Shoot-'em-ups

[Bren McGuire]

you probably aren't a hard core fan of the genre, which has been referred to as "shmup" very widely by the shoot'em up game community since the late 90s when the site "Shmups" popularized it (and yeah, it came from ZZap!64, Shmups's homepage used to explain it before they were self-hosted: https://web.archive.org/web/19990224...ng.com/shmups/ )

i do wonder however what made you think that this term has been more widespread recently? maybe you started to get more into this kind of game recently, could that be it?

for the record and also to spice things up, japanese people call these STGs (ShooTing Game) and people in the shmup community, often like to call them that, too, especially if referring to japanese-origin games.

Originally Posted by Matt_H

I’m not trying to police the language, just trying to understand it. Something happened in the past few years—an article, a magazine, a particular game’s marketing or community, a YouTube personality, whatever—something caught on that caused the popularity of “shmup” to skyrocket over “shoot-‘em-up.” I’m curious as to what that was.

[dreadnought]

Originally Posted by Bren McGuire

and yeah, it came from ZZap!64, Shmups's homepage used to explain it

Hi! Shmups! eh? Yes, I know it's a stupid name [...]

Well, we're not alone then

[Matt_H]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

I think with terms which hail from pre-Facebook.Twitter/etc era the adoption was more due to gradual process than a singular event.

Quite possibly. But with the "evolution" of social media from small communities of friends to massive followings of outsize influencers and figureheads I can't help but wonder if one of these personalities started using "shmup" and it caught on like a meme, practically overnight.

[Matt_H]

Originally Posted by Bren McGuire

you probably aren't a hard core fan of the genre, which has been referred to as "shmup" very widely by the shoot'em up game community since the late 90s when the site "Shmups" popularized it (and yeah, it came from ZZap!64, Shmups's homepage used to explain it before they were self-hosted: https://web.archive.org/web/19990224...ng.com/shmups/ )

i do wonder however what made you think that this term has been more widespread recently? maybe you started to get more into this kind of game recently, could that be it?

It's true, I don't follow the genre closely. But it seems like I keep coming across comments across the web (not in genre fan communities) referring to such-and-such as a "classic shmup." The thing is, I remember the magazine coverage from when those games were released (or at least I think I do ) and they were never referred to as shmups at the time, at least in the mags I was reading.

for the record and also to spice things up, japanese people call these STGs (ShooTing Game) and people in the shmup community, often like to call them that, too, especially if referring to japanese-origin games.

This one I have heard before, but I thought it stood for Shooting-Type Game. (I think I've also seen Racing-Type Game or RTG in the advertising or box art for some Japanese releases of racing games.)

[Foebane]

Maybe people don't generally like the term Shmup because IMHO those that play them are usually shmucks.

I mean, you have a genre of game where all of the games of that type are ultra-predictable, with either a guy on platforms or a side-view of a ship on rails moving around just shooting everything in sight for arbitrary amounts of points, and all they have to do is to learn patterns of behaviour and repeat ad nauseum. There's no goal, no sense of achievement beyond getting to the end of the stage, to repeat it over again, maybe with new (boring) 2D scenery.

I've played FPS games since 1995, and to be honest, they are infinitely better, especially the DM or CTF or even TF aspects, because the environments feel real and 3D, the scoring is simple (1 point per frag), the teamwork required can be much more rewarding, and a sense of achievement is felt much more wholesomely.

I mean, I couldn't spend 10 minutes on games like Turrican 2 or Apidya without being bored shitless in less than half that time, but give me an online game like Team Fortress Classic, and I'd spend many, many hours on it, even if it was just the one popular map, 2fort. Maybe this is why I went off most Amiga gaming years ago in the first place.

[Tigerskunk]

Originally Posted by Foebane

Maybe people don't generally like the term Shmup because IMHO those that play them are usually shmucks.

lol

[acidbottle]

Originally Posted by Foebane

I mean, I couldn't spend 10 minutes on games like Turrican 2 or Apidya without being bored shitless in less than half that time, but give me an online game like Team Fortress Classic ...

Not sure if serious

You might reel in someone with that post though!

[dreadnought]

Originally Posted by Foebane

moving around just shooting everything in sight for arbitrary amounts of points, and all they have to do is to learn patterns of behaviour and repeat ad nauseum.

Says the guy who likes FPS games

[Bren McGuire]

talk about being an insufferable, intolerant, insulting individual.
let people enjoy whatever they want to enjoy, nice one on trying to shame them over their preferred games of choice.

you're some classic low caliber amiga scene material. you should have stayed away from the amiga, actually, i invite you to depart again and not return

Originally Posted by Foebane

Maybe people don't generally like the term Shmup because IMHO those that play them are usually shmucks.

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by acidbottle

Not sure if serious

You might reel in someone with that post though!

Shmup, shmuck, they just happen to rhyme. And I like my games to be as I described above: teamwork, among the shooting.

Originally Posted by dreadnought

Says the guy who likes FPS games

FPS deathmatch frags tend to be single points, not the "20 points for this enemy and 50 points for that enemy" stuff.

Originally Posted by Bren McGuire

talk about being an insufferable, intolerant, insulting individual.
let people enjoy whatever they want to enjoy, nice one on trying to shame them over their preferred games of choice.

you're some classic low caliber amiga scene material. you should have stayed away from the amiga, actually, i invite you to depart again and not return

I'm not trying to shame them, it's a rhyming joke, couldn't resist.

As for your second paragraph: who's being insulting now? I went to the Amiga having had a good time on the Atari ST games, but then I saw the Demoscene and stayed a long while, went away for PC games, then returned to Amiga on PC via emulation.

And that last sentence is INCREDIBLY RUDE.

[-Acid-]

Originally Posted by Foebane

Shmup, shmuck, they just happen to rhyme.

In which language? cos they certainly don't in English lol

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by -Acid-

In which language? cos they certainly don't in English lol

By the sound, they do. I thought that's what rhyming was: by the sound.

[dreamkatcha]

Psst... tell 'em you meant it's a 'slant rhyme' and you'll just about get away with it.

[SquawkBox]

Slightly OT, but I don't like the use of "boulettes" in French (implies bullets pattern) when some reviewer speaks about any given shmup. Boulette is used to designate meat balls most of the time in our language, so I cringe at that.