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112-404: Maclean's first commercial game, Dropzone is similar in gameplay and style to the arcade game Defender and borrows many elements, including the same style of font , aliens, and title screen. On the surface of Jupiter 's moon, Io , a human scientific research base is under attack by aliens. The player dons a jetpack armed with a laser , a cloaking device and three smart bombs , to rescue

224-593: A CRT monitor . A Motorola 6809 central processing unit handles the graphics and gameplay, while a Motorola 6800 microprocessor handles the audio. A pack of three AA batteries provide power to save the game's settings and high scores when the machine is unplugged from an electrical outlet. The cabinet artwork is stenciled on the wooden frame. Development started by focusing on the game's hardware. The staff first debated what type of monitor to use: black-and-white or color. They reasoned that using advanced technology would better establish them as good designers and chose

336-408: A side-scrolling format. Later notable side-scrolling run and gun shooters include Namco's Rolling Thunder (1986), which added cover mechanics to the formula, and Data East's RoboCop (1988). In 1987, Konami created Contra , a side-scrolling coin-op arcade game, and later a NES game, that was particularly acclaimed for its multi-directional aiming and two-player cooperative gameplay. By

448-446: A May 1985 review said that Dropzone was one of the best Atari games and Atari owners could not afford to miss this game. Personal Computer World reviewer agreed with this notion, who also praised the game's graphics and sound. The Commodore 64 version of the game was awarded a gold medal in issue 3 of Zzap!64 magazine, with an overall rating of 95%. The sequel, Super Dropzone , added new weapon types and end-level bosses . It

560-401: A black background. It had a more interactive style of play than earlier target shooting games, with multiple enemies who responded to the player-controlled cannon's movement and fired back at the player. The game ended when the player was killed by the enemies. While earlier shooting games allowed the player to shoot at targets, Space Invaders was the first where multiple enemies fired back at

672-405: A broader definition including characters on foot and a variety of perspectives. The genre's roots can be traced back to earlier shooting games , including target shooting electro-mechanical games of the mid-20th-century, but did not receive a video game release until Spacewar! (1962). The shoot 'em up genre was established by the hit arcade game Space Invaders , which popularised and set

784-433: A color monitor. The developers estimated that the game would require 4 colors, but instead chose hardware that could display each pixel in 16 colors. At the time, the designers believed that was more than they would ever need for a game. The monitor's resolution is 320×256, an expansion from the then-industry standard of 256×256. The staff believed that the wider screen provided a better aspect ratio and would improve

896-406: A consulting firm to Williams and developed two games for them. The success of Defender prompted Williams to approach Vid Kidz , who originally wanted to create a new game. DeMar, however, suggested creating an enhanced version of Defender to meet Williams' four-month deadline. Vid Kidz titled the game Stargate and developed it as a sequel to Defender . It features new elements and improved

1008-430: A few minutes; anything too challenging would dissuade players. Loguidice and Barton commented that Defender ' s success, along with Robotron: 2084 , illustrated that video game enthusiasts were ready for more difficult games, which spurred developers to create more complex game designs. Jarvis's contributions to the game's development are often cited among his accolades. Author John Vince considered him one of

1120-408: A game world larger than the screen displayed. The game's environment was made longer than the screen and scrolled horizontally. Expanding on the idea, they envisioned a version of Space Invaders rotated 90  degrees . By changing the orientation of Space Invaders ' design, the ship moved up and down while flying horizontally. Large asteroids, an element from Asteroids , were then added to

1232-425: A landmark title from the 1980s. Stearny said that the game's use of scrolling helped remove design limitations associated with the screen. Cuciz stated that Defender ' s use of scrolling introduced the "first true 'gaming environment'". He further said that though the game's mini-map feature had been introduced before, Defender integrated it into the gameplay in a more essential manner. Stearny described it as

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1344-524: A last resort, the "hyperspace" button works as in Asteroids : the player's ship reappears in a random—possibly unsafe—location. Players are allotted three ships at the start of the game; another ship and smart bomb are awarded every 10,000 points (adjustable per machine). Two players can alternate turns. The object is to destroy all alien invaders, while protecting astronauts on the landscape from abduction. Landers pick up humans and attempt to carry them to

1456-567: A more successful attempt to incorporate a 3D perspective into shooter games; Tempest went on to influence several later rail shooters. Sega's Zaxxon (1981) introduced isometric video game graphics to the genre. The term "shmup" is believed to have been coined in 1985 by the British Commodore 64 magazine Zzap!64 . In the July 1985 issue, the term was used by the editor Chris Anderson and reviewer Julian Rignall . 1985 saw

1568-417: A rail shooter released in 1985, broke new ground graphically and its wide variety of settings across multiple levels gave players more to aim for than high scores. In 1986, Arsys Software released WiBArm , a shooter that switched between a 2D side-scrolling view in outdoor areas to a fully 3D polygonal third-person perspective inside buildings, while bosses were fought in an arena-style 2D battle, with

1680-463: A rescue element to the game that Jarvis believed made it more interesting to players and encouraged them to continue playing. The element of making a "comeback" from a dire situation was applied to the planet as well. Jarvis felt it mimicked the ups and downs of real life. "Bombers", enemies which release floating bombs on the screen, were added next. More enemies were added to create different gameplay elements. "Swarmers" and "Pods" were designed to attack

