Why do you like shmups??

[SPACE HARRIER]

First of all,

Hello back everybody

I have been away from this forum for about 5 years.
I somehow lost my intrest in shmups in these years,got hooked on racinggames and firstperson shooters.
A few weeks ago I was at my friends place and he was playing Galaga Legion DX for the PS3.

When I got home I downloaded the game for my X-BOX 360 and started to enjoy shmups again!!
Got all Cave shmups for my Iphone as well.

Hell yeah,my very first game I have played In an arcade was Space Invaders in 1979.
Now almost 43 years old (yeah....I know Oldskoolgamer ) I still love those nerve,heart pounding,high blood preasure moments when you fight wave afer wave of endless bullets or laserbeams,to fight the last BIG boss at the end of the game

So,

I have a question for you........." why do you like your shmups??? "

Take care,

Wilfred.

[Deca]

Improving and the sense of accomplishment that comes with it is my key driving factor in all the games I put a great deal of time into (Shooters, Bemani, Fighters, Daytona USA)

I really enjoy the aesthetic a lot of the middle-older games have as well, Battle Garegga and Rayforce standing at the forefront in that regard. Many trends and conventions in shooter design appeal to me a great deal. The core gameplay is just something I find enjoyable, feels great to dance all over the screen in a game you're really comfortable with.

There are a lot of things I enjoy about shmups, which is why I'm sure I'll keep playing them for a long, long time

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Lots of reasons, the fact they are good to pick up and play. I can play just 1 credit when I have the urge or I play for hours on end. Its such a versatile genre, which is good for me as I like to play other genres and tend to move from one genre to the next in phases, so even when I giving most of my gaming time to other genres I can still enjoy a credit or two.

I also like the reward system, A shmup will reward me for what effort I put into it. But it isnt something like an JRPG where I can just half assed grind my way through, it has to be real effort.
As someone who used to play the guitar it feels similar.

[Blackbird]

- Actual challenge

- Difficulty is not in overcoming the tedium of large timesinks or filler, but actually improving skills

- Controls are precise, I feel the result of gameplay is more based on my ability than luck

- Can be played in a meaningful way in a short period of time

- Generally awesome music and sometimes awesome graphics

[Bananamatic]

I like playing with little girls

[rancor]

Can play 5 mins or 5 hours and it's satisfying. No need to watch stupid cutscenes, or spend hours to "level up".

[ChainsawGuitarSP]

I find the aspect of being able to be competitive with them on your own time to be very appealing, as I am a very inconsistent player. Of course they have other draws to them, but naming them all would take too much time.

[xbl0x180]

Shoot-'em-ups were some of the early games I used to play when I first entered an arcade. I used to play Galaga, Exerion, Time Pilot, 1942, and Gyruss. Once I bought a NES, those were the first games I bought. When I got a SNES, I got Super R-Type, Area 88/UN Squadron, Darius Twin, Super E.D.F., and a few more. Pretty much any new console I'd get, the first games I'd buy were the spaceship shoot-'em-ups.

I like playing in brief bursts, esp. now that I have a full-time job, have on-call/after-hours duties, attend a few grad school night classes at the local uni, spend time with family and friends, put in time into other hobbies (i.e., I collect videos, music, and, sometimes, books), etc. I don't have the kind of time (and attention span) to devote to play competitively (as in fighting games and FPSs), nor the time to even play lengthy junk with a lot of backstory and cut-scenes.

I got back into gaming about a year ago and I find myself playing from 15 minutes to about 45 minutes max every other day or just a few times a week, rotating games to keep things "fresh" for me. First, I love the graphics, as I'm not a huge fan of extensive use of 3D-rendered graphics, CGI, and FMV. Second, the music for a lot of these games is some of the best I've heard; normally, I'd put on other music while playing, but for a shoot-'em-up the music is already there. Lastly, the new, bullet-hell types are a bit of a novelty to show around. Let's say I bring over Mushihime-sama Futari 1.5 to a colleagues' house and I tell them, "You think you've seen intense and difficult games before, check this out... you'll, like, go into a seizure or somethin' "

[Treasurance]

Shmups are music games, all about experimenting how well this song fits that stage or boss. Gameplay is just a nice bonus. Also this is why everything on MAME sucks on default because you can't replace the bgm and messing around with some music player is annoying.

but of course this can be forgiven if the soundtrack is already really kickass, but only garaggabattle, newer cave and some doujin shmups are like this

[finisherr]

I like the seemingly impossible odds. When I'm learning a game I start to feel like the Bruce Lee of shooters even though I still kinda suck in comparison to a lot of people who love shmups. Also, I have to say that it really does feel good totally wrecking a stage boss with ease once your skills increase.

[Emuser]

Some reasons for me:

It feels pretty damn good to show off to people who would normally say "WTF IS GOING ON HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE??"

The soundtrack really does make or break the games as it has been a point proven several times that if you don't like the soundtrack to a game then you probably won't be inclined to play it.

Good for games that offer short but very intense bursts of gameplay which is a good thing if you can't play all the time. I think many people here could make this point as well.

