Learning to SHMUP: A Beginner's Journey

I love scrolling shooter, also known as shmups or stg games. Only thing is, I'm not very good at them and rarely beat any of them or even see some of the higher levels. So, over the last few months, I have been learning how to play properly and this video is a documentation of my progress.
Like and subscribe to make sure you don't miss any future content.
Also check out these great shmup channels that I mentioned in the video:
Shmup Junkie: / shmupjunkie
The Electric Underground: / theelectricunderground

[@ShmupJunkie]

Randomly came across your video and glad I did. Thanks for sharing your journey as it’s incredibly helpful to other novices potentially going through it. Or for those afraid to even try. Don’t feel discouraged once you jump to normal on Futari or some of these other games as the difficulty spike is very significant. Those are the standard arcade modes and take even experienced players a long time to learn and clear. Just enjoy it like you’ve been doing. One quick note on the X360 port. It’s actually fantastic and was done by M2. The slowdown is on purpose and while maybe not arcade perfect, one of the most accurate out there. Cave implemented slowdown into most of their games purposefully as part of the strategy. If you tried playing it on normal without it could become nearly impossible. So it’s part of the design. If it had no slowdown it would be a bad port and nearly unplayable on harder levels... which unfortunately some lesser ports have a problem with. But Futari and some of the other M2 done releases are close to arcade. Thanks for the shout out btw and keep it up!

[@retrogamingknight]

Thanks for stopping by. I love your content and some of your videos were part of what motivated me to go down this path. That's some good info, I am aware of the quality of M2's releases and I can only imagine how tough ultra on normal would be without any slowdown.

[@jordanbenson2980]

Shmup Junkie is the GOAT

[@christopherfieb760]

the Slowdown in Cave-Shmups is a feature.

[@superhadouken]

Its cool to hear your experience. I just want to mention that slowdowns in mushihime are intentional and programed by the developer (Cave). Its a gameplay feature to help you dodge dense patterns. Its not a harware problem. Neither from xbox or original pcb. This is something they always use on their games. If you notice, the sound doenst slowdown. If it were hardware, everything would stutter.

[@David-sx9km]

I do believe that the Mushi Futari port's slowdown you mention is accurate to the arcade pcb slowdown, and not the 360 struggling. M2 made the port happen and they always do a damn fine job, and I hope in the years to come we get more Cave ports from them.

[@retrogamingknight]

That's a good point, all of Cave's arcade games have slowdown, but I've never seen footage from the arcade pcb to compare. M2 definitely sets the bar extremely high when it comes to these arcade conversions.

[@puddleglump8654]

@@retrogamingknight the games were designed around the slowdown if you were to play them without the slowdown its a bit unplayable

[@connorquinn700]

Ya came here to say the slowdown is intended. The games seem designed around the slowdown.

[@hungrygoriya]

As someone perpetually struggling with shooter games, this is fascinating to me. You've given me renewed hope to tackle these games!

[@retrogamingknight]

For me, the biggest leaps in skill came when I broke all the old habits from playing shooters casually, and using better strategies and techniques. If you want suggestions, Air Zonk, Thunder Force III, Steel Empire are some great places to start for traditional shooters, and the Touhou Project games available on PC through Steam are very beginner friendly when it comes to Danmaku shooters.

[@hungrygoriya]

@@retrogamingknight Right on! I don't think I have any of those but that's some great advice. Thanks so much :)

[@BamdTheBamd]

i wouldn't recommend starting with touhou 6. sure, it only has 5 stages on easy mode, but becomes way harder on higher difficulties when the 6th stage is introduced. it also doesn't have many resources compared to other games. it's a fine game if you only want to 1cc easy, but if you're looking to improve, play 4, 7, 8 or 10 instead

[@NCC-0000]

0:37 Those words are exactly how I feel! I enjoyed playing shmups BADLY as a kid, not caring about using +50 continues or inputing endless coins in Mame or use cheats just to see the great scenarios, listen to AMAZING music or just watch the ending credits. But isn’t funny in that way anymore, given for worse that I’m addicted to Replay Burners channel and I always ask myself: “How they do that!?” when I can’t even survive St.2 of Pulstar or St.4 of Vapor Trail. Thank you for the video, now in my 20s finally I want to stop to suck in these great games and just get better to 1CC them or just enjoy them more than just mindlessly flying all over the screen trying to survive.

