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Senjin Aleste

2025-07-05T22:20:32Z

MewJAM: /* Characters and leader system */ filled in basic character and ship details

[[File:Senjin Aleste (戦刃アレスタ) logo.png|500px|center]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = black
|title = Senjin Aleste
|background = #f8f8f8
|image = Senjin Aleste title screen.png
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[M2 ShotTriggers]]
|
|publisher = [[M2]]
|
|releasedate = 2021/07/15
}}

'''Senjin Aleste''' (戦刃アレスタ "Battle Alester") is a vertical scrolling shooter developed by [[M2 ShotTriggers]], released in fall of 2021 to arcades in Japan on the ''ALL.Net P-ras MULTI'' platform, a multi-game arcade platform developed and maintained by [[SEGA]].

Unlike previous entries in the [[Aleste]] game series, which were all home-console releases, this game was released exclusively to arcades. This was initially met with negative reception. It was the first original title in the series since the release of [[GG Aleste II]] in 1993.

In terms of visual style, the game is largely similar to previous titles, with the exception of the pilot characters. The scoring system of the game is different from previous entries, likely to accommodate for the arcade platform.

__TOC__
{{clear}}

== Gameplay Overview ==
The game is played on a one-stick, 8-button arcade set-up. However, for the purpose of gameplay, only 4 buttons are used. Buttons can be re-mapped to any of the 8 buttons present on the cabinet, and this configuration is saved across machines if the player uses a compatible ID card.

=== Controls ===
----
* '''B1:''' Secondary fire mode. The player ship slows down and the projectiles fired are concentrated for more accurate targeting.
* '''B2:''' Toggles "power" mode. This mode slows down enemy projectiles and allows accumulation of bonus points while shooting down enemy targets. It depletes a power gauge on the top-left of the screen.
* '''B3:''' Primary fire mode. While holding down the button, pressing B1 will override it.
* '''B5:''' Blows away nearby enemy projectiles. Temporarily becomes unavailable after using.

=== Characters and leader system ===
----
The game has four playable characters, each with their own ship/abilities, and leadership bonus:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Portrait !! Name and ship !! Style of play !! Leadership bonus
|-
| [[File:SA Yuri.png]] || Yuri Kunugi / FX-02 Muramasa (Type-A) || High-mobility shot type || Restores energy when picking up an item
|-
| [[File:SA Ratna.png]] || Ratna Francis / YF-X12 Bothrops (Type-B) || Options that turn to match the player's movement || Decreases the amount of time between item carrier spawns
|-
| [[File:SA Tanya.png]] || Tanya Yaezakura / SUS-07 Metel (Type-C) || Wide shot, can focus options for high damage || Increases the firepower of every team member
|-
| [[File:SA Huang.png]] || Huang Kexin / SJ-03D Tian Qiong (Type-D) || Rotating options that cancel enemy bullets upon collision || Decreases the amount of time until downed teammates recover
|}

=== Weapons ===
----
This section describes the weapons that you use in the game and elaborates on them further. Stuff like standard shots, focus shots, bombs, weapon pickups that differ in functionality, options, etc. ''This can be omitted if not relevant to the game in question.''

=== Items ===
----
This section describes any and all collectibles that you acquire in the game. An example being any '''Power Up items''' or '''Medals''' from ''[[Battle Garegga|Battle Garegga]]''. Include secret items such as extra lives as well.

=== Rank ===
----
If the game features a relevant [[rank]] system, use this section to discuss it in more detail. ''Otherwise, this can be omitted.''

=== Loops ===
----
If a game features a [[loop]] system, elaborate on it in detail here. ''Otherwise, omit this section.''

=== Scoring ===
----
This section should cover a general breakdown of the scoring system of the game. Feel free to put the meat and potatoes here. A great example of a scoring section is the ''[[DoDonPachi]]'' page.

== Strategy ==
<div style='text-align: center;'>
''See [[(Template Page)/Strategy]] for '''stage maps''', '''enemy and boss descriptions''', '''walkthroughs''', and '''advanced play strategies'''.''
</div>
----

This section details some particular strategic information about the game and its gameplay, such as hidden 1UPs and some basic scoring tricks. For anything particularly deep or highly complex, you can probably leave it in the Strategy page.

''(Currently evaluating whether or not this specific section should even include information outside of the separated Strategy pages. Worth thinking about as a community.)''

== Story ==
Basic story breakdowns, plot information, and endings are included here.

If there is no story at all, or any information about the setting, then this section can be omitted. Try to include at least small things here when you can.
----

== Development History ==
If available, you can include information here about the hardware, the development of the game, and its general reception. ''Try to have as much information in this section cited as possible.''
----

== Version Differences ==
* Include information here about differences in a game between various versions. This includes regional differences, patch updates/bugfixes, and the like.
----

== Trivia ==
* Cool facts and random tidbits go here!
----

== Gallery ==
<div style='text-align: center;'>
''See [[(Template Page)/Gallery]] for our collection of images and scans for the game.''
</div>
----

== Other ==

We have support for wikitables, giving us the potential to add lots of cool info in a small box on the page somewhere, but we are not using them at the moment. I'm just leaving this here so we can have it handy in case we decide to actually use them. Feel free to not use this section.

{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"
|-
! [[(Template Page)]]
|-
| put your stuff here
|}

== References & Contributors ==
<small>
# Remember to include everyone that you can in your credits if they contributed information! | Having links handy is even better, when available.
# If you are a primary source of information for a game, be sure to link to your Shmup Wiki user account by including a link to your profile, such as: <nowiki>[[User:(You)|(Your Name)]]</nowiki>
## And while you're at it, make yourself a little profile page (if you want, of course)! As a contributor, you deserve to be recognized for your efforts.

* This template page was assembled by [[User:CHA-STG|CHA-STG]] and [[User:Plasmo|Plasmo]].</small>

Mushihimesama

2025-05-23T22:19:03Z

MewJAM: corrected spelling error in ikeda's name under game director credit

[[File:Mushihimesama_Logo_ENG.png|700px|center]]
[[File:Mushihimesama_Logo_JPN.png|180px|left]]

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #854DA1
|title = Mushihimesama
|background = #f8f8f8
|image = Mushihimesama_Title_PC_GameInfo.jpg
|width = 324px
|imagecaption = ''Mushihimesama Title Screen, from Normal mode on the PC/Steam release of the game.''
|imagescalepx = 200px
|
|developer = [[CAVE]]
|
|producer = Kenichi Takano
|
|director = Tsuneki Ikeda
|
|program = Tsuneki Ikeda<br>Takashi Ichimura
|
|designer = Akira Wakabayashi<br>Hiroyuki Tanaka<br>Hideki Nomura<br>Tomoyuki Kotani
|
|art = Tomoyuki Kotani
|
|music = Manabu Namiki<br>Masaharu Iwata
|
|releasedate = 12 October 2004 (AC) <br>
21 July 2005 (PS2) <br>
04 December 2011 (iOS)<br>
24 May 2012 (X360) <br>
12 Nov 2015 (PC/Steam)<br>
15 June 2021 (Switch) <br>
|
|previousgame = [[Espgaluda]]
|nextgame = [[Ibara]]

}}
'''Mushihimesama''' (''虫姫さま, literally "Bug Princess"'') is a vertical scrolling shooting game released in arcades by CAVE in 2004.
The game centers around Reco, princess of her home village, Hoshifuri. The world is inhabited by large anthropod beasts called Koju, who emit a strange magical energy called Levi-Sense, which is poisonous to humans. The story follows Reco flying into the forest on the golden beetle Kiniro, seeking out the God of the Koju in order to save her village from the Levi-Sense Miasma.

The game released in arcades in 2004, later followed by several ports to home consoles. The game was first ported to the Playstation 2 in 2005, featuring a new Arrange Mode. Later, the game was ported to iOS devices under the english translated title, Bug Princess, in 2011.
Finally, ''Mushihimesama'' saw an Xbox360 port in the next year, 2012, which would become the base for all future ports of the game. This version features 4 gameplay modes, Novice, Normal, Arrange, and a previously exclusive 1.5 version that was only playable for a limited time at the Cave Matsuri Festival in Japan. This port of the game was later released on PC via the Steam marketplace in 2015, and on the Nintendo Switch console in 2021.

The game's theme is styled around insects, bugs, and nature. All the enemies in the game are depictions of various kinds of arthropods and insects, from the variety of beetles, to butterflies, moths, mantids, crickets, and many other creatures. These large insect creatures are named the Koju (''literally “Ko” for “carapace” and “Ju” for “beast”''). The stage locations showcase a variety of settings in nature, from the forests, deserts, volcano, lakes, and caves of the world. Reco's dress also resembles the wings of an insect, and she rides atop the Golden Rhinoceros Beetle, Kiniro.
The theme of insects and nature are notably distinct, especially when compared to other arcade shmups of the time, which focused heavily on sci-fi and mechanical themes, such as the [[DoDonPachi]] series. Kiniro being the player's "ship" for the game deviates greatly from the much more common planes and spaceships controlled in other arcade games in the genre.

The game is often held in high regard among shmup players, and its lighter tone and colorful design, along with solid gameplay elements and various game modes, has attracted many fans and overwhelmingly positive reception worldwide. With its most recent release onto the Nintendo Switch, ''Mushihimesama'' is one of CAVE's most accessible games, in terms of availability on various gaming platforms.

{{VideoIndex}}
__TOC__
{{clear}}

== Gameplay Overview ==
=== Controls ===
----
[[File:Mushihimesama Controls InputDisplay.png]]

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Button !! Name !! Description
|-
| '''A'''|| Shot || Press for basic shot, hold for focused fire and slower movement
|-
| '''B'''|| Bomb || Press to throw a bomb. The trajectory of the bomb can be changed by moving.
|-
| '''C'''|| Full Auto || Press for full auto shot, hold to move at full speed while firing.
|-
|}

For the Xbox 360, PC/Steam, and Nintendo Switch ports of the game, there are additional button options.
The timing intervals for these can be adjusted in the options setting.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Button !! Name !! Description
|-
| '''D'''|| Rapid Shot || A rapid autofire option for shot.
|-
| '''E'''|| Rapid Full Auto || A rapid autofire option for full auto.
|-
|}

For the Arrange Mode version of the game, a button is also dedicated to switching between different shot types.

=== Modes ===
The Xbox 360, PC/Steam, and Nintendo Switch versions of the game contain the following 4 game modes.
----
==== Normal ====
The version that released originally in arcades.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Difficulties !! Description
|-
| '''Original '''|| The standard mode where enemy fire density is low. However, bullets fly fast.
|-
| '''Maniac'''|| A game mode that features high bullet density.
|-
| '''Ultra'''|| A harder game mode where enemies fire insane amounts of bullets. At the end of this mode, the True Last Boss will appear.
|}

----

==== Novice ====
A version based on Normal, but with slower and less dense bullets.
This first released with the Xbox360 port of the game.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Difficulties !! Description
|-
| '''Original '''|| Classic, inspired by the devs’ Toaplan history
|-
| '''Maniac'''|| Danmaku
|-
| '''Ultra'''|| Hard danmaku, required to see TLB
|}

(The menu for Novice does not include Training, which is odd)
----
==== Arrange ====
Originally a PS2 (?) exclusive arrange, later ported to other platforms.
Arrange Mode is a version based on Normal@Maniac with the same shot types

There is no difficulty option, and no shot type option on start. This is because the player is given the ability to switch between all shot types on the fly using a dedicated button.
The player also starts with 6 options instead of the usual 4, and there is an auto-bomb feature, which will consume all bombs in stock if the player is hit, instead of losing a life.

