Shmup Glossary Discussion Thread (UPDATED 3-15-09)

[Mortificator]

"No Miss" is used by the Japanese to denote "no mistakes" (an altered form of the short "no mis-").

Yep. My Japanese dictionary doesn't explicitly provide derivations of loanwords, but last week I happened to notice that the book defines "ミス" ("misu") as "mistake" (seems odd that they'd bother adopting a Western term for such a basic concept ???), and so figured the shmup term "ノミス" was presumably adopted and abbreviated from "no mistake" rather than from "no miss".

I wondered why the password for one-hit-kill mode in Castlevania Chronicles was "nomis."

[BulletMagnet]

“Kai/Quad” – Most famous in Giga Wing…exactly how much is a “Kai,” exactly?

So, uh, what does this one mean, anyway?

I'm not 100 percent sure myself, which is why I'm looking for some help...I think that "quad" has something to do with the fact that in some games the scoring digits are grouped by fours, rather than by threes, while a "kai" is a term for some ridiculously high number, though I don't know which. Both terms are most commonly associated with Takumi shmups and their insane scores.

Argh, again, I wish you people would stop redefining terms such that they conflict with their real-world definitions!

A load of the terms in the glossary are used in the real world in much different ways (most real-life bullets aren't neon-colored, slow-moving blobs), so I'm honestly not all that concerned with "stepping on toes" in that area, as long as a term is used frequently enough (though I'm not averse to some notation on technical inaccuracies, i.e. suicide bullets). "Burst fire" might make it as an alternate term though.

You've got a stray opening bold tag in the gunpod definition.

Also, an unpaired bracket before "Glossary Statistics".

Will be fixed, thanks for the heads-up.

A "hitbox" or "collision box" is an entity. "Collision detection" or "hit detection" is a process. But the definition for these terms implies that the terms are interchangeable.

Though technically incorrect, I have heard the "process" terms used as nouns on occasion, so I figured I might as well include them...maybe some expansion in the definition is called for.

To be clear, I wasn't at all asking for the term to be removed from the glossary, I was just taking the opportunity to complain about the necessity of its inclusion, and kinda hoping I might perhaps influence people here to adopt less ambiguous terminology in their own writings.

I don't (usually) make up the terms, I just sort 'em.

[Ed Oscuro]

Throw, to me at least, is the distance the stick must be moved from the neutral position in order to activate the switch. I have also heard it used in reference to the amount of play in the joystick (regardless of switch position).

Okay, this has been sitting here a while...can we add throw now, PRETTY please? :P

Acronym for Kuso Game.

the reason this didn't show up in Google is that people write it with only have one trailing E, as kuso-ge

[BulletMagnet]

Yeah, I'll probably add "throw" in there next update.

[VicViper_Mk2]

i can think of two at the moment

Type 4 homing missile/laser: a type laser/missile that once locked on will never lose lock and will continusly track you until you destroy it or it destroy you. in some case the missiles are indestuctible (or at least very hard to destroy) an example would be Cyvern's 2nd stage boss, the missile it fires are incredibly hard to destroy and just keep tracking you no matter how many time you loop it.

Note: the type system is something i created to gauge the level of homing ability, they range from 1 to 4.

Thruster: the exhaust of a large ship, in certain game it can fry you. An example would be Aero fighter, the black jet boss. the afterburner it fires can destroy you if you touch it

[BulletMagnet]

Type 4 homing missile/laser: a type laser/missile that once locked on will never lose lock and will continusly track you until you destroy it or it destroy you. in some case the missiles are indestuctible (or at least very hard to destroy) an example would be Cyvern's 2nd stage boss, the missile it fires are incredibly hard to destroy and just keep tracking you no matter how many time you loop it.

Something like this would probably be best-served as an add-on under the existing "Homing" entry...if anything, it might be worth adding that enemies have such weapons too. I think that "semi-homing" is a term I'm considering adding, which might cover the different "degrees" of homing prowess.

Thruster: the exhaust of a large ship, in certain game it can fry you. An example would be Aero fighter, the black jet boss. the afterburner it fires can destroy you if you touch it

This might be worth adding - offhand, the only game in which I can recall a player having this ability is XII Stag, does anyone recall any others?

[nZero]

Thruster: the exhaust of a large ship, in certain game it can fry you. An example would be Aero fighter, the black jet boss. the afterburner it fires can destroy you if you touch it

This might be worth adding - offhand, the only game in which I can recall a player having this ability is XII Stag, does anyone recall any others?

Omega Fighter

[shoe-sama]

Thruster: the exhaust of a large ship, in certain game it can fry you. An example would be Aero fighter, the black jet boss. the afterburner it fires can destroy you if you touch it

This might be worth adding - offhand, the only game in which I can recall a player having this ability is XII Stag, does anyone recall any others?

