Intro to Shoot 'em ups (aka shmups, bullet hell)

[@LinieEber]

"Random bullets are evil and I hate them" Wow man, those words could come from my mouth

[@marcusrichie8617]

Hello are you still active ? This account haven’t posted in a year hope he’s okay

[@WomanSlayer69420]

“Fixed, directed, and random” In other words, Static patterns, aimed patterns, and bullshit patterns.

[@Regdren]

RefleX has a boss that locks you in place and pummels you with unavoidable shots until you die. I still get more angry about random bullet patterns.

[@jonasbaymak5892]

its nearly 2024 now and me and my friends still love this genre.

[@brettchalupa]

Really fantastic intro to the genre, thanks for making it!

[@blushingralseiuwu2222]

I still remember the first time I 1 cc a shump game (Touhou 16), it feels so amazing. To the point that I almost 1 cc all windows touhou game except UFO and 15.

[@Regdren]

Figuring out a solution for a pattern that always gave you trouble is great, isn't it? That's one of the main reasons I play these games.

[@ikagura]

This genre was here since the dawn of videogame's history and is still here today

[@capnkraken]

Great beginner’s guide! More often than not I hear “directed” patterns described as “aimed” and “fixed” as “static,” but that’s just a nitpick. Good work!

[@UnboxRacing]

A list of the games featured would be good. You are right, Studio Mud prints Bullet Heaven is awesome and he is a great guy.

[@Primate541]

I was just watching this to look into other shmups I haven't played. I certainly wasn't expecting to find huge tips on how to beat Alice/Youmu in PCB. I've been playing them for a while and my mind is blown that some of their fixed/random seeming spells are targeted.

[@poledra4153]

I remember this spell card in EoSD Sakuya stage 5 mid-boss that was so difficult i just bombed through and that i learned after beating the game it was just aimed bullets

[@midnightflare9879]

Best pickup line ever: *I can 1cc Lunatic!* Works every time

[@reagandow850]

What an awesome, extremely helpful video. While I’m far from a beginner with shmups, I’m far from expert too! I really like the way you broke things down in the last half of this instructional. The older I get, the more I appreciate these type of games. Bullet hell games are just gorgeous and playing vertices shoot em up games on “Tate” mode with the flip grip on my switch is amazing and great practice (Flip grip = Best $12 ever spent) is the bees knees!! You’ve given me some great food for thought and since I just found you channel last night I can’t wait to dig into your collection of stuff. I’m so pumped. This could be my favorite channel of 2019 for sure!!cant type/too much more to watch!! 😝

[@Regdren]

Wow, thanks very much! That means a lot. Makes me wish I had more bullet hell games on my channel. I'm working on one right now but you know how long it can take to get a really good playthrough of those things. Of the other videos on my channel, maybe try the Hammerfight one. There's also the Crossed Swords videos if you like niche arcade games. They're all the same playthrough but with different flavors of commentary: text, voice, or comment-free. I hope you find something you like!

[@onemorequarter1087]

Excellent video,commentary and advice. Couple more shmups to check out now. Thanks man👊

[@gameprisesongprise1836]

Nice work!, great explanation, also the comparison with the rhytm games was about right as the time playing those is very short but they share the amount of time people play it trying to do a better score and coming with better timing, on another note i'd like to say something esle about the strategies but i guess that comes with practices and experience though the info about the bullet pattern and their behavior is more than enough to start playing without problems :D, and again great video

[@Regdren]

Hey, it's good to hear from you! I haven't seen you much on Steam or Discord, I hope you've been doing well.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Awesome work man! I think this video is a great introduction for new players

[@KesorodaBlk]

Best tactic for bullet weaving: Focus on where your ship/character is, and keep firing. You'll stay alive if you don't worry about whether or not you're actually hitting the enemy or not. Easy example of this is in Gradius V against the Tetran in Stage 2. It's easy to learn by just moving slight up and down.

[@user-yk1cw8im4h]

Sometimes the strategy is to kill the boss quickly though, like killing them under 2-3 seconds with your overpowered weapons

[@Ambreil]

Not once have I heard shot em ups as shmups but I love it

[@thomasgarrison1088]

Thanks for posting this! I've always been interested in this genre, but found it overwhelming and never really gave them enough of a chance before

[@Regdren]

I'm glad the video was helpful for you! Have you found a game that appeals to you?