[@AnthonyRiddle]

Shmupjunkie amd SNESDRUNK are tye two guys that got me into shmups. Ove been playing them for almost 2 years now and i can only 1cc RType, Darius, and Salamander. Bullet Hell shooters are my new thing, so im not very good at them yet, but they are beautiful and really fun

[@Shmuptopia]

Fantastic video! The production quality and writing are both impressive and earned you a sub. Will check out part2 this afternoon and would love to see more STG stuff from you. Thanks and keep up the awesome playing!

[@geauxtama]

I subscribed in the first 10 seconds. This is quality! I love how you broke down beginner goals and documented your journey. For me, I've just been playing random shmups for years, but never committed to learning any for 1CC. My entry point was Ikaruga for the Gamecube and I've been hooked ever since. Thanks again, gonna check out the rest of the resources and get back on the Deathsmiles grind.

[@brettchalupa]

Really fantastic video, awesome to see your progression and hear your thoughts!

[@ZeromasterVT]

thanks for the tips and the game suggestions! I suck at Shmups but I like a lot of them, just need to hunker down and complete more of them.

[@fdevlin5932]

Great video, looking forward to part 2 !

[@arrowviper8882]

Nice video and good luck with getting a 1cc in Futari! I love shmups but I'm not very good as well. Seing another fan trying to improve is really inspiring!

[@jorgezaldivar3113]

I've been working on my 1-credit clear mojo with games like Rigid Force Redux, Blazing Lazers, and Super Star Soldier. I've even played this SHMUP where you don't even get continues. It's called Armed Seven. And my practice has payed off when I finally cleared Super Star Soldier for the first time, after years of being tormented by it, ever since I got it on the Wii Virtual Console!

[@ASAN2042]

Fantastic video! ❤ I fully enjoyed this. Im a huge shmups fan so naturally, this content is great to see. Ive never been great at this particular genre but oh how i adore it and im getting much better...i think🤔🤣

[@Punk93Metal]

Fantastic video! I have have a BIG soft spot for shmups but I’m not too good at them. So cool to see your progress!

[@michaelhoule2134]

and subbed mostly for the v5 intro music. great video edit, yes the slowdown is built into futari and other high level shooters. learn to love and abuse the slowdown, it's all part of it.

[@WorldofFood]

I definitely relate to this. I've beaten many of the hardest platformers and fps games out there, but can't beat stage 2 of R-type, lol. Just a completely different way of thinking. Great video!

[@AdsOfSteelGaming]

Great video! Cheers!

[@persona83]

Came here through Shmup Junkie videos. Great content, you just described the pain of loving shmups but not knowing how to play them properly. Always thought about shmup players as chosen ones, people with magical reflexes above us mere mortals, to the point of even doubting certain achievements in YT videos. Until I saw one of these chosen ones live. And yes, it's frustrating to jump from easy setting to normal and see you don't know nothing about the game, lol. Thanks for the video, we need more shmups tutorials like this.

[@retrogamingknight]

Thanks. Figuring out how exactly you're suppose to play shmups is a real barrier to getting into the genre. A lot of the best players have been playing these games all their lives and they really make it look easy when you watch their playthroughs. I'm glad that there were videos from guys like Shmup Junkie that helped explain the basics for people that might otherwise give up before even starting.

[@Seikent]

Jamestown is awesome too as an entry point. The difficulty scales in a very gentle way and it's really well done in general :)

[@familymartofficial145]

the slowdown on those cave games on the x360 is intended. anyways, i like ur videos! keep them comming :)

[@reagandow850]

I just stumbled upon this video and your channel. Great video my friend. I subscribed immediately and I look forward to your upcoming videos. Edit: I commend you on your progress thus far. I can see that you’ve made some great progress already. Keep it up man!!!

[@retrogamingknight]

Thanks so much. I have a review coming either Friday or Saturday (still putting it together), then in about a week I'll have a follow up video in this series detailing the last few months of progress.

[@ElsweyrDiego]

what amazes me is the fact even doing fairly well on hard bullet hell games i still struggle to play games like R-type or blazing star which i consider harder than most bullet hells i've played

[@GenerationalGamer]

This video was fantastic. It took me 20 years into adulthood before I gave SHMUPs a try. I watch the channels you referenced and am on a similar journey. Excellent job!

[@retrogamingknight]

Good luck with your own journey. I can say that developing skill in shmups has been quite a challenge for me, but has also been very rewarding.

[@GenerationalGamer]

@@retrogamingknight I never played them when Iw as a kid. Playing them as a middle-aged man can be a challenge.

