Shoot 'em up
Encyclopedia
Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games
Shooter game
Shooter games are a sub-genre of action game, which often test the player's speed and reaction time. It includes many subgenres that have the commonality of focusing "on the actions of the avatar using some sort of weapon. Usually this weapon is a gun, or some other long-range weapon". A common...
. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
, often in a spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
or aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what design elements constitute a shoot 'em up. Some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character movement; others allow a broader definition including characters on foot and a variety of perspectives. Shoot 'em ups call for fast reactions and for the player to memorise levels and enemy attack patterns. Newer "bullet hell" games feature overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles, the patterns of which the player must memorize in order to avoid.
The genre's origins can be traced back to Spacewar!, one of the very earliest computer games, developed in 1961 and eventually released in arcades
Video arcade
An amusement arcade or video arcade is a venue where people play arcade games such as video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers , or coin-operated billiards or air hockey tables...
in the early 1970s. However, Space Invaders
Space Invaders
is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to...
, released in Japanese arcades in 1978, is generally credited with inventing and popularising the genre proper. Shoot 'em ups were popular throughout the 1980s and early 1990s as they evolved. From the mid-1990s and the burgeoning use of 3D graphics
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
in video games, shoot 'em ups became a niche genre based on design conventions established in the 1980s and increasingly catered to specialist enthusiasts, particularly in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Shoot 'em ups encompass various types, or sub-genres. In a "fixed shooter" such as Space Invaders, the protagonist can only move across one axis and enemies attack from a single direction. In a "multi-directional shooter" the protagonist may rotate and move in any direction. By contrast, a "rail shooter" protagonist is viewed from behind and moves "into the screen", while the player retains control over dodging. "Tube shooters" feature similar viewpoints, and their protagonists fly through abstract tubes. "Scrolling shooters" encompass both "horizontal shooters" and "vertical shooters" (featuring side-on and top-down viewpoints respectively) and in turn "bullet hell" games and "cute 'em ups". "Run and gun" games feature protagonists on foot, rather than spacecraft, that often have the ability to jump; they may feature either scrolling or multidirectional movement.
Definition
A "shoot 'em up", also known as a "shmup" or "STG", is a game in which the protagonist combats a large number of enemies by shooting at them while dodging their fire. The controlling player must rely primarily on reaction times to succeed. Beyond this, critics differ on exactly which design elements constitute a shoot 'em up. Some restrict the genre to games featuring some kind of craft, using fixed or scrollingScrolling
In computer graphics, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display. "Scrolling", as such, does not change the layout of the text or pictures, or but incrementally moves the user's view across what is...
movement. Others widen the scope to include games featuring such protagonists as robots or humans on foot, as well as including games featuring "on-rails" (or "into the screen") and "run and gun" movement. Formerly, critics described any game where the primary design element was shooting as a "shoot 'em up", but later shoot 'em ups became a specific, inward-looking genre based on design conventions established in those shooting games of the 1980s.
Common elements
Shoot 'em ups are a sub-genre of shooter gameShooter game
Shooter games are a sub-genre of action game, which often test the player's speed and reaction time. It includes many subgenres that have the commonality of focusing "on the actions of the avatar using some sort of weapon. Usually this weapon is a gun, or some other long-range weapon". A common...
, in turn a type of action game
Action game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
. These games are usually viewed from a top-down or side-view perspective, and players must use ranged weapons to take action at a distance. The player's avatar
Avatar (computing)
In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It can also refer to a text...
is typically a vehicle that is under constant attack. Thus, the player's goal is to shoot as quickly as possible anything that moves or threatens him. In some games, the player's character can withstand some damage; in others, a single hit will result in his destruction. The main skills required in shoot 'em ups are fast reactions and memorising enemy attack patterns. Some games feature overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles and the player has to memorise their patterns in order to survive. These games belong to one of the fastest-paced video game genres.
Large numbers of enemy characters are typically featured. These enemies may behave in a certain way dependent on their type, or attack in formations that the player can learn to predict. The basic gameplay tends to be straightforward and many games offset this with boss
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
battles and a variety of weapons. Shoot 'em ups rarely have realistic physics. Characters can instantly change direction with no inertia
Inertia
Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion or rest, or the tendency of an object to resist any change in its motion. It is proportional to an object's mass. The principle of inertia is one of the fundamental principles of classical physics which are used to...
, and projectiles move in a straight line at constant speeds. The player's character can collect "power-up
Power-up
In computer and video games, power-ups are objects that instantly benefit or add extra abilities to the game character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a benefit and can be used at a time chosen by the player...
s" which may afford the character greater protection, an "extra life
1-up
1-up , pronounced "one up", is a term in console video gaming that commonly refers to an item that gives the player an extra life, to complete the game. In certain games, it is possible to receive multiple extra lives at once...
", or upgraded weaponry. Different weapons are often suited to different enemies, but these games seldom keep track of ammunition. As such, players tend to fire indiscriminately, and their weapons only damage legitimate targets.
Types
Light gun shooter
Light gun shooter, also called light gun game or simply gun game, is a shooter video game genre in which the primary design element is aiming and shooting with a gun-shaped controller. Light gun shooters revolve around the protagonist shooting targets, either antagonists or inanimate objects...
s that use "on-rails" movement, and the term has also been applied to linear first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
s such as Call of Duty
Call of Duty
Call of Duty is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision in 2003. It is the first game in a series with the same name. The game simulates the infantry and combined arms warfare of World War II. The game is based on the Quake III: Team Arena engine...
in recent years. "Tube shooters" feature craft flying through an abstract tube.
