What is Shoot ’em up?
Shoot ’em up (also called shmup) is the contraction of the English word Shoot Them Up. This type of game involves a vehicle (usually a ship) or armed character that you control against a troop of enemies coming in waves. Thus, we can say that the shoot ’em up really appeared thanks to Space Invaders on arcade in 1978, a title made by the renowned Tomohiro Nishikado. The shoot’em up genre thus became a well-known genre in the 80’s before almost disappearing the following decade with the appearance of 3D. Very similar to FPS. Nowadays, shoot ’em up is only for hardcore gamers.
It should be noted that shoot them up comes from the arcades, with the title Space Invaders being linked to the appearance of the genre. When the use of three-dimensional graphics became more regular in the video game world, the simplicity and difficulty of the genre slowly but surely relegated its notoriety. Despite this, shoot them up is an extremely vibrant genre in Japan.
Types of Shoot them up
Fixed: These types of shoot them up are also called gallery shooters. They are made up of a series of levels, each of which fits on a single screen. They all have a background that does not even move. The opponents to be eliminated come from one side of the screen and progress more or less rapidly towards the gamer, placed on the other side of the screen, whose movements are restricted to a single horizontal or vertical axis. His shooting ability is also limited to a single direction, in a straight line. The first fixed shoot them up is none other than Space Invaders, which appeared almost forty years ago in 1978.
Scrolling: The scrolling shooter genre is made up of several series of levels that are revealed as the gamer discovers them. In this type of game, the background is not fixed but progresses in parallel with the gamer’s ship, revealing new opponents and scenery. Still present in some MMORPGs in 2018.
Multidirectional: Multidirectional shoot them up, also called arena shooters, offer the gamer complete freedom of movement and orientation in two-dimensional locations. The different levels can be contained on a single screen, as for example in the title Robotron: 2084, or they can be larger and give gamers the possibility of travelling through gigantic game areas. The screen then scrolls simultaneously with the gamer’s path. Shoot them up are very often free to play.
Tube shooter and rail shooter: Tube shooters offer the gamer the possibility of a single direction of movement, which is placed at the edges of a tube set or not on the screen, thus creating an illusion of speed. It is only possible to turn around the tube, in order to eliminate the opponents nestled inside it.
See also >> Glossary