1792-541: A shoot 'em up, as opposed to an action-adventure game . The success of Commando and Ikari Warriors led to run and gun games becoming the dominant style of shoot 'em up during the late 1980s to early 1990s, with the term "shoot 'em up" itself becoming synonymous with "run and gun" during this period. Konami 's Green Beret (1985), known as Rush'n Attack in North America, adapted the Commando formula to

1904-526: A shoot 'em up. Some restrict the genre to games featuring some kind of craft, using fixed or scrolling movement. Others widen the scope to include games featuring such protagonists as robots or humans on foot, as well as including games featuring "on-rails" (or "into the screen") and "run and gun" movement. Mark Wolf restricts the definition to games featuring multiple antagonists ("'em" being short for "them"), calling games featuring one-on-one shooting "combat games". Formerly, critics described any game where

2016-526: A straight line at constant speeds. The player's character can collect " power-ups " which may afford the character's greater protection, an " extra life ", health, shield, or upgraded weaponry. Different weapons are often suited to different enemies, but these games seldom keep track of ammunition. As such, players tend to fire indiscriminately, and their weapons only damage legitimate targets. Shoot 'em ups are categorized by their design elements, particularly viewpoint and movement: Fixed shooters restrict

2128-399: A technical achievement and a difficult title with addictive gameplay. Also in 2008, Edge ranked Defender the sixth best game from the 1980s. The editors described its design as very "elegant" despite a lack of narrative and characters. GameSpy 's David Cuciz lauded Defender ' s challenging gameplay, commenting that it is representative of what other games should be. He described

2240-576: A third-person view, and featured the use of force feedback , where the joystick vibrates. Over the course of the 1990s, a new subgenre of shooters evolved, known as " danmaku ( 弾幕 , "barrage") in Japan, and often referred to as "bullet hell" or "manic shooters" in English-speaking regions. These games are characterized by high numbers of enemy projectiles, often in complex "curtain fire" patterns, as well as collision boxes that are smaller than

2352-555: A wrap-around game world, unlike most later games in the genre. The scrolling helped remove design limitations associated with the screen, and it also featured a minimap radar. Scramble , released by Konami in early 1981, had continuous scrolling in a single direction and was the first side-scrolling shooter with multiple distinct levels . In the early 1980s, Japanese arcade developers began moving away from space shooters towards character action games , whereas American arcade developers continued to focus on space shooters during

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2464-485: Is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed by Williams Electronics in 1980 and released as an arcade video game in 1981. The game is set on either an unnamed planet or city (depending on platform) where the player must defeat waves of invading aliens while protecting astronauts. Development was led by Eugene Jarvis , a pinball programmer at Williams; Defender was Jarvis's first video game project and drew inspiration from Space Invaders and Asteroids . Defender

2576-482: Is a subgenre of shooters in which the screen becomes crowded with complex "curtain fire" enemy patterns. It is also characterized by collision boxes that are smaller than the sprites themselves, to accommodate maneuvering through these crowded firing patterns. This style of game, also known as "manic shooters" or "maniac shooters", originated in the mid-1990s as an offshoot of scrolling shooters. The DonPachi and Touhou Project series are early titles establishing

2688-759: Is available for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (titled Super Dropzone on all packaging, but only Dropzone on the title screen), Game Boy Advance and PlayStation . Only the Game Boy Advance version saw a North American release; the others were European exclusives. A fully-playable port of the C64 version can be found in Windows , PlayStation and Dreamcast versions of Jimmy White's 2: Cueball , also by Archer Maclean. Defender (1981 video game) Defender

2800-443: Is high but fair - when you die, it's always your fault, and that leaves you wanting one more chance to beat the game". In 2004, Defender was inducted into GameSpot 's list of the greatest games of all time. In 2008, Guinness World Records listed it as the number six arcade game in technical, creative, and cultural impact. That same year, Retro Gamer rated the game number ten on their list of "Top 25 Arcade Games", citing it as

2912-477: Is notable for using a traditional fantasy setting in contrast to most shoot 'em up games filled with science fiction motifs. R-Type , an acclaimed side-scrolling shoot 'em up, was released in 1987 by Irem , employing slower paced scrolling than usual, with difficult, claustrophobic levels calling for methodical strategies. 1990's Raiden was the beginning of another acclaimed and enduring series to emerge from this period. Run and gun games became popular in

3024-864: Is still a single axis of motion, making these a subset of fixed shooters. Rail shooters limit the player to moving around the screen while following a specific route; these games often feature an "into the screen" viewpoint, with which the action is seen from behind the player character , and moves "into the screen", while the player retains control over dodging. Examples include Space Harrier (1985), Captain Skyhawk (1990), Starblade (1991), Star Fox (1993), Star Wars: Rebel Assault (1993), Panzer Dragoon (1995), and Sin and Punishment (2000). Rail shooters that use light guns are called light gun shooters , such as Operation Wolf (1987), Lethal Enforcers (1992), Virtua Cop (1994), Point Blank (1994), Time Crisis (1995), The House of

3136-500: Is typically a vehicle or spacecraft under constant attack. Thus, the player's goal is to shoot as quickly as possible at anything that moves or threatens them to reach the end of the level, usually with a boss battle . In some games, the player's character can withstand some damage or a single hit will result in their destruction. The main skills required in shoot 'em ups are fast reactions and memorising enemy attack patterns. Some games feature overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles and