"Scrolling shooters" include vertical or horizontal scrolling games. In a vertically scrolling
Scrolling
In computer graphics, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display. "Scrolling", as such, does not change the layout of the text or pictures, or but incrementally moves the user's view across what is...
shoot 'em up (or "vertical scroller"), the action is viewed from above and scrolls up (or very occasionally down) the screen. This has the advantage of allowing complex patterns of enemies as well as allowing even simple graphics to function convincingly. Vertical scrollers are best suited for arcade machines with tall screens; screens used with home computers or consoles tend to be wider than they are tall and thus less suited to vertical scrolling. The other main type of scrolling shooter is a "horizontal shooter" or "side-scrolling shooter", in which the action is viewed side-on and scrolls horizontally. A small number of scrolling shooters, such as Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
's Zaxxon
Zaxxon
Zaxxon is a 1982 arcade game developed and released by Sega. Some sources claim that Japanese electronics company Ikegami Tsushinki also worked on the development of Zaxxon...
, feature an isometric point of view. Others dispense with scrolling altogether instead using a flip-screen
Flip-screen
In video games, flip-screen is a principle whereby the playing environment is divided into single-screen portions...
device: when a player reaches the edge of the screen, a whole new scene appears at once. Some shooters may feature multi-directional movement ("multi-directional shooter"), generally with a static screen.
is a shoot 'em up in which the entire screen is often almost completely filled with enemy bullets. This type is also known as "curtain fire", "manic shooters" or "maniac shooters". This style of game originated in the mid-1990s, and is an offshoot of scrolling shooters.
"Cute 'em ups" feature brightly coloured graphics depicting surreal settings and enemies. Newer, particularly Japanese, cute 'em ups employ overtly sexual characters and innuendo.
"Run and gun" (or "run 'n' gun") describes a shoot 'em up in which the protagonist fights on foot, perhaps with the ability to jump. Run and gun games may use side scrolling, vertical scrolling or isometric viewpoints
Isometric projection
Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...
and may feature multi-directional movement. These types of games may also be termed "scrolling shooters".
Origins and rise
Space Invaders
is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to...
is more frequently cited as the "first" or "original" in the genre. Spacewar! was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
in 1961, for the amusement of the developers; it was however remade four times as an arcade game in the early to mid-1970s. The game featured combat between two spacecraft Such games based on one-on-one combat are sometimes classified as "combat games" rather than "shooter" or "shoot 'em up" games, which are usually based on shooting at multiple opponents (the em being shorthand for "them") attacking at once.
From the mid-1970s, Taito released several experimental shooting games that culminated in their seminal title Space Invaders. In 1975, they released Western Gun
Gun Fight
Gun Fight, known as Western Gun in Japan and Europe, is a 1975 arcade shooter game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released by Taito in Japan and Europe and by Midway Games in the United States. It was a historically significant game, and a success in the arcades. It was later ported to the...
(Gun Fight), designed by Space Invaders creator Tomohiro Nishikado. It was an early two-player, on-foot, multi-directional shooter, which was also the first video game to depict a gun on screen, introduced dual-stick controls with one eight-way joystick
Joystick
A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or...
for movement and the other for changing the shooting direction, and was the first known video game to feature game characters
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
and fragments of story through its visual presentation. That same year, they released Interceptor, also designed by Nishikado. It was an early first-person
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
combat flight simulator
Combat flight simulator
Combat flight simulators are video games used to simulate military aircraft and their operations...
that involved piloting a jet fighter
Fighter aircraft
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...
, using an eight-way joystick to aim with a crosshair and shoot at enemy aircraft that move in formations of two and scale in size
2.5D
2.5D , 3/4 perspective and pseudo-3D are terms used to describe either:* 2D graphical projections and techniques which cause a series of images or scenes to fake or appear to be three-dimensional when in fact they are not, or* gameplay in an otherwise three-dimensional video game that is...
depending on their distance to the player. In 1977, Taito released Missile-X, a simulator
Simulation video game
A simulation video game describes a diverse super-category of computer and video games, generally designed to closely simulate aspects of a real or fictional reality.-Sub-genres:-Construction and management simulation:...
that featured real-life colour images as background scenery and involved the player launching missiles to destroy enemy tanks, and Sub Hunter, an early submarine simulator
Submarine simulator
A submarine simulator, or subsim for short, is usually a computer game in which the player commands a submarine. The usual form of the game is to go on a series of missions, each of which features a number of encounters where the goal is to sink surface ships and to survive counterattacks by...
that featured three-dimensional
2.5D
2.5D , 3/4 perspective and pseudo-3D are terms used to describe either:* 2D graphical projections and techniques which cause a series of images or scenes to fake or appear to be three-dimensional when in fact they are not, or* gameplay in an otherwise three-dimensional video game that is...
colour background scenery and involved controlling a destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
that fires depth charge
Depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...
s at submarines while having to avoid their mines. That same year, Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
released an early side-scrolling video game
Side-scrolling video game
A side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...
for the arcades, Bomber, which involved controlling a bomber plane that drops bombs on moving targets, which include a scrolling
Scrolling
In computer graphics, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display. "Scrolling", as such, does not change the layout of the text or pictures, or but incrementally moves the user's view across what is...
pattern of buildings, while shooting at oncoming fighter jets that also move in a scrolling pattern across the screen.
Space Invaders
is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to...
, created by Nishikado at Japan's Taito Corporation
Taito Corporation
The is a Japanese publisher of video game software and arcade hardware wholly owned by publisher Square Enix. Taito has their headquarters in the Shinjuku Bunka Quint Building in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo, sharing the facility with its parent company....
, that the shooter genre became prolific. Space Invaders pitted the player against multiple enemies descending from the top of the screen at a constantly increasing rate of speed. The game used alien creatures inspired by The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds is an 1898 science fiction novel written by H. G. Wells.The War of the Worlds may also refer to:- Radio broadcasts :* The War of the Worlds , the 1938 radio broadcast by Orson Welles...
