SHMUP Terminolgy/Concepts

[racketboy]

I'd like to make a list of terminology/concepts used by SHMUP fans that could be helpful to those that are new to the genre.

So if you could list a term and a definition for it, that would be awesome.
Once we get enough, I hope to publish it on the main part of the site.

[Bootaaay]

Here's a few off the top of my head;

1cc; stands for One Credit Clear, completing the game on a single credit.
Arrange mode; a console specific 'rearrangement' of the normal Arcade mode.
Auto-bomb; feature in some SHMUPS whereby a bomb automatically activates when the player is hit, thus saving them from losing a life.
Boss Rush; a mode in some SHMUPS where the games bosses are faced successively.
Bullet Hell; a term used to describe any manic SHMUP that features large numbers of bullets the player must navigate.
Bullet Pattern; term to describe either the enemies firing pattern, or the pattern of bullets the enemy fires at a single time.
Chain; some SHMUPS have chaining systems that enable the player to multiply their score, however while some chaining systems are as simple as destroying enemies quickly, others can be more complicated (like in ESPgaluda where chaining occurs when the player kills enemies while in kakusei mode, which converts all the enemies bullets to score multiplying pickups).
Curtain Fire; a screen-encompassing wave of tightly packed bullets that the player must avoid.
Cute 'em Up; sub-genre of SHMUPS where the art-style is predominantly cute (Twinbee, Cotton etc)
Danmaku Shooter; a sub-genre of the manic shooter, Danmaku Shooters predominantly feature Curtain fire.
Extend; term often used in SHMUPS for an extra life.
Hitbox; The area within the players craft/controlled character that will detect hits when shot or touched by obstacles.
Loop; when a player sucessfully completes all the levels, some SHMUPS start over from the beginning, but usually at a much harder difficulty - this is called a Loop, some SHMUPS even have multiple loops and some require the player to 1cc the first loop before the second is opened.
No Miss; term sometimes used to denote the completion of a level without taking a single hit.
Panic Bombing; a technique that some players use to avoid troublesome bullet patterns whereby the player uses a bomb to remove the pattern before it expands.
Superplay; a video showing a skilled players perfect, or near perfect, run through a game.
Tate; option in some vertical shooters to display the playing area at full size, rotated 90 degrees - this is how the game would have been displayed in the arcade on a vertically orientated screen, but most TV's aren't designed to use Tate (turning non-lcd TV's on their side can break them). The Tate option can still be usefull, even if you don't have a vertically orientated TV as you can set the game to tate and then play it lying down, this is called Ghetto-Tate :p The opposite of Tate mode is Yoko mode, a term describing any game designed to be played on normal horizontally orientated TV's.

[dsheinem]

First google hit for "shmup glossary":

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=9664

I'd guess there's an RPG one (or more than one) out there as well.

Or are you looking for something different?

EDIT: Another - http://insomnia.ac/archive/glossaries/shooting/

[racketboy]

Nice finds
However, at the same time, where would the world be if nobody tried to do better at something that's already been done?

[Haoie]

Cool list.

I'd like to see a shmup cliche list. Like, you know, 1 ship against 1000s of enemies, etc.

[Doctor Fugue]

Nice finds
However, at the same time, where would the world be if nobody tried to do better at something that's already been done?

I agree, those lists are old, and we should make our own. Of course, almost everything will be similar, but I would certainly be happier in the knowledge that we did it ourselves.

[racketboy]

Nice finds
However, at the same time, where would the world be if nobody tried to do better at something that's already been done?

I agree, those lists are old, and we should make our own. Of course, almost everything will be similar, but I would certainly be happier in the knowledge that we did it ourselves.

I'd also like to separate the basic concepts so newbies don't get intimidated by all the less common terms/concepts.

[Doctor Fugue]

I'd also like to separate the basic concepts so newbies don't get intimidated by all the less common terms/concepts.

I've been trying to think of the absolute basic terms that are used in shooters, but it is very difficult.

There are the different viewpoints, playfields and types of scrolling.
Horizontal Scrolling
Vertical Scrolling (Top-Down or Uphill)
Isometric Scrolling
Non-forced Scrolling
Forced Scrolling
Arena
Rail
Tube

There are general shooter terms.
Credit
Continue
Loop
Craft
Craft Selection
Stock
Life
Extend
1CC
No-Miss
Default
Item
Multiplier
Wave
Level
Rank
Score
Replay
Restart
Score Attack
Superplay
Caravan
Slowdown
Arrange Mode
Arcade Mode
Co-Op

There are general terms relating to the player's weapons and abilities.
Primary Weapon
Secondary Weapon
Bomb
Shield
Speed
Hitbox
Option
Pod

Detailed description of weapons.
Power Up
Power Down
Charge
Auto Fire
Auto Bomb
Bomb
Homing
Laser
Pea Shooter
Vulcan
Beam
Wave
Pulse
Aimed Shot
Reflect Shot
Stream
Spam
Bullet Pattern
Bullet Cancel
Timed Weapon
Limited-Use Weapon
Invincibility Window
Lock-On
Maximum Power
Melee

Terms for technique.
Lead
Herd
Jerk
Suicide
Chain
Tap
Milk
Paint
Graze
Panic Bomb
Point Blank
Twitch

There are terms relating to enemies.
Mid Boss
Boss
Final Boss
True Last Boss
Popcorn Enemy (Zako)
Item Carrier
Striker
Sniper
Kamikaze
Core
Dead Zone

There are sub-genres of shooter (some are difficult to define as they may refer to more than one kind of game, and translations of words like Danmaku have different meanings). Also, some terms such as Rail and Tube can refer to a genre AND a viewpoint (thus their appearance in two lists here).
Memorizer
Bullet Hell
Manic
Danmaku (lit. barrage; often understood to be the same as bullet curtain)
Doujin
Hentai
Cute-em-up
Puzzle-em-up
Rail
Tube


I would like to spend a while to think about really detailed and specific definitions of these, along with good examples.