3248-515: The Geometry Wars series, Space Invaders Extreme , Super Stardust HD , and Resogun . The concept of shooting games existed before video games , dating back to shooting gallery carnival games in the late 19th century and target sports such as archery , bowling and darts . Mechanical target shooting games first appeared in England 's amusement arcades around the turn of

3360-522: The Atari 2600 version of Defender (where, due to its graphical limitations, was reformatted to a city setting, rather than the planet setting of the original arcade version) in The Space Gamer No. 57. Driscoll commented that "all in all, if you want a good game for your Atari, this qualifies. Defender lovers have a few gripes, but I would recommend this one to any VCS owner". The port won

3472-487: The Atari 5200 version was "a substantial challenge to the most seasoned space gamers". Computer Games magazine reviewed the IBM PC conversion, giving it a mixed review. They said the "action is very fast" but "it becomes boring after a short time." In 1995, Flux magazine rated Defender 34th in its Top 100 Video Games. They lauded the game stating: "the ultimate side scrolling arcade shooter." Next Generation ranked

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3584-575: The Front Line tank shooter format with unique rotary joystick controls, which they later combined with Commando -inspired run and gun gameplay to develop Ikari Warriors (1986), which further popularized run and gun shooters. Ikari Warriors also drew inspiration from the action film Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), which it was originally intended to be an adaptation of. Contemporary critics considered military themes and protagonists similar to Rambo or Schwarzenegger prerequisites for

3696-466: The Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 and Wii online services, while in Japan arcade shoot 'em ups retain a deep-rooted niche popularity. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2005 and in particular stood out from the various re-releases and casual games available on the service. The PC has also seen its share of dōjin shoot 'em ups like Crimzon Clover , Jamestown: Legend of

3808-430: The vertical scrolling format later popularized by Capcom 's Commando (1985), which established the standard formula used by later run and gun games. Sega's Ninja Princess (1985), which released slightly before Commando , was a run and gun game that was distinctive for its feudal Japan setting and female ninja protagonist who throws shuriken and knives. SNK 's TNK III , released later in 1985, combined

3920-453: The video game industry and one of the most difficult video games. Though not the first game to scroll horizontally, it created the genre of horizontal scrolling shoot 'em ups . It inspired the development of other games and was followed by sequels and many imitations. Ports were developed for contemporary game systems, most of them by either Atari, Inc. or its software label for non-Atari platforms, Atarisoft . The 1982 Atari 2600 version

4032-537: The "Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Videogame" category in the 1983 Arcade Awards. Computer and Video Games later reviewed the game, giving it a 90% rating. In 1983 Softline readers named the port for the Atari 8-bit computers fifth on the magazine's Top Thirty list of Atari programs by popularity. The magazine was more critical, stating that "the game's appeal does not justify its unreasonable cost" of being shipped on ROM cartridges . David H. Ahl of Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games said in 1983 that

4144-426: The 1980 AMOA show. In retrospect, Jarvis believed many passersby were intimidated by its complexity. The game was well received in arcades, and crowds gathered around the cabinet during its first nights of play testing. The success spurred Williams to release a cocktail version as well. Defender eventually became Williams' best-selling arcade game, with over 55,000 units sold worldwide, and it became one of

4256-610: The 1980s, and increasingly catered to specialist enthusiasts, particularly in Japan. " Bullet hell " games are a subgenre of shooters that features overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles , often in visually impressive formations. A "shoot 'em up", also known as a "shmup" or "STG" (the common Japanese abbreviation for "shooting games"), is a game in which the protagonist combats a large number of enemies by shooting at them while dodging their fire. The controlling player must rely primarily on reaction times to succeed. Beyond this, critics differ on exactly which design elements constitute

4368-619: The 2003 compilation Midway Arcade Treasures . In 1997, Tiger Electronics released a handheld edition of Defender with a grayscale LCD screen, which doubles as a keychain ornament. Home games that copied Defender ' s design include Gorgon (1981) and Repton (1983) for the Apple II; Alien Defense (1981) for the TRS 80 Model III; Chopper Command (1982) for the Atari 2600; Protector II (1983) and Dropzone (1984) for

4480-530: The 20th century, before appearing in America by the 1920s. Shooting gallery games eventually evolved into more sophisticated target shooting electro-mechanical games (EM games) such as Sega 's influential Periscope (1965). Shooting video games have roots in EM shooting games. Video game journalist Brian Ashcraft argues the early mainframe game Spacewar! (1962) was the first shoot 'em up video game. It

4592-519: The 64 and can handle any amount of blobs on screen, even when you release a Strata Bomb. It is visually, sonically etc., identical and about 12K shorter. However, the 64 is still a respectable BMW 316 . The name Dropzone was not settled on until shortly before the game went gold. Maclean entered into a publishing deal with U.S. Gold for the European distribution of the game. After 18 months, however, they stopped paying him royalties claiming that

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4704-574: The Atari 8-bit computers; and, for the BBC Micro, Defender (1982) was renamed to Planetoid (1984) to avoid litigation. It influenced Jeff Minter 's Andes Attack for the VIC-20 home computer. StarRay (1988) was retitled Revenge of Defender in the US. Some games, such as The Tail of Beta Lyrae (1983) and R-Type (1987), were influenced more by Defender 's side-scrolling action than