The scoring system is different as well, though the same general idea of increasing a counter by shooting down enemies still applies. The player also starts with 300,000 counter, instead of the usual zero.

Additionally, the TLB is always faced at the end of the game in this mode. Their attack patterns are changed slightly compared to their Ultra Mode appearances.
----
==== 1.5 / Matsuri====

A limited-time (only 2 days during Matsuri festival) only arcade version, not initially intended to be released in ports, but was included late in the development

At the start, it is possible to choose between all three shot types, but also whether to start with those types at max level. Choosing the max level will make the enemies more aggressive as well, most notably increasing bullet speeds.

The mode is said to be more refined and closer to CAVE’s style of the time <code>{{unconfirmed, see [[DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou]]}}</code>. The game also features different bullet patterns and enemy/stage layouts from the original. This can be seen as early as Stage 2, where there are significantly more bushes placed in a different arrangement compared to 1.0 versions.

The player also is given an auto-bomb feature, like in Arrange mode.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Difficulties !! Description
|-
| '''Original '''|| Same bullet density. The difference in this mode is that the bullet speed is slightly slow.
|-
| '''Original MAX'''|| Original, but enemies are more aggressive. The player starts at max power
|-
| '''Maniac'''|| A game mode that features high bullet density.
|-
| '''Maniac MAX'''|| Maniac, but enemies are more aggressive. The player starts at max power
|-
| '''Ultra'''|| Hard danmaku, required to see TLB
|-
| '''Ultra MAX'''|| Ultra, but enemies are more aggressive. The player starts at max power
|}

The scoring system is different from other versions as well, seemingly a mix between Normal and Arrange modes(?)
----

=== Unlockable Secrets ===
----
'''Extends/1-UPs:''' There are 3 extends by default in the game. 2 are awarded via scoring, and 1 is a hidden item in Stage 3. To collect the hidden Extend item in Stage 3, the player must destroy all 8 segments of the large creature at the end of the stage, before destroying the head. If done in this order, the head of the creature will fire more danmaku in a rotating pattern, and will release the hidden extend when destroyed.

'''True Last Boss:''' The game features a TLB at the end of Ultra Mode (and Arrange Mode). After defeating the Stage 5 boss, instead of being defeated, Aki (the character riding atop Ruriigohon Kurisu) will instead be caught by another beetle called Akka, and continue to battle you as the TLB of the game. Aki's final danmaku pattern is infamous for being incredibly difficult to clear by players. Eventually a "No Miss, No Bomb" attempt was completed by player Veresdon in 2021 [6] (See Strategies for more information)

=== Characters / Ships / Styles ===
----

There are 3 shot types the player can select:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Shot Type !! Description
|-
| '''M-Power'''|| A standard shot-type with decent damage and movement speed.
|-
| '''W-Power'''|| A wide shot-type with weaker overall damage an slower movement speed.
|-
| '''S-Power'''|| A narrow shot-type with strong overall damage and faster movement speed.
|}

Additionally, there are also 2 styles for the player's options:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Option Type !! Description
|-
| '''Trace'''|| The player's options follow the path the player takes. Focused Shot draws the options to the player.
|-
| '''Formation'''|| The player's options fly in a wide formation to the sides of the player. Focused Shot draws them in to a more narrow position.
|}

It should be noted that there is a "supershot" glitch that can be achieved by players by holding Full Auto and quickly tapping Shot. The "super shot" increases damage dealt by roughly 50%. This only works on W-Power and S-Power types, and at different distances from the enemy. (See Weapons and Strategy for more information)

=== Items ===
----
'''Power-Up Items''' Power-Up items are released from specific beetle enemies throughout stages. They spawn in the current shot type the player is using, and will increase the player's shot power by 1. A ring around the item's icon indicates when it will switch to the next shot-type. If collected as a different shot-type, then it will change the player to the type indicated by its icon. At max power, these award the player 10,000 points.

'''Bomb Items:''' Bomb items increase the player's bomb stock by 1. The player can carry up to 6 bombs. They are released by the same type of enemy that drops Power-Up Items.

'''Extends/1-UPs:''' There are 3 extends by default in the game. 2 are awarded via scoring, and 1 is a hidden item in Stage 3. to collect the hidden 1-UP extend in Stage 3, the player must destroy all 8 segments of the large creature at the end of the stage, before destroying the head. If done in this order, the head of the creature will fire more danmaku in a rotating pattern, and will release the hidden extend when destroyed.

'''Amber (Point Items):''' The golden gems released by the enemies after being destroyed are called amber (continuing the insect theming of the game). Amber will automatically collect when the player is near. Amber released by ground enemies will stay in place (appearing as a shell or carapace) and will not collect unless the player flies directly over it. This is changed in some modes of the game where holding A for focused Shot will automatically collect all amber on the screen to the player.
Amber adds to the player's score based on the main counter built up by hitting enemies with your shot. (exact calculation needed)
Amber collected in a stage will also give bonus points at the end of a stage. However, if the player loses a life in a stage, then any amber collected prior to that will not be counted towards the bonus.

The bonus score per collected amber is awarded as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Item !! Amber Type !! Score Bonus
|-
|[[File:Mushihimesama_Amber_Flying_Small.png]]||''Small Flying Amber''|| '''100 '''
|-
|[[File:Mushihimesama_Amber_Flying_Large.png]]||''Large Flying Amber''|| '''200 '''
|-
|[[File:Mushihimesama_Amber_Ground_Small.png]]||''Small Ground Amber''|| '''300 '''
|-
|[[File:Mushihimesama_Amber_Ground_Large.png]]||''Large Ground Amber''|| '''500 '''
|}
(For more information, see Scoring)

=== Rank ===
----
<code>There is no rank in the game, except possibly in Original mode(?)</code>

=== Scoring ===
----
<code>WIP</code><br>
Scoring in Mushihimesama is easy to learn, but hard to master. There are two primary calculations done for determining the player's overall score as they play through the game, one for gaining points from Amber score items dropped from enemies, and the other from enemy destruction. Both are affected heavily by the counter more than any other variable.
Notably, the exception to this is Amber generated from bullet cancels, which is not affected by the counter.

Additionally, scoring mechanics are slightly different between modes.

For '''Original''' mode, the large majority of the final score (roughly 80%) comes from the lives remaining bonus at the end of the game, awarding 10,000,000 per life in stock. Thusly, a No Miss clear should be prioritized before considering any other scoring techniques. Additional score is achieved through simply defeating enemies and collecting amber. Further high scoring strategies consist of strategic use of bombs in order to spawn additional enemies in certain sections of the game (after the Stage 2 and 5 midbosses), as well as optimizing attacking enemies in ways to increase tick points (points gained per shot bullet that collides with an enemy) and increase the amount of amber generated from Stage 2 nanabushes.

For '''Maniac''' and '''Ultra''' modes, scoring is much more complex, and relies heavily on the fire counters. These counters are explained in detail below, however to summarize, they act as a multiplier to most sources where points are gained (defeating enemies, amber) but must be maintained through chaining enemies, as they will otherwise rapidly decrease back to zero. Advanced techniques such as "Slow-A Tapping" and "counter banking" are used to increase the counters to extremely high numbers, often well above 100,000, which allows for players to achieve scores that are orders of magnitude higher than what would be expected from typical gameplay, when executed well.
Because the scoring system is more advanced for these modes, further information about them and strategies discussed below pertain primarily with Maniac and Ultra modes in mind. Overally, Maniac is generally regarded as the difficulty to play at for competitive high scoring, as the higher difficulty of Ultra mode makes just clearing the game a considerably greater challenge for players.

==== The Counters ====
<hr />
Scoring is primarily done by defeating enemies to raise the Main Counter, which is displayed in the top left of the screen, just below the player's lives (So long as the counter is greater than zero). The counter increases score gained by collecting amber and defeating enemies.

There are two counters: The Main Counter, and Small Counters (also referred to as Big/Little Counters, Parent/Child Counters, Large/Mini Counters, Primary/Secondary Counters, etc.)

:'''The Main Counter''' is where the bulk of your score is gained from, and can be thought of as a multiplier to score gained from defeating enemies and collecting score items. It is raised by shooting at enemies constantly, and will quickly deplete if no enemies are being hit. Destroying certain large enemies will freeze the counter momentarily, allowing for the player to chain their hits and continue to build the counter higher.

:'''The Small Counters''' are important to increasing the main counter faster than would otherwise be possible. The small counters are raised for each of your options' lasers individually.
Essentially, whenever an enemy is defeated, the total amount of the Small Counters are added to the Main Counter. If an enemy stops being hit by a laser, that laser's respective small counter will start to decrease. This also occurs when a boss or midboss transitions into their next phase, though the small counters will be reset to zero as they are added in this way.

However, on all enemies (except end of stage bosses), the Small Counters will also add their current value to the Main Counter whenever the Main counter goes from decreasing to increasing. In other words, whenever it flashes from red to white. This is not noticeable in casual play, as most enemies will be defeated too quickly for there to be any significant increase. The exception to this are the midbosses of each stage, where the enemy has enough health for the effect to be more noticeable.

Because of the Small Counters unique properties, players have discovered a technique to drastically increase the Main Counter to much larger values. Specifically, the technique takes advantage of the Small Counters' property of adding their values to the Main Counter whenever the Main Counter transitions from decreasing to increasing. This technique has been named "Counter Banking" by the community, named such because the Small Counter values are "banked" into the Main Counter by careful spacing between the player's bursts of shots. More information about counter banking can be found in the Strategy section.

The formulas for figuring out how much score is to be awarded to the player are as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Score From !! Score Calculation
|-
| Amber || <code>Counter/10+Base Value</code>
|-
| Enemy Destruction || <code>Counter*2+Base Value</code>
|}

Again, the exception to the Amber Formula is Amber that is collected from bullet cancels, which is not affected by the counter.

<hr />

==== Amber ====
<hr />
The golden gems released by the enemies after being destroyed are called Amber (continuing the insect theming of the game). Amber will automatically collect when the player is near. Amber released by ground enemies will stay in place (appearing as a shell or carapace) and will not collect unless the player flies directly over it. This is changed in some modes of the game where holding A for focused Shot will automatically collect all amber on the screen to the player.
Amber adds to the player's score based on the main counter built up by hitting enemies with your shot. (exact calculation needed)
Amber collected in a stage will also give bonus points at the end of a stage. However, if the player loses a life in a stage, then any amber collected prior to that will not be counted towards the bonus.

The bonus score per collected amber is awarded as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Item !! Amber Type !! Score Bonus
|-
|[[File:Mushihimesama_Amber_Flying_Small.png]]||''Small Flying Amber''|| '''100 '''
|-
|[[File:Mushihimesama_Amber_Flying_Large.png]]||''Large Flying Amber''|| '''200 '''
|-
|[[File:Mushihimesama_Amber_Ground_Small.png]]||''Small Ground Amber''|| '''300 '''
|-
|[[File:Mushihimesama_Amber_Ground_Large.png]]||''Large Ground Amber''|| '''500 '''
|}

Collecting Amber is one of the main ways of gaining score, however as the final amount of score gained is mostly affected by the Counter, it is recommended that players focus more on chaining and counter banking instead. In addition, the end of stage bonuses are only kept if the player does not lose a life in the stage, which add further difficulty in achieving higher score from Amber alone.

