Hybrid shmups (or similarly unconventional shmups)

L Thammy · Mar 30, 2022

By which I mean shmups which are mixed in with other genres. I can't think of any off the top of my head that are similarly unconventional that don't fall into these sort of categories, but I'd welcome people posting them. Here's some to start us off:

Shmup + fighting:

Senko no Ronde

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

Change Air Blade

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

Twinkle Star Sprites

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

Shmup + racing:

Kingdom Grand Prix

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

Shmup + action-adventure:

Sigma Star Saga

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

SoH · Mar 30, 2022

Downwell. One of the best Shoot em Downs around.

ZeroRanger may look like a very traditional shooter at first glance but it has many twist and turns the deeper in you get that stray way off convention.

ANNeFRANKxGOKU · Mar 30, 2022

Maiden & Spell is a shmuppy/bullet hell pvp game that is super fun

Regiruler · Mar 30, 2022

SoH said:
Downwell. One of the best Shoot em Downs around.

ZeroRanger may look like a very traditional shooter at first glance but it has many twist and turns the deeper in you get that stray way off convention.

ZeroRanger is it good but it's gameplay never really strays from a shmup.

Just Great · Mar 30, 2022

I see someone already mentioned Maiden and Spell. Also Acceleration of Suguri 2.

napkins · Mar 30, 2022

ss_2a436973d7bda1f866eba87fb11bb3092af66f39.1920x1080.jpg

monolith is a roguelite shmup. everything about it is great

WascallyWabbit · Mar 30, 2022

Hmm, the OP immediately made me think of Nier Automata with its Shmup sections mixed in

Deleted member 17210 · Mar 30, 2022

Fantasy Zone: The Maze is overlooked. It's a mix of Pac-Man style maze chase and shooter.

Optional Objectives · Mar 30, 2022

Sky Racket is a good one - part shmup, part break out! Good soundtrack, too.

Sky Racket

Flying over whimsical worlds filled with vivid colors, it’s just you, a stylish scarf, a laser tennis racket and a horde of fluffy enemies trying to blow you up back to the ground. Mixing the classic genres of Shoot ’em ups and block breakers, Sky Racket is the world’s first “Shmup Breaker”!

skyracket.com

flashman92 · Mar 30, 2022

I second buying Maiden and Spell. It's a great vs. Shmup game.

I would say there are also Shmup RTS games, where you control some kind of flying vehicle that also moves troops around. Herzog Zwei is actually one of the first RTS games (it predates Dune II). AirMech is another game that works like that.

retroman · Mar 30, 2022

Alleykat has racing and shoot 'em up elements.

solidr · Mar 30, 2022

My favorite Nes game

mael · Mar 30, 2022

For shame!
Forgetting about about Knight in the Nightmare!
It's a strategy-shooter role-playing game,
on DS and PSP

werezompire · Mar 30, 2022

Surprised no one has mentioned Undertale (which is kind of like a point & click adventure game with the visuals of a JRPG and a shmup mini-game as part of combat).

Smoothconfection · Mar 30, 2022

The Red Star is maybe my favorite shmup hybrid. Bullet hell brawler and one of the better brawlers I've ever played, so it scratches two hard-to-reach itches simultaneously. It's a sin how hard it is to play nowadays -- it's either a PS2 copy or getting it on a hacked PSP, as it was digital only.

Absolutely worth the effort, though.

mael said:
For shame!
Forgetting about about Knight in the Nightmare!
It's a strategy-shooter role-playing game,
on DS and PSP

And coming soon to Switch, but for now only in Japan. Great game though.

werezompire · Mar 30, 2022

Returnal is a bullet-hell shmup but in a 3D Action/Adventure/Roguelike skin.

balohna · Mar 30, 2022

The Velocity games! They basically are shmups, but with scoring/grading tied to short, contained stages. Also I recall there not really being power ups or anything, you just have your basic toolkit and that's what you use. And the teleport mechanic is cool. More about mastering a bunch of short sequences vs. mastering an entire game, which to me was way more approachable and compelling than most other games in this category.

EDIT: Just looked at some footage (it's been years), and in some ways the Velocity games are more like racers than shmups. But still vertical scrolling space ship games with shooting.

Deleted member 17210 · Mar 30, 2022

Smoothconfection said:
The Red Star is maybe my favorite shmup hybrid. Bullet hell brawler and maybe one of the better brawlers I know of. It's a sin how hard it is to play nowadays -- it's either a PS2 copy or getting it on a hacked PSP, as it was digital only.

Absolutely worth the effort, though.

Is the digital version on PS3 gone now?

trevofour · Mar 30, 2022

Rival Megagun (Shmup + Fighting)

ss_fce9620fe04d5dc4de3ebb674dd8f92fb7419e9f.1920x1080.jpg

Cannon Spike maybe? It's made by Psikyo! Sort of skating the line of Run n Gun.

Smoothconfection · Mar 30, 2022

NeoZeedeater said:
Is the digital version on PS3 gone now?

Oh I forgot entirely it was up on the PS3 store. I guess that's one (relatively) easy way of getting at it (until the store shutters anyway).

Adroc · Mar 30, 2022

furi counts, right?

mnemonicj · Mar 30, 2022

I'd say Returnal.

olubode · Mar 30, 2022

Yurukill
Shmup + … well, just watch the trailer

KenOD · Mar 30, 2022

NOISZ is a visual novel where the game play is a shmup, but it's rhythm based for when to attack.

There is also a mobile game called Ride Zero that is a rhythm tap game. Tap in time to block or reflect enemy shots in time to the music.

Galacide is a puzzle shmup where you both have to shoot at enemy waves and clear out puzzle pieces to get past. Side scroller.

For a horrizontal puzzle shmup. Dan! Da! Dan!

DAN! DA! DAN! - おめが試作設計局

If you have a Mac, Pinblast over on itch.io is a pinball shmup worth a look.

mtlspider · Mar 30, 2022

There's the Rtype Tactics PSP games.

And speaking of turn based strategy, this is also out for quite a while on steam:

Don Fluffles · Mar 31, 2022

Undertale and Deltarune.
EDIT: messed up the edit and double post

Don Fluffles · Mar 31, 2022

solidr said:
My favorite Nes game

The Guardian Legend and all the other Compile games need to get the fuck on NSO already.

djplaeskool · Mar 31, 2022

Adroc said:
furi counts, right?

Definitely.
Games like FURI, Returnal, and I may even toss in a side of NieR Automata have that bullet-hell groove going on.

Hybrid shmups (or similarly unconventional shmups)

Spacenoid

User-requested account closure

Zeboyd Games

Zeboyd Games

User-requested account closure