4816-511: The Dead (1996) and Elemental Gearbolt (1997). Light-gun games that are "on rails" are usually not considered to be in the shoot-em-up category, but rather their own first-person light-gun shooter category. Cute 'em ups feature brightly colored graphics depicting surreal settings and enemies. Cute 'em ups tend to have unusual, oftentimes completely bizarre opponents for the player to fight, with Twinbee and Fantasy Zone first pioneering

4928-763: The United States video game industry. On the 1981 arcade game charts, it topped the Play Meter arcade chart in August, and the RePlay arcade charts for most months between April and November. The annual Cash Box and RePlay arcade charts listed Defender as the second highest-grossing arcade game of 1981 in the United States, just below Pac-Man . The Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) later listed Defender among America's six highest-grossing arcade games of 1982 . Co-designer Larry Demar

5040-544: The arcade version as number 13 on their 1996 "Top 100 Games of All Time", saying that its balanced difficulty makes gamers keep coming back for more instead of giving up. In 1996, GamesMaster listed the game number 5 in their "Top 100 Games of All Time", they described the game as "One of the greatest shoot-‘em-ups of all time." In 1999, Next Generation listed Defender as number 23 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that "despite exceptionally complicated controls, gamers fell in love at first sight. The difficulty

5152-624: The audio-visuals and the connection between the game's plot and gameplay. GameDaily in 2009 rated Defender the ninth most difficult game, citing the attack and rescue gameplay. Author Steven L. Kent called it "one of the toughest games in arcade history". He also stated that novice players typically are able to play only a few seconds, and that enthusiasts saw proficiency at the game as a "badge of honor". David Cuciz echoed similar comments. Sellers described Defender' s difficulty as "humbling", saying that few could play it with proficiency. He further stated that players would continue to play despite

5264-634: The closure of Toaplan, the following year, a number of studios formed from former Toaplan staff that would continue to develop this style, including Cave (formed by Batsugun's main creator Tsuneki Ikeda) who released 1995's seminal DonPachi , and Takumi, who would develop the GigaWing series. Bullet hell games marked another point where the shooter genre began to cater to more dedicated players. Games such as Gradius had been more difficult than Space Invaders or Xevious , but bullet hell games were yet more inward-looking and aimed at dedicated fans of

5376-442: The company to shift its focus from pinball games to arcade games. The company chose Eugene Jarvis, who had a successful record of Williams pinball games, to head development. Larry DeMar , Sam Dicker, and Paul Dussault assisted Jarvis. At the time, Williams had a small staff and the management was unfamiliar with technology used for its electronic games. As a result, the staff was afforded a large amount of creative freedom. Space

5488-421: The design, however, the team abandoned the idea, believing it lacked enjoyment. Development then shifted to emulating Atari's Asteroids , but hardware differences between Asteroids and Defender ' s proposed specifications were problematic. Asteroids displays vector graphics on a special monitor, while the staff planned to use pixel graphics on a conventional monitor. The team experimented with recreating

5600-418: The difficulty. Author David Ellis attributes the game's success to its challenging design. Its difficulty is often attributed to its complex control scheme. Edge magazine called Defender "one of the most difficult-to-master" games, describing its controls as "daunting". Players have competed to obtain the highest score at the game and the longest play time on a single credit. Competitive playing for

5712-629: The early 1980s, up until the end of the arcade golden age. According to Eugene Jarvis , American developers were greatly influenced by Japanese space shooters but took the genre in a different direction from the "more deterministic, scripted, pattern-type" gameplay of Japanese games, towards a more "programmer-centric design culture, emphasizing algorithmic generation of backgrounds and enemy dispatch" and "an emphasis on random-event generation, particle-effect explosions and physics" as seen in arcade games such as his own Defender and Robotron: 2084 (1982) as well as Atari's Asteroids (1979). Robotron: 2084

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5824-400: The early 1990s and the popularity of 16-bit consoles , the scrolling shooter genre was overcrowded, with developers struggling to make their games stand out, with exceptions such as the inventive Gunstar Heroes (1993) by Treasure . Sega's pseudo-3D rail shooter Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom demonstrated the potential of 3D shoot 'em up gameplay in 1982. Sega's Space Harrier ,

5936-503: The emergence of one of Sega's forefront series with its game Fantasy Zone . The game received acclaim for its surreal graphics and setting and the protagonist, Opa-Opa, was for a time considered Sega's mascot . The game borrowed Defender's device of allowing the player to control the direction of flight and along with the earlier TwinBee (1985), is an early archetype of the "cute 'em up" subgenre. In 1986, Taito released KiKi KaiKai , an overhead multi-directional shooter. The game

6048-494: The first games to popularize twin-stick controls was Robotron: 2084 (1982). Space shooters are a thematic variant of involving spacecraft in outer space . Following the success of Space Invaders , space shooters were the dominant subgenre during the late 1970s to early 1980s. These games can overlap with other subgenres as well as space combat games . Tube shooters feature craft flying through an abstract tube, such as Tempest (1981) and Gyruss (1983). There