(by H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
) because the developers were unable to render the movement of aircraft; in turn the aliens replaced human enemies because of moral concerns (regarding the portrayal of killing humans) on the part of Taito Corporation. As with subsequent shoot 'em ups of the time, the game was set in space as the available technology only permitted a black background. The game also introduced the idea of giving the player a number of "lives". Space Invaders was a massive commercial success, causing a coin shortage in Japan, and gaining mainstream popularity in America. Space Invaders popularized a more interactive style of gameplay with the enemies responding to the player controlled cannon's movement, and it was the first video game to popularize the concept of achieving a high score
Score (game)
In games, score refers to an abstract quantity associated with a player or team. Score is usually measured in the abstract unit of points, and events in the game can raise or lower the score of different parties...
, being the first game to save
Saved game
A saved game is a piece of digitally stored information about the progress of a player in a video game. This saved game can be reloaded later, so the player can continue where he or she had stopped...
the player's score. It was also the first game where players had to repel hordes of enemies, take cover
Cover system
A cover system is how a video game lets a virtual avatar avoid dangers usually in a three-dimensional world. This method is a digital adaptation of the real-life military tactic of taking cover to dodge enemy gunfire or explosives. Similar gameplay elements can be traced back to as early as 1986,...
from enemy fire, and use destructible
Destructible environment
In video games, the term destructible environment, or terrain deformation, refers to an environment within a game which can be wholly or partially destroyed by the player...
barriers, in addition to introducing a continuous background soundtrack. It set the template for the shoot 'em up genre, and has influenced most shooting games released since then. That same year, Sega released an early vector graphics
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
space combat
Space flight simulator game
A space flight simulator game is a genre of simulation video games that lets players experience space flight. Highly realistic examples lacking any sort of combat include Orbiter and Microsoft Space Simulator...
game, Space Ship, where two players battle to destroy each other, and a side-scrolling shooter, Secret Base, which allowed two-player cooperative gameplay
Cooperative gameplay
Cooperative gameplay is a feature in video games that allows players to work together as teammates. It is distinct from other multiplayer modes, such as competitive multiplayer modes like player versus player or deathmatch...
and where the aim was to destroy an enemy base amidst enemy missiles and anti-aircraft fire.
Golden age and refinement
In 1979, NamcoNamco
is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...
's Galaxian
Galaxian
is an arcade game developed by Namco in 1979. It was published by Namco in Japan and was imported to North America by Midway in 1980. A fixed shooter-style game in which the player controls a spaceship at the bottom of the screen and shoots enemies descending in various directions, it was designed...
took the genre further with more complex enemy patterns and richer graphics, as being the first game to have all of its graphics in RGB colour. Namco also released SOS
SOS (arcade game)
SOS is a vertical-scrolling shooter arcade game that was released by Namco in 1980.-Gameplay:The player controls a fighter plane called a "Shinryaku" which is situated at the bottom of the screen, while enemy planes fly down from above. The player may destroy them for 10 points each...
, an early vertical scrolling shooter. That same year saw the release of SNK
SNK
SNK is a former name of SNK Playmore, a Japanese video game company . This may also refer to:* SNK European Democrats* SNK Union of Independents* Southeast Airlines ICAO code...
's debut shoot 'em up Ozma Wars
Ozma Wars
Ozma Wars is a 1979 scrolling shooter arcade game, which is the very first game developed and published by SNK. In fact, at the time of its creation the company was still known as "Shin Nihon Kikaku"...
, also an early vertical scrolling
Scrolling
In computer graphics, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display. "Scrolling", as such, does not change the layout of the text or pictures, or but incrementally moves the user's view across what is...
shooter, notable for being the first action game
Action game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
to feature a supply of energy, resembling a life bar, a mechanic that has now become common in the majority of modern action games. Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
also developed Kamikaze
Astro Invader
Astro Invader was the first arcade game ever released by Stern Electronics. It debuted in the summer of 1980. It was an American adaptation of Konami's Kamikaze, released in Japan in 1979...
, a fixed-shooter where the aliens can plummet to the Earth, causing an explosion that could kill the player if nearby. It was released by Stern as Astro Invader the following year. Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's Sheriff
Sheriff (arcade game)
is an arcade game developed by Nintendo R&D1 in 1979, designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda. Some sources claim that Ikegami Tsushinki also did design work on Sheriff. It is one of the earliest Western-style video games developed . The player controls a county sheriff who must defend the...
, released in 1979, was a run and gun multi-directional shooter that featured dual-stick controls, with one joystick
Joystick
A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or...
for movement and the other for aiming, and a large number of enemies shooting many bullets, paving the way for dual-stick shooters such as Robotron 2084 and later Geometry Wars
Geometry Wars
Geometry Wars is a minigame created by Bizarre Creations as part of Project Gotham Racing 2 for the Xbox, accessible through the in-game garage. An updated version of the game, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, is available for download on the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade. It can also be played in...
. Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto
Shigeru Miyamoto
is a Japanese video game designer and producer. Miyamoto was born and raised in Kyoto Prefecture; the natural surroundings of Kyoto inspired much of Miyamoto's later work....
also released Radar Scope
Radar Scope
is an early cabinet arcade game developed and published by Nintendo in November 1980. Some sources claim that Ikegami Tsushinki also did design work on Radar Scope. It is a shooter that can be viewed as a cross between Taito's Space Invaders and Namco's Galaxian...
