Awesome work on this video my friend! I bet it was a huge undertaking putting it together!

Nice. It feels though like most modern shmups are the bullet hell kind. I miss the hero adventure kind like UN Squadron where it feels like you are lone pilot on a galaxy/world saving mission. Hydorah from Locomalito was a nice nod to that lost genre.

If you're a developer, I'd say you absolutely HAVE to get into Yagawa style games - Battle Garegga, Armed Police Batrider, Ibara, Pink Sweets. They are *very* hardcore but there are way too many great ideas there to ignore. Even if you don't find them fun, treat it as research & homework. I'd recommend everyone watch this run to get a taste : kzfaq.info/get/bejne/btqAiaWhz8nWqHk.html For actually playing the games, a good way would be to get a taste of dynamic difficulty/resource economies in Blue Revolver's Hyper mode. Then move to Muchi Muchi Pork which is a very simplified take on Yagawa's style. After that Battle Garegga & Batrider shouldn't seem that scary & obscure. Also a nice guide! Covered just about every game that'd come to mind. Maybe a "how to learn" follow up is in order ;) IMO getting decent at these games is a must...it's the best way to build your dev intuition. Even if that only means you can no death clear some hard bosses with savestates, or get really good at scoring in early levels.

I dumped a lot of quarters into Raiden at my hometown arcade way back when I was in high school.

A Lazy Devs featuring A Skeleton !? This is a shmiracle 🤩

This is hands down the best introduction to the Shmup genre I've ever seen. Excellent work!

I love all but 2 of these, but if there's one game I would always recommend people, it's Axelay. It's short and sweet, boasting excellent presentation and a feeling of adventure with stakes. Beautiful richly detailed graphics with bold audio. It's a game you play not to 1cc or set a high score but to experience. Not that it tells a phenomenal story or anything, but it's the way the game carries itself through it's tone and powerful aesthetic across varied stages that have subtle hints of world building ending in impressive bosses. It gets you invested to see it through to the satisfying ending sequence making you feel like a hero. It's weapon system allows you to personalize a loadout and doubles as a very beginner friendly health system. It makes it very easy to get into being a touch easier than other Konami STG's. It's everything I love about higher echelon Super Nintendo gaming. A masterpiece from Konami.

Great vid featuring some truly legendary Shmups!! But I gotta say I'm a little sad that you didn't mention any "Euro" Shmups like Sky Force and Jets'n'Guns which I personally had a lot of fun playing. Anyways keep it up!

*INSTANT* sub. With being an avid fan of shooters (what I remember calling the genre before there was a real need for distinction from, at least, first-person shooters) AND being a ‘Day 1’ Transformers fan, the chapter/guest transitions AND the coverage in this video speak to me *at my core*. The guests and overall effort is AMAZING here. EXCELLENT!!! Shout to Zanac (Atari’s Space Invaders, and then, Zanac, were how I ‘cut my teeth’) and pretty much anything in the ‘Aleste’ realm… AWESOME… cheers! \m/, 😊 ,\m/

I always recommend any Raizing game (once you become decently comfortable with shmups) to learn how to explore scoring systems, rank, etc.

As a new guy trying to get into Shmups recently, I greatly appreciate this amazing work with all the resources you put together. Thanks to this I'm starting to understand more the intricacies and history of this addictive genre.

Hahaha the MJ reference was amazing 😂 such a great vid and something that I think is hard to put together!!! This can be referenced for a long time...

I *will* finish my Ikaruga demake. I actually feel a bit ashamed that I never saw it through for the end of "season 1" but this will surely give me the kick the up the arse to get going again.

the shmup community is so tight knit its amazing

the games that got me into wanting to make a schmup is indie dev's Masayuki Ito's Bullet Hell Monday, and .Decluster Zero, they both have their own kind of feel i havent been able to replicate with other schmups, probably because it was on mobile before getting steam ports, and were hella accessable

Whenever I heard anyone talk about Ikaruga, I've heard nothing but praise for the Polarity system, the music, and even the story of the game. And now that I'm learning about how Shmups work, I can see how Ikaruga was able to break so many rules of Shmup design and still have the game work and be fair BECAUSE of the Polarity system. This is the first I've heard of it being controversial.

There are very few shmups that can lay claim to being "atmospheric". Maybe just a couple of the R-Type titles (especially the original arcade R-Type) and the original arcade 3-screen Darius with stereo sound come to mind. Even the very top-tier STGs I would not really associate with the term "atmospheric". This is an under-developed area in the STG formula I think, or at least long-forgotten.

Great video ! Can't wait for what's coming next. My recommendations are Guwange, ESP Ra De, GigaWing and Progear !

The entire yt shmup pantheon in a single video :D

My personal recomendation is resogun - a gradius-style shooter from housemarque with perfect arcade structure.

Love it, awesome resource for learning shmup history!

Very nice video ! My two favorites shmups might be Blazing Star (NeoGeo) and Tyrian (PC-DOS)

Wow this series is going to be amazing, really hard to understand how to build a shmuo well, vertical and horizontal, lots of tools out there but no good source of info on what to think about. Really looking forward to this. Gunveins tutorial is best I've seen for understanding shmuos better

Two that I would like to recommend everyone to play are Progear and Vasara

Great video, thank you for taking the time to make it. And thanks to the guests for all the great suggestions for games to play and research! A recommendation from me would be a flash classic called Frantic 2. It has an awesome soundtrack and a really unique aesthetic. I got the idea of vacuuming remaining bullets to the player from the game. Unfortunately it's not easily accessible anymore since the discontinuation of Flash Player.