6160-463: The game and added visual and audio effects. For example, Dicker implemented a particle effect algorithm to generate unique explosions for destroyed enemies. The new elements re-invigorated Jarvis, who felt the project began to show promise. Development then shifted focus to the enemies. Landers were given the ability to capture humans, and a new enemy was devised from the mechanic: "Mutants", captured humans that had turned hostile. The Mutants added

6272-457: The game featuring a variety of weapons and equipment. In 1987, Square's 3-D WorldRunner was an early stereoscopic 3-D shooter played from a third-person perspective, followed later that year by its sequel JJ , and the following year by Space Harrier 3-D which used the SegaScope 3-D shutter glasses . That same year, Sega's Thunder Blade switched between both a top-down view and

6384-525: The game has sold over 5 million cartridges worldwide as of 2000. Softline in 1983 wrote that it "remains one of the hardest arcade games ever developed. Initial attempts lasting less than ten seconds are not uncommon for novices". In his 1981 video game guide How to Master the Video Games Tom Hirschfeld reported "Mastering DEFENDER requires some perserverance, but most players find the effort worthwhile". Ed Driscoll reviewed

6496-475: The game helped establish Williams and Jarvis as key figures in the arcade game industry. Sellers echoed similar comments. After the success of Defender , Williams expanded their business by building a new facility and hired more employees. Before the expansion, Jarvis could work in isolation. But the influx of people created an environment he was unhappy with. He left Williams along with DeMar to found their own development company, Vid Kidz . The company served as

6608-550: The game to the Commodore 64 himself: The [Commodore] 64 Dropzone is about 46k [kilobytes] long and consists of 15,000 lines of sparsely commented code with around 350 subroutines and around 3000 labels. Those who can reach Megastar status on the 64 should have had enough practice to attempt an Atari supervised Dropzone mission. The Atari, being the Porsche of home computers, is capable of running Dropzone 2.5 times faster than

6720-478: The game unattended while they rest. Other bugs allow the ship to avoid damage from the enemies, also prolonging the length of play. Defender is considered the first side-scrolling shoot 'em up , predating Scramble by two months. Professor Jim Whitehead described Defender as a breakthrough title for its use of full 2D motion, multiple goals, and complex gameplay that provides players with several methods to play. James Hague of Dadgum Games called Defender

6832-505: The game was no longer selling. In addition, Maclean saw it for sale in areas outside of Europe and even in the United States . Four years of legal wrangling with the publisher followed, until they finally settled out of court for copyright infringement . With the proceeds from the settlement, Maclean bought his first Ferrari . The Atari 8-bit version received overwhelmingly good reviews. A reviewer for Computer and Video Games in

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6944-425: The game with pixel graphics, but also abandoned it because they felt the gameplay lacked enjoyment and visual appeal. Believing their first attempts to be too derivative, the developers held brainstorming sessions. During a session, they agreed that one of Asteroids ' s favorable elements was its wraparound . They felt a game that allowed the player to fly off the screen would be exciting and decided to create

7056-409: The game world, but were later removed because the staff felt it lacked enjoyment. Jarvis intended the screen to scroll only from left to right; fellow Williams employee Steve Ritchie , however, convinced him the game should be able to scroll in either direction. After six months of development, the team felt the game had not made enough progress. They examined other games and concluded that survival

7168-477: The game's presentation. Video games at the time relied on hardware to animate graphics, but the developers decided to use software to handle animation and programmed the game in assembly language . The switch allowed them to display more on-screen objects at a lower cost. The game's control scheme uses a two-way joystick and five buttons. Jarvis designed the controls to emulate both Space Invaders and Asteroids simultaneously. The player's left hand manipulates

7280-505: The game. Atari Corporation released Defender 2000 in 1995 for the Atari Jaguar . It was developed by Jeff Minter , who had previously updated Tempest as Tempest 2000 . A 2002 remake , published simply as Defender , uses 3D graphics and a third-person viewpoint. It was released for the Xbox , GameCube , and PlayStation 2 . The original game is included in the 1996 compilation Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits and

7392-549: The gameplay itself. Later games influenced by Defender include Datastorm (1989) for the Amiga and Fantasy Zone (1986) for arcades and a variety of home consoles . Scrolling shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games . There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character movement, while others allow

7504-440: The general template for the genre in 1978, and has spawned many clones. The genre was then further developed by arcade hits such as Asteroids and Galaxian in 1979. Shoot 'em ups were popular throughout the 1980s to early 1990s, diversifying into a variety of subgenres such as scrolling shooters, run and gun games and rail shooters. In the mid-1990s, shoot 'em ups became a niche genre based on design conventions established in

7616-431: The genre looking for greater challenges. While shooter games featuring protagonists on foot largely moved to 3D-based genres, popular, long-running series such as Contra and Metal Slug continued to receive new sequels. Rail shooters have rarely been released in the new millennium, with only Rez and Panzer Dragoon Orta achieving cult recognition. In the early 2000s, the genre achieved recognition through

7728-443: The graphics as "beautiful", citing the varied sprites and flashing explosions. Matt Barton and Bill Loguidice of Gamasutra stated the audio-visuals and gameplay's depth balanced the excessive difficulty. They praised the game's "catch and rescue" feature, as well as the mini-map. Cuciz also praised the mini-map, stating that the game is impossible without it and that it allows players to plan strategies. Author John Sellers praised