<hr />
==== Stage Bonuses ====
Bonus points are awarded at the end of each stage. The amount of bonus points possible is determined by how well the player performed during the stage.

The following bonuses available are as follows:
Amber Collection Bonus
No Miss Bonus
Life/Bomb Stock Bonus

The exact values vary based on the mode and difficulty being played.

For Maniac Mode, the following table shows the No Miss bonus for each stage:
{|class = "wikitable"
|-
! Maniac Mode !! "No Miss" Bonus
|-
| Stage 1 || ''200,000''
|-
| Stage 2 || ''400,000''
|-
| Stage 3 || ''600,000''
|-
| Stage 4 || ''800,000''
|-
| Stage 5 || ''1,000,000''
|}

Depending on how many lives you have remaining, the following bonus is awarded for clearing the game
{|class = "wikitable"
|-
! Game Clear Bonus !! Calculation
|-
| Life Bonus || <code>10,000,000 * Lives in Stock</code>
|}

<hr />

:From Kiwi's Guide to Scoring in Mushihimesama (from Shmups Forum)<br>
<em>
"Scoring in Mushihimesama involves two core systems which exist to raise your main counter: chaining and counter banking.

Firstly, let's talk about the main counter. Admittedly, this is not necessary for understanding and scoring this game, so feel free to skip it if you like. All you need to know is that a higher counter produces more points from enemies and amber (except amber from bullet cancels).

AlvaLynsis and I have found the exact formula for how the main counter affects point values. It is actually much more simple than I had previously imagined. There are two formulas:

Amber Formula: Counter/10+Base Value

Enemy Destruction Formula: Counter*2+Base Value

[Amber pieces formed by bullet cancels are not affected by your counter.]" - Kiwi
</em>

== Strategy ==
<div style='text-align: center;'>
''See [[(Template Page)/Strategy]] for '''stage maps''', '''enemy and boss descriptions''', '''walkthroughs''', and '''advanced play strategies'''.''
</div>
<code>
This section details some particular strategic information about the game and its gameplay, such as hidden 1UPs and some basic scoring tricks. For anything particularly deep or highly complex, you can probably leave it in the Strategy page.

''(Currently evaluating whether or not this specific section should even include information outside of the separated Strategy pages. Worth thinking about as a community.)''
</code>
<hr />

=== Scoring ===
<hr />
==== Counter Banking ====
<code>WIP</code>

Counter Banking is the term used by players to describe increasing the Main Counter by an enormous amount. It is achieved by building up the Small Counters with your lasers on a large enemy or midboss, then "banking" the smaller values into the Main Counter by quickly tapping your Full Auto shot. Each time the counter turns from red to white (or rather, whenever there is a gap between the player's shot hitting an enemy) the Small Counters are added to the Main Counter.
By strategically counter banking on the midboss of each stage, the player can gain an incredibly large amount of score compared to "casual" play.

Interestingly, Counter Banking does not work on end of stage bosses, and is not possible in the same way in other versions of the game (primarily Arrange Mode, where the mechanic and "supershot" glitch were built-in to the Focused Shot <code><nowiki>{{unconfirmed}}</nowiki></code>). As a result, it is speculated that counter banking was a mechanic intended by the developers for the players to discover and use for scoring.

<code>This section is in need of some visual examples and a more in depth explanation as a result of discoveries made in 2021, with Low-Power and Glitch-Auto scoring strategies</code>

==== Chaining ====
<code>WIP</code>

Continually hitting enemies with your shot will continue to increase the Main Counter. Routing the stages such that there are no breaks inbetween sections will help you preserve your counter at a higher value. This technique is called chaining.

<hr />

=== Survival ===
<hr />
Playing for survival is an important skill!
Like many of CAVE's arcade shmups, the player has only a limited amount of resources the can obtain to get through the game.

In Mushihimesama, the maximum amount of resources a player can have in stock is 5 Lives, and 6 Bombs. If the player loses a life, they will respawn with 3 bombs in stock, regardless of how many they had prior. As such, it is recommended to use all your bombs for survival, such that you do not lose a life with extra bombs in stock.

==== W-Power and "Supershot" ====
Using W-Power is often recommended to those playing for survival, and for the longest time was regarded as the best shot type in the game even for scoring.

It has several benefits to the player compared to other shot types:
* Slower movement speed can make it easier to dodge dense patterns of bullets, while still being agile enough to dodge around larger clusters and faster danmaku.
* A wide spread shot allows players to clear out enemies from nearly anywhere on the screen, which generally results in less overall bullets on screen at once.
* It is very easy to chain and counter bank, allowing for the player to easily reach both score extends as early as Stage 2.
* By holding C (Full Auto) and quickly tapping A (Shot), the player will shoot at a quicker interval when at close or point-blank distances from an enemy. This increases overall damage output by about 50%, or 1.5 times. In Ultra mode, the 2nd phase of the TLB can be skipped entirely using the "supershot".

==== Extends/Hidden 1-UP ====
Players start the game at 2 Lives in stock. 3 more extra lives can be gained through extends. Two of these extends are earned through scoring.

For Original Mode, the score extends are as follows:
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Original Mode !! Score Required
|-
| 1st Extend || 2,500,000
|-
| 2nd Extend || 5,000,000
|-
|}

For Maniac and Ultra Modes, the score extends are as follows:
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Maniac/Ultra Mode !! Score Required
|-
| 1st Extend || 10,000,000
|-
| 2nd Extend || 25,000,000
|-
|}

The final extra life can be found as a hidden 1-UP item in Stage 3.
To collect it, the player must first reach the end of the stage, just before the boss. After flying up the body of the gigantic Koju the stage is based around, the player will eventually reach its head. There are 8 additional breakable parts to the boss at this section, 4 on each limb to either side of its head.

All 8 breakable parts must be destroyed before destroying the head in order to release the hidden 1-UP. This can be difficult, as the limbs will continually shoot aimed bullets at the player until they are destroyed, and the head itself has only a small amount of HP, which can make it easy to accidentally destroy early, and thus miss the 1-UP.

Once all 8 parts are destroyed, the head's bullet pattern will also increase in difficulty slightly (generally beginning to fire faster and rotate) so its important to be ready when destroying the last breakable part.

Destroying the head will cancel all bullets on the screen, allowing for the player to safely collect the 1-UP afterwards as the end of stage boss spawns in.

<hr />
=== Arrange Mode Differences ===
<code>WIP</code>
<hr />
=== v1.5 Matsuri Mode Differences ===
<code>WIP</code>
<hr />
=== Watching Replays ===
<code>WIP</code>

It is highly recommended that players aiming to succeed in clearing the game watch replays of other player who have succeeded in doing so.

Many great strategies, tips, tricks, and routes both for scoring and survival can be learned just by watching other player's replays and comparing what you do to what they do throughout the game!

A collection of videos and replays from superplayers can be found in the Video Index section of the site, as well as in the References section at the bottom of this page.
Here are a few videos that can help beginners interested in learning survival and scoring for the game:
<code>See References and Video Index for now</code>
<hr />

== Story ==
<code>
Basic story breakdowns, plot information, and endings are included here.

If there is no story at all, or any information about the setting, then this section can be omitted. Try to include at least small things here when you can.</code>

<code>WIP</code>

The game centers around Reco, princess of her home village, Hoshifuri. The world is inhabited by large anthropod beasts called Koju, who emit a strange magical energy called Levi-Sense, which is poisonous to humans. The story follows Reco flying into the forest on the golden beetle Kiniro, seeking out the God of the Koju in order to save her village from the Levi-Sense Miasma.

----

== Development History ==
If available, you can include information here about the hardware, the development of the game, and its general reception. ''Try to have as much information in this section cited as possible.''
----

== Version Differences ==
* Include information here about differences in a game between various versions. This includes regional differences, patch updates/bugfixes, and the like.
----

== Trivia ==
* Mushihimesama literally translates to "Bug Princess"!
* Koju, the name for the large bugs, translates to "carapace beast"!
* Kiniro is a golden rhinoceros beetle type of Koju. In various media, it is stated that they don't get along well with Stag Beetle type Koju. This references a behaviour observed by these types of beetles in real life, where they will often use their horns and pincers for territorial battles and courting rituals. (citation needed)
* Aki's beetle companion is named Akka, which only makes an appearance in his TLB form. Its name is referenced on the game's Achievements page on Steam. (The specific achievement is named Aki and Akka, and Arrange 120%)
* All the bosses and midbosses in the game have unique names, which appear in the Achievements page on Steam for the game as well. In order of appearance, their names are: Gigaszomu, Zazoraira, Benihonogada, Kyurionesu heddo, Gengoramu & Gamuji, Yamirosimabo, Damaruriga, Ruriigohan Kurisu, Aki and Akka.

----

== Gallery ==
<div style='text-align: center;'>
''See [[Mushihimesama/Gallery]] for our collection of images and scans for the game.''
</div>
----

== Other ==

We have support for wikitables, giving us the potential to add lots of cool info in a small box on the page somewhere, but we are not using them at the moment. I'm just leaving this here so we can have it handy in case we decide to actually use them. Feel free to not use this section.

{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"
|-
! [[(Template Page)]]
|-
| put your stuff here
|}

== References & Contributors ==

* [http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/mushihime-sama/ Hardcore Gaming 101: Mushihime-sama]
* [https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=67577 Shmups Forum: ST: Mushihimesama 1.0 Maniac & Ultra Scoring]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UbcWqGHbtA The Electric Underground: Mushihimesama HD In-Depth Review]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihS8ILnvMzc Shmups on Switch: Mushihimesama Review - Nintendo Switch]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dbqSmSg71U Bullet Heaven HD60 #139 - Mushihimesama (PC)]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxhyMnHAyrg Mushihimesama - Ultra TLB Aki no miss no bomb - W-power by Veresdon]
* [https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=67577 Scoring Guide on Shmups Forums by Kiwi]

[[Category:Vertical orientation]]
[[Category:True Last Boss]]
[[Category:Bomb mechanic]]
[[Category:Bullet-cancelling mechanic]]

Help:Glossary

2023-07-27T22:23:08Z

MewJAM: Moved the description of Revenge Bullets to a separate line from the disambiguation.

==0-9==
===1cc===
"'''1cc'''" stands for "'''1 Credit Clear''' or '''1 Coin Clear'''", and refers to completing all of the stages of a game on a '''single credit''' (no continues).

Another term that is used is "x-'''ALL'''", where x represents the number of [[loop]]s completed in a single run on a single credit. An example of an ALL is completing both loops of a game like ''[[DoDonPachi]]'', which features two loops; completing a 1cc on both loops of the game is referred to as a '''2-ALL'''.

==A==
===Arrange===
An '''arrange mode''' is an alternate version of a game, commonly either included with console ports, or made as part of special events, where mechanics, artwork, and various aspects of the game are "remixed" and modified in various ways.

Arrange modes typically don't have enough changes to be considered completely different games, as they are often re-conceptualizations of stages and mechanics, but in some cases, they do have enough differences to be given separate leaderboards, strategies, and stage routing.

===Auto-fire===
''Also called '''Auto-Shot''' or '''Full Auto'''.''

