Hey there Sean, I’ve been a fan of your website for awhile now and I just came across an interesting thought. I really like shmups, and I really wish for it to become mainstream again. I ran across a thread in the shmups forums awhile back about the possible reasons as to why it became the way it is today. The person who started it has good intentions, but I believe they’re not going to find the real answer by asking the people in there directly, since… well, they’re the part of the reason for it being niche since they know so much about the genre and are willing to go through a lot of hoops in order to play the games that they want like buying two versions of the same console that were meant to be sold and played in different parts of the world.
Anyway, here’s my take on the reason as to why shmups became the way they are today:
1) Like with Platformers, Japanese developers excel in this genre due to excellent controls, something which Western developers tend to have a hard time grasping for some reason. And since Western developers can’t really compete with them (although it’s not to say this is a rule; look at Geometry Wars for example), the only other option is to make them irrelevant, which they succeeded in doing using first-person shooters, a genre which the Japanese aren’t very good in making.
2) Because they froze out the genre, most developers either died off (Technosoft folded and Thunderforce, their flagship series, was bought out by Sega; Irem so far has kept their promise by not making another shmup after R-Type Final, one of the most iconic series in the genre) or moved on. Those that did this and tried to make another shmup after a long hiatus of not practicing the craft realized they lost their touch; look at Capcom’s remake of 1942 or Konami’s Otomedius (yes, you can use those same abilities for the single player mode, so you can literally destroy enemy bosses in less than 5 seconds if they stand still for that long like in 2:35 of that video); Konami was so rusty that even before this game, they had to get Treasure, their former employee, to make a proper sequel to the main Gradius series.
3) The people that have been making shmups even after most of the devleopers decided to move on focus almost entirely on two things: elaborate danmaku patterns and convoluted scoring systems (The popularity of Touhou also adds intro stage and pre-boss fight dialog [wtf I want to shoot things not wait for people to talk, especially right before a boss encounter]). If people choose not to follow those systems, the game typically ends up being ridiculously easy, if not outright stupid in terms of game design (ie- boss wields scary sharp objects that can be used as melee weapons but instead chooses to sit back and barf more bullets at the player). And since people want to get the highest score possible, what ends up happening is that most shmup players end up flying solo since another person who just wants to play or has zero experience with the scoring system will ruin it; I remember seeing one dude at the game area of an anime convention screaming at someone while he was playing Radiant Silvergun because they wanted to join in his gaming session. It’s Serious Business indeed.
4) Game journalism is pretty lame as it is, but it also looks like they’re secretly part of the grand scheme of 1). The reason why I say this is because they always praise Treasure’s shmups. And they’ve like, made a total of three so far, with two of them using strange scoring systems and two of them lasting very closet to one hour per playing session. Problem is, as you said, one needs to question these more now instead of putting them on a pedestal all the time, since budding shmup developers want to ape the decisions Treasure made for their first two shmups instead of making something accessible to newcomers who’ve never played one in their entire lives.
5) The genre’s fanbase. When you get stuff like this and developers who attempt to make shmups go over there for advice, they’re most likely going to get replies from the most affluent people who will give them upmarket suggestions, with the end result being a game designed for a niche.
This vicious cycle needs to end. What these developers need to realize is they need to make games where it does feel like you’re controlling something really awesome (hence the tight controls for the shmup craft you’re flying) and you’re fighting enemies with real personality. The only modern shmup that unfortunately does that for me is Senko no Ronde, which is insanely complex because it follows the giant robot mythos found in Japanese animation. It also borrows a lot of atmosphere, if not outright steals it, from To Terra, which is one of those milestone comics that defined the medium in Japan and adds to the game’s charm. And as you’ve said before, it proves that original content ends up being great content that was stolen from something else.
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Malstrom replies:
You’re not going to like my answer.
When the shmups were popular, there was no ‘genre’ as they call it today. There was also a difference with Western shmups as they seemed to be arena based such as Geometry Wars. Japanese shmups were very linear. Even at the beginning, Space War, Defender and Asteroids came from America while Space Invaders, Xevious, and Gradius came from Japan.
What died first was the Western shmup. Western shmups are interesting since they are entirely arena based. Examples would be Uridium and even the Star Control series.
I don’t know why, but I guess gamers just like shooting things. Every generation, there is some ‘genre’ where people are doing nothing but shooting things. Shmups were the bread and butter of arcades and consoles back in the 80s and early 90s. However, the shmup was transforming away from its spaceship origins. If you had the same exact gameplay as a shmup but the sprite was a soldier running around on the ground, is it still a shmup? I’d say so. The aesthetics don’t really matter.
During the 8-bit generation, there were many games that, today, defy description since there was no genre label then and games would mix the genres. Is Guardian Legend a shmup or a Zelda game? Is Contra a shmup or a platformer? Contra shares many of the same elements as a shmup. Perhaps it is a platformer shmup?
Even though Robotron doesn’t have a space ship, the game clearly is shmup like. So wouldn’t Smash TV also be ‘shmup like’?
Is Descent a shmup? It shares many of the same characteristics. How about Starfox? Are they just shmups in 3d?
Today, the shmups are long gone except for a few here and there. Twenty years ago, the bread and butter was shmups. Today, the bread and butter of gaming is First Person Shooters. And yet, the first person shooter shares many of the same elements as the westernized shmup. You are in an arena, you shoot at the enemy, you dodge the enemy’s bullets, get new weapons, and so on.
Somehow, along the way, the shmup transformed into the FPS. In a 1 vs 1 Deathmatch, I see Space War reflected in the game. The differences are no gravity, no space ships, and a maze for the map, but other than that they seem like distant relatives.
So I think the shmups have been transformed into FPS. Why did they lose the nifty space ship? It is probably because spaceships aren’t as accessible as a space marine. (For First Person Shmups, you could look at Wing Commander or TIE Fighter.)
Can the old shmup come back? Sure. One of the big problems with the shmup is that the game no longer makes people say “Wow”. When I first saw Zaxxon, I said, “Wow.” When I first saw Life Force, I said, “Wow.” When I first saw Blazing Lasers, I said, “Wow.” When I first saw R-Type, I really said “Wow!” When a shmup now appears, no matter how well it is done, the reaction is always “Meh”.
In order for the shmup to become mainstream again, it is going to have to make people say “Wow!”, and I don’t know how to do that. Games like Geometry Wars were popular because they were cheap little downloadable titles.
Even on the DS, there aren’t many shmups. There is Nanostray… but then what?
If 2d Mario can come back, so can the old shmup. I do agree they need to eliminate all the ‘eccentricity’ that has grown around the shmup such as the ‘bullet hell’ and the enemy designs that make no sense whatsoever. Just as NSMB Wii had to be Mario 5 instead of Super Mario World 2, the new shmup is going to have to be Gradius 6 instead of Gradius 3 Part 2.
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