7840-513: The ground. The player must shoot the enemy aliens and catch the falling scientists. Sometimes the aliens will carry lethal androids instead, which must be avoided. There are 99 levels of gameplay, each increasingly difficult. After level 99, the levels repeat starting with level 95. Maclean purchased an Atari 800 as soon as they were officially launched in the UK in 1981 and started writing what would eventually evolve into Dropzone . Maclean converted

7952-401: The highest grossing arcade games ever, earning over US$ 1 billion. It has sold 70,000 arcade units as of 2020, and grossed over $ 1.5 billion worldwide as of 2000. In Japan, Defender was not as highly successful. It tied with Turbo and Galaxian as Japan's 18th highest-grossing arcade video game of 1981 . Six months after its release, the game was one of the top earners in

8064-412: The joystick similar to Space Invaders and the right hand pushes buttons similar to Asteroids . The button functions to shoot projectiles and accelerate use a similar layout to Asteroids . Jarvis reasoned that players were accustomed to the control schemes of past games and felt altering past designs would prove difficult for them. The game was slow to gain popularity, not attracting much attention at

8176-475: The length of their play time. Defender was the focus of the first Twin Galaxies video game contest. Players in 32 cities simultaneously competed on the weekend of April 3–4, 1982. Rick Smith was the victor with a score of 33,013,200 which took 38 hours. One bug, related to how the game keeps track of scoring, allows players to earn a large number of "extra lives". Players can then use the extra lives to leave

8288-549: The longest play time was popularized by Mario Suarez from Atlantic City, who played Defender for over 21 and a half hours in 1982 at the Claridge Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. It was authenticated by the facility and the many witnesses that watched along with the press of Atlantic City; the media attention spurred other players to attempt the same feat. Expert players exploited software bugs to extend

8400-420: The mid-1980s. These games feature characters on foot, rather than spacecraft, and often have military themes. The origins of this type of shooter go back to Sheriff by Nintendo , released in 1979. SNK 's Sasuke vs. Commander (1980), which had relatively detailed background graphics for its time, pit a samurai against a horde of ninjas , along with boss fights . Taito's Front Line (1982) introduced

8512-432: The mobile game Space Impact , which is considered one of the important games in the history of mobile games . Treasure's shoot 'em up, Radiant Silvergun (1998), introduced an element of narrative to the genre. It was critically acclaimed for its refined design, though it was not released outside Japan and remains a much sought-after collector's item. Its successor Ikaruga (2001) featured improved graphics and

8624-502: The most important space game in the early 1980s. He commented that its realism and technological advances pushed developers to create more popular games, citing Gorf and Phoenix as examples. Vince listed the game as a classic title that introduced new technology, specifically scrolling. Ellis stated that prior to Defender , companies designed video games to have a balanced challenge. They believed games should be easy enough to attract players but difficult enough to limit play time to

8736-412: The original's performance. Some home ports of Stargate were released under the title Defender II . Williams released a Defender -themed pinball machine in 1982. It has many elements from the original game: sound effects, enemies, waves, and weapons. Williams produced fewer than 400 units. Midway's 1991 Strike Force is an update and indirect sequel to Defender . Jarvis and DeMar assisted with

8848-426: The originators of "high-action" and "reflex-based" arcade games, citing Defender ' s gameplay among other games designed by Jarvis. Ellis said that Jarvis established himself as an early "hard-core" designer with Defender . In 2007, IGN listed Eugene Jarvis as a top game designer whose titles ( Defender , Robotron: 2084 and Smash TV ) have influenced the video game industry. Barton and Loguidice stated that

8960-456: The player against multiple enemies descending from the top of the screen at a constantly increasing speed. Nishikado conceived the game by combining elements of Breakout (1976) with those of earlier target shooting games, and simple alien creatures inspired by H. G. Wells ' The War of the Worlds . The hardware was unable to render the movement of aircraft, so the game was set in space, with

9072-401: The player and enemies to a single screen, and the player primarily moves along a single axis, such as back and forth along the bottom of the screen. Examples include Space Invaders (1978), Galaxian (1979), Phoenix (1980), and Galaga (1981). In Pooyan (1982), the fixed axis of movement is vertical, along the right side of the screen. In Centipede (1980) and Gorf (1981),

9184-574: The player has to memorise their patterns to survive. These games belong to one of the fastest-paced video game genres . Large numbers of enemy characters programmed to behave in an easily predictable manner are typically featured. These enemies may behave in a certain way dependent on their type, or attack in formations that the player can learn to predict. The basic gameplay tends to be straightforward with many varieties of weapons. Shoot 'em ups rarely have realistic physics. Characters can instantly change direction with no inertia , and projectiles move in

9296-491: The player in a trance-like state. In trance shooters, enemy patterns usually have randomized elements, forcing the player to rely on reflexes rather than pattern memorization. Games of this type usually feature colorful, abstract visuals, and electronic music (often techno music ). Jeff Minter is commonly credited with originating the style with Tempest 2000 (1994) and subsequent games including Space Giraffe , Gridrunner++ , and Polybius (2017). Other examples include