A feature found in some shmups which allows you to fire shots continuously by holding down the “fire” button, or a separately-designated “auto-fire” button, instead of tapping the fire button repeatedly. Depending on a weapon’s fire rate, and the situation, using auto-fire may or may not be to a player’s advantage at all times. Older shooters (or depending on a weapon that is gathered) usually required continuous button pressing to keep firing. Rapid fire can be gathered by either turning it on in an options menu, obtaining a certain weapon power up, or flipping on a turbo fire switch on a control pad (Usually a third party pad).

===Auto-fire rate===
Despite sounding similar, this is NOT the same thing as fire rate. Refers specifically to the amount of shots fired in a single “burst” when using auto-fire : in some shmups this setting is adjustable in the Options menu (or even in-game), while in other cases players will engineer an auto-fire hack to set extra buttons to different auto-fire rates to use in different situations. Usually, the auto-fire rate is represented in Hz, representing how many times the shot button is pressed per second. For instance, a 30hz auto-fire rate means that the shot button is being pressed 30 times a second.

==B==
===Bomb===
A '''bomb''' is the generic term for a limited-use weapon, usually one that does large amounts of damage, typically granting some amount of invincibility for use in emergency situations. Bombs are often stored in stocks similarly to lives, though sometimes they operate on a meter or even just a cooldown timer. They will often be replenished each time the player loses a life.

===Bullet Cancel===
In some games, destroying certain enemies or meeting specific conditions will result in bullets being deleted from the screen, known as a '''bullet cancel'''. Bullet cancels are typically used as a part of a game's scoring system, as cancelled bullets will often increase score, release point items, or create other similar effects.

===Bullet Hell===
''Also called '''Danmaku''' or '''Manic Shooter'''.''

A type of shoot-em-up characterized by large numbers of bullets, often in intricate patterns. Innovated in large part by the developers of [[Toaplan]] and [[CAVE]], and with [[DonPachi]], released in 1995.

===Bullet Herding===
'''Bullet-herding''' is a basic technique in shoot-em-up play that involves positioning the player's ship at different places on the screen with the intent to adjust the trajectory of bullets or lasers that are aimed towards the player. This is commonly used by high level players to create "safe" areas of the screen that the player can move towards incrementally, allowing them to have more space to move around when action becomes hectic.

===Bullet wobble===
'''Bullet wobble''' is a colloquialism adopted by much of the shmups community to describe a design quirk in some scrolling shmups where bullets/power-ups/enemies/anything follows the physics of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_computer_graphics#screen_space| screen space] rather than the physics of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_computer_graphics#world_space| world space]. For instance, in a vertical shmup with "bullet wobble" and with left-right screen scrolling controlled by the player's left-right motion, if a bullet is fired straight down from the top center of the screen, that bullet will remain horizontally centered on the screen no matter how much the player scrolls the background (world space) left or right, because the bullet is only treated as being on a static non-moving area (screen space).

==C==
===Chain===
''Also called '''Combos'''.''

Any of a number of various repeated techniques a player can perform to increase the points awarded for shooting enemies, collecting items, or other things under the right circumstances: the most common varieties involve shooting down many enemies (or enemies of a specific type) in a row, or collecting a certain type of score item many times in a row.

===Checkpoint===
Specific areas of a stage where the player is sent back to on death / respawn. Although checkpoints may function differently in different games, they typically reduce your power level back to the starting level, as well as replenish resources such as bombs. Checkpoints frequently appear in many [[Toaplan]] titles (such as ''[[Tatsujin]]''), as well as early horizontal shmups like ''[[Gradius]]'' and ''[[R-Type]]'' (the former of which even has a term associated with its brutal checkpoint difficulty, known as "Gradius Syndrome" in the fandom).

===Counter-stop===
A '''"counter-stop", counterstop, or CS''' refers to when a score counter reaches the maximum amount that it is able to reach, commonly displayed on a HUD as a series of 9s in each score digit. When a counter-stop is achieved, in most cases, the game stops counting score for the player. It is not possible to score higher than a counter-stop, so often players will stop using scoring techniques upon reaching it.

Games with particularly exploitable counter-stop strategies due to oversights in game design, such as ''[[Dogyuun]]'', are in many cases not played for high scores, or are played in ways that specifically avoid counter-stop strategies.

==D==
===Doujin===
Any artwork made by independent Japanese creators, often a small group or even a single person. Many famous [[shooting game]]s, such as the Touhou Project series, are doujin works. While often conflated with the Western concept of indie, many doujin creators consider themselves philosophically different from indie creators.

==E==
===Euroshmup===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| ''Full article: [[Euroshmups]]''
|}

'''Euroshmup''' is a slang term applied to some shmups, usually in a derogatory manner, as a means to criticize or highlight perceived flaws within that game. Although there is no concrete definition, elements of a euroshmup may often include:
* Ship physics / Ship momentum
* Player shields / Health bars
* Unavoidable dangers (which are meant to be absorbed with health bars or shields)
* No bullet patterns / Only simple [[Dodging_strategy#Aimed_patterns|aimed bullets]]
* Limited weapon ammo, which usually also introduces shops and money management into the game
* Lack of complex enemy ship AI such as ships that curve around the screen
* Extremely high enemy HP
* Very slow player bullets
* Huge number of levels often with little variation between them
* No scoring systems

===Extend===
"'''Extend'''" is a term used primarily in arcade games (and especially in [[shooting game]]s) to describe '''extra lives''' / '''1UP'''s. In shooting games, extends are usually rewarded after earning a certain score, or after completing specific in-game tasks.

==F==

===Full Extent of the Jam===
A notorious misspelling of "Full extent of the law" found in the terribly written legal notices of early [[CAVE]] shooters. Has been parodied by CAVE themselves in the legal notices for ports of their games, such as Mushihemesama on PC.

===Frame button===
A button provided (generally externally) that allows pressing an input for a single frame. These are most commonly set to trigger lever inputs, to allow for precise movement that can't easily be done via the lever.

==G==

===Gradius Syndrome===
''Also known as '''Power-Up Syndrome''' , '''One-Life Game'''

Refers to a game where dying once leads to the player losing most or all of their power ups, and where recovery from such a state is extremely difficult even if the game provides a large number of extends. Notable games that have this aspect include '''Gradius''' and '''Darius II/Sagaia'''

===Grazing===
''See [[History#Grazing|the history page]] for more details.''

'''Grazing''' is a mechanic present in some shooting games, in which some effect is produced by getting extremely close to, but not touching, enemy bullets. Grazing may be used in games to increase score, provide items, or even slow down bullets, among other effects.

==H==
===Hitbox===
A '''hitbox''' is a typically invisible box or region, used by a game to calculate whether objects have collided or not. They are typically made of simple shapes, and are used to simplify and add consistency to collision detection, as using every pixel of a sprite or model for collision detection would be both computationally more intensive and mechanically unwieldy. Player ships, enemy ships, bullets, environment, and so on, can all have hitboxes. Hitboxes are often much smaller than the objects might appear, so developers will often add some sort of visual feature to hint at hitbox location - such as a bright cockpit on a ship, an ornament on a character's back, or even displaying the hitbox itself with a small dot. Bullets may also have their hitboxes indicated via a different colored region toward the center of the bullet, that more closely matches its true hitbox.

===Hyper System===
''See [[History#Hyper System|the history page]] for more details.''

'''"Hyper system"''' or '''hyper''' refers to a game mechanic where the player can spend a gauge or power-up that grants them increased power, invulnerability, or various other enhancements for a limited time.

In more non-traditional uses of the term, '''hyper''' may be used to refer to any temporary, powered-up state.

==L==

===Label===
Shmup re-releases and variations, particularly those produced by CAVE, are often referred to as (something) Label, most commonly Black Label. Whilst there is no true terminology behind the usage of different prefixes, most 'Label' games follow the pattern below;

'''White Label''' - Refers to original release (unofficial, mostly used for Dodonpachi DaiOuJou)

'''Black Label''' - Improved Re-release of the original game, sometimes changes are more significant.

'''Death Label''' - Boss Rush version of the game with no stages

'''Blue Label/Red Label''' - Arranged versions typically made for festival events.

The usage of "Labels" in this manner appears to be inspired by whiskey production and sale.

===Loop===
''Also called '''Round'''.''

A successful completion of all of a shmup’s levels that are available for one “trip” through the game, from beginning to end. The term “loop” is most commonly used when a shmup starts itself over at the first stage after a player completes it, thus sending them through a second “loop,” or “lap,” of the game, which is usually more difficult than the first “loop.” Some shmups offer several successive “loops,” sometimes even ad infinitum, though most have a maximum of one or two. Successive “loops” of a shmup will usually leave the player’s score from the previous “loops” intact, enabling him to reach even higher scores.

Some shmups require a player to one-credit the game in order to reach a successive loop, while others will send the player to it no matter how many times he has to continue to finish the initial run . Sometimes “loops” which occur after the initial trip through the game will only require the player to progress through a limited portion of the game’s total stages, though most of the time they involve all stages; in other instances, later loops can contain a number of various things not seen in earlier ones.

It’s worth noting that some shmuppers do not consider the first, or “original” trip through a game’s stages as a “loop,” but only the successive ones: Thus, to them, the second successive run through is the “first loop”, the third is the “second loop”, and so on. However, most feel free to refer to the original run through a game’s stages as the “first loop,” and progress in succession from there.

Also worth noting is that, in games which contain one or more loops, the way stages are listed oftentimes also notes which loop the stage is in: most of the time, the loop is listed first, and the stage second. For instance, the first few stages in the initial loop of a game would be listed as “1-1,” 1-2,” 1-3,” etc., while the same stages in the second loop would be “2-1,” “2-2,” “2-3,” and so on.

==M==
===Memory shmup===
''Also called '''Memorizer'''.''

A type of shmup, usually horizontal in orientation, which forces a player to repeatedly play its levels and memorize its layout in order to perform effectively, though quick reflexes are also a factor to an extent. The R-Type games are the most well-known examples.

===Micrododging/Macrododging===

Two forms of approaching dodging enemy fire. Micrododging refers to precisely weaving your way through enemy projectiles, focusing on a small portion of the screen and threading yourself through the small openings in the pattern with delicate subtle movements and positioning, likely heavily involving grazing. Macrododging meanwhile refers to dodges where the player focuses on the entire screen in order to find larger openings or blind spots in the enemy fire that allows them to avoid the bullet pattern entirely with large, quick movements that circle around the dense fire.

===Milk===
''Also called '''Leech'''.''

To “milk” an enemy, usually a boss, is to gain as many points from the fight as possible by taking advantage of infinite (or semi-infinite) sources of points which are present: in most cases, this involves leaving the enemy alive for as long as is possible, rather than destroying it immediately. Examples include continually grazing shots and repeatedly destroying any endlessly respawning weaker enemies or sub-parts for the entire duration of the battle, rather than attacking the core and ending the encounter quickly. In some cases, a player will have to take additional “unorthodox” actions (such as suicide or power down ) to milk most effectively. Even disregarding this, milking can still be risky, since some milkable enemies become more difficult to defeat if they’re left alive too long; the practice can also, simply put, be boring to the player, due to its highly repetitive nature. Also, if there is a boss timer in effect, in most cases the player will want to be sure to stop milking and focus on destroying the boss before it runs out, or else forfeit the points that the boss would have been worth.

