Which fixed-screen shooter have you played the most? Space Invaders started the style in 1978, and the index has about 70 of them now, Galaxian and Phoenix included. #shmups https://shmupindex.com/game/space-invaders

The Konami Code started in Gradius. Kazuhisa Hashimoto found the game too hard while testing his 1986 Famicom port, so he added up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A for full power-ups. In arcades outside Japan, it was Nemesis. https://shmupindex.com/game/gradius

The 2020s still have three years to go, and the index already has almost as many shmups from them as from the 1980s, about 670 each. The 2010s, at about 490, are ahead of the 1990s, at about 460. The 2000s have about 270. https://shmupindex.com/stats

Zero Wing was never meant to be sold. Toaplan started it to train new hires, on the engine from Hellfire, then released it in arcades in 1989. The badly translated intro of its European Mega Drive version gave us "All your base are belong to us". https://shmupindex.com/game/zero-wing

What was your first bullet hell? About a quarter of the games in the index are tagged danmaku, 23% on the In Numbers page. Pictured is CAVE's DoDonPachi from 1997. #shmups https://shmupindex.com/game/dodonpachi

Three Switch shmups are at their lowest US eShop prices we've tracked, until about Nov 4. Irem Collection Volume 1 (Image Fight, Image Fight 2, X Multiply) is US$6.24. Steam-Heart's: Saturn Tribute is US$7.99, Caladrius Blaze US$3.74. Prices can change. https://shmupindex.com/sales?store=eshop

Konami won 5 of the 11 Gamest reader votes for best shooting game, from 1988 to 1998. Gradius II took 1988 with 427 votes, almost four times the runner-up. TwinBee and Parodius games won 1990, 1991, 1994 and 1995. Would you change any? https://shmupindex.com/lists/gamest-best-shooting-1990

Which shmup soundtrack do you still listen to away from the game? One title is plenty. Pictured is Technosoft's Thunder Force IV, a Mega Drive game from 1992. #shmups https://shmupindex.com/game/thunder-force-