9408-480: The player primarily moves left and right along the bottom, but several inches of vertical motion are also allowed within an invisible box. Multidirectional shooters allow 360-degree movement where the protagonist may rotate and move in any direction such as Asteroids (1979) and Mad Planets (1983). Multidirectional shooters with one joystick for movement and one joystick for firing in any direction independent of movement are called twin-stick shooters . One of

9520-415: The player's flying vehicle moving forward, at a fixed rate, through an environment. Examples are Scramble (1981), Xevious (1982), Gradius (1986), Darius (1987), R-Type (1987), Einhänder (1997). In contrast, Defender (1981) allows the player to move left or right at will. Run and gun games have protagonists that move through the world on foot and shoot attackers. Examples include

9632-549: The player. It also introduced the idea of giving the player multiple lives and popularized the concept of achieving a high score . With these elements, Space Invaders set the general template for the shoot 'em up genre. It became one of the most widely cloned shooting games, spawning more than 100 imitators with only the most minor differences (if any) from the original. Most shooting games released since then have followed its "multiple life, progressively difficult level " paradigm, according to Eugene Jarvis . Following

9744-417: The primary design element was shooting as a "shoot 'em up", but later shoot 'em ups became a specific, inward-looking genre based on design conventions established in those shooting games of the 1980s. Shoot 'em ups are a subgenre of action game . These games are usually viewed from a top-down or side-view perspective , and players must use ranged weapons to take action at a distance. The player's avatar

9856-548: The principle of bullet hells. A bullet heaven or reverse bullet hell is a subgenre characterized by the player character collecting or unlocking abilities and attacks whose visuals overlap and clutter the game screen as the game progresses. They also share a feature of many enemy characters, commonly called "hordes", walking toward the player from off-screen. This genre is generally attributed to Vampire Survivors , released in 2022. A small subgenre of shooter games that emphasizes chaotic, reflex-based gameplay designed to put

9968-416: The release of Konami's Gradius , which gave the player greater control over the choice of weaponry, thus introducing another element of strategy. The game also introduced the need for the player to memorise levels in order to achieve any measure of success. Gradius , with its iconic protagonist, defined the side-scrolling shoot 'em up and spawned a series spanning several sequels. The following year saw

10080-456: The scientists and return them to the base. The gameplay is in the style of Williams Electronics' Defender , with some influences from Scramble and Robotron: 2084 . Players control the hero trying to rescue the scientists on a horizontally-scrolling game field. Players must elude or engage various aliens—some slow, others faster—and return the scientists to the base's eponymous dropzone. The aliens capture scientists walking along

10192-514: The spaceship as opposed to the astronauts. "Baiters" were included to add pressure to the player by preventing them from lingering. The enemies quickly follow the spaceship to collide with it, and were based on a similar enemy in Asteroids . By September, the game was still unfinished, and almost every Williams programmer assisted in meeting the deadline for the AMOA trade show. The evening before

10304-477: The sprites themselves, allowing the player to fit between the narrow gaps in enemy fire. Bullet hell games were first popularized in Japanese arcades during a time when 3D games and fighting games were eclipsing other games. The flashy firing patterns were intended to grab players attention. Toaplan 's Batsugun (1993) is often considered a pivotal point in the development of this subgenre. After

10416-612: The subgenre, along with Parodius , Cotton , and Harmful Park being additional key games. Some cute 'em ups may employ overtly sexual characters and innuendo. Vertically scrolling shooters present the action from above and scroll up (or occasionally down) the screen. Horizontally scrolling shooters usually present a side-on view and scroll left to right (or less often, right to left). Isometrically scrolling shooters or isometric shooters , such as Sega 's Zaxxon (1982), use an isometric point of view . A popular implementation style of scrolling shooters has

10528-550: The success of Space Invaders , shoot 'em ups became the dominant genre for much of the golden age of arcade video games , from the late 1970s up until the early 1980s, particularly the "space shooter" subgenre. In 1979, Namco 's Galaxian —"the granddaddy of all top-down shooters", according to IGN—was released. Its use of colour graphics and individualised antagonists were considered "strong evolutionary concepts" among space ship games. In 1981 Gorf brought joystick control and (limited) vertical as well as horizontal movement to

10640-476: The team created the final EPROM chips for the mode and installed them in a cabinet. The chips were put in backwards, causing an electrical short when the cabinet was turned on, so the team had to quickly burn a new set of EPROMs. Once the attract mode was operational, Jarvis and the team returned to their homes to prepare for the show. After the show, the developers expanded the game to allow users to play indefinitely. The display model featured five levels, which

10752-408: The team felt was more than enough because of the game's difficulty. Most Williams employees could not progress past the third level and Jarvis's score of 60,000 points seemed unbeatable to them. The developers decided it was best to be prepared for players that might exceed their expectations and added more levels that repeated. The game features amplified monaural sound and pixel graphics on

10864-418: The top of the screen at which point they turn into fast-moving mutants. A captured human can be freed by shooting the lander, then catching the human before it falls to its death, and dropping it off on the ground. Defeating the aliens allows the player to progress to the next level. Failing to protect the astronauts, however, causes the planet to explode and the level to become populated with mutants. Surviving

10976-406: The trade show, the arcade cabinets were delivered for display. The developers, however, forgot to create an attract mode (an automated sequence designed to entice an audience to play) and high score system for the game, and began working on them that night. DeMar coded the attract mode, Dussault and Dicker created the high score table, and Jarvis playtested and fixed bugs. Early the next morning,

