Is Centipede a SHMUP?

[BulletMagnet]

I'm more in favor of just letting individuals decide where a "shmup" ends and some other genre begins, as we're pretty much never going to come to a single consensus on it. As long as people are willing to let others have their own opinion, especially since this sort of "debate" is really pretty inconsequential when you think about it, I see no need for anything "solid" on this. And heck, I'm the wacko who came up with the glossary.

[Danny]

Centerpede is a Shmup, it's almost identical to Space Invaders but with a differnt marching patern and stuff blocking the enemies way so that is changes direction and heads down the field quicker. Also further more the controls have the same basic concept as the average horizontal shooter of today minus the scrolling but then again back in those days it was pretty hard to get a scrolling background anyway due to lack of memory and so on.

Games like Metal Slug and Contra are not Shmups really they are "action games" and this is due to them containing a jump button thus meaning that the empahsis is not just on shooting but also from jumping from one platform to another which means they are not pure shoot-em-up's but a cross between a shoot-em-up and a platformer.

Games like Robotron and Smash TV for example are shoot-em-up's because while they don't have background scrolling and so on these game's are entirely focused on the shooting the living crap out of anything that moves even if the player is using a 8 way joystick to achive this it's still a shooter at heart and was proberbly also Robotron was the first non parterned manic shooter made as well, anyone who has ever gotten to any of the "tank levels" on this game will know what I'm talking about.

That's my two pence done with...

[Ceph]

Well, since we're on the topic, what are the extended definitions of what is and is not a shmup?

I'm not arguing about such things as Galaga per se, but for future reference, I think it would be worthwhile to give it some definition, or maybe even throw it in Wikipedia or something.

There already is a definition in Wikipedia. Read my post above.

[system11]

Well, since we're on the topic, what are the extended definitions of what is and is not a shmup?

I'm not arguing about such things as Galaga per se, but for future reference, I think it would be worthwhile to give it some definition, or maybe even throw it in Wikipedia or something.

There already is a definition in Wikipedia. Read my post above.

It being on Wikipedia is precisely why it should be ignored. Any monkey with no fucking clue at all can enter something, and unless someone cares enough to correct it, it becomes gospel.

[Ceph]

I think the description of shooters at Wikipedia is pretty accurate (I wouldn't have used Ikaruga as an example for a typical shmup, though). Have you had a look?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooter_%28game%29

[system11]

I think the description of shooters at Wikipedia is pretty accurate (I wouldn't have used Ikaruga as an example for a typical shmup, though). Have you had a look?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooter_%28game%29

Yes, it's absolutely terrible.

1) It describes too many things.
2) It heavily leans towards shooter = FPS.
3) It doesn't even manage to get the distinctions between different FPS types right.
4) It picks bad examples for the shmup subsection, entirely ignores the fact that they predate almost every other genre, says that all shmups scroll then says other types don't, and says the movement is limited 'if done with 2D gameplay', when in fact they're pretty much ALL done with 2D gameplay.
5) Even the rail shooter section is wrong, Omega Boost was not fixed in a tube, you could rotate all the way around targets.
6) Next it essentially applies multiplayer modes to 'all of the above', when in fact our genre tends to be 2 player simultaneous. They've totally lost the plot by now. Multiplayer != Networked Multiplayer.

Score: 2/10

Wikipedia is great for pop quiz facts, but past that it's absolutely useless as a proper reference material. Look in the news for recent articles about them having to ban congress because they doctor entries, for example. I could probably edit the page for Mohammed Ali, and say that his favourite food was turnips, and it would probably stay there for ages, and people would go to boxing forums, and say 'OMFG HE ATE TURNIPS', and look like fools.

[TWITCHDOCTOR]

Centipede ain't no shmup guy's...c'mon, its "Pest Control". Get it right!

[sffan]

Centipede ain't no shmup guy's...c'mon, its "Pest Control". Get it right!

Mushihime Sama's pest control too, but it's also a shmup.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

At the local Funworks in Modesto, CA, there's an original Atari Games upright arcade cabinet of Centipede. It is now 2006, and it still plays a mean solid game of Centipede...I was never good at it but it is good if you're good Centipede arcade game player.

I read that Walter Day (the founder of the Twin Galaxies' "Intergalactic Scoreboard" fame) used to be pretty good on a Centipede arcade machine back in the day. Some days, your arcade gaming sessions will suck & on some other days, you'll get into "the zone" and end up scoring higher than usual. That "in the zone" is what compels ace arcade players to beat the arcade machine's CPU to achieve their best scores. ^_~

I've been "in the zone" when 1CC'd the Atari Games arcade upright of Klax in May 1994 with a four-way digital joystick layout. It was my relentless practice on the NES Tengen version of Klax that prepared me for the recording break attempt on that eventual day on the Klax arcade machine (although, I didn't do it to set a new world record but for my own personal Klax arcade game record).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[doctorx0079]

Well, since we're on the topic, what are the extended definitions of what is and is not a shmup?

I'm not arguing about such things as Galaga per se, but for future reference, I think it would be worthwhile to give it some definition, or maybe even throw it in Wikipedia or something.

There already is a definition in Wikipedia. Read my post above.

It being on Wikipedia is precisely why it should be ignored. Any monkey with no fucking clue at all can enter something, and unless someone cares enough to correct it, it becomes gospel.

The better entries provide references.