, which introduced a three-dimensional third-person perspective, imitated years later by shooters such as Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
's Juno First
Juno First
Juno First is a shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Konami and released in 1983. It was licensed to Gottlieb in the United States. The game is a vertical scrolling shooter, with a third-person perspective like Radar Scope. It follows in the tradition of space-themed shooting-galleries such as...
and Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
's Beamrider
Beamrider
Beamrider is a scrolling shooter designed for the Intellivision by Activision programmer David Rolfe. The game was then ported to the Atari 2600 , Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum as well as the MSX platform.-Summary:Beamrider takes place above Earth's atmosphere,...
.
In 1980, Sega released Carnival, an early shooting gallery game with a bonus round
Bonus stage
A bonus stage is a special level within a video game designed to reward the player or players, and typically allows the player to collect extra points or power-ups. Often a bonus stage will have no enemies or hazards, or may contain them but the player character is invulnerable to attack from them...
, and Space Tactics, featuring a first-person perspective
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
, the player having to defend five bases, a shield with limited renewal capability available to protect the bases, each base capable of firing a large single shot, the alien ships attacking in a 3D pattern towards the screen, the entire screen mobilizing and scrolling in multiple directions as the player moves the cross-hairs, and a laser that shoots into the screen, creating a real-life 3D effect. Space Firebird
Space Firebird
is a 1980 arcade game developed by Nintendo R&D1. It was published by Nintendo in Japan and in the North America. It was also published by Sega-Gremlin in the US as well...
, developed by Nintendo and published by Sega-Gremlin
Gremlin Industries
Gremlin Industries was arcade game manufacturer active from the 1970s to early 1980s, and based San Diego, California, USA .Gremlin was founded in 1973 as a manufacturer of coin-operated wall games. Gremlin's first wall game, Play Ball, was fairly successful.- History :Gremlin joined the video game...
, featured a special warp button that gave the player temporary invincibility. Other notable games from that year include Sun's Stratovox
Stratovox
Stratovox AKA Speak & Rescue is an arcade shoot 'em up developed by Sun Electronics and published by Taito in 1980. It was the first video game to feature voice synthesis.-Gameplay:...
, a simple fixed-shooter best known for being the first video game to introduce speech synthesis
Speech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...
, and SNK's Sasuke vs Commander, a fixed-shooter that featured human characters instead of spaceships, specifically shuriken
Shuriken
A shuriken is a traditional Japanese concealed weapon that was generally used for throwing, and sometimes stabbing or slashing...
-throwing ninja
Ninja
A or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...
s, as well as boss encounters, against shinobi
Shinobi
Shinobi is the Japanese word for male ninja. It may also refer to:*Shinobi , a series of video games**Shinobi , the original video game in the series developed by Sega**Shinobi , the PlayStation 2 sequel...
with abilities such as shooting flame.
In 1981, Defender
Defender (game)
Defender is an arcade video game developed released by Williams Electronics in 1980. A shooting game featuring two-dimensional graphics, the game is set on a fictional planet where the player must defeat waves of invading aliens while protecting astronauts...
established scrolling in shoot 'em ups, offering horizontally extended levels. Unlike most later games in the genre, the player could move in either direction. Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
's Scramble
Scramble (arcade game)
Scramble is a 1981 horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up, arcade game. It was developed by Konami, and manufactured and distributed by Stern in North America. It was the first side-scrolling shooter with forced scrolling and multiple distinct levels...
, released in 1981, is a side-scrolling
Side-scrolling video game
A side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...
shooter with forced scrolling. It was the first scrolling shooter to offer multiple, distinct levels
Level (video gaming)
A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...
. That same year saw the release of Jump Bug
Jump Bug
Jump Bug was the first platform game to include smooth horizontal scrolling. It was developed by Alpha Denshi under contract for Hoei/Coreland and released to arcades in 1981, only five months after Donkey Kong.-Gameplay:...
, a scrolling platform-shooter where players controlled a car and featured levels that scrolled both horizontally and vertically. SNK's second scrolling shooter Vanguard was also released that year, and it was both a horizontal and vertical scrolling shooter that allowed the player to shoot in four directions. It was also an early dual-control game, similar to the later multi-directional shooter Robotron 2084, but using four directional buttons rather than a second joystick. Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
's Tempest, released in 1981, is one of the earliest tube shooters and an early attempt to incorporate a 3D perspective into shooter games. Tempest ultimately went on to influence major rail shooters. That same year, Taito released Space Seeker, a shooter that allowed the player to choose which level to play, some of which were side-scrolling while others were viewed from a first-person perspective
First person (video games)
In video games, first person refers to a graphical perspective rendered from the viewpoint of the player character. In many cases, this may be the viewpoint from the cockpit of a vehicle. Many different genres have made use of first-person perspectives, ranging from adventure games to flight...
. Sega's Eliminator was notable for its colour vector graphics
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
, competitive and cooperative gameplay
Cooperative gameplay
Cooperative gameplay is a feature in video games that allows players to work together as teammates. It is distinct from other multiplayer modes, such as competitive multiplayer modes like player versus player or deathmatch...
, and for being the only four-player vector game ever released, while Sega's Space Fury
Space Fury
Space Fury a multi-directional shooter arcade game created by Sega released on June 17, 1981. The game was an early example of color vector graphics and it also featured speech synthesis.-Gameplay:...
that year also featured colour vector graphics in addition to speech synthesis. Hoei
Banpresto
is a Japanese toy company, best known in America for game development, headquartered in the Shinagawa Seaside West Building in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It was founded April 1977 as Hoei Sangyo, Co. Ltd. The company was renamed Coreland in 1982, and during the 1980s it worked mainly as a subcontractor for...
's Mayday!! was inspired by Defender but added several new features, including an eight-direction joystick
Joystick
A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or...
