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89-432: Combining 4 eight seater motion base pods with 32 VR headsets and a 3 minute long first-person rail shooter game, the attraction offered a virtual reality experience believed to be unparalleled in its time. The headset used in the attraction, officially dubbed the "Mega Visor Display", has been retrospectively credited as one of the most advanced head-mounted displays of its generation, not fully matched in performance until

178-408: 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

267-670: A Joypolis opened in Umeda, Osaka as part of the Hep Five shopping centre complex, located on the 8th and 9th floors. It was the last Joypolis venue to be opened by Sega in the 1990s. The venue closed on May 6, 2018, after its lease expired. A Namco VR Zone later opened up in the space in September of that year, trading until 25 October 2020. The space is now home to the Bandai Namco Cross Store. Around October 2018,

356-724: A Joypolis-branded venue opened in Shibuya . This venue specifically focused on VR attractions, similar to a Namco VR Zone and other VR arcades. The venue closed on 30 June 2020. In July 2015, a Joypolis venue opened in Qingdao . This is the only one of the Chinese venues to be directly owned by CA Sega Joypolis and not licensed to their owner China Animations. On April 26, 2023, Qingdao Joypolis decided to shut down on May 31, 2023. Source: On April 20, 2005, Sega Corp. closed its Tokyo Joypolis ( Odaiba area) theme park temporarily, pending

445-401: 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

534-405: 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

623-525: A burden on research and development costs, the attractions received positive feedback from gamers. Additionally, the two companies were also competing with each other by opening increasingly bigger entertainment facilities in their native countries; Namco again led the way, launching the Plabo venue in Osaka with a downsized version of Galaxian 3 and Virtuality pods in late 1991, and the first theme park ran by

712-532: A delay, the venue opened on May 9, 2022. The first flagship Joypolis theme park was located in Yokohama , opening on July 20, 1994. It was the second park to launch under Sega's "Amusement Theme Park" concept after the Osaka ATC Galbo venue in Osaka , which had opened three months previously. Initially exceeding its expected revenue and visitor number targets, it lagged behind after its flagship status

801-567: 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

890-409: A police investigation and an internal investigation into park safety procedures. The action came in the wake of an accident on the previous Monday in which a 30-year-old man died after he fell out of a ride. The ride, called "Viva! Skydiving," is a simulator ride that is designed to give passengers an experience of virtual skydiving . Apparently, the ride's operators allowed the overweight man to board

979-417: 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

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1068-541: 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

1157-526: 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

1246-526: 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

1335-576: 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

1424-524: A video game company, Wonder Eggs , at the start of the following year, where the original Galaxian 3 installation was permanently relocated. Sega held their own, opening a large number of family-friendly Sega World amusement arcades and announcing plans for their own theme parks across the world. Sega had also shown more interest in creating their own VR hardware, initially with the Sega VR project headed by Sega of America. While Sega of America developed

1513-729: A warehouse, before being demolished to make way for an apartment block. On 9 December 1995, the second Joypolis venue opened in Chūō-ku , Niigata City . Sega transitioned the operating rights of the park to an outside company, Magic City Co, Ltd. in April 1998, due to poor performance after its first year. The park was rebranded by the new operators as Magic City @ Niigata Joypolis, featuring an electronic card payment system, and having most of its virtual attractions replaced with standard arcade rides. It closed permanently after further management issues on January 16, 2001. The building that formerly housed

1602-555: 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

1691-482: 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

1780-477: 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

1869-864: 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

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1958-500: 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

2047-515: 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

2136-792: The Changning District of Shanghai , and opened in two phases: the first in December 2014, and the second in February 2016. In January 2021, it was announced that a Joypolis park would open in Guangzhou on the Junming Happy World complex later in the year which will contain 40 attractions. It will be the first Joypolis venue to open in South China . It was originally planned to open in September 2021, but after

2225-575: 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

2314-466: 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

2403-430: 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

2492-516: The "Amusement Theme Park" or "ATP" concept by Sega in the 1990s. Overall, eleven Joypolis theme parks have been opened, but as of 2024, four parks remain operational; two in Japan ( Tokyo and a Sports Center in Sendai ) and two in China ( Shanghai and Guangzhou ); the failure of many of the parks has largely been attributed to poor visitor numbers, managerial problems, and cost-cutting measures, with

2581-610: 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

2670-433: The 2010s, and influencing newer attempts. VR-1 is not to be confused with the similarly titled Sega VR , which, though developed under the same company, was a separate project and headset, ultimately seeing no permanent public use or release. The first commercial virtual reality craze across the world occurred around the time of the early 1990s. The Virtuality products, developed by W. Industries' Virtuality Group under

2759-594: The 2010s, and inspired a number of examples that followed. The Mega Visor Display was also eventually released a second time as part of the Sega Net Merc arcade system in 1995; public and critical reception to it was significantly more muted, and the MVD has not been utilized by Sega since. Rumors which state that an early version of the Virtual On: Cyber Troopers arcade game was planned to use

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2848-530: 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

