The world can always do with more cute-’em-ups. Shmups are all well and good, but trade the spaceships and gritty sci-fi for adorable characters and bright, playful colours and you get magic—as the TwinBees and Cottons of this world have proven time and again. It’s that tradition that Hazelnut Hex …
Horror-themed indie shoot-’em-up Remote Life is making its way to console later this month, with a Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox release set for May 27. Originally released for PC in 2019, Remote Life is the work of solo developer Next Game Level. It’s a side-scrolling shmup inspired by arcade classics, …
When you think of “Taito milestones”, what comes to mind? Space Invaders, surely, as one of the most influential videogames of all time? The inimitable charm of Bubble Bobble? The unique style and innovation of Darius? You’ll find none of these in Taito Milestones. This new 10-game compilation is touted …
You know the drill: squeeze through tiny gaps in screen-filling bullet patterns, unleash some bullet hell of your own with a powerful, wide-reaching cannon, hold the shot button to focus fire for an immensely powerful laser and slower, more careful movement. In a lot of ways, Z-Warp is a more …
Want to try your hand at making a shoot-’em-up, but not sure where to start? You may want to check out the new SHMUP Creator software that just landed on Steam today. As the name suggests, it is to shmups what RPG Maker is to RPGs and Visual Novel Maker …
If you’re feeling sleepy and need a quick jolt to wake you up, a quick round of Crimzon Clover: World EXplosion is a good way to go. It’s an assault on the senses even by bullet hell standards, with so much brightly-coloured plasma and so many shiny gold medals filling …
I tend to be wary of “roguelike shoot-’em-ups”. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but I like the appeal of a classic arcade shmup: five handcrafted levels (and maybe a second loop), with consistent enemy layouts and meticulous patterns that you can practice, master, and build a strategy around. I like roguelikes …
Halfway through the third stage of Castle of Shikigami 2, a boss called “Freyr” shows up. With a name like that, shoot-’em-up genre conventions, and the few other bosses under your belt by that point establishing the game’s dark fantasy style, you’d probably expect some huge, threatening mech or a …
Gynoug is far from the first retro re-release to augment an authentic port with handy modern conveniences like save states and rewind tools, but it’s easily one of the better examples I’ve encountered. Amid the endless debate about preserving old classics exactly as they were and making their more dated …
Space Moth DX was already an accomplished CAVE-style shoot-’em-up that put a unique risk/reward twist on the familiar dichotomy of the rapid-fire spread shot and a high-power, focused laser. With a remixed scoring system and new mechanics, Space Moth: Lunar Edition —1CC Games’ answer to CAVE’s Black Labels—takes those same …