[@thomasgarrison1088]

@@Regdren Yeah, I think I'll start with Fast Striker on the PS4. It's just got a look and style that really appeals to me (especially the music) and I like that it has different player ships and enemy formations in each difficulty level. I think that will help keep it interesting and provide a good, gradual difficulty increase while I get used to the gameplay. It's also on sale right now for super cheap (

[@Regdren]

@@thomasgarrison1088 Rival Megagun is best when you have a friend to play it with, online or otherwise. The single player campaign is just fine though. The AI opponents sometimes dodge in ways that a human couldn't, but they're not invulnerable or anything. I think the story dialog can be pretty funny too. The only reason single player isn't really my thing in that game is because I prefer more structured levels. Gameplay is classic style, which means fewer and faster bullets. I think the game has a Discord channel as well. Hope that helps!

[@jakylgaming7121]

Very good video man, after watching I actually went on the Playstation store after and had a look at what games were available. Good job man.

[@happycat4838]

I'm brand new to these style of games, and it was really neat and helpful to see this video! I hope to go to the store after work today and get a few to try. I've always loved games where movement is the most important aspect (coming from a fighting and action game background), and I feel like I've walked into a whole new, fun world with these style of games!

[@Regdren]

Hey, sorry for the late reply! It's great to see more people get in to this genre. Did you find any games that fit your play style?

[@happycat4838]

@@Regdren Well I guess that makes two of us for late replies, I never got a notification for this until just now. I did, yes. I got Deathsmiles and Otomedius Excellent on the Xbox 360, and they are both really fun.

[@AdrianaGaming]

great vid! dropped a big like!

[@Regdren]

Thanks very much, I'm glad you enjoyed the video.

[@kumrogames]

Great intro to shmups video! very cool!

[@pressetoascend]

A good free beginner shmup i’d personally reccomend is Len’en project, it’s superficially similar to Touhou, but has way more fleshed out difficulty options.

[@Regdren]

You need a certain tolerance for randomized bullets to enjoy those games, but I wouldn't have played through Len'en 2 if there wasn't some fun in there.

[@pressetoascend]

@@Regdren Yeah definitely, they aren’t exactly the most balanced or sanely designed games, but they can be really fun

[@banana_pancake7171]

hell, I'm a touhou player and have played quite a lot on this genre, but, it's a nice recommendation.

[@anusmaster3107]

hold shift for focused movement

[@Regdren]

That's true in the Touhou and Len'en series, but there are a lot of shmups where it doesn't work like that.

[@johngavalas712]

Jamestown is so good I'd love to see ether vapor come to switch

[@RetroTechX]

The best tip I ever learned was, the smaller the movement the more likely you are to live. and stay off the back wall.

[@_afska_]

You can try MouseWars.io, it's an online cursors battlefield where you battle other players with your computer’s mouse as your avatar in short matches, choosing between several different attacks and avoiding the ensuing bullet hell.

[@pexalt8009]

Touhou players leave a like

[@LinieEber]

Pay me

[@ptitcka]

So much insight, thanks for sharing!

[@NewportBox100s]

Steam has so many great shmups.

[@hitomidiaconchuk5149]

awesome,entertaining and helpful af

[@randomlad7851]

I actually don’t wanna comment but it’s 68 comments when i type it You get it P/s Great vid

[@Ryan-mn2dd]

nice video my dude

[@202Pasha]

Like the ethervaper remaster ost

[@Regdren]

Thanks very much. It took me a while to decide on a soundtrack.

[@yehwat527]

Most shmups: Guns and Ships 2hu: Gorlz

[@Regdren]

Dodonpachi Resurrection: Gorls who are also guns and ships

[@jakylgaming7121]

Game of the day on my Discord today mate. Hope it get this awesome video more views. My discord link in my channel description.

[@Regdren]

Yep, I saw it on the Discord channel. Thanks very much!

[@coregamedev]

Great video!

[@Blueflag04]

Even after playing the same game more than hundred times, im still bad at dodging bullets and always make last minute move that got myself killed

[@bigspicemax5101]

Nice vid

[@matteste]

But there is one I cannot recommend for anyone to start with. Hellsinker (if they can find it that is, quite an obscure title). Love the game, but damn, it has quite the learning curve.

[@Regdren]

I agree. Any game where the number you should use for scoring is up for debate is probably not for beginners.

[@mitul509]

Recommend me slow and dense bullet shump, I don't like fast bullet with too much pattern learning, I like reflex.