2937-511: 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

3026-510: The Lost Colony , Xenoslaive Overdrive , and the eXceed series . However, despite the genre's continued appeal to an enthusiastic niche of players, shoot 'em up developers are increasingly embattled financially by the power of home consoles and their attendant genres. Joypolis Joypolis ( Japanese : ジョイポリス ) is a chain of indoor amusement parks created by Sega and run by CA Sega Joypolis . Beginning on July 20, 1994 with

3115-548: The Mega Visor Display's slimmed-down size and weight of 640g in comparison to other, more uncomfortable headsets available for public use at that time. VR-1 was installed at a number of other indoor theme park venues opened by Sega in Japan during the following months. The first installation in Yokohama received an update in September 1995 to run new software under the name of Planet Adventure , though this would be

3204-559: The Sendai Nakayama complex and will heavily focus on sports-related activities, as well as a few minor non-Sports facilities like a Comic Book section, and a small arcade. The venue was originally planned to open on March 18, but this opening window was put on hold a day before opening following the 2022 Fukushima earthquake . On April 13, the venue announced a new opening date of April 29. The first Joypolis park in China opened in

3293-460: The advanced Visette. Eventually, the designs were finalized, with the finished product christened the "Mega Visor Display". Eventually, Sega's official theme park attraction development division, AM5, joined AM3 and Virtuality to create a high-tech theme park attraction for one of the company's first venues in the sector. Developers on VR-1's team included head planner Masao Yoshimoto, sound designer Kazuhiko Nagai, and Shingo Yasumaru. Large amounts of

3382-503: The attraction remains at Sega, as well as a promotional booklet. Alongside the likes of the earlier R360 and AS-1 , the VR-1 can be seen as one of Sega's greatest achievements in the field of high-technology entertainment. Despite being significantly less widely released and well-known than the former two examples, the attraction has ultimately made a tangible mark on the history of consumer virtual reality hardware, and stands to this day as

3471-441: The attraction's hardware relied on pre-existing or near complete concepts, including the Mega Visor Display and 4-axis hydraulic bases used in the earlier AS-1 motion simulator. However, difficulties were supposedly faced in synchronizing the hardware and software; at full capacity, 64 sets of boards were run to accommodate the two eyes of all 32 riders, also making for considerably large manufacturing costs. VR-1's first appearance

3560-572: The bowling alley and karaoke facilities on July 17. Unlike the other venues, the operations were transferred to Sega Entertainment Co, Ltd. in October 2012 due to its arcade status. The venue closed on 2 September 2018 after all tenants of the Joyful Town complex were notified to leave their premises due to redevelopment. The building was demolished in November that year. On November 28, 1998,

3649-634: 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

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3738-614: The closures and downsizing of several occurring in the midst of Sega's companywide losses during the early 2000s. After its formation the previous year to operate the parks, Sega announced in 2016 that China Animations would acquire a majority stake in Sega Live Creation (now CA Sega Joypolis ) for 600 million yen, effective January 2017. The two currently operating Joypolis branches are no longer fully controlled by Sega, although their attractions, branding, and intellectual properties continue to be used under license from them for

3827-433: The company's most successful and critically acclaimed attempt at it. The attraction's Mega Visor Display headset in particular has been often cited as VR-1's most significant aspect. Though the graphics it outputted were still somewhat rudimentary, the MVD stands alone as one of the most technologically advanced head-mounted displays of its generation. It was supposedly not fully matched in performance and design quality until

3916-629: 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

4005-400: 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 ,

4094-463: The early 2000s in the face of VR-1's acclaim and the satisfactory visitor numbers of some of their parks, with most of the Joypolis branches and two overseas Sega World parks either closed permanently or downsized in the midst of a restructuring in the company. As a result, no VR-1 units remain in operation today, and none are currently believed to exist in any form. At least one Mega Visor Display from

4183-503: 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

4272-494: 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

4361-526: The foreseeable future. The flagship Joypolis park is located in Odaiba area of Tokyo , and originally opened on 12 July 1996. Currently, it is the only Japanese Joypolis park to remain in operation and has been refurbished twice - in December 2000 and early 2012. In January 2022, a new format under the Joypolis name was officially announced. Joypolis Sports is a sports center located in Izumi-ku, Sendai on

4450-445: The former relocating there. Whilst undertaking development on the original arcade project, the two teams shared unique optics designs and patented technology, in an attempt to work towards the creation of a headset that would set a benchmark for VR moving forward. Numerous new iterations and versions were developed under tight secrecy to work out which types would work best in terms of ergonomic and graphical quality, some of which based on

4539-472: The front page of the Japanese Game Machine coin-op newspaper and marking a notable moment for VR's continued development. At this stage, it was not yet specified which headset would be utilized as part of the agreement. Virtuality and Sega worked together in the offices of the latter company's AM3 division in Japan, with two programmers (Andy Reece and Stephen Northcott) and two artists from

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4628-457: 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

4717-440: 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

4806-431: 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

4895-456: The headset also circulate - though these are not confirmed, the MVD design is incorporated into the original "Virtuaroids" of the first game. Shoot %27em up 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

