeroFighters ( outside of the galaxian/space invaders).

The first vert I remember on a console was when my friend's my mom picked up Grindstormer on the Genesis in the clearance bin at Sears (she was some kind of manager there and would always pick up games on the last mark down). He let me borrow it at some point but it doesn't work any more. I remember reading about how there was defective soldering or something on the tengen carts a while ago. I guess 'cause I'm talking about it, anyone got any info on the defective Grindstormer carts (threads, links... You can PM me if it would derail the thread).

[null1024]

Gradius for the NES was probably the first, although I do remember playing Galaga in my local arcade more as a kid.

[stryc9]

I believe it was Capcom's 1942 on a cruise ship from England to Denmark in about 1986.

The machine was set to free play, I couldn't get over how good the graphics were

[MadSteelDarkness]

how old are you?

A gentleman never asks, and a shmupper never tells.

[soupbones]

First I played - probably Space Invaders.

First scrolling shooter I remember playing (a lot) was Zaxxon.

First shooter that made me realize I love this genre was Thunder Force 2.

[Monstermug]

I was only 6 at the time. Played it until the left/right stick broke off. I tried to glue it back with superglue but it just wasn't strong enough.

[Acid King]

Either Astrosmash on the Intellivision or Gorf on the Commodore. I was pretty young either way so lord knows which was first.

[BIL]

Life Force (NES) is what established this genre in my mind. I have a fond memory of being seven and trying out co-op with my best friend, and the both of us getting remorselessly slaughtered by stage 1's living walls. Of course the one that can block the path completely if you're not far enough into the dreaded right of the screen got us, a shock at the time. I think we switched back to Contra pretty quickly. Other than a few localised shooter pickups I didn't actively seek out the genre until way the hell later in the mid-00s, but it was always my go-to for unfiltered intensity after that.

Recently went full circle, quite unintentionally (last member of the sterling UMECHAN Team FC quartet I needed).

[ACSeraph]

^wow that thing is pristine. Beautiful presentation, too bad Konami's stuff didn't also get those awesome hard plastic cases like the Namco games got.

[BIL]

Yeah, would've made contemporary geek life a lot easier if Namco/Sunsoft clamshells were the standard. Hunting down vintage cardboards is a treacherous hobby. So satisfactions though.

I thought it was cool that Salamander's companion piece Gradius II FC got a bit of presentational love too, with its blingin' reflective silver box. Konami seemed to like doing that stuff, with the trading cards for Contra, Dracula II and Getsu Fuuma Den, and the latter's awesome refractive boxart.



(edit: read R to L manga stylie! frame 1: "imma cut choo mayne" frame 2: *ARTERIAL SPRAY*).

[KNekoSpy]

MagMax for the NES. I was maybe 5 or 6 years old at the time? I stunk at it.

The second one I think I discovered was Life Force.

[pegboy]

MagMax for the NES. I was maybe 5 or 6 years old at the time? I stunk at it.

The second one I think I discovered was Life Force.

Those are the same exact 2 games I grew up on! See my post on the last page lol.

[BIL]

Life Force/Salamander's first stage is surely one of the most impactful you could experience as a kid new to the genre... the bio horror aesthetic is instantly memorable, and it feeds directly into the stage design with giant tendrils sprouting from flesh and straining to get at your ship, while the walls themselves shift and mutate furiously. It's not at all beginner-proofed either, very easy to die over and over as more biological terror scrolls in.

I remember my friend's mom remarking towards the cart that it was "that gross one," haha.

[GSK]

Probably one of the million Euro bastardisations of R-Type, I guess, or maybe even Tyrian.

The first "real" STG I put any time into was probably good ol' Aero Fighters 2. You're pretty punk, Steve.

[cicada88]

I had definitely played others before, but the ones that I played consistently were Solar Striker for the Game Boy and Blazing Lazers for TG16. Although I don't remember owning any shooters on NES, I most likely had played Galaga / Millipede in the arcade before these 2.

I didn't really play many shooters after SNES.

The game that brought me back into the genre was playing Shumups Skill Test at a Japanese arcade.

[CFO]

R-Type III for the SNES. Rented from Blockbuster nonetheless

[al138]

I agree with BIL -- Life Force/Salamander for the NES was the first shooter that made me take notice of the genre. I had played everything from Space Invaders to Galaga in the arcades, but nothing solidified my love of shooters until Life Force.

[finisherr]

My first shooter was on Sega Master System: Astro Warrior. Loved that game when I was about 4 or 5. Guess I had a penchant for verts at an early age.

[professor ganson]

Space Invaders iirc. I think it was in a convenience mart in the late 70s/early 80s, but the memory is hazy at best.

[Bixler]

I'm extremely new to the genre, so for me it was Jamestown.

[Mero]

Pheonix on a table cab, in our local Chinese. Year would be something like '82 or '83.

[DoomsDave]

Gradius on NES and I still own the cart.

[BPzeBanshee]

[Kino]

.