[@Regdren]

Sounds like someone has been burned by Raiden. Or worse yet, Psikyo games. Even most of the dense bullet shmups have some pattern learning since the way through some of that stuff is not something most people can work out on sight. If you want more of a reflex oriented game, try something from the Tale of Alltynex colection. It's not full of dense bullet patterns but they tend to be built so that you can use your tools to push through stuff on reaction. Or if you have to have something slower, Danmaku Unlimited 3 is not bad. Everything except the true final boss is pretty slow.

[@ihaveadream7858]

Touhou 7 PCB has mostly slow, dense and reading-heavy bullet patterns. I would recommend it if you like slow and dense patterns.

[@sebs2306live2]

Great video man ! I Subbed you.

[@rougoku1895]

Hello and thanks a lot for this video ! I'm a rhythm game player myself and was looking for some tips to start up with shmups since the gameplay looked appealing and I love the OSTs. I've played 2-3 after watching it and completed 1 of them completely. I was wondering if a difficulty chart for shmup existed in order to start getting more experience now, instead of judging only by visuals. And also, I was wondering if it was better to complete a lot of different games or to try and score on a specific one before moving out. Thanks a lot :)

[@Regdren]

As far as I know there isn't really a difficulty chart for shmups. Difficulty in shmups is kind of complicated. Not only do most of them have multiple difficulty settings, but the difficulty of a survival run is often very different from that of a score run. That being said, there are a few things you can look for. If a game series was originally made for the arcade, it's probably very difficult. Example: the Raiden series. If you can cancel enemy bullets pretty much at will, you can probably complete it with no problems. Example: anything by Siter Skain. Same goes for any game that is very generous about the number of hits you can take before you lose. Games like that are pretty much made to be played for score. Indie games vary a huge amount and as you say it's not easy to tell just by looking at gameplay. The only way I know to figure it out is to ask someone who's played a lot of shmups about where the game is difficulty-wise. For info I recommend shmups forum. That's its name, it's shmups.system11.org, and it has a pretty good community. When it comes to the decision to play a game for score, whether to do it and how serious to get is a personal thing. That's why I'm a little hesitant to give concrete advice. Maybe a rhythm game comparison would help. There's probably a difference between a song you want to complete and a song you want to get all perfects on. For the latter, you need to be able to listen to it countless times. You need to be very comfortable with the game engine and willing to deal with any frustrating aspects it might have, and you might need to do research if the game doesn't tell you everything about how it works. It's almost a different game altogether, and it's something you don't do unless you really want to. Assuming that at least one of the shmup games you've played has a scoring system beyond just shooting everything, I recommend you try playing that for score a bit to get a feel for what it's like. That's the only way to find out if it's something you'd enjoy. Also to use the analogy again, your goal doesn't have to be all perfects. It's fine for a full combo to be good enough. Whatever your approach, playing for score is going to be time consuming. I think it's also very satisfying but I would never insist that everyone who picks up a shmup game play for score. I feel like my advice was all over the place and I apologize for that, but I hope some of it is useful.

[@rougoku1895]

@@Regdren It was very useful, thanks a lot for taking the time to write an answer ! :D

[@reagandow850]

Woo hoo! My view flipped the counter to 1k!! Where’s my cookie? 😝

[@soratheorangejuicemascot5809]

So.... Anything good for steam or mobile? Anyways, I discovered these few shmup games called senko no rpnde, sora and maiden&spell. Are they good for beginners? They are mostly a pc but I also need one for mobile.

[@Regdren]

Steam has plenty of shmups. The ones by Cave are not really for beginners, but Jamestown is pretty good as a starting shmup. Imperishable Night is also beginner friendly.The ones you named are good games, they're just a bit different from the usual shmup formula. Senko no Ronde and Maiden&Spell in particular play more like a hybrid between shmups and 1 on 1 fighting games. As for mobile, consider Bullet Hell Monday and Aka to Blue.

[@soratheorangejuicemascot5809]

@@Regdren bullet hell monday is on the list. Aka to blue looks so beautiful but I can't get it right now.

[@soratheorangejuicemascot5809]

@@Regdren also the reason why I ask you is that one shmups is never enough. I got acceleration of suguri 2 but I am aware that I would crave more, hahahaha.

[@Regdren]

@@soratheorangejuicemascot5809 Yeah I know what you mean. When get into shmups I just want to play all of them. If you want shmups that are big on visuals, the Danmaku Unlimited games have strong graphics and are on both Steam and Mobile.