==N==
===No-miss===
In shooting games (and many games that originate in Japan), a "miss" refers to player death; achieving a '''No-Miss''' means going through the entire stage, game, or boss fight without losing a life.

Many games offer significant bonus points for achieving a No-Miss at the end of the stage, or at the end of the game. In games that feature a [[True Last Boss]] or other hidden content, a No-Miss is occasionally a requirement to unlock said content.

==O==
===Option===
An "'''option'''" is an augment to a player's ship that grants additional firepower. In some games, options can also be used to block bullets. Options are usually represented by a pod-like object or a small ship that flies with the player's ship.

==P==
===Point-blank===
"'''Point-blank'''" is a term used by [[shooting game]] players to describe ''getting as close to an enemy as possible while shooting at them''.

In most cases, this concentrates all of their firepower on a singular enemy, increasing the rate of damage dealt to the enemy, in exchange for putting themselves at greater risk of receiving damage from enemies, and dealing less damage to other enemies coming into the screen. Some games will directly reward you for this kind of aggressive play, such as ''[[Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi|Ketsui]]'' and its proximity chip scoring system, or ''[[DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu]]'' and its Hyper Counter system, which allows you to quickly charge/recharge your Hyper Meter by point-blanking with your Laser / Hyper Laser.

===Popcorn===
''Also called '''Cannon Fodder''', '''Zako'''.''

Term to refer to common, weak enemies which appear in large numbers at a time during the course of a shmup, but only take a shot or two apiece to destroy, and can thus be taken out in bulk (or “popped”) fairly easily. Literally, zako is the Japanese word for “small fry,” as in fish.

===Port===
When a game is converted to a platform different that for what it was originally produced. For Shmups, this most commonly refers to games being ported from Arcade platforms to a home platform.

==R==
===Rank===
Gameplay system found in many shmups which will automatically adjust the game’s difficulty in accordance with the player’s performance: for example, in many cases more enemies will appear (and/or existing enemies will attack more aggressively) when the player is fully powered up. Some more “extreme” rank systems require that the player purposely avoids powering up, shooting down enemies, etc. in order to effectively increase his chances of survival, although often at the cost of higher scoring opportunities. Some rank systems are controlled directly by the player’s status and can change quickly, while others will continually increase depending on the player’s actions until they “max out,” and efforts to control them can only slow down how fast they increase.

===Revenge Bullets===
''Also called '''Suicide Bullets''' or '''Death Bullets'''.''

Bullets spawned by enemies upon destruction, usually by the player. The amount and their properties may vary depending on the difficulty and rank.

===RNG===
''Also known as '''Randomness'''''

Short for ''Random Number Generation'', RNG is a term that broadly describes any behaviors in game that are influenced by randomness. Though less prevalent in shmups than in some other genres, randomness is still a significant factor in many games. Any element which differs significantly between two runs could be an indicator of RNG; shmups with very little randomness and high consistency between runs are known as [[#Memory shmup| Memory Shmups or Memorizers]], because learning a fixed route can 'solve' the entire game. Common shmup elements that can be driven by RNG include, but are not limited to:
* Boss movements - In many games, the direction and/or speed at which bosses move is influenced by RNG.
* Boss attack patterns - In addition to movement, many games allow bosses to choose their attack patterns at random from a small pool of possible attacks.
* Point values - Some games feature collectible items or destructible targets with values that are randomly chosen from a small pool of options.
* Bullet aiming - Instead of being aimed at a player, bullets might be fired in a random direction.
* Enemy spawns - Spawn locations for enemies may sometimes be driven by randomness, often within a specific range to keep things somewhat fair.

==S==
===Safespot===
A "'''safe-spot'''" refers to a place on the screen that you can place your ship to completely avoid damage from incoming bullet patterns. Safespots are typically the result of system exploits, game design oversights, or glitches/bugs.

Particularly egregious safespots can often allow a player to completely avoid damage while still damaging enemies and bosses for the duration of an encounter, which can completely nullify the difficulty of said encounter.

===Sealing===
In many shooting games, enemies have to be a certain distance away from the player before they will fire. Getting inside of this range will stop the enemy from shooting completely. This is commonly referred to as "'''bullet sealing'''".

===Shrapnel===
''Also called '''Debris'''.''

Graphical touch found in some shmups, in which “shards” or “chunks” of enemy craft appear to be blown off of them when they are shot or destroyed. In most cases shrapnel is included for purely presentational reasons and cannot directly harm the player, but it can still be a hindrance if enemy bullets are not very distinct, as they can blend in with the shrapnel and become hard to spot.

===Slowdown===
* Programming phenomenon commonly found in shmups, in which all onscreen action slows down and/or the frame rate drops when high amounts of separate elements (i.e. enemies, bullets, etc.) appear at once. Can be used to a player’s advantage by giving him more time to react to what’s going on, but can seriously hamper a game’s playability when found in abundance. The amount of slowdown present can be adjusted in some console shmups via the ”Wait” option.
* In this case, usually presented as two words (Slow Down). An ability found in some shmups, which enables the player to deliberately slow his craft’s movement speed, to assist in dodging tight and/or slow-moving bullet patterns; sometimes also changes the effect of the weapon the player is firing when in use. A few shmups also contain a built-in “slow down” function which can slow enemies and their attacks, but utilization of these is almost always considered a form of cheating.

==T==

===Tick Points===
Many games provide the player with a small, but consistent, point bonus as long as the player's shots hit an enemy. Even if the enemy is not damaged or destroyed, the player may still gain points just because their bullets are contacting an enemy; these are known as 'tick points'. Though in most situations tick points are a minor scoring element, in some games this can be a valuable source of points, especially when used against invulnerable enemies or bosses.

===Time-out===
A "'''time-out'''" refers to a situation where a boss or mid-boss flies off the screen when it continues to survive for a certain period of time. Some games, such as ''[[Ikaruga]]'', feature an invincible boss that must be timed-out in order to win, forcing the player to rely on their dodging skills and pattern recognition. In most other games, time-outs typically exist in order to prevent the player from earning unlimited amounts of points from [[#Milk|milking]].

===True Last Boss===
Many [[shooting game]]s include a "'''True Last Boss''' (TLB)," a hidden boss encounter that only appears to highly skilled players. Reaching the TLB of a game often requires meeting a series of requirements, such as achieving a "[[no miss]]-no bomb (NMNB)" run, reaching a certain score threshold, destroying certain objects, entering a certain "path", or other objectives that can range from the obvious to the esoteric.

Even just reaching the TLB is a high achievement, and defeating them is, in some cases, a much greater challenge than an ordinary clear of the game.

==Z==
===Zako===
''See [[#Popcorn|Popcorn]]''

===Zunpets===
Name for the often maligned Trumpet samples used in many of the Touhou games. Named after their developer, ZUN

==References==
# https://www.sega-16.com/2005/04/unofficial-shmups-glossary/
# https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=11882

Help:Glossary

2023-07-27T22:20:54Z

MewJAM: Removed section for Suicide Bullets, added the term to the disambiguation list under Revenge Bullets, and slightly expanded the definition

==0-9==
===1cc===
"'''1cc'''" stands for "'''1 Credit Clear''' or '''1 Coin Clear'''", and refers to completing all of the stages of a game on a '''single credit''' (no continues).

Another term that is used is "x-'''ALL'''", where x represents the number of [[loop]]s completed in a single run on a single credit. An example of an ALL is completing both loops of a game like ''[[DoDonPachi]]'', which features two loops; completing a 1cc on both loops of the game is referred to as a '''2-ALL'''.

==A==
===Arrange===
An '''arrange mode''' is an alternate version of a game, commonly either included with console ports, or made as part of special events, where mechanics, artwork, and various aspects of the game are "remixed" and modified in various ways.

Arrange modes typically don't have enough changes to be considered completely different games, as they are often re-conceptualizations of stages and mechanics, but in some cases, they do have enough differences to be given separate leaderboards, strategies, and stage routing.

===Auto-fire===
''Also called '''Auto-Shot''' or '''Full Auto'''.''

A feature found in some shmups which allows you to fire shots continuously by holding down the “fire” button, or a separately-designated “auto-fire” button, instead of tapping the fire button repeatedly. Depending on a weapon’s fire rate, and the situation, using auto-fire may or may not be to a player’s advantage at all times. Older shooters (or depending on a weapon that is gathered) usually required continuous button pressing to keep firing. Rapid fire can be gathered by either turning it on in an options menu, obtaining a certain weapon power up, or flipping on a turbo fire switch on a control pad (Usually a third party pad).

===Auto-fire rate===
Despite sounding similar, this is NOT the same thing as fire rate. Refers specifically to the amount of shots fired in a single “burst” when using auto-fire : in some shmups this setting is adjustable in the Options menu (or even in-game), while in other cases players will engineer an auto-fire hack to set extra buttons to different auto-fire rates to use in different situations. Usually, the auto-fire rate is represented in Hz, representing how many times the shot button is pressed per second. For instance, a 30hz auto-fire rate means that the shot button is being pressed 30 times a second.

==B==
===Bomb===
A '''bomb''' is the generic term for a limited-use weapon, usually one that does large amounts of damage, typically granting some amount of invincibility for use in emergency situations. Bombs are often stored in stocks similarly to lives, though sometimes they operate on a meter or even just a cooldown timer. They will often be replenished each time the player loses a life.

===Bullet Cancel===
In some games, destroying certain enemies or meeting specific conditions will result in bullets being deleted from the screen, known as a '''bullet cancel'''. Bullet cancels are typically used as a part of a game's scoring system, as cancelled bullets will often increase score, release point items, or create other similar effects.

===Bullet Hell===
''Also called '''Danmaku''' or '''Manic Shooter'''.''

A type of shoot-em-up characterized by large numbers of bullets, often in intricate patterns. Innovated in large part by the developers of [[Toaplan]] and [[CAVE]], and with [[DonPachi]], released in 1995.

===Bullet Herding===
'''Bullet-herding''' is a basic technique in shoot-em-up play that involves positioning the player's ship at different places on the screen with the intent to adjust the trajectory of bullets or lasers that are aimed towards the player. This is commonly used by high level players to create "safe" areas of the screen that the player can move towards incrementally, allowing them to have more space to move around when action becomes hectic.

===Bullet wobble===
'''Bullet wobble''' is a colloquialism adopted by much of the shmups community to describe a design quirk in some scrolling shmups where bullets/power-ups/enemies/anything follows the physics of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_computer_graphics#screen_space| screen space] rather than the physics of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_computer_graphics#world_space| world space]. For instance, in a vertical shmup with "bullet wobble" and with left-right screen scrolling controlled by the player's left-right motion, if a bullet is fired straight down from the top center of the screen, that bullet will remain horizontally centered on the screen no matter how much the player scrolls the background (world space) left or right, because the bullet is only treated as being on a static non-moving area (screen space).

==C==
===Chain===
''Also called '''Combos'''.''

Any of a number of various repeated techniques a player can perform to increase the points awarded for shooting enemies, collecting items, or other things under the right circumstances: the most common varieties involve shooting down many enemies (or enemies of a specific type) in a row, or collecting a certain type of score item many times in a row.