, a Mayday button that enables slow motion
Slow motion
Slow motion is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger....
for five seconds, being able to speed up and slow down the ship's forward momentum, and the ability to crash into cavern walls. Namco's Bosconian
Bosconian
is a free-roaming multi-directional scrolling shooter arcade game that was developed by Namco and released in 1981. In contrast to the more linear shooter games of its time, Bosconian allows the player's ship to freely move across open space that scrolls in all directions. The game also features a...
introduced a free-roaming
Open world
An open world is a type of video game level design where a player can roam freely through a virtual world and is given considerable freedom in choosing how to approach objectives...
style of gameplay where the player's ship could freely move across open space that scrolls in all directions and a radar that tracks the positions of the player and enemies on the map. Other notable shooters released that year were Namco's Galaxian successor Galaga
Galaga
is a fixed shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan and published by Midway in North America in 1981. It is the sequel to Galaxian, released in 1979. The gameplay of Galaga puts the player in control of a space ship which is situated on the bottom of the screen...
, one of the first games with a bonus stage
Bonus stage
A bonus stage is a special level within a video game designed to reward the player or players, and typically allows the player to collect extra points or power-ups. Often a bonus stage will have no enemies or hazards, or may contain them but the player character is invulnerable to attack from them...
, and Universal
Aruze
, is a Japanese manufacturer of pachinko, slot machines, arcade games and other gaming products, and a publisher of video games. Aruze possesses licenses to both manufacture and distribute casino machines in the American states of Nevada, Mississippi and New Jersey. The company's corporate...
's Snap Jack, a scrolling shooter that is a cross between Scramble and Pac-Man
Pac-Man
is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...
.
Vertical scrolling shooters emerged around the same time. Namco's Xevious
Xevious
is a vertical scrolling shooter arcade game by Namco, released in 1982. It was designed by Masanobu Endō. In the U.S., the game was manufactured and distributed by Atari. Xevious runs on Namco Galaga hardware. In Brazil the arcade cabinet was printed with the name 'COLUMBIA' for the game, while the...
, released in 1982, is frequently cited as the first vertical shooter and, although it was de facto preceded by several other games featuring vertical scrolling, it was the most influential. Xevious is also the first to convincingly portray realistic landscapes as opposed to purely science fiction settings. That same year, Irem's Moon Patrol
Moon Patrol
is a classic arcade game by Irem that was first released in 1982. It was licensed to Williams for distribution in North America.The player controls a moon buggy, viewing it from the side, that travels over the moon's surface. While driving it, obstacles such as craters and mines must be avoided....
is a side-scrolling shooter that introduced the use of parallax scrolling
Parallax scrolling
Parallax scrolling is a special scrolling technique in computer graphics, popularized in the 1982 arcade game Moon Patrol. In this pseudo-3D technique, background images move by the camera slower than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth in a 2D video game and adding to the immersion...
to give an early pseudo-3D effect. While Asteroids (1979) allowed the player to rotate the game's spacecraft, 1982's highly acclaimed Robotron 2084 was most influential on subsequent multi-directional shooters. That same year, several early vertical-scrolling run & gun shooters were released, including Taito's Front Line
Front Line (arcade game)
Front Line is a military combat-themed arcade game released in 1982 by Taito Corporation.The original arcade version consists of a joystick, a single button , and a rotary dial that can be pushed in like a button, which fires the weapon...
, an early military-themed multi-directional shooter to have players control foot soldiers rather than vehicles, Taito's Wild Western, where the player character on a horse must defend a moving train from robbers, and Jaleco
Jaleco
is a Japanese video game publisher and developer established in 2006.The original Jaleco Ltd was founded in 1974. In 2006, it decided to become a pure holding company by renaming itself Jaleco Holding and splitting its video game operations into a newly created subsdiary that took its former name...
's Naughty Boy, about a boy who throws rocks at monsters to destroy them, with the longer the fire button held down, the farther the character can throw rocks, while featuring boss encounters and bonus rounds. That year, Kaneko
Kaneko
, also referred to as , was a Japanese video game publisher founded in Suginami, Tokyo, Japan by Hiroshi Kaneko. It published a number of games both under its brand and other companies, such as Air Buster, Nexzr, Shogun Warriors, DJ Boy, Guts'n, and the Gals Panic series...
also released the Namco Galaxian
Namco Galaxian
The Namco 8-bit Galaxian arcade system board was first used by Namco in 1979.-Namco Galaxian specifications:*Main CPU: Zilog Z80*Sound chips: Discrete*Video resolution: 256x224...
game Red Clash, a space shooter that allowed moving and scrolling in all four directions, while Sega released Tac/Scan
Tac/Scan
Tac/Scan is a 1982 space combat shooter video game originally released as an arcade game, and later ported to the Atari 2600. It was also included as an unlockable game in the PlayStation 2 version of Sega Genesis Collection...
, where the early overhead levels scrolled in all directions while later levels were in third-person perspective, SubRoc-3D
Subroc-3D
SubRoc-3D is an arcade game released in 1982 by Sega, and the first such game to provide a three-dimensional image to the player, using a display that delivers individual images to each eye...
, an early stereoscopic 3-D shooter played from a first-person perspective, and Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom, a third-person rail shooter with fast pseudo-3D
2.5D
2.5D , 3/4 perspective and pseudo-3D are terms used to describe either:* 2D graphical projections and techniques which cause a series of images or scenes to fake or appear to be three-dimensional when in fact they are not, or* gameplay in an otherwise three-dimensional video game that is...
scaling and detailed sprites
Sprite (computer graphics)
In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene...
. Nichibutsu also released Star Attack, a scrolling shooter where shooting ships increments the time counter and which featured a "Freeze" button that stopped everything except the player's ship, while Konami released Time Pilot
Time Pilot
Time Pilot is a multi-directional scrolling shooter and free-roaming aerial combat arcade game designed by Yoshiki Okamoto, released by Konami in 1982, and distributed in the United States by Centuri...