[denpanosekai]

nostalgia and blowing shit up after a long day at work. I'm into scoring challenges now and then, but most of the time I'm too tired to focus.

music is also generally upbeat and that's my jam.

[Bloodreign]

Challenge, good music, the fact that you can play in short bursts when life is busy, not to mention stress relief.

No longass cutscenes, complicated control schemes, and OMG MOVIE LIKE QUALITY to worry about.

[Kollision]

There's nothing else I can say, everybody said pretty much everything already.

[BIL]

Same reason I love any performance-intensive type of game, like racers and DMC/Shinobi/Ninja Gaiden slashers. They're perfect for studying, refining one's technique and then busting out killer performances in. And I enjoy observing others do the same. It's a bottomless glass for me.

[Weak Boson]

For me it's to do with how intense and focused the experience is - not just that it's fast paced and exciting, but also that it's complex and strategic as well. Whether it's about the struggle for survival or executing elaborate scoring techniques it's always rewarding to make progress. You can't get such depth and challenge in many other places.

[Illyrian]

ZUN writes the best video game music you'll ever here. That's why.

[dan76]

Mainly I just like dodging the bullets. Almost everything else is secondary. Often I'll play something and even though I should bomb if I want a good score/1cc I won't because it ruins the fun part. The simplicity of not getting hit and weaving through impossible patterns is the thing. It's edge of the seat stuff. All or nothing, get hit and you die.

I'd rather play a game with good patterns and graphics with no scoring system than the other way around. A good scoring system on top is a bonus. Two of my favourite games are Akai Katana and Deathsmiles...

It's also a love of (mainly older) arcade games that shmups are a direct link to. The classic 2D sprites, hand drawn art etc. It's about all that is left from the golden era of arcades.

Apart from shagging and rollercoasters, shmups are one of the few things that distract me from the great black void that stares me in the face every waking hour.

[NZA]

It's mostly the design aesthetics that are typically found in Japanese games that appeal to me. Since a large portion of shmups are Japanese in origin, or inspired by Japanese shmups, they almost always look cool to me. I'm not quite an old school shmup player, the first one I ever owned was Ikaruga for Gamecube. The art direction for Ikaruga pulled me in, then I found myself emulating games like Progear and Robo Aleste. Now I'm trying to actually track down and collect physical copies, not just for the games but for the box art and manuals.

It's also sometimes refreshing to play a fairly linear game that has everything you need right in front of you, and simply asks you to try to rise to its challenge. I'm not naturally gifted at these games at all, but I get some satisfaction out of seeing myself get incrementally better. The simpler control schemes and tasks required of you really take the randomness out, and just makes it about skill.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

because spaceships

[RNGmaster]

For the same reason that food tastes better if you've spent hours making it. A good run in a shmup is like a homemade Thai curry - time-consuming, beautiful, and almost entirely made by you.

Yeah, I'm really hungry right now.

[richter3456]

Because whenever I play a SHMUP, I get pulled into the atmosphere and the high paced action. Some SHMUP's execute level designs so flawlessly, that it actually feels like your there. Majority of the SHMUP's that I played have some of the best music. Above all else, I love a good challenge. I find myself in a lot of situations where I'm doing so good, and I'm fully powered up... I'm fully absorbed in the game and trying not to lose that I don't notice anything else that's happening around me. I don't know if that's a good thing, or a bad thing.

[Zengeku3]

Its a nice little thing you can relax with for me. Shmup playing sessions can last anywhere from the 10 minutes during classes in school to an hour or two when having nothing else to do at home. I consider myself a casual shmupper.

I do play a lot of different games so I don't really have time to dedicate into shmups. But that's part of what makes a shmup great. If you are the type who likes to sink in hours upon hours trying to better your high score and compete with others, you can do that. If you just want a bit of fast-paced action when you have nothing else to do, you can do that too.

- In short, the things about shmups i like is:

- Great challenge. Sure some games has cheap stuff but pretty much anything is possible in the shmup if you can figure it out and have the skills to do it.
- Fast paced gameplay.
- Often pretty good music.
- I like figuring out patterns and dodging convoluted patterns. This is probably the most important part. I don't like most non-danmaku shmups for that reason.

[DrTrouserPlank]

Because they are such a calming and relaxing influence.

[man9child]

For a couple of reasons, most of which were already touched on. I find shooters rewarding. The fact that I still get nervous and choke when I'm approaching a 1cc in a game for the first time shows that I genuinely care about beating the game, that it's somehow important to me.

Other than that, shooters require such a high level of concentration that they really put you "in the zone" when you're playing them. They definitely trigger adrenaline, where you're able to do things you wouldn't otherwise be able to because they seem to be moving in slow motion. There are times when you get in sync with the game and your ship feels like it's wired directly to your brain. That just doesn't happen in less demanding genres.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I like shmups because I'm cool like that.

[dinosaurjerk]

because i want to be an anime fairy or anime princess, irl

[Iaspis]

Gameplay, cool explosions, manly mechas, spaceships, death rays, 3-digit number of bullets on screen, gameplay, speed, challenging difficulty, blisters on fingers, gameplay, all teh pretty colours and also gameplay.