11088-472: The vertically scrolling, overhead view games Front Line (1982), Commando (1985), and Ikari Warriors (1986). Side-scrolling run and gun games often combine elements from platform games , such as the ability to jump: Contra (1987), Metal Slug (1996) and Cuphead (2017). Run and gun games may also use isometric viewpoints and may have multidirectional movement. Bullet hell ( 弾幕 , danmaku , literally "barrage" or "bullet curtain")

11200-545: The vertically-oriented fixed-shooter genre, while Space Invaders and Galaxian have only horizontal movement controlled by a pair of buttons. Atari 's Asteroids (1979) was a hit multi-directional shooter, taking from Spacewar! the ability for the player's ship to roam the entire screen and to rotate, move and shoot in any direction. The Space Invaders format evolved into the vertical scrolling shooter sub-genre. SNK 's debut shoot 'em up Ozma Wars (1979) featured vertical scrolling backgrounds and enemies, and it

11312-407: The violence. He added astronauts to expand on the space theme and give players something to defend while they shot enemies. The element of flying over a planetscape was added after a brainstorming session between Jarvis and Ritchie. The landscape is depicted as a line only a pixel wide, primarily because the hardware was not powerful enough to generate anything more detailed. By July, development

11424-423: The waves of mutants results in the restoration of the planet. A ship is lost if it is hit by an enemy or its projectiles, or if a hyperspace jump goes wrong (as they randomly do). After exhausting all ships, the game ends. Defender was Williams Electronics' first attempt at developing a new video game; the company's earlier game was a Pong clone. The popularity of coin-operated arcade games in 1979 spurred

11536-414: Was a necessary component to implement. To achieve this, they devised enemies to present a threat, the first of which was the "Lander". Jarvis enjoyed violent, action entertainment, and wanted the game to have those elements, but felt the action should have a reasonable objective. Inspired by the 1960s television show The Defenders , Jarvis titled the game Defender , reasoning that the title helped justify

11648-401: Was a popular setting for video games at the time, and Jarvis felt the abstract setting would help obscure simple graphics that lacked realism. Initially, Jarvis spent 3–4 months developing color variations of Taito 's Space Invaders and Atari, Inc. 's Asteroids . First inspired by Space Invaders , he created a similar game with new gameplay mechanics. After spending a few weeks on

11760-530: Was again acclaimed as one of the best games in the genre. Both Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga were later released on Xbox Live Arcade . The Touhou Project series spans 26 years and 30 games as of 2022 and was listed in the Guinness World Records in October 2010 for being the "most prolific fan-made shooter series". The genre has undergone something of a resurgence with the release of

11872-421: Was an influential game in the multi-directional shooter subgenre. Some games experimented with pseudo-3D perspectives at the time. Nintendo 's attempt at the genre, Radar Scope (1980), borrowed heavily from Space Invaders and Galaxian , but added a three-dimensional third-person perspective; the game was a commercial failure, however. Atari's Tempest (1981) was one of the earliest tube shooters and

11984-482: Was behind schedule and Jarvis's superior began to pressure him to finish the game in time for a then-upcoming trade show, the AMOA, in September. Jarvis spent several weeks creating the astronauts, which his boss felt should be omitted if the process didn't speed up. The pressure frustrated him to the point he considered resigning. Around that time, a new programmer named Sam Dicker was hired. He assisted in programming

12096-501: Was demonstrated in late 1980 and was released in March 1981. It was distributed in Japan by Taito . Defender was one of the most important titles of the golden age of arcade video games , selling over 55,000 units to become the company's best-selling game and one of the highest-grossing arcade games ever. Praise among critics focused on the game's audio-visuals and gameplay. It is frequently listed as one of Jarvis's best contributions to

12208-506: Was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1961, for the developers' amusement, and presents a space battle between two craft. It was remade four times as an arcade video game in the 1970s. Space Invaders (1978) is most frequently cited as the "first" or "original" in the genre. A seminal game created by Tomohiro Nishikado of Japan's Taito , it led to proliferation of shooter games. It pitted

12320-444: Was one of the best-selling games for the system and sold over 3 million cartridges. Defender is a side-view, horizontally scrolling shooter set on the surface of an unnamed planet. The player controls a spaceship flying either to the left or right. A joystick controls the ship's elevation, and five buttons control its horizontal direction and weapons. The player starts with three "smart bombs", which destroy all visible enemies. As

12432-444: Was surprised by the game's popularity. At the time of its release, Stan Jarocki, director of marketing at then-competitor Midway Manufacturing , described the game as "amazing". The Atari VCS port sold over 3 million copies, becoming the second best-selling Atari home video game of 1982 (just below the Atari version of Pac-Man ). However, at least 68,993 copies of Defender were returned in 1983 . Across all home platforms,

12544-546: Was the first action game to feature a supply of energy, similar to hit points . Namco's Xevious , released in 1982, was one of the first and most influential vertical scrolling shooters. Xevious is also the first to convincingly portray dithered/shaded organic landscapes as opposed to blocks-in-space or wireframe obstacles. Side-scrolling shoot 'em ups emerged in the early 1980s. Defender , introduced by Williams Electronics in late 1980 and entering production in early 1981, allowed side-scrolling in both directions in

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