Omega Fighter

Gradius V during powerups

[VicViper_Mk2]

well as far as player ship goes, there isn't a lot that has this ability, its mainly a boss ability. when i say thruster i mean big, very big. one example would be Titanic Lance in Darius Gaiden, a big thruster that destroys you if caught under (had to make sure but it was kinda obvious) for a player ship one example i recall would be in R-Type Final, all the OF fighters when switching speed will briefly fire their thruster and this can be used to damage enemies.

[unsane]

What are "abstract" shmups?

[professor ganson]

What are "abstract" shmups?

To my mind an abstract shmup is one that does not depict familiar or even fantastical objects (e.g. planes or space craft). The graphics do not depict or represent at all. Think of the Nintendo puzzle league games. Here the various shapes typically do not represent anything (though there may be the occasional heart shape and whatnot). Geometry Wars and Everyday Shooter may be good examples, though they are not, strictly speaking, shmups.

[professor ganson]

One might question whether a shmup can be wholly abstract. After all, doesn't it have to depict/represent shooting at the very least? Otherwise it's not a shooter.

There are several plausible responses to this line of reasoning. Perhaps the most promising sort of response would insist that the notion of "shooting" here is a rather flexible one. Perhaps a move can count as shooting provided that it has a certain role in the gameplay: it need not represent shooting as ordinarily conceived.

[BulletMagnet]

Figures I'm away for the weekend that the first discussion in a few months pops up on this topic.

I do hear the term "abstract shmup" come up every once in awhile, though I'm not sure it's worth its own entry...offhand, in most cases I think a term more along the lines of "minimalist shmup" might be more appropriate, as most "abstract" shooters aren't abstract in the strict sense, but instead just very simplified/stylized. Then again, I've seen the term "minimalism" used differently within shmupdom...

[professor ganson]

Agreed. "Minimalist" would be more appropriate in most of the cases people are inclined to use "abstract," and a separate entry for either is unnecessary.

[unsane]

I still don't think i understand what an abstract or minimalist shmup is. Examples maybe? That way i can watch a video.

[professor ganson]

Everyday Shooter is an abstract shooter. Check it out-- very nice game.

[Winane]

I think it'd be worth adding that "stream" can also be used as a verb, roughly synonymous with "herd". That is, I guess "herd" is probably a slightly more general term: as I see it, "streaming" usually refers to inch by inch herding of thick streams of bullets, whereas "herding" can also apply to herding scattered shots from all over. (But that vague distinction may or may not just be me.)

In addition to reducing screen clutter, inch by inch streaming can also help to maximize your bullet grazing, in games that reward that. And in cases where you cannot safely circle around the enemy bullet sources indefinitely, it serves to maximize the amount of time before you get trapped in a corner by the advancing bullet stream, and have to jerk + cutback to continue in the other direction.

Anyway, "streaming" seems to be the dominant term within the Touhou community (think I have yet to encounter the term "herding" there), and another rough definition can be found on the English Touhou Wiki:
http://pooshlmer.com/touhouwiki/index.p ... l_Strategy

Oh, and I just remembered another occasional application of herding: In cases where aimed projectiles spew out bullets of their own, positioning yourself between the source of the aimed projectile and the edge of the screen nearest to it, serves to minimize the amount of time it spends cluttering up the screen with its own spawn (or, of course, you could do the opposite, if lotsa bullets = higher score). Mokou's Spell No.200 in Imperishable Night being a perfect example of this. (And that spell is a case where I would call it "herding", but wouldn't call it "streaming".)


Also, the punctuation after "Subweapon" still needs correcting.

[BulletMagnet]

Also, the punctuation after "Subweapon" still needs correcting.

Thanks for the tip, that should be fixed now.

Anyone else want to weigh in on this proposed new definition for "stream?" It's the first I've heard of it, personally...

[dpful]

I heard a new term "meet and greet" for killing strings of enemies that should be killed in quick succession at just the right time.
The first strings of enemies in legendary wings, power up ships in thunder cross 2 and gradius's, red planes in 1942....
enemies that have to be intersected and killed in rapid succesion or they'll get away- the act called a "meet and greet".

[BulletMagnet]

Hmm, sounds like it might do better as a sub-term under "striker"...any other thoughts? Where'd you hear the term, btw?

[dpful]

a friend was playing the beginning of legendary wings, trying to get those first quick powerups, and said, "I've got to meet and greet those fuckers"

[bsidwell]

Anyone else want to weigh in on this proposed new definition for "stream?" It's the first I've heard of it, personally...

It's fairly common among Touhou people (well, the ones that actually play the games). You could probably just put it under "herd" as a synonym since it's pretty much the same idea.

I'm curious if there's a specific name for trap patterns such as Vulcan Winder where a boss will fire streams of bullets around the player in order to either hem in movement or catch the player out of position. I call these "spotlights" since in their simplest form (two streams, fixed angle) they kinda look one.

