Voting Thread
Polls will close March 14th at 11:59am GMT.
It it acceptable to both post new lists and edit current ones up to this point.
Voting rules:
Yearly changes (not minor wording changes) will be highlighted in green.
00. If you haven't participated before, read the Background section in the following post, noting the requirements, before proceeding any further. Even if you have it's probably a good idea anyway because it changes slightly every year.
01. Use the following vote format, including brackets:
- [integer score 1 to 25] [first game title]
[integer score 1 to 25] [second game title]- etc.
- [25] [Favorite]
[24] [Second Favorite]
... etc ...
[2] [24th Favorite]
[1] [25th Favorite]
The amount of weighted score given to each game on your list is based on its percentage out of the total sum of the scores of all games present in it. For example, a list full of nothing but 1's will mean equal weighting is given to everything, as will a list of 25's. As a hard rule, the highest weighting any one game is allowed to have is 0.2. This means that the total sum must add up to at least 5 times the value of the highest number present (so a list starting in 25 must add up to at least 125, etc.). Note that lists do not need to start with 25, end with 1, or be totally linear - beyond this ruling, you are free to adjust them as you see fit.
A full description of the scoring process can be read here:
Spoiler
A game's weighted score is calculated by summing the total fractional weights (as explained above) from each ballot it appears in.
A game's weight proportion is given by dividing that weighted score by the highest weighted score any one game accumulates (so for the top game, this will always be 1).
A game's vote proportion is given by dividing the number of votes it gets by the total number of ballots submitted (after accounting for total weight adjustment from short lists).
The calculation for the final score is then (weight proportion + vote proportion) * 5, to give a score out of a maximum of 10.
Games from an Honourable Mentions list will have zero game weight and 0.5 vote weight.
Ballots using a short list will have both their game weight and vote weight multiplied by 0.75, i.e., every game is overall worth 75% of what it would be on a full list.
A game's weight proportion is given by dividing that weighted score by the highest weighted score any one game accumulates (so for the top game, this will always be 1).
A game's vote proportion is given by dividing the number of votes it gets by the total number of ballots submitted (after accounting for total weight adjustment from short lists).
The calculation for the final score is then (weight proportion + vote proportion) * 5, to give a score out of a maximum of 10.
Games from an Honourable Mentions list will have zero game weight and 0.5 vote weight.
Ballots using a short list will have both their game weight and vote weight multiplied by 0.75, i.e., every game is overall worth 75% of what it would be on a full list.
Should 25 not be enough to curb your enthusiasm, you have the fully optional option to include a list of Honourable Mentions. In this case, they are to be placed below the main list and must contain exactly 10 games. To keep in line with the rest of the voting, they will be denoted by the value [0], whereupon they will give no scoring weight and only half vote weight.
Alternately, those who make the reqs but find 25 games too much for their tastes may instead include a short list of exactly 15 games. No special notation is needed for a short list, simply make it as you would a regular one while respecting the same guidelines. Much as when they originally were legal, short lists will have their final weight reduced slightly (see scoring, above). They will also not be eligible to have Honourable Mentions. If you want to vote for 25 games, make a regular list, it's what the weighting system is there for.
For example(s) of how to do any of these, you can look at some of the votes in the previous years' voting thread.
03. Shmups released in calendar year 2026 are not eligible for consideration.
04. Don't vote for games you haven't played.
05. Please be specific when voting for ports, or when different games share the same title. Some versions are similar enough to count as the same game, but others are counted separately due to significant differences (e.g. Gradius III or UN Squadron). In some cases, both region and platform may be important. Votes that do not specify platform will be assumed to be for the arcade/other original release, or in isolated cases the most well-known version (e.g. [Zanac] will be considered a vote for Zanac NES). Be careful with notation too, as [Slap Fight MD] is not considered the same thing as [Slap Fight (MD)]. If in doubt, it's always better to specify (or ask/check a previous years' results; last years' are here). I also attempt to keep a more convenient guide, which will usually be slightly updated each year. Also note that you are still free to include more than one separately classified game version on a ballot if you so desire. More obscure releases/arranges/ports/etc may not yet be covered and will be evaluated when and if they crop up.
06. Vote for games, not compilations that include them. You can't vote for Raiden Fighters Aces but you can vote for each of the three games it contains. Games that never got an independent release are also permitted, such as Xevious Arrangement. Do try to be specific here as well if a game or mode has the same name as a compilation that it's in. If someone wishes to vote for a part of a game that qualifies as a shmup, but is not the entire game, I believe this should also be permitted, as long as the voter is capable of judging the quality of that section on its merits as a part of an incomplete whole.
07. Vote for games, not their different modes of play. Exceptions are sometimes granted for revisions of games that are sufficiently different from the original (see rule 05).
08. No off-limits games! Please consult the chart below to see if your game is eligible for consideration:
No voting for:
- First-person perspective shooters (Doom, Solvalou)
- including Lightgun shooters (House of the Dead, Rail Chase)
Rail shooters (Rez, Panzer Dragoon)
Gallery/Carnival shooters (NAM-1975, Cabal)
Action-adventure games (Alien Breed, Gauntlet, Legend of Zelda)- including shooter-likes with an overt focus on roguelike elements (Enter the Gungeon, The Binding of Isaac, Vampire Survivors)
You may vote for games in any of the following categories:
- Non-scrolling playfield
- Fixed shooters (Space Invaders, Galaga)
Maze shooters (Berserk, Tank Battalion)
Field shooters (Robotron 2084, Smash TV, Geometry Wars)- including those set on a cylinder or torus (Asteroids, Star Castle)
- Automatically scrolling shooters
- Vertically scrolling shooters (Xevious, Cybattler)
- including those set on a cylinder (Scion)
- including those set on a cylinder (Fantasy Zone)
- Vertically scrolling shooters (Xevious, Cybattler)
- Manually advancing horizontally scrolling shooters (In The Hunt, Mr. Heli no Daibouken)
- including those set on a cylinder (Defender)
Manually advancing multi-directional shooters (Granada, KiKi KaiKai, Bangai-O)- including those set on a torus or infinite plane (Sinistar)
- Every Extend series
Gyruss and clones
Tempest, clones, and sequels
- Fixed shooters (Space Invaders, Galaga)
09. You may not vote for games that you do not believe are shmups. If you do not think that Granada is a shmup, you may not vote for it. However, as long as the votes of others respect the categories outlined in rule 08, your opinion shall have no bearing on the eligibility of other votes.
Anything by the end of voting that either remains unfixed or looks like someone's idea of a joke will potentially be either changed or discounted.