[@soratheorangejuicemascot5809]

@@Regdren aside from fighting game, shmup is part of my childhood and I want to get into it again. Anyways, very much appreciated all this recommendation.

[@Doriayinn]

nice video, whats the name of this game 5:37?

[@Regdren]

The name is in the lower right, "Perfect Cherry Blossom." It's also known as Touhou 7.

[@Doriayinn]

@@Regdren ohhh thank you man, and sorry, I thought those words meant some kind of game mode or statistics haha, thank you again

[@tomasjakubik8541]

What kinda controller do you use?

[@Regdren]

Since I play on the PC most of the time, I use a keyboard. I like the control it gives over my movement. There's nothing wrong with controllers if you're used to them, though.

[@poledra4153]

I only play touhou (the game in 5:05 and other places) I'll maybe try others, but i want to 1cc(1 continue/credit clear) all of them first Random patterns are weird : some can be "easily avoided and make yiu feel like a pro, others just destroys you.

[@bjfifi]

Lol yay touhou is in the vid

[@Regdren]

"This video is going to show all kinds of shmups," I said. "Touhou is just a small part of the genre, I should avoid using too much footage of it," I said. Later: "I want to show this specific thing in a way that's easy to understand. Where can I find clear examples of what I'm talking about?" And behold, Touhou takes over the tactics section.

[@randomlad7851]

Regdren my favorite shmup game is Sky Force Reloaded (2016 remastered version). It really bring back memories playing the classic Sky Force on my dad’s phone, while it comes with new challenge and also more bullethell Do u know dat game? How do u think about it? Any tips?

[@Regdren]

@@randomlad7851 I tend to play keyboard control shmups but that's just a preference thing. Free mouse or touch control can be very liberating, and it's great that games such as Sky Force give people that option. Unfortunately I haven't played Sky Force Reloaded myself so I can't really give tips for that game in particular. What I can do is make a video about practicing for shmups in general, if you'd like.

[@randomlad7851]

Regdren thx Wish the game still updating :(((

[@randomlad7851]

Regdren one thing i like at sky force is that they doesn’t give u a cool bullet storm or/and big freaking laser that cover half of the screen. All it gives u at the end is just a automatic shotgun(i say that because even fully upgraded, your plane just shoot a steam of bullet that spread or sth based on plane use, and its not even that big. Even the laser whip that awarded by doing some sort of things(not gonna spoil cuz i want u to try the game by yourself) its only a very thin laser that deal ridiculously high damage but required accuracy. They also focus on game’s graphics so much that you sometimes see the battle like an art that even the background is already beautiful. They not only focus on your plane and make it the only star. They make everything looks shine

[@henning2794]

What game is it at 6:50?

[@Regdren]

That game is Crimzon Clover World Ignition. Same game as 1:23

[@synapticflow]

I know this sounds odd. Shmups are my favorite type of videogames. I'm 47 and have playing since the golden 80s. But I HATE HATE HATE bullet hell! Why? They look far more foolishly unrealistic by comparison. Seeing a hundred oversized energy balls coming at my ship just looks dumb to me. It's like a game of pattern dodging instead of a battle. They simply do not appeal to me at all.

[@ShotOfSelf]

I hated them at first too but grew to love them for the different gameplay experience. Try Battle Garegga, sorta bullet hell but with realistic bullets and missiles instead of pink balls.

[@ianjacka469]

Do you know some easy enough for a noob old school side-scrolling or vert-scrolling games that have modern graphics. I'm trying bullet hell but my improvement curve is so slow it's soul destroying.. Where the emphasis is more on shooting enemies than bullet dodging. The only 2 I've been able to play so far are Sky Force Reloaded and Natsuki Chronicles

[@user-yk1cw8im4h]

Shmups are a lot better than fighting games which are boring as heck

[@MasterChief1117-g8z]

?

[@MasterChief1117-g8z]

Easy fix learn fighting games you'll like them

[@MasterChief1117-g8z]

If you wanna learn street fighter then I'd suggest learning neutral first before anything else hopefully this helps.

[@MasterChief1117-g8z]

You'll come to find how much depth these games have and how fun they can be when you learn how to play the and also, never button mash it sucks the fun out of the game and is impractical.

[@user-yk1cw8im4h]

@@MasterChief1117-g8z I appreciate you instead of roasting me you actually gave constructive suggestions, despite being 3 years late lmao