===Checkpoint===
Specific areas of a stage where the player is sent back to on death / respawn. Although checkpoints may function differently in different games, they typically reduce your power level back to the starting level, as well as replenish resources such as bombs. Checkpoints frequently appear in many [[Toaplan]] titles (such as ''[[Tatsujin]]''), as well as early horizontal shmups like ''[[Gradius]]'' and ''[[R-Type]]'' (the former of which even has a term associated with its brutal checkpoint difficulty, known as "Gradius Syndrome" in the fandom).

===Counter-stop===
A '''"counter-stop", counterstop, or CS''' refers to when a score counter reaches the maximum amount that it is able to reach, commonly displayed on a HUD as a series of 9s in each score digit. When a counter-stop is achieved, in most cases, the game stops counting score for the player. It is not possible to score higher than a counter-stop, so often players will stop using scoring techniques upon reaching it.

Games with particularly exploitable counter-stop strategies due to oversights in game design, such as ''[[Dogyuun]]'', are in many cases not played for high scores, or are played in ways that specifically avoid counter-stop strategies.

==D==
===Doujin===
Any artwork made by independent Japanese creators, often a small group or even a single person. Many famous [[shooting game]]s, such as the Touhou Project series, are doujin works. While often conflated with the Western concept of indie, many doujin creators consider themselves philosophically different from indie creators.

==E==
===Euroshmup===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| ''Full article: [[Euroshmups]]''
|}

'''Euroshmup''' is a slang term applied to some shmups, usually in a derogatory manner, as a means to criticize or highlight perceived flaws within that game. Although there is no concrete definition, elements of a euroshmup may often include:
* Ship physics / Ship momentum
* Player shields / Health bars
* Unavoidable dangers (which are meant to be absorbed with health bars or shields)
* No bullet patterns / Only simple [[Dodging_strategy#Aimed_patterns|aimed bullets]]
* Limited weapon ammo, which usually also introduces shops and money management into the game
* Lack of complex enemy ship AI such as ships that curve around the screen
* Extremely high enemy HP
* Very slow player bullets
* Huge number of levels often with little variation between them
* No scoring systems

===Extend===
"'''Extend'''" is a term used primarily in arcade games (and especially in [[shooting game]]s) to describe '''extra lives''' / '''1UP'''s. In shooting games, extends are usually rewarded after earning a certain score, or after completing specific in-game tasks.

==F==

===Full Extent of the Jam===
A notorious misspelling of "Full extent of the law" found in the terribly written legal notices of early [[CAVE]] shooters. Has been parodied by CAVE themselves in the legal notices for ports of their games, such as Mushihemesama on PC.

===Frame button===
A button provided (generally externally) that allows pressing an input for a single frame. These are most commonly set to trigger lever inputs, to allow for precise movement that can't easily be done via the lever.

==G==

===Gradius Syndrome===
''Also known as '''Power-Up Syndrome''' , '''One-Life Game'''

Refers to a game where dying once leads to the player losing most or all of their power ups, and where recovery from such a state is extremely difficult even if the game provides a large number of extends. Notable games that have this aspect include '''Gradius''' and '''Darius II/Sagaia'''

===Grazing===
''See [[History#Grazing|the history page]] for more details.''

'''Grazing''' is a mechanic present in some shooting games, in which some effect is produced by getting extremely close to, but not touching, enemy bullets. Grazing may be used in games to increase score, provide items, or even slow down bullets, among other effects.

==H==
===Hitbox===
A '''hitbox''' is a typically invisible box or region, used by a game to calculate whether objects have collided or not. They are typically made of simple shapes, and are used to simplify and add consistency to collision detection, as using every pixel of a sprite or model for collision detection would be both computationally more intensive and mechanically unwieldy. Player ships, enemy ships, bullets, environment, and so on, can all have hitboxes. Hitboxes are often much smaller than the objects might appear, so developers will often add some sort of visual feature to hint at hitbox location - such as a bright cockpit on a ship, an ornament on a character's back, or even displaying the hitbox itself with a small dot. Bullets may also have their hitboxes indicated via a different colored region toward the center of the bullet, that more closely matches its true hitbox.

===Hyper System===
''See [[History#Hyper System|the history page]] for more details.''

'''"Hyper system"''' or '''hyper''' refers to a game mechanic where the player can spend a gauge or power-up that grants them increased power, invulnerability, or various other enhancements for a limited time.

In more non-traditional uses of the term, '''hyper''' may be used to refer to any temporary, powered-up state.

==L==

===Label===
Shmup re-releases and variations, particularly those produced by CAVE, are often referred to as (something) Label, most commonly Black Label. Whilst there is no true terminology behind the usage of different prefixes, most 'Label' games follow the pattern below;

'''White Label''' - Refers to original release (unofficial, mostly used for Dodonpachi DaiOuJou)

'''Black Label''' - Improved Re-release of the original game, sometimes changes are more significant.

'''Death Label''' - Boss Rush version of the game with no stages

'''Blue Label/Red Label''' - Arranged versions typically made for festival events.

The usage of "Labels" in this manner appears to be inspired by whiskey production and sale.

===Loop===
''Also called '''Round'''.''

A successful completion of all of a shmup’s levels that are available for one “trip” through the game, from beginning to end. The term “loop” is most commonly used when a shmup starts itself over at the first stage after a player completes it, thus sending them through a second “loop,” or “lap,” of the game, which is usually more difficult than the first “loop.” Some shmups offer several successive “loops,” sometimes even ad infinitum, though most have a maximum of one or two. Successive “loops” of a shmup will usually leave the player’s score from the previous “loops” intact, enabling him to reach even higher scores.

Some shmups require a player to one-credit the game in order to reach a successive loop, while others will send the player to it no matter how many times he has to continue to finish the initial run . Sometimes “loops” which occur after the initial trip through the game will only require the player to progress through a limited portion of the game’s total stages, though most of the time they involve all stages; in other instances, later loops can contain a number of various things not seen in earlier ones.

It’s worth noting that some shmuppers do not consider the first, or “original” trip through a game’s stages as a “loop,” but only the successive ones: Thus, to them, the second successive run through is the “first loop”, the third is the “second loop”, and so on. However, most feel free to refer to the original run through a game’s stages as the “first loop,” and progress in succession from there.

Also worth noting is that, in games which contain one or more loops, the way stages are listed oftentimes also notes which loop the stage is in: most of the time, the loop is listed first, and the stage second. For instance, the first few stages in the initial loop of a game would be listed as “1-1,” 1-2,” 1-3,” etc., while the same stages in the second loop would be “2-1,” “2-2,” “2-3,” and so on.

==M==
===Memory shmup===
''Also called '''Memorizer'''.''

A type of shmup, usually horizontal in orientation, which forces a player to repeatedly play its levels and memorize its layout in order to perform effectively, though quick reflexes are also a factor to an extent. The R-Type games are the most well-known examples.

===Micrododging/Macrododging===

Two forms of approaching dodging enemy fire. Micrododging refers to precisely weaving your way through enemy projectiles, focusing on a small portion of the screen and threading yourself through the small openings in the pattern with delicate subtle movements and positioning, likely heavily involving grazing. Macrododging meanwhile refers to dodges where the player focuses on the entire screen in order to find larger openings or blind spots in the enemy fire that allows them to avoid the bullet pattern entirely with large, quick movements that circle around the dense fire.

===Milk===
''Also called '''Leech'''.''

To “milk” an enemy, usually a boss, is to gain as many points from the fight as possible by taking advantage of infinite (or semi-infinite) sources of points which are present: in most cases, this involves leaving the enemy alive for as long as is possible, rather than destroying it immediately. Examples include continually grazing shots and repeatedly destroying any endlessly respawning weaker enemies or sub-parts for the entire duration of the battle, rather than attacking the core and ending the encounter quickly. In some cases, a player will have to take additional “unorthodox” actions (such as suicide or power down ) to milk most effectively. Even disregarding this, milking can still be risky, since some milkable enemies become more difficult to defeat if they’re left alive too long; the practice can also, simply put, be boring to the player, due to its highly repetitive nature. Also, if there is a boss timer in effect, in most cases the player will want to be sure to stop milking and focus on destroying the boss before it runs out, or else forfeit the points that the boss would have been worth.

==N==
===No-miss===
In shooting games (and many games that originate in Japan), a "miss" refers to player death; achieving a '''No-Miss''' means going through the entire stage, game, or boss fight without losing a life.

Many games offer significant bonus points for achieving a No-Miss at the end of the stage, or at the end of the game. In games that feature a [[True Last Boss]] or other hidden content, a No-Miss is occasionally a requirement to unlock said content.

==O==
===Option===
An "'''option'''" is an augment to a player's ship that grants additional firepower. In some games, options can also be used to block bullets. Options are usually represented by a pod-like object or a small ship that flies with the player's ship.

==P==
===Point-blank===
"'''Point-blank'''" is a term used by [[shooting game]] players to describe ''getting as close to an enemy as possible while shooting at them''.

In most cases, this concentrates all of their firepower on a singular enemy, increasing the rate of damage dealt to the enemy, in exchange for putting themselves at greater risk of receiving damage from enemies, and dealing less damage to other enemies coming into the screen. Some games will directly reward you for this kind of aggressive play, such as ''[[Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi|Ketsui]]'' and its proximity chip scoring system, or ''[[DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu]]'' and its Hyper Counter system, which allows you to quickly charge/recharge your Hyper Meter by point-blanking with your Laser / Hyper Laser.

===Popcorn===
''Also called '''Cannon Fodder''', '''Zako'''.''

Term to refer to common, weak enemies which appear in large numbers at a time during the course of a shmup, but only take a shot or two apiece to destroy, and can thus be taken out in bulk (or “popped”) fairly easily. Literally, zako is the Japanese word for “small fry,” as in fish.

===Port===
When a game is converted to a platform different that for what it was originally produced. For Shmups, this most commonly refers to games being ported from Arcade platforms to a home platform.

==R==
===Rank===
Gameplay system found in many shmups which will automatically adjust the game’s difficulty in accordance with the player’s performance: for example, in many cases more enemies will appear (and/or existing enemies will attack more aggressively) when the player is fully powered up. Some more “extreme” rank systems require that the player purposely avoids powering up, shooting down enemies, etc. in order to effectively increase his chances of survival, although often at the cost of higher scoring opportunities. Some rank systems are controlled directly by the player’s status and can change quickly, while others will continually increase depending on the player’s actions until they “max out,” and efforts to control them can only slow down how fast they increase.

===Revenge Bullets===
''Also called '''Suicide Bullets''' or '''Death Bullets'''.''
Bullets spawned by enemies upon destruction, usually by the player. The amount and their properties may vary depending on the difficulty and rank.

===RNG===
''Also known as '''Randomness'''''

Short for ''Random Number Generation'', RNG is a term that broadly describes any behaviors in game that are influenced by randomness. Though less prevalent in shmups than in some other genres, randomness is still a significant factor in many games. Any element which differs significantly between two runs could be an indicator of RNG; shmups with very little randomness and high consistency between runs are known as [[#Memory shmup| Memory Shmups or Memorizers]], because learning a fixed route can 'solve' the entire game. Common shmup elements that can be driven by RNG include, but are not limited to:
* Boss movements - In many games, the direction and/or speed at which bosses move is influenced by RNG.
* Boss attack patterns - In addition to movement, many games allow bosses to choose their attack patterns at random from a small pool of possible attacks.
* Point values - Some games feature collectible items or destructible targets with values that are randomly chosen from a small pool of options.
* Bullet aiming - Instead of being aimed at a player, bullets might be fired in a random direction.
* Enemy spawns - Spawn locations for enemies may sometimes be driven by randomness, often within a specific range to keep things somewhat fair.