, which featured a time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
theme and a free-roaming style of gameplay where the player's plane could freely move across open air space that scrolls indefinitely in all directions.
In 1983, Taito released Bio-Attack
Bio-Attack
Bio-Attack is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game released by Taito in 1983. Here, you control a ship through a human's body while shooting viruses. It was licensed to Fox Video Games....
, a vertical-scrolling shooter where the player controls a microscopic ship through a human body while shooting bacteria, and Sesame Japan released Vastar
Vastar
Vastar is a 1983's arcade game. It's the only known game released by Sesame Japan Corporation company. - History :...
, a side-scrolling shooter where the player controls a mecha
Mecha
A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
robot. That same year, Nippon produced Ambush, an early spaceship shooter played entirely from a third-person perspective, Technosoft
Technosoft
Technosoft is a Japanese video game developer that is known for the Thunder Force series of shooter games, as well as Herzog Zwei, regarded as the world's first real time strategy game....
released Thunder Force
Thunder Force
Thunder Force is a scrolling shooter computer game released by Technosoft in 1983. It is the first game in the Thunder Force series. It was initially released for the Sharp X1 computer, and later appared on the Sharp MZ-1500, NEC PC-6001 mkII, and in 1985 on the NEC PC-8801 mkII...
, an overhead shooter that allowed the player to freely scroll in any direction, and Sega released Astron Belt
Astron Belt
Astron Belt is an early laserdisc video game and third-person space combat rail shooter, released in 1983 by Sega in Japan and licensed to Bally Midway for release in the United States. Developed in 1982, it is commonly cited as the first laserdisc game...
, an early first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
and the first arcade laserdisc game
Laserdisc video game
A laserdisc video game is an arcade game that uses pre-recorded video played from a laserdisc, either as the entirety of the graphics, or as part of the graphics.-History:...
to be developed, featuring live-action footage (largely borrowed from a Japanese science fiction film) over which the player/enemy ships and laser fire are superimposed. Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
's Mega Zone
Mega Zone (video game)
Mega Zone is an overhead vertical scrolling shooter arcade game developed by Konami in 1983 with non-linear branching paths and abundant enemies.-Ports:...
was a vertical-scrolling shooter that introduced nonlinear gameplay in the form of multiple different branching paths. That same year also saw the release of Enix
Enix
The was a Japanese company that produced video games, anime and manga. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975 as and renamed Enix in 1982...
's Kagirinaki Tatakai, an early run & gun shooter for the Sharp X1
Sharp X1
The X1 is a series of home computer released by Sharp Corporation from 1982 to 1988. It was based on a Z80 CPU.Despite the fact that the Computer Division of Sharp Corporation had released the MZ series, suddenly the Television Division released a new computer series called the X1...
computer that featured fully destructible environment
Destructible environment
In video games, the term destructible environment, or terrain deformation, refers to an environment within a game which can be wholly or partially destroyed by the player...
s, a convincing physics engine
Physics engine
A physics engine is computer software that provides an approximate simulation of certain physical systems, such as rigid body dynamics , soft body dynamics, and fluid dynamics, of use in the domains of computer graphics, video games and film. Their main uses are in video games , in which case the...
, and a choice of several different weapons. That same year also saw the release of another early run & gun shooter for the Sharp X1, Hover Attack, which freely scrolled in all directions, allowed the player to shoot diagonally as well as straight ahead, and let the player fire in any direction independent of the direction the character is moving. Hover Attack is known for inspiring the later more famous Bangai-O
Bangai-O
Bangai-O in its Dreamcast Western release, or in the Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast Japanese versions, is a multi-directional shooter video game developed by Treasure.It was first released on the Nintendo 64 only in Japan with a limited 10,000 unit production run...
. The following year, Game Arts
Game Arts
is a Japanese video game software developer located in Tokyo, Japan. Originally established in 1985 as a computer software company, they have since expanded their enterprise to produce for a number of game console and handheld systems...
released Thexder
Thexder
is a classic action-arcade game from Game Arts, released on a number of platforms throughout the late 1980's and 1990.-Background:In the game, the player is a fighter robot, but is able to transform into a jet. Originally released in 1985 for the NEC PC-8801 platform in Japan, the game quickly...
, a breakthrough title for run & gun shooters. That same year, Irem released The Battle-Road
The Battle-Road
The Battle-Road is a vertical scrolling shooter racing arcade game released by Irem in 1984.The game was an early open-ended vehicle combat game that featured branching paths and up to 32 possible routes...
, an early open-ended
Open world
An open world is a type of video game level design where a player can roam freely through a virtual world and is given considerable freedom in choosing how to approach objectives...
vehicle combat
Vehicular combat game
Vehicular combat games are typically video or computer games where the primary focus of play concerns automobiles or other vehicles, normally armed with guns or other weaponry, attempting to destroy vehicles controlled by the CPU or by opposing players...
shooter that featured branching paths and up to 32 possible routes.
Sega's Space Harrier
Space Harrier
is a third-person rail shooter game, released by Sega in 1985. It was produced by Yu Suzuki, responsible for many popular Sega games. It spawned several sequels: Space Harrier 3-D , Space Harrier II , and the spin-off Planet Harriers ....
, a rail shooter released in 1985, broke new ground graphically and its wide variety of settings across multiple levels gave players more to aim for than high scores. It was one of the first arcade games to use 16-bit graphics
History of video game consoles (fourth generation)
In the history of computer and video games, the fourth generation began on October 30, 1987 with the Japanese release of Nippon Electric Company's PC Engine...
and Sega's "Super Scaler" technology that allowed pseudo-3D sprite-scaling at high frame rate
Frame rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...
s, with the ability to scale as many as 32,000 sprites
Sprite (computer graphics)
In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene...
and fill a moving landscape with them. It was also an early example of a third-person shooter
Third-person shooter
Third-person shooter is a genre of 3D action games in which the player character is visible on-screen, and the gameplay consists primarily of shooting.-Definition:...