[@burprobrox9134]

Wow nice video for someone like me with a casual interest in shmups. I’m shocked you only have 189 subs

[@Seama327]

9:07 the slowdown is by design. It’s the way the developers intended the game to be. It’s like that in the arcade original tbh

[@DonnyKirkMusic]

Those "caravan shooters" on PC Engine are definitely an aquired taste. They were really advanced for the time, probably some of the faster-paced shmups at the time in the early 90s, but some of the stuff hasn't aged well, like how there are a lot more bullets on-screen, but your hitbox is still really big. Stuff like Star Parodier is basically in between a classic shmup and a manic shmup, but they are usually pretty "easy" in the grand scheme of things (in all honesty, the target audience for many of these games on PC Engine was Japanese kids) but they are honestly pretty hard mostly due to their length (some of these go on past 40 mins, like Blazing Lazers, and you definitely feel it when you try to 1CC). Pretty much Soldier Blade is the best one imo, and Recca if that one counts.

[@cloud9savagehenry]

Ikaruga. Need more of these .

[@sibbyeskie]

I was probably where you are now a few years ago and I just kept going. Now I can clear most games pretty quick. A few might take me a week or so of practise. It doesn’t take anything Herculean. I’m in my 40’s and don’t have a ton of time to play either. But the main thing was getting good with the arcade stick and really cutting out any input lag in my setup. Everything began feeling surmountable and became a lot more fun. Now I sometimes just fire up a savestate and practise really fine micrododging. It’s great practise, satisfying, and way more fun than the time it takes staring at most modern games. So, good for you and keep going!

[@markbotill]

What system do you play on? What kind of stick do you use? Looking to get into this.

[@sibbyeskie]

@@markbotill I mostly play on PC. Some on steam, but mostly via emulation (see ShmupArch). I use a Seimitsu stick, which is the most popular for this genre.

[@FracturedBaritone]

This is a great video! I'm trying to get into this genre and the fighting game genre, both of which I ignored most of my life. One question, I've been looking for that list of beginner challenges you mentioned from electric undergrounds website but I can't find it. It looks like he let his site shit down for a while and I'm hoping it hasn't disappeared forever because that sounds like a fun way to get into the genre.

[@harrihaffi2713]

Yet another video that points out how awesome it would be to have a pc engine Mini

[@16pixelsgames]

I'm trying to improve in shmups too and noticed the game Razion EX for the Switch is also pretty begginer friendly, since the game gives you 10 continues and you have unlimited bombs.

[@retrogamingknight]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll have to check that one out.

[@gustavolobo4314]

I always think I know how to Shmup until I got wrecked by a new game. It's always fun to master new games

[@D-A-K]

Great video! Welcome to the shmup jungle. Regarding vertical shmups and tate mode, I would put forth that I think having a dedicated vertical monitor, and thusly a bigger play space, does in fact help with performance. Reason being it is easier to keep a larger view in your peripherals and visually easier to track the larger shots. It's neither here nor there, but I'll be curious to find out if you find playing on a bigger monitor helps your performance on verts.

[@retrogamingknight]

When I started playing Futari I was playing on an ordinary 55" LED TV in my living room, but at some point I bought a gaming monitor that I can rotate vertically. I actually prefer the smaller vertical monitor because I have an easier time seeing the entire pattern of bullets in front of me, though it's still large enough that I can small gaps to pass through.

[@D-A-K]

@@retrogamingknight interesting! I wonder if there’s like an ideal display size

[@SILKYSMOOTHSHAVES]

Hi I just subbed nice content where did you buy the Sparkly Ball on your Joystick and what brand and Model is your Ips Monitor Thx much 👊🤘😎🤘

[@retrogamingknight]

It's been a while but I believe that I got the ball top online at arcadeshock. As for the IPS monitor, it's an LG 32GP750-B 32" IPS Ultragear. What's nice is that it comes with a stand that rotates 90 degrees for vertical and horizontal games.

