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Lucky bumper
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shmups (also known in some circles as shoot-em-ups, shooting games, STG, or, I think, "Space Invaders clones") are games where you move a thing around and shoot other things. many of them take place on a 2D plane with fixed, automatic scrolling! many of them are beautiful to look at and listen to! many of them are very difficult! maybe Star Fox is one?
there are loads of styles and subgenres to explore in this very broad genre of video games. likewise, there are dozens of different ways to engage with shmups, and that is maybe the most exciting thing about them! do you want to learn a complex scoring system and play for a high score? or practice enough to survive on a single credit all the way to the end? or maybe just credit-feed your way through to see all the stages and bosses, soaking up the sights and sounds and kinesthetic delight?
I really want to emphasize: the appeal of these games is wide-ranging! the best shmups are like a great music album—you can casually enjoy the whole thing in a brisk 30-60 minutes, and return over and over again to find layers of depth and intrigue and enjoyment, or just dig deep into the one part you liked the best.
and there sure are a lot of these games on Nintendo's Nintendo Switch console! while the pros may prefer the reduced input lag of certain other home platforms, I think the Switch is a perfectly pleasant place to play plenty of shmups. hopefully this thread can be a little hub for discussion of shmups available on Switch and elsewhere.
Crimzon Clover World EXplosion
this is my favorite one. among the best audiovisual experiences in the medium. like getting to see the jackpot animation on a slot machine every thirty seconds.
if you are interested in getting into "bullet hell" style shmups, I say with confidence that Crimzon Clover's "novice mode" is the place to start. despite the name, it's still plenty challenging, but unlike novice modes I've seen in some other shmups, it can feasibly be cleared in a single credit with a not-ridiculous amount of practice. the default difficulty mode on the other hand...
Black Bird
it's Onion Games (known also for Million Onion Hotel, moon, Dandy Dungeon—essentially what remains of Love-de-lic at this point) putting their spin on Fantasy Zone. it's strange and melancholy and quite fun, with a satisfying upgrade system. there's no "continue" option here, so you're either clearing in one go or not at all, but the default mode is pretty welcoming, and a harder difficulty unlocks only after the first clear.
Mushihimesama
Cave is the biggest name in "bullet hell" shmups and Mushihimesama is my favorite from them, partially by default because it's the only one I've spent more than an hour or two with, and largely because of its lush pre-rendered visuals. so much cyan! Live Wire's port on Switch is excellent, with lots of modes and customization options.
Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade
it's got Darius Gaiden in it. I don't think video games, or their soundtracks, go much harder than Darius Gaiden
Rolling Gunner
this one is built around the mechanic described in its title—you've got a forward shooting gun, and a "rolling gun" which moves in response to your direction of motion. you can lock it in place by holding a button, and the amount of intricacy and complexity the game gets out of this basic mechanic is magic. great music, very, very difficult and lots of fun. there's also a secondary mode available as DLC that I haven't played but I've heard is even more fun!
Radiant Silvergun
a great mix of 2D and 3D visuals, a complicated control scheme consisting of three main weapon types plus three more combinations of any two of those weapon types plus a leveling system, and a dozen other peculiarities make this a really special game to me. like other home releases of Radiant Silvergun, the Switch version features "story mode" (fka "Saturn mode") which lets you save your weapon levels between runs, making the game eventually beatable without rote-memorizing every stage, and features cutscenes and in-game dialogue to flesh out the weird little story.
I had also planned to include a list of resource links as well, and I can add one if there's interest, but I don't think this opening post needs to be especially comprehensive. I will just shout out Hardcore Gaming 101 (http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/), which is probably the single best English-language resource for learning about the mechanics of arcade shmups. ok that's it!
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