A shoot ’em up: a game where you control a ship or character, shoot large numbers of enemies and survive mainly by dodging. Space Invaders, Galaga and Geometry Wars are all shmups.

What does shmup stand for?

It is short for "shoot ’em up".

Is bullet hell the same as shmup?

Bullet hell is a sub-genre of shmup with dense bullet patterns and a very small hitbox.

What Is a Shmup? The Shoot ’Em Up Genre Explained

"Shmup" is short for shoot 'em up: games where you control a ship or character and shoot huge numbers of enemies while dodging what they fire back. The word looks odd, but the genre is one of the oldest in gaming, and you have almost certainly played one.

What is a shmup game, exactly?

A shmup game has three things: you move freely (usually a ship), you shoot constantly, and the challenge is mostly about dodging. Unlike first-person shooters, there is no aiming down sights or taking cover; survival comes from reading the screen and moving through gaps.

A short history

1978, Space Invaders: the fixed-screen shooter that started the arcade boom.
1980s, Galaga, Gradius, R-Type: formations, power-ups and scrolling stages.
1990s, bullet hell: Japanese studios such as Cave filled the screen with patterns of bullets and shrank the ship's hitbox to match.
2000s, Geometry Wars and twin-stick: open arenas, one stick to move and one to aim.
Today: indie shmups on Steam, roguelite shooters and classic re-releases.

Kinds of shmup

Sub-genre	What it means
Vertical scroller	Screen moves up; enemies come from above
Horizontal scroller	Screen moves sideways
Fixed shooter	One screen, waves of enemies
Multidirectional	Fly and shoot in any direction
Bullet hell (danmaku)	Dense bullet patterns, tiny hitbox
Twin-stick	Move and aim separately

Words shmup players use

Hitbox: the small area of your ship that actually counts as hit.
1CC: "one credit clear", finishing without continuing.
STG: "shooting game", the Japanese term for the genre.
Grazing: passing close to bullets, sometimes rewarded with points.

Why shmups are worth trying

They are pure: no inventory, no story you have to follow, no hours of tutorial. You learn by playing, and you can feel yourself improving run by run. Most sessions last minutes.

Is Captain Star a shmup?

Yes, a multidirectional one. You fly a UFO around an open field, reach a star to clear each wave, and fight through escalating enemy types. It is built so one pointer both moves and aims, which makes it an easy first shmup on a Mac or PC.

Captain Star is our top-down space shooter: you pilot a UFO through escalating alien waves, reach the star to clear each wave, and chase a high score. One pointer both moves and aims the ship. It is US$0.99 on the Mac App Store, on Steam for Windows, and on Apple TV and iPad.

What Is a Shmup?