[@soratheorangejuicemascot5809]

I already have experience with shmups before I actually decided to get into the genre. What drove me to try it again is the game called Caladrius Blaze. After I credit feed the game, I realized that I am not actually utilizing the game's tools properly. I spent 8 hours on the game but I move on since I feel like I developed a bad habit on relying too much on the defensive mechanics. My second big journey with shmup is Sora, which to me is what I consider the most painful shmup for my hand. Its unlike any other game I have ever played. Phasing through laser, hack n slashing enemies, dodging explosions and animation canceling my shots, it may sound like I am not playing a shmup but still is. I reach around 10 hours before finishing the story mode but for the arcade, I already am at 43 hours and I am still unable to do a 1cc. When, I cleared the story mode, my mind finally concluded that I want more of shoot em ups, either old school(Blazing Lasers), danmaku(Dodonpachi), a boundary between the two(Armed Police Batrider, Battle Bakraid, G Darius) or something very gimmicky(Suguri/Sora, Zeroranger), because its just fun. Anyways, excuse me for sharing my shmup experience. And also, this video is awesome and deserves for a lot of view who wants to start their journey to shmup.

[@retrogamingknight]

Very fascinating experience. Thanks for sharing.

[@shmups_hobby]

Added to my "Shmup Beginners Playlist", check out all the videos here: kzbin.info/aero/PLwO70CJqSkyKRNQxkcjP63EpPB1Am8i0V

[@retrogamingknight]

Thanks for adding these to your playlist. BTW, youtube flagged these as potential spam which is why I didn't notice these sooner.

[@shmups_hobby]

@@retrogamingknight thanks for letting me know. I had a feeling something was up when the comments didn’t appear straight away!

[@proj3ct_x_light_years]

I'm working atm on Project X sequel from Amiga. It's still shmup :)😊 Proj3ct X - Light Years

[@rafresendenrafresenden.1644]

cool

[@7njap]

hEY! Mind if I ask which gaming monitor you purchased, and any additional gadgets needed to rotate vertically? I think I'd like to purchase one some day, but the research has never gone well when I've tried... Thanks for the video!!

[@retrogamingknight]

The monitor I'm using right now is the LG 32GP750-B 32 Inch QHD (2560 x 1440) IPS Ultragear Gaming Monitor. The stand that it comes with can rotate 90 degrees clockwise into vertical orientation. This is fine for games made in the last 20 years or so, but 80s and some 90s vertical oriented arcade games usually rotate counter-clockwise only.

[@jrpggamer93]

All I play are jrpgs but I been looking to get into these games an fighters . Are there shmups that have good stories to ?

[@Racer9912]

shumps are great games :D

[@ru55ells]

9:02 no expert... but I think the slowdown is added deliberately, maybe for authenticity or practicality?

[@jasp2003]

Is there a way to use an arcade stick on the pc engine mini??

[@AcceleratingUniverse]

laughed at out loud at "importing a [touhou 6] disc from japan and getting it to work on a modern PC"

[@AcceleratingUniverse]

one of my earliest computer memories is pirating touhou 6 when I was like 8, 18 years ago. no one in history has paid for that game lmao

[@scienceandmatter8739]

Finnaly someone that Love shmups Like me but also Like me never IS that TEU Level ....haha. tribvtes FROM

[@StarKratos]

"Hutari" is not actually a misspelling but rather an attempt to transcribe the "fu" phoneme, which does not actually fully correlate to the "f" in Latin and Germanic languages entirely.

[@JuanRoosterbeard]

#shmupsareshooters

[@swmorgan515]

Just a heads up, that xbox live search result is for the "black lavel" add-on for Mushihimesama-Futari, not for the full game. I'm not seeing any way to buy the full game, and there are no refunds on the add-on for those who (like myself) accidentally buy.

[@retrogamingknight]

Good catch there. You used to be able to link back to the full game from the Black Label listing, but looks like it was delisted at some point. I'm trying to see if there is an easy way to add a disclaimer to that part of the video, otherwise I'll just trim out that small section.

[@retrogamingknight]

Actually, I tried looking on the Xbox Live store on a 360, and there is a box to the right of Purchase that says "See Full Game". Selecting that takes me store page for the full game. I'm not sure which console you're using, it may not appear on Xbox One or Series X. I also already have the game installed on my 360, so maybe that makes the difference.

[@swmorgan515]

@@retrogamingknight awesome thank you, I will try from within the 360 via that link. I was searching via the web

[@hikaruk.981]

@@retrogamingknight Looks like it's not on the North American store at all anymore.

[@GamingPlus10]

Bullet hell shooters are my least favorite. I love the classic side scrollers like Thunder Force 3 and 4 and the Gradius series.

[@ishimoto1597]

Complaining about slowdown lol

[@gaylordfocker7990]

What monitor is that and do you need some type of bracket to tilt 90°?