4984-456: The last official support for it. However, the attraction was installed twice more during 1996 and 1997, with its Space Mission incarnation localized and installed outside of Japan at SegaWorld London and Sega World Sydney . In spite of apparently being prone to breaking down frequently at the locations, it again received positive feedback in reviews. Sega's attempt at worldwide theme park entertainment had ultimately proven to be uneconomic by

5073-445: The leadership of Dr. Jonathan Waldern, were among the most well-known and high-profile examples. Installed at numerous events and entertainment centers, the systems and technology were an enticing concept for arcades, as well as the home console market, however the hardware available to consumers at that time was still very limited - headsets were often large, hulking objects, outputting low resolutions and low frame rate graphics. During

5162-405: The local branch of Isetan . Though still containing a number of newly-developed attractions, it took up a significantly smaller floor space compared to most other Joypolis venues, and no entry fees were charged. The venue closed on August 22, 2002, due to unprofitability, which by its final years only two attractions ( Sega Touring Car Championship Special and Wild River ) operated. The floor where

5251-420: 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

5340-432: 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

5429-416: The original location sited in Yokohama , Japan , Joypolis centers have since opened in several cities in Japan and later China. The parks feature arcade games and amusement rides based on Sega's intellectual properties , original themes, and licensed franchises. Alongside the predecessor Galbo venues and the overseas spin-offs SegaWorld London and Sega World Sydney , they were officially referred to under

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5518-790: The park later became part of the Bandai City Billboard Place entertainment complex and was renamed the BP2, consisting of retail stores on the first and second floors (including a branch of the Niigata City Manga / Anime Information Center) and a cinema on the third floor. On April 20, 1996, a Joypolis opened in Fukuoka as one of the opening tenants of the Canal City Hakata complex. The venue closed on 24 September 2001 due to restructuring at Sega. The venue

5607-410: The park once existed now houses sections selling souvenirs. A Joypolis opened in Yokohama on July 18, 1998. It was part of the Joyful Town complex operated by Ito Yokado , consisting of other unrelated venues. A Sonic-themed bowling was located on the third floor of the property, alongside karaoke rooms. On March 23, 2008, all the remaining attractions were removed from the complex, followed up with

5696-456: 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

5785-401: 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),

5874-574: 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

5963-491: 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

6052-480: 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

6141-415: 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

6230-549: 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

6319-417: 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

6408-548: 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

6497-416: 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

6586-514: The ride, even though the safety belt was not long enough to fit around his body. The man was secured only by an over-the-shoulder restraint, but Sega president Hisao Oguchi says that the restraint was locked in a "more loose position," causing the man to fall out. Reports indicate that, while Sega's official park operations manual forbids riders from riding without seat belts, Tokyo Joypolis had given its employees an unofficial manual that allowed ride operators to use their own discretion as to whether

6675-543: The same time period, Japanese video game companies Sega and Namco had developed a rivalry. Both were competitors as far back as the 1960s, however this relationship had grown through the rise of the "taikan" motion experience games such as OutRun . In 1990, a year in which both made considerable advancements, Sega released the rotational R360 arcade cabinet, which was then significantly outclassed by Namco's Galaxian 3 ride attraction, at that time only available at The International Garden and Greenery Exposition . Though

6764-477: 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

6853-612: 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

6942-550: 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

7031-479: The ultimately never released Sega VR project, Sega of Japan sought outside help for their own separate virtual reality endeavours. By July 1993, W. Industries, owners of the Virtuality Group, had won a £3.5 million contract with Sega to work alongside company's "AM" arcade research and development divisions. Jonathan Waldern and Hayao Nakayama were photographed together at the public announcement, making

7120-472: 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")

7209-545: 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

7298-475: 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

7387-421: 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

7476-482: Was at Yokohama Joypolis, the first Joypolis indoor theme park, in July 1994. Originally running the Space Mission experience, the ride was one of the premier features sited at the park on its opening day, debuting alongside two other new attractions and providing much of the basis for the park's main selling point of high-tech entertainment. It became one of the more well reviewed aspects; numerous critics noted

7565-506: 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

7654-468: Was one of the venue's major entertainment tenants alongside an IMAX theatre. The park became the first Joypolis to close permanently on August 22, 2000, with competition from Tokyo Joypolis elsewhere in the capital officially cited. The floors formerly housing the park are used as an art gallery (10) and an exhibition hall (11). A Joypolis opened in Kyoto on September 11, 1997, located on the tenth floor of

7743-529: Was split into two, one half became home to a Ramen Stadium restaurant and the other half was retained by Sega, who reopened the downsized arcade as a Club Sega venue, and operated it until the late-2000s when it was replaced with a Taito Station. A Joypolis in Shinjuku opened on October 4, 1996. Located on the tenth and eleventh floors of the Shinjuku Takashimaya branch on its opening day, it

7832-412: Was superseded by the larger Tokyo branch. The venue reopened as Joypolis H. Factory on July 25, 1999 as part of a partnership with media personality and comedian Hiromi . Due to restructurings at Sega, the venue closed permanently on 28 February 2001. Nearby facilities, including on-site McDonald's outlets, initially continued to operate. The building formerly housing the park was subsequently used as

7921-546: 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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