[Elaphe]

I've been reading the glossary in search of something that is common in most shmups by Cave and which I always had to describe, for I didn't know an exact name for it. It's the possibility to slow down your ship by keeping pressed the fire button, for slow and precisse control and movement in certain moments. This appears in the glossary together with the slowdown description, as the second type of slowdown, which is intentional and controlled by the player.

2) In this case, usually presented as two words (“Slow Down”). An ability found in some shmups, which enables the player to deliberately slow his craft’s movement speed, to obtain more precise control to assist in dodging tight and/or slow-moving bullet patterns; sometimes also changes the effect of the weapon the player is firing when in use. A few shmups also contain a built-in “slow down” function which can slow enemies and their attacks, but utilization of these is almost always considered a form of cheating outside of being used for practice.

However, I don't think this feature should not be listed there, since it has nothing to do with a game slowdown. The only thing that is slowed down is your ship, not the rest of the game. It should be considered as a characteristic that has to do with control. Moreover, it's always used by keeping the fire button pressed, so it's not the same as some bombs or magic which slow down enemies or enemy bullets. I think this feature, which for me is one of the most interesting innovations in danmakus, deserves a specific name, not just... intentional or ship slowdown, which is two generic. How about something like: onpress slowdown?

[BulletMagnet]

You do bring up a valid point, though as you say, I'm not sure what else to call it or where else to put it, so I just sort of stuck it next to the more common definition of "slowdown". As always, though, I'm up for suggestions - the ol' Glossary could do with a bit of dusting off.

[Observer]

I've heard a lot of people call it the "Focused Movement". In Touhou and many other doujin shooters it's just described as "Slow" or "Slow Speed" but I like how "Focus" sounds, heh. It is also implying you are going to move with extra finesse/concentration across a bullet pattern/enemy/whatever. Might also have to do with the scoring mechanics (ie: slow mode to fire at something powerful, release button, cash-in and continue at normal speed).

And in many shooter it indeed changes the firing mode to something specific, either a concentrated shot, a wider range o faster firing rate to cope with the decreased speed.

Could that work? Just call it "Focused Movement" or "Focus/Slow Speed" mode?

An opposite of this one would the "Boost" option, like it happens in games like Cloudphobia or Diadra Empty where your ship speed is increased (and it's actually a key part of the scoring system). The middle ground would be R-Type or Thunder Force manual speed control, right?

[BulletMagnet]

Could that work? Just call it "Focused Movement" or "Focus/Slow Speed" mode?

Doesn't sound bad to me - I think that "focused" is the actual term used in the Touhou games (someone correct me on that if I'm off), but it's not a bad one to apply more widely. I'm eager to hear what others think.

An opposite of this one would the "Boost" option, like it happens in games like Cloudphobia or Diadra Empty where your ship speed is increased (and it's actually a key part of the scoring system).

You know what, I should probably include something like this (I'm thinking along the lines of the "quick burst" used in Steam Hearts and Space Shot, is that what you mean? Either way, I don't think there's an appropriate entry for it) - it's likely different enough from "speed up" to merit tits own entry.

[Elaphe]

Focus is nice, but I think the term should make reference to the fact that you have to keep the button pressed for that. It's like autofire. So, how about Autofire slowdown? Or Autofire focus? Or Autofire focused movement? Or Concentration autofire? Or Accurate slowdown? Or Accurate autofire? Or Accuracy autofire?

[Ixmucane2]

There are three related mechanisms to cover: only the player's craft slows down OR everything (with possible minor exceptions like score items) slows down OR the player craft remains fast and only enemies and bullets slow down.

Unavoidably, "Slow Down" can be confused with performance-related slow down of the whole game and is ambiguous between the three cases.

In the first case I'd call this feature "Slow Movement", which is a more generic term than "Focus Movement" or "Precision Movement".
In the second case, we could call it "Slow Mode", conveying that it's intentional and involving the whole game.
In the third case, the common term is "Bullet Time", which thanks to the Wachowski brothers has a very precise meaning and shouldn't be easily confused with other shmup terms involving bullets.

[Elaphe]

I'd vote for precission movement. Precission more important than speed in the definition, not matter if you achieve that precission with a slower speed of your ship. Bullet time means a general slowmotion, which is not the case; the only thing that is slowed down is your ship, and not the time in general or the rest of the elements on screen. Now another element of debate is whether to call it movement or control. Maybe precission control mode?

[nimitz]

"Slow Movement"

or "Slow Movement Button" (some games have a dedicated button)

seems to be the most accurate, although focus fire is pretty self explanatory too.


and Ixmucan2,

Slow Mode can be pretty confusing, the usual term is slowdown. There are two (major) types. "Intentional Slowdown" and "Unintentional Slowdown", the line between the two can be pretty fine sometimes, but the terms work well.

As for the last one, (Bullet Time) pretty much everyone one knows what it means, so in that sense it is good, that being said I can't think of any shmup with this feature, can you give us examples?