. 1985 also saw the release of Konami's Gradius
Gradius
The Gradius games, first introduced in 1985, make up a series of scrolling shooter video games published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper...
, which gave the player greater control over the choice of weaponry, thus introducing another element of strategy. The game also introduced the need for the player to memorise levels in order to achieve any measure of success. Gradius, with its iconic protagonist, defined the side-scrolling shoot 'em up and spawned a series spanning several sequels. The following year saw the emergence of one of Sega's forefront series with its game Fantasy Zone
Fantasy Zone
thumb|Fantasy Zone arcade PCB is a surreal arcade game released by Sega in 1986. It was later ported to a wide variety of consoles, including the Sega Master System. The player controls a sentient spaceship named Opa-Opa who fights nonsensical invader enemies in the titular group of planets, full...
. The game received acclaim for its surreal graphics and setting and the protagonist, Opa-Opa, was for a time considered Sega's mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
. The game borrowed Defender's device of allowing the player to control the direction of flight and along with the earlier Twinbee
Twinbee
is a video game series composed primarily of cartoon-themed vertical-scrolling shoot-'em-up games produced by Konami that were released primarily in Japan. The series originated as a coin-operated video game simply titled TwinBee in , which was followed by several home versions and sequels...
(1985), is an early archetype of the "cute 'em up" sub-genre. 1986 also saw the release of Square
Square (company)
was a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix...
's medieval fantasy shooter King's Knight
King's Knight
is a video game published by Square for the Nintendo Entertainment System and MSX. It was later re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console in Japan on November 27, 2007 and in North America on March 24, 2008....
, which featured four characters, one per stage, where the player must keep them alive before they join to face the final boss; when a character dies prematurely, it's a permanent death
Permanent death
In role-playing video games , permanent death is a situation in which player characters die permanently and are removed from the game...
, and the game shifts to the next character in their own stage. Taito's Darius featured a unique three-screen arcade cabinet and a non-linear level design where the player is given a choice of which path to follow after each boss; out of 28 possible stages, the player would only be able to play through seven at most during each run through the game. Silpheed
Silpheed
is a video game series developed by Game Arts and designed by the late Takeshi Miyaji. It made its debut on the Japanese PC-8801 in 1986, and was ported to the Fujitsu FM-7 and MS-DOS formats soon after. It was later remade for the Mega-CD and has a sequel called Silpheed: The Lost Planet for the...
, a forward-scrolling third-person space combat game by Game Arts, was an early example of a fully 3D polygonal
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
shooter. R-Type
R-Type
is a side scrolling shoot-em-up arcade game produced by Irem in 1987. The player controls a space fighter named R-9a "Arrowhead" to defend humanity against a mysterious but powerful alien life-form known as "Bydo", which was later discovered to be not entirely alien in origin...
, an acclaimed side-scrolling shoot 'em up, was released in 1987 by Irem, employing slower paced scrolling than usual, with difficult levels calling for methodical strategies. 1990's Raiden
Raiden (arcade game)
is a scrolling shooter arcade game that was developed by Seibu Kaihatsu. It was the first game in the popular Raiden series of scrolling shooter arcade games.Raiden first made its debut in September 1990...
was the beginning of another acclaimed and enduring series to emerge from this period.
Shoot 'em ups such as SNK
SNK Playmore
SNK Playmore Corporation is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. SNK is an acronym of , which was SNK's original name. The company's legal and trading name became SNK in 1986....
's Ikari Warriors
Ikari Warriors
Ikari Warriors is a 1986 arcade game by SNK, published in the United States and Europe by Tradewest. Known simply as in Japan, this was SNK's first major breakthrough US release and became something of a classic. The game was released at the time when there were many Commando clones on the market...
(1986) featuring characters on foot, rather than spacecraft, became popular in the mid-1980s in the wake of action movies such as Rambo: First Blood Part II
Rambo: First Blood Part II
Rambo: First Blood Part II is a 1985 action film. A sequel to 1982's First Blood, it is the second installment in the Rambo series starring Sylvester Stallone, who reprises his role as Vietnam veteran John Rambo...
. The first game of this type is uncertain but the first influential example is Commando, released in 1985. Commando also drew comparisons to Rambo and indeed contemporary critics considered military themes and protagonists similar to Rambo or Schwarzenegger
Schwarzenegger
Schwarzenegger is a German surname that means person from Schwarzenegg, which is both a town in Switzerland and a place in Land Salzburg in Austria...
prerequisites for a shoot 'em up, as opposed to an action-adventure game
Action-adventure game
An action-adventure game is a video game that combines elements of the adventure game genre with various action game elements. It is perhaps the broadest and most diverse genre in gaming, and can include many games which might better be categorized under narrow genres...
. In 1986, Arsys Software released WiBArm, a shooter that switched between a 2D
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
side-scrolling view in outdoor areas to a fully 3D polygonal third-person perspective inside buildings, while bosses were fought in an arena-style 2D battle, with the game featuring a variety of weapons and equipment. In 1987, Square's 3-D WorldRunner
3-D WorldRunner
is a third-person rail shooter platform video game developed by Square in . In Japan, the game was released on the Famicom Disk System as Tobidase Daisakusen, and was published by DOG, a now-defunct label of Square...
was an early stereoscopic 3-D shooter played from a third-person perspective, followed later that year by its sequel JJ
JJ (video game)
is a video game developed and published by Square for the Nintendo Family Computer in 1987. In English, it is sometimes referred to by its long form, Jumpin' Jack, or by its subtitle, Tobidase Daisakusen Part II...