Great video! This is like the absolute crash course in shmups

I can’t believe you forgot Bullet Hell Monday! the mission system and destruction rate feature makes BHM much more intuitive and makes you more inclined to explore, especially since completing all missions in a stage gives more AP for upgrades. Some missions have you developing a scoring strategy while others have you speedkilling enemies to complete the stage as fast as possible. Maybe No Miss No Bomb (NMNB) a boss? What about timing it out and waiting until it explodes on itself? Seriously, play Bullet Hell Monday.

I love your channel so much. Thanks for all your videos, amazing work.

My favourite has always been Slap Fight (also known as Acon) - great graphics, great mechanics, just great game. Also Xenon 2 🙂

If you want to check out a shmup treading new ground, give REVOLVER360 a try. It's a shmup where you rotate the playfield around the axis of travel, making it possible to dodge bullets in unique ways and even discover secrets. It's a game I really enjoy and would love for more people to experience.

Rtypes definitely had that 'just one more go' thing. The minotaurs Gridrunner has to get a mention..

I honestly don't get why gradius's follower things are called options

I'm creating a Shmup with modes and art that embrace modernity as well as classics. Shmup is a very small niche these days, but with the right mechanics and game modes, it can attract new players who aren't fans of it. The main feature of mine is the "lifetime" that the game will have, as it is possible to be a quick game that pleases niche players, but also has a story mode, with indeed a story that is well developed and attracts interest. With 9 characters (+ 4 types of ships for each), the game will have a great diversity of gameplay and combat, as each one will have unique consequences on the maps, such as a secret boss.

My recommendations: Modern Resogun [PS4/PS3/Vita] Sky Force Anniversary and Sky Force Reloaded [PC/Switch/PS4/PS3/Xbox/iOS/Android (almost everything)] Classic Space Megaforce/Super Aleste [SNES] Parodius [Arcade/GB/GBC/PSX/PSP/Saturn/Super Famicom] I love the long term card collecting and pilot collecting of Sky Force being in my pocket at all times and being able to play one handed. It's a bit rough getting built up, but it always gave me something to come back for more. Resogun, as someone already mentioned, will never leave my PS4. The classics mentioned here are ones that I would love to just zone out and play over and over. Great job with the shmup tutorial Lazy Devs, and keep up the great work you are doing.

I was thinking I'd see some more accessible shmups like Tyrain, Ikaruga, and Jamestown (I always play co-op). It's got 2 outta 3. I think Gradius V had save states where you could pickup where left off. Many other games shown look way too complicated, and I played games like these as a kid. Minishoot Adventures is my favorite so far, but it wasn't out when this video was made.

that was an unexpected collab not that im not complaining

O hai Mark!

During the late 80s and 90s I played Raiden at the arcade losing alot of coins and remember the later Raiden, u can get the purple homing fat lasers, it was so satisfying to see the fat purple homing laser wipe the screen. Air gallet first I dislike the green laser frm the circling balls then I learn to like it when u get to lock the balls and by keep pressing the button for auto shoot. Progear-love the pixel art, contrast pastel background against the foreground,very cinematic.Classic like Air buster & Air duel I'm glad I played them at the arcade before. Cosmic cop is like a proto Metal Slug (pallette) but with 90s cyber punk anime, the art is A+. Banpresto Super Space Fortress Macross art is amazing too when I played in the arcade, I look forward to the cut scene which is beautiful to look at. Basically i think bullet hell is just a live-evolving-floating maze you have to find entry and exit lol, Tq for your time/energy for all your videos

the pico-8 rtype is cool (zeroranger, and shildmaid MX are fun)

Epic crossovers

What a great video, thanks!!

First of all, thank you for your videos! I would like to recommend "Squad 51 vs. the Flying Saucers", it's available on Steam. It is a shmup with a cinematic sci-fi b-movie visual and aesthetics.

I recommend Super Hydorah, by Locomalito, if you haven't seen already. He also made other very cool retro-inspired games.

Is there a category name for those early 80's shmups like Galaga or Space Invaders?

19:03 his Bayonetta 3 video is turning into a microwave.

ppl have phd's and doctorates in shmups?..... who knew... ? hehe😄 i never was a superfan of the genre as im more into platformers but after participating in the first tutorial series basicly to learn a little coding.. the charm is getting to me. And about charm.... Raiden instantly caught my eye, love the style. But the Indie games......... why is the indie games so much better looking than the big studio releases?? ZeroRanger!! Hallelujah.... 100%

ohhhh, there is gonna be a phase 2

I wonder what shmup has the best story…

Great video. I tend to prefer weirder shmups like Suguri and Hellsinker but those games can teach you a bad habit.

Raiden borrows very heavily from Toaplan's vertical shooters like Truxton and Fireshark

34:06 oh look its me :)

Where's Black Bird?

Xenon 2 Megablast!! :)

Definitely a big fan of Raiden and Raiden 2. Sky Force series is also very good. What about old dos shooters Raptor and Tyrian? They were awesome shmup rpgs.

moai are in gradiius because 80s japan was into ancient aliens.

play eschatos

I dont play many shmups, buy Tiger Heli, Steal Empire and Thunder Force V...I player a Lot! PS: I Sense Superfriends vibes