==S==
===Safespot===
A "'''safe-spot'''" refers to a place on the screen that you can place your ship to completely avoid damage from incoming bullet patterns. Safespots are typically the result of system exploits, game design oversights, or glitches/bugs.

Particularly egregious safespots can often allow a player to completely avoid damage while still damaging enemies and bosses for the duration of an encounter, which can completely nullify the difficulty of said encounter.

===Sealing===
In many shooting games, enemies have to be a certain distance away from the player before they will fire. Getting inside of this range will stop the enemy from shooting completely. This is commonly referred to as "'''bullet sealing'''".

===Shrapnel===
''Also called '''Debris'''.''

Graphical touch found in some shmups, in which “shards” or “chunks” of enemy craft appear to be blown off of them when they are shot or destroyed. In most cases shrapnel is included for purely presentational reasons and cannot directly harm the player, but it can still be a hindrance if enemy bullets are not very distinct, as they can blend in with the shrapnel and become hard to spot.

===Slowdown===
* Programming phenomenon commonly found in shmups, in which all onscreen action slows down and/or the frame rate drops when high amounts of separate elements (i.e. enemies, bullets, etc.) appear at once. Can be used to a player’s advantage by giving him more time to react to what’s going on, but can seriously hamper a game’s playability when found in abundance. The amount of slowdown present can be adjusted in some console shmups via the ”Wait” option.
* In this case, usually presented as two words (Slow Down). An ability found in some shmups, which enables the player to deliberately slow his craft’s movement speed, to assist in dodging tight and/or slow-moving bullet patterns; sometimes also changes the effect of the weapon the player is firing when in use. A few shmups also contain a built-in “slow down” function which can slow enemies and their attacks, but utilization of these is almost always considered a form of cheating.

==T==

===Tick Points===
Many games provide the player with a small, but consistent, point bonus as long as the player's shots hit an enemy. Even if the enemy is not damaged or destroyed, the player may still gain points just because their bullets are contacting an enemy; these are known as 'tick points'. Though in most situations tick points are a minor scoring element, in some games this can be a valuable source of points, especially when used against invulnerable enemies or bosses.

===Time-out===
A "'''time-out'''" refers to a situation where a boss or mid-boss flies off the screen when it continues to survive for a certain period of time. Some games, such as ''[[Ikaruga]]'', feature an invincible boss that must be timed-out in order to win, forcing the player to rely on their dodging skills and pattern recognition. In most other games, time-outs typically exist in order to prevent the player from earning unlimited amounts of points from [[#Milk|milking]].

===True Last Boss===
Many [[shooting game]]s include a "'''True Last Boss''' (TLB)," a hidden boss encounter that only appears to highly skilled players. Reaching the TLB of a game often requires meeting a series of requirements, such as achieving a "[[no miss]]-no bomb (NMNB)" run, reaching a certain score threshold, destroying certain objects, entering a certain "path", or other objectives that can range from the obvious to the esoteric.

Even just reaching the TLB is a high achievement, and defeating them is, in some cases, a much greater challenge than an ordinary clear of the game.

==Z==
===Zako===
''See [[#Popcorn|Popcorn]]''

===Zunpets===
Name for the often maligned Trumpet samples used in many of the Touhou games. Named after their developer, ZUN

==References==
# https://www.sega-16.com/2005/04/unofficial-shmups-glossary/
# https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=11882

Help:Glossary

2023-07-27T22:16:02Z

MewJAM: Added Revenge Bullets / Suicide Bullets entry

==0-9==
===1cc===
"'''1cc'''" stands for "'''1 Credit Clear''' or '''1 Coin Clear'''", and refers to completing all of the stages of a game on a '''single credit''' (no continues).

Another term that is used is "x-'''ALL'''", where x represents the number of [[loop]]s completed in a single run on a single credit. An example of an ALL is completing both loops of a game like ''[[DoDonPachi]]'', which features two loops; completing a 1cc on both loops of the game is referred to as a '''2-ALL'''.

==A==
===Arrange===
An '''arrange mode''' is an alternate version of a game, commonly either included with console ports, or made as part of special events, where mechanics, artwork, and various aspects of the game are "remixed" and modified in various ways.

Arrange modes typically don't have enough changes to be considered completely different games, as they are often re-conceptualizations of stages and mechanics, but in some cases, they do have enough differences to be given separate leaderboards, strategies, and stage routing.

===Auto-fire===
''Also called '''Auto-Shot''' or '''Full Auto'''.''

A feature found in some shmups which allows you to fire shots continuously by holding down the “fire” button, or a separately-designated “auto-fire” button, instead of tapping the fire button repeatedly. Depending on a weapon’s fire rate, and the situation, using auto-fire may or may not be to a player’s advantage at all times. Older shooters (or depending on a weapon that is gathered) usually required continuous button pressing to keep firing. Rapid fire can be gathered by either turning it on in an options menu, obtaining a certain weapon power up, or flipping on a turbo fire switch on a control pad (Usually a third party pad).

===Auto-fire rate===
Despite sounding similar, this is NOT the same thing as fire rate. Refers specifically to the amount of shots fired in a single “burst” when using auto-fire : in some shmups this setting is adjustable in the Options menu (or even in-game), while in other cases players will engineer an auto-fire hack to set extra buttons to different auto-fire rates to use in different situations. Usually, the auto-fire rate is represented in Hz, representing how many times the shot button is pressed per second. For instance, a 30hz auto-fire rate means that the shot button is being pressed 30 times a second.

==B==
===Bomb===
A '''bomb''' is the generic term for a limited-use weapon, usually one that does large amounts of damage, typically granting some amount of invincibility for use in emergency situations. Bombs are often stored in stocks similarly to lives, though sometimes they operate on a meter or even just a cooldown timer. They will often be replenished each time the player loses a life.

===Bullet Cancel===
In some games, destroying certain enemies or meeting specific conditions will result in bullets being deleted from the screen, known as a '''bullet cancel'''. Bullet cancels are typically used as a part of a game's scoring system, as cancelled bullets will often increase score, release point items, or create other similar effects.

===Bullet Hell===
''Also called '''Danmaku''' or '''Manic Shooter'''.''

A type of shoot-em-up characterized by large numbers of bullets, often in intricate patterns. Innovated in large part by the developers of [[Toaplan]] and [[CAVE]], and with [[DonPachi]], released in 1995.

===Bullet Herding===
'''Bullet-herding''' is a basic technique in shoot-em-up play that involves positioning the player's ship at different places on the screen with the intent to adjust the trajectory of bullets or lasers that are aimed towards the player. This is commonly used by high level players to create "safe" areas of the screen that the player can move towards incrementally, allowing them to have more space to move around when action becomes hectic.

===Bullet wobble===
'''Bullet wobble''' is a colloquialism adopted by much of the shmups community to describe a design quirk in some scrolling shmups where bullets/power-ups/enemies/anything follows the physics of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_computer_graphics#screen_space| screen space] rather than the physics of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_computer_graphics#world_space| world space]. For instance, in a vertical shmup with "bullet wobble" and with left-right screen scrolling controlled by the player's left-right motion, if a bullet is fired straight down from the top center of the screen, that bullet will remain horizontally centered on the screen no matter how much the player scrolls the background (world space) left or right, because the bullet is only treated as being on a static non-moving area (screen space).

==C==
===Chain===
''Also called '''Combos'''.''

Any of a number of various repeated techniques a player can perform to increase the points awarded for shooting enemies, collecting items, or other things under the right circumstances: the most common varieties involve shooting down many enemies (or enemies of a specific type) in a row, or collecting a certain type of score item many times in a row.

===Checkpoint===
Specific areas of a stage where the player is sent back to on death / respawn. Although checkpoints may function differently in different games, they typically reduce your power level back to the starting level, as well as replenish resources such as bombs. Checkpoints frequently appear in many [[Toaplan]] titles (such as ''[[Tatsujin]]''), as well as early horizontal shmups like ''[[Gradius]]'' and ''[[R-Type]]'' (the former of which even has a term associated with its brutal checkpoint difficulty, known as "Gradius Syndrome" in the fandom).

===Counter-stop===
A '''"counter-stop", counterstop, or CS''' refers to when a score counter reaches the maximum amount that it is able to reach, commonly displayed on a HUD as a series of 9s in each score digit. When a counter-stop is achieved, in most cases, the game stops counting score for the player. It is not possible to score higher than a counter-stop, so often players will stop using scoring techniques upon reaching it.

Games with particularly exploitable counter-stop strategies due to oversights in game design, such as ''[[Dogyuun]]'', are in many cases not played for high scores, or are played in ways that specifically avoid counter-stop strategies.

==D==
===Doujin===
Any artwork made by independent Japanese creators, often a small group or even a single person. Many famous [[shooting game]]s, such as the Touhou Project series, are doujin works. While often conflated with the Western concept of indie, many doujin creators consider themselves philosophically different from indie creators.

==E==
===Euroshmup===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| ''Full article: [[Euroshmups]]''
|}

'''Euroshmup''' is a slang term applied to some shmups, usually in a derogatory manner, as a means to criticize or highlight perceived flaws within that game. Although there is no concrete definition, elements of a euroshmup may often include:
* Ship physics / Ship momentum
* Player shields / Health bars
* Unavoidable dangers (which are meant to be absorbed with health bars or shields)
* No bullet patterns / Only simple [[Dodging_strategy#Aimed_patterns|aimed bullets]]
* Limited weapon ammo, which usually also introduces shops and money management into the game
* Lack of complex enemy ship AI such as ships that curve around the screen
* Extremely high enemy HP
* Very slow player bullets
* Huge number of levels often with little variation between them
* No scoring systems

===Extend===
"'''Extend'''" is a term used primarily in arcade games (and especially in [[shooting game]]s) to describe '''extra lives''' / '''1UP'''s. In shooting games, extends are usually rewarded after earning a certain score, or after completing specific in-game tasks.

==F==

===Full Extent of the Jam===
A notorious misspelling of "Full extent of the law" found in the terribly written legal notices of early [[CAVE]] shooters. Has been parodied by CAVE themselves in the legal notices for ports of their games, such as Mushihemesama on PC.

===Frame button===
A button provided (generally externally) that allows pressing an input for a single frame. These are most commonly set to trigger lever inputs, to allow for precise movement that can't easily be done via the lever.

==G==

===Gradius Syndrome===
''Also known as '''Power-Up Syndrome''' , '''One-Life Game'''

Refers to a game where dying once leads to the player losing most or all of their power ups, and where recovery from such a state is extremely difficult even if the game provides a large number of extends. Notable games that have this aspect include '''Gradius''' and '''Darius II/Sagaia'''

===Grazing===
''See [[History#Grazing|the history page]] for more details.''

'''Grazing''' is a mechanic present in some shooting games, in which some effect is produced by getting extremely close to, but not touching, enemy bullets. Grazing may be used in games to increase score, provide items, or even slow down bullets, among other effects.