, and the following year by Space Harrier 3-D
Space Harrier 3-D
Space Harrier 3-D is a video game developed by Sega in 1988 for the Sega Master System. It is a sequel to the original Space Harrier.-Plot:...
which used the SegaScope 3-D shutter glasses. That same year, Sega's Thunder Blade
Thunder Blade
is an arcade shooter released for Sega Master System, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, MSX, TurboGrafx-16, ZX Spectrum.-Summary:The player controls a helicopter using guns and missiles to destroy enemy tanks, helicopters, etc, to save his home country. Levels are in both a top-down...
switched between both a top-down view and a third-person view, and introduced the use of force feedback, where the joystick vibrates. Also in 1987, Konami created Contra as an coin-op arcade game that was particularly acclaimed for its multi-directional aiming and two player cooperative gameplay. However, by the early 1990s and the popularity of 16-bit consoles
History of video game consoles (fourth generation)
In the history of computer and video games, the fourth generation began on October 30, 1987 with the Japanese release of Nippon Electric Company's PC Engine...
, the scrolling shooter genre was overcrowded, with developers struggling to make their games stand out (one exception being the inventive Gunstar Heroes
Gunstar Heroes
is a run and gun video game developed by Treasure and published by Sega.Treasure's debut game was originally released on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in late 1993, and later on, ported to the Game Gear by M2. On February 23, 2006, Gunstar Heroes was released as part of the Gunstar Heroes: Treasure...
, by Treasure).
"Bullet hell" evolution and niche appeal
A new type of shoot 'em up emerged in the early 1990s: variously termed "bullet hell", "manic shooters" and "maniac shooters", these games required the player to dodge overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles and called for still faster reactions from players. Bullet hell games arose from the need for 2D shoot 'em up developers to compete with the emerging popularity of 3D games: huge numbers of missiles on screen were intended to impress players. ToaplanToaplan
, sometimes written as Toa Plan, was a video game developer from Japan. They were responsible for the creation of a wide array of relatively famous scrolling shooters and arcade games, yet the company declared bankruptcy in 1994.-Games developed :...
's Batsugun
Batsugun
is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up hailing from the now defunct Japanese game developer Toaplan.Originally developed for the arcade, Batsugun saw two revisions—the first being released in 1993. The latter named Batsugun Special Version was shown at the AOU show in Japan but was never...
(1993) provided the prototypical template for this new breed, with Cave
Cave (company)
Cave Co., Ltd. is a Japanese video game company, known primarily for its manic shoot 'em ups. Cave remains one of the most active makers of arcade shoot-'em-ups in the Japanese market...
(formed by former employees of Toaplan, including Batsugun's main creator Tsuneki Ikeda, after the latter company collapsed) inventing the type proper with 1995's DonPachi
DonPachi
thumb|DonPachi arcade PCB is a vertically-scrolling manic shooter video game developed by Cave and published by Atlus in 1995. It was the first game developed by Cave, and the second on Cave's first generation arcade hardware...
. Manic shooter games marked another point where the shoot 'em up genre began to cater to more dedicated players. Games such as Gradius had been more difficult than Space Invaders or Xevious, but bullet hell games were yet more inward-looking and aimed at dedicated fans of the genre looking for greater challenges. While shooter games featuring protagonists on foot largely moved to 3D-based genres, popular, long-running series such as Contra and Metal Slug continued to receive new sequels. Rail shooters have rarely been released in the new millennium, with only Rez
Rez
Rez, developed under the codename K-Project, Project Eden, and Vibes, is a rail shooter video game released by Sega in Japan in 2001 for the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2, with a European Dreamcast release and United States PlayStation 2 release in 2002...
and Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Orta is a rail shooter video game published by Sega for the Xbox. The game was released in Japan in December 2002, the following month in the United States, and three months later in PAL territories. It is the fourth console game in the Panzer Dragoon series, after three such games...
achieving cult recognition.
Treasure's shoot 'em up, Radiant Silvergun
Radiant Silvergun
is a vertically scrolling shooter video game, developed by Treasure. It was released in arcades on the ST-V platform in 1998 and subsequently ported to the Sega Saturn, with added cutscenes by noted animation studio Gonzo...
(1998), introduced an element of narrative to the genre. It was lavished with critical acclaim for its refined design, though it was never released outside of Japan and remains a much sought after collectors' item. Its successor Ikaruga
Ikaruga
is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Treasure. It was released in the arcades in 2001 on the Sega NAOMI, subsequently released on Dreamcast in Japan and then worldwide on the Nintendo GameCube, and was released on Xbox Live Arcade on April 9, 2008...
(2001) featured improved graphics and was again acclaimed as one of the best games in the genre. Both Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga were later released on Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
. The Touhou Project
Touhou Project
The , also known as Toho Project or Project Shrine Maiden, is a Japanese dōjin game series focused on bullet hell shooters made by the one-man developer Team Shanghai Alice, whose sole member, known as ZUN, is responsible for all the graphics, music, and programming for the most part...
series is another notable example of the bullet hell game. The project spans fifteen years and nineteen games as of 2011. It was listed in the Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
in October 2010 for being the "most prolific fan-made shooter series". The genre has undergone something of a resurgence with the release of the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
online services, while in Japan arcade shoot 'em ups retain a deep-rooted niche popularity. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2005 and in particular stood out from the various re-releases and casual game
Casual game
A casual game is a video game targeted at or used by a mass audience of casual gamers. Casual games can have any type of gameplay, and fit in any genre. They are typically distinguished by their simple rules and lack of commitment required in contrast to more complex hardcore games...
s available on the service. However, despite the genre's continued appeal to an enthusiastic niche of players, shoot 'em up developers are increasingly embattled financially by the power of home consoles and their attendant genres.