Which shmup fits this description best?

[Nemphtis]

'Sup guys. It's been a while since I last logged in here, but I have a question of sorts and I'm sure you're the best people to ask. I write random crap on my blog from time to time and today's entry was about skill and memorisation in the shmup genre. To avoid accusations of trying to plug my shitty blog, I'll quote the important part below without linking to the page, and hopefully you guys can suggest the closest game you know of which fits this description.

There’s still hope for my desire of a randomly generated competitive shoot ‘em up where both players experience the same challenge but the challenge is random each time. This game may already exist, in fact if I’ve come up with it then I’m sure dozens of others have a long, long time ago.

It’s possible to have a game where you can invite an opponent to play the same randomly generated level as you to compare scores, but the game only lets you play each stage once before generating a new one so if you screw up, there are no retries. It’s even possible to make it feel more competitive by having both players on the same screen, playing the same stage at the same time. Maybe even spice things up by allowing these players to sabotage each other’s progress with a gameplay mechanic.

Let’s say we’re playing a vertical shoot ‘em up where each enemy shot down by Player 1 leaves a bullet or, depending on the enemy, multiple bullets in varying patterns behind which can collide with Player 2 but have no effect on P1. Naturally, P2 can do the same thing, but this mechanic will add depth and also encourage both players to shoot down more ships than their opponent as this equals more pressure to the guy who has more bullets to dodge.

We can even go a step further and have a mechanic which rewards P1 if they’re skilfully avoiding P2′s pressure tactics by dodging the bullets left by the ships he or she is destroying. This would balance things out as the first player to lose the lead will have a very hard time getting it back, so if they can survive the added bullet pressure, temporary invincibility or a smart bomb could be rewarded for potential comebacks.

I could just stick to the FPS genre but the shoot’em up genre also provides the euphoria I often experience when playing Call of Duty or Counter-Strike. When you’re playing a bullet hell shmup and you see a huge wave of bullets incoming, time slows down and it feels like you have hours to decide where to position yourself to dodge the projectiles as you return fire. During this moment as you weave past this wave whilst continuing to return fire and every second you’re still alive adds to the euphoria… I love that shit. I want to experience it again and again in a competitive environment, because doing this against a real player will no doubt feel infinitely more rewarding.

Like I said, I’m sure there’s a game out there which is very similar (or identical) to what I just came up with and it might even be freeware. If the idea I described rings any bells, or if you see a flaw in this concept, let me know in the comments section. By the way, I’m at work right now and wrote this on my iPad without proof reading so apologies in advance for any typos you notice — I’ll clean it up when I get home.

I'm sure there's a game with similar mechanics out there, anyone got any names/links to such a game?

[jonny5]

Sounds kind of like Twinkle Star Sprites.

[Nemphtis]

Sounds kind of like Twinkle Star Sprites.

Hah, the name and visuals of that game are not what I was expecting.

I think someone has mentioned this game to me before, now I really need to check it out.

[Nemphtis]

Keep in mind, my objective is to have a game which relies on improvisation over the memorisation of attack patterns. Both players play the same stage, but these stages are randomly generated each round. Does Twinkle Star Sprites do this? The Wikipedia entry doesn't mention these specifics.

[lift]

a randomly generated competitive shoot ‘em up where both players experience the same challenge but the challenge is random each time.

Both players play the same stage, but these stages are randomly generated each round.

Versus shooting games aren't played on a single screen, it's split with each having their own field of combat, but each player experiences the same passive enemy waves. What is random is the human element - each player has the ability to toss waves of bullets into the other player's screen, with the possibility of strategics and "layering" waves with well-timed combos. There's not enough attention to levels to constitute "stage design" as most of your focus is on the other player, which makes levels irrelevant. They're only different based on character match-ups as each have their own unique spread and charged shots.

each enemy shot down by Player 1 leaves a bullet or, depending on the enemy, multiple bullets in varying patterns behind which can collide with Player 2 but have no effect on P1.

A unique concept that would utilize suicide bullets for cooperative play but I have not seen this implemented anywhere.

a mechanic which rewards P1 if they’re skilfully avoiding P2′s pressure tactics by dodging the bullets left by the ships he or she is destroying.

The charge gauge rewards your continued survival and mayhem with a temporary invincibility/local bullet cancel upon firing and adds more pressure to the opponent, which can easily turn the tide of battle.

You may not find your dream game yet as this niche is still in its infancy. There are "cutesy" games like Twinkle Star Sprites and Touhou (Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream (PC-98), Phantasmagoria of Flower View (PC)) which will whet your appetite if you have someone to play against.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

While I think Twinkle Star Sprites and the Touhou clone game are the best fits you might want to check out other VS shooters like Change Air Blade on mame played 2 player, Wartech senko no ronde (this isnt so much a shmup as a fighting game / shmup hybrid) and also possibly the PC doujin game Acceleration of suguri x edition although I havnt played it yet and dont know if it has a 2 player mode.

For total random you really need to look towards arena / twinstick shooters as these have no stage design. For something more traditional try the 1 player only Nomltest or possibly Kento Cho's games as he has random elements in his bullet patterns although I cant remember if the enemy patterns are random aswell.

[Sumez]

That's a pretty awesome idea for competitive play in a shooter. Both ideas are, in fact.

I'm currently thinking of several great ways to implement competitive play in the game I'm working on (mainly inspired by Twinkle Star Sprites and Kingdom GP so far), and I'll probably end up adapting some of the ideas you propose here, unless you feel like I'm ripping you off.

However, rather than focusing on who shoots an enemy first, a better idea (for me, that) could be an implementing of the game's single player scoring system (which in my case is very Cave inspired) where what would normally increase your multiplier, instead makes the game harder for the opponent.

[Mortificator]

Demons to Diamonds works a bit like the OP described. It's a single-screen shooter, though.

[Obiwanshinobi]

If you want to avoid stage memorisation, check out:
Vulgus by Capcom. Enough said.
Time attack and score attack modes in Seirei Senshi Spriggan (seemingly your bog standard caravan stages, but this being a Compile shmup, things get funny).
Also, Zanac Special Version. Experiment with the third button.

[Special World]

Twinkle Star Sprites is the bees knees, but I would LOVE for more devs to try making a game in that style. For the most part, I think it succeeds just on concept alone, rather than any particular strength in the gameplay systems, so if anybody really crafted a fantastic VS shooter in that style, it could easily be one of my favorite games of all time.

If there are any aspiring developers on this site, THIS IS A HINT.