==H==
===Hitbox===
A '''hitbox''' is a typically invisible box or region, used by a game to calculate whether objects have collided or not. They are typically made of simple shapes, and are used to simplify and add consistency to collision detection, as using every pixel of a sprite or model for collision detection would be both computationally more intensive and mechanically unwieldy. Player ships, enemy ships, bullets, environment, and so on, can all have hitboxes. Hitboxes are often much smaller than the objects might appear, so developers will often add some sort of visual feature to hint at hitbox location - such as a bright cockpit on a ship, an ornament on a character's back, or even displaying the hitbox itself with a small dot. Bullets may also have their hitboxes indicated via a different colored region toward the center of the bullet, that more closely matches its true hitbox.

===Hyper System===
''See [[History#Hyper System|the history page]] for more details.''

'''"Hyper system"''' or '''hyper''' refers to a game mechanic where the player can spend a gauge or power-up that grants them increased power, invulnerability, or various other enhancements for a limited time.

In more non-traditional uses of the term, '''hyper''' may be used to refer to any temporary, powered-up state.

==L==

===Label===
Shmup re-releases and variations, particularly those produced by CAVE, are often referred to as (something) Label, most commonly Black Label. Whilst there is no true terminology behind the usage of different prefixes, most 'Label' games follow the pattern below;

'''White Label''' - Refers to original release (unofficial, mostly used for Dodonpachi DaiOuJou)

'''Black Label''' - Improved Re-release of the original game, sometimes changes are more significant.

'''Death Label''' - Boss Rush version of the game with no stages

'''Blue Label/Red Label''' - Arranged versions typically made for festival events.

The usage of "Labels" in this manner appears to be inspired by whiskey production and sale.

===Loop===
''Also called '''Round'''.''

A successful completion of all of a shmup’s levels that are available for one “trip” through the game, from beginning to end. The term “loop” is most commonly used when a shmup starts itself over at the first stage after a player completes it, thus sending them through a second “loop,” or “lap,” of the game, which is usually more difficult than the first “loop.” Some shmups offer several successive “loops,” sometimes even ad infinitum, though most have a maximum of one or two. Successive “loops” of a shmup will usually leave the player’s score from the previous “loops” intact, enabling him to reach even higher scores.

Some shmups require a player to one-credit the game in order to reach a successive loop, while others will send the player to it no matter how many times he has to continue to finish the initial run . Sometimes “loops” which occur after the initial trip through the game will only require the player to progress through a limited portion of the game’s total stages, though most of the time they involve all stages; in other instances, later loops can contain a number of various things not seen in earlier ones.

It’s worth noting that some shmuppers do not consider the first, or “original” trip through a game’s stages as a “loop,” but only the successive ones: Thus, to them, the second successive run through is the “first loop”, the third is the “second loop”, and so on. However, most feel free to refer to the original run through a game’s stages as the “first loop,” and progress in succession from there.

Also worth noting is that, in games which contain one or more loops, the way stages are listed oftentimes also notes which loop the stage is in: most of the time, the loop is listed first, and the stage second. For instance, the first few stages in the initial loop of a game would be listed as “1-1,” 1-2,” 1-3,” etc., while the same stages in the second loop would be “2-1,” “2-2,” “2-3,” and so on.

==M==
===Memory shmup===
''Also called '''Memorizer'''.''

A type of shmup, usually horizontal in orientation, which forces a player to repeatedly play its levels and memorize its layout in order to perform effectively, though quick reflexes are also a factor to an extent. The R-Type games are the most well-known examples.

===Micrododging/Macrododging===

Two forms of approaching dodging enemy fire. Micrododging refers to precisely weaving your way through enemy projectiles, focusing on a small portion of the screen and threading yourself through the small openings in the pattern with delicate subtle movements and positioning, likely heavily involving grazing. Macrododging meanwhile refers to dodges where the player focuses on the entire screen in order to find larger openings or blind spots in the enemy fire that allows them to avoid the bullet pattern entirely with large, quick movements that circle around the dense fire.

===Milk===
''Also called '''Leech'''.''

To “milk” an enemy, usually a boss, is to gain as many points from the fight as possible by taking advantage of infinite (or semi-infinite) sources of points which are present: in most cases, this involves leaving the enemy alive for as long as is possible, rather than destroying it immediately. Examples include continually grazing shots and repeatedly destroying any endlessly respawning weaker enemies or sub-parts for the entire duration of the battle, rather than attacking the core and ending the encounter quickly. In some cases, a player will have to take additional “unorthodox” actions (such as suicide or power down ) to milk most effectively. Even disregarding this, milking can still be risky, since some milkable enemies become more difficult to defeat if they’re left alive too long; the practice can also, simply put, be boring to the player, due to its highly repetitive nature. Also, if there is a boss timer in effect, in most cases the player will want to be sure to stop milking and focus on destroying the boss before it runs out, or else forfeit the points that the boss would have been worth.

==N==
===No-miss===
In shooting games (and many games that originate in Japan), a "miss" refers to player death; achieving a '''No-Miss''' means going through the entire stage, game, or boss fight without losing a life.

Many games offer significant bonus points for achieving a No-Miss at the end of the stage, or at the end of the game. In games that feature a [[True Last Boss]] or other hidden content, a No-Miss is occasionally a requirement to unlock said content.

==O==
===Option===
An "'''option'''" is an augment to a player's ship that grants additional firepower. In some games, options can also be used to block bullets. Options are usually represented by a pod-like object or a small ship that flies with the player's ship.

==P==
===Point-blank===
"'''Point-blank'''" is a term used by [[shooting game]] players to describe ''getting as close to an enemy as possible while shooting at them''.

In most cases, this concentrates all of their firepower on a singular enemy, increasing the rate of damage dealt to the enemy, in exchange for putting themselves at greater risk of receiving damage from enemies, and dealing less damage to other enemies coming into the screen. Some games will directly reward you for this kind of aggressive play, such as ''[[Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi|Ketsui]]'' and its proximity chip scoring system, or ''[[DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu]]'' and its Hyper Counter system, which allows you to quickly charge/recharge your Hyper Meter by point-blanking with your Laser / Hyper Laser.

===Popcorn===
''Also called '''Cannon Fodder''', '''Zako'''.''

Term to refer to common, weak enemies which appear in large numbers at a time during the course of a shmup, but only take a shot or two apiece to destroy, and can thus be taken out in bulk (or “popped”) fairly easily. Literally, zako is the Japanese word for “small fry,” as in fish.

===Port===
When a game is converted to a platform different that for what it was originally produced. For Shmups, this most commonly refers to games being ported from Arcade platforms to a home platform.

==R==
===Rank===
Gameplay system found in many shmups which will automatically adjust the game’s difficulty in accordance with the player’s performance: for example, in many cases more enemies will appear (and/or existing enemies will attack more aggressively) when the player is fully powered up. Some more “extreme” rank systems require that the player purposely avoids powering up, shooting down enemies, etc. in order to effectively increase his chances of survival, although often at the cost of higher scoring opportunities. Some rank systems are controlled directly by the player’s status and can change quickly, while others will continually increase depending on the player’s actions until they “max out,” and efforts to control them can only slow down how fast they increase.

===Revenge Bullets===
Bullets spawned by enemies upon destruction, usually by the player.

===RNG===
''Also known as '''Randomness'''''

Short for ''Random Number Generation'', RNG is a term that broadly describes any behaviors in game that are influenced by randomness. Though less prevalent in shmups than in some other genres, randomness is still a significant factor in many games. Any element which differs significantly between two runs could be an indicator of RNG; shmups with very little randomness and high consistency between runs are known as [[#Memory shmup| Memory Shmups or Memorizers]], because learning a fixed route can 'solve' the entire game. Common shmup elements that can be driven by RNG include, but are not limited to:
* Boss movements - In many games, the direction and/or speed at which bosses move is influenced by RNG.
* Boss attack patterns - In addition to movement, many games allow bosses to choose their attack patterns at random from a small pool of possible attacks.
* Point values - Some games feature collectible items or destructible targets with values that are randomly chosen from a small pool of options.
* Bullet aiming - Instead of being aimed at a player, bullets might be fired in a random direction.
* Enemy spawns - Spawn locations for enemies may sometimes be driven by randomness, often within a specific range to keep things somewhat fair.

==S==
===Safespot===
A "'''safe-spot'''" refers to a place on the screen that you can place your ship to completely avoid damage from incoming bullet patterns. Safespots are typically the result of system exploits, game design oversights, or glitches/bugs.

Particularly egregious safespots can often allow a player to completely avoid damage while still damaging enemies and bosses for the duration of an encounter, which can completely nullify the difficulty of said encounter.

===Sealing===
In many shooting games, enemies have to be a certain distance away from the player before they will fire. Getting inside of this range will stop the enemy from shooting completely. This is commonly referred to as "'''bullet sealing'''".

===Shrapnel===
''Also called '''Debris'''.''

Graphical touch found in some shmups, in which “shards” or “chunks” of enemy craft appear to be blown off of them when they are shot or destroyed. In most cases shrapnel is included for purely presentational reasons and cannot directly harm the player, but it can still be a hindrance if enemy bullets are not very distinct, as they can blend in with the shrapnel and become hard to spot.

===Slowdown===
* Programming phenomenon commonly found in shmups, in which all onscreen action slows down and/or the frame rate drops when high amounts of separate elements (i.e. enemies, bullets, etc.) appear at once. Can be used to a player’s advantage by giving him more time to react to what’s going on, but can seriously hamper a game’s playability when found in abundance. The amount of slowdown present can be adjusted in some console shmups via the ”Wait” option.
* In this case, usually presented as two words (Slow Down). An ability found in some shmups, which enables the player to deliberately slow his craft’s movement speed, to assist in dodging tight and/or slow-moving bullet patterns; sometimes also changes the effect of the weapon the player is firing when in use. A few shmups also contain a built-in “slow down” function which can slow enemies and their attacks, but utilization of these is almost always considered a form of cheating.

===Suicide Bullets===
''See [[#Revenge_Bullets|Revenge Bullets]]''

==T==

===Tick Points===
Many games provide the player with a small, but consistent, point bonus as long as the player's shots hit an enemy. Even if the enemy is not damaged or destroyed, the player may still gain points just because their bullets are contacting an enemy; these are known as 'tick points'. Though in most situations tick points are a minor scoring element, in some games this can be a valuable source of points, especially when used against invulnerable enemies or bosses.

===Time-out===
A "'''time-out'''" refers to a situation where a boss or mid-boss flies off the screen when it continues to survive for a certain period of time. Some games, such as ''[[Ikaruga]]'', feature an invincible boss that must be timed-out in order to win, forcing the player to rely on their dodging skills and pattern recognition. In most other games, time-outs typically exist in order to prevent the player from earning unlimited amounts of points from [[#Milk|milking]].

===True Last Boss===
Many [[shooting game]]s include a "'''True Last Boss''' (TLB)," a hidden boss encounter that only appears to highly skilled players. Reaching the TLB of a game often requires meeting a series of requirements, such as achieving a "[[no miss]]-no bomb (NMNB)" run, reaching a certain score threshold, destroying certain objects, entering a certain "path", or other objectives that can range from the obvious to the esoteric.

Even just reaching the TLB is a high achievement, and defeating them is, in some cases, a much greater challenge than an ordinary clear of the game.

==Z==
===Zako===
''See [[#Popcorn|Popcorn]]''

===Zunpets===
Name for the often maligned Trumpet samples used in many of the Touhou games. Named after their developer, ZUN

==References==
# https://www.sega-16.com/2005/04/unofficial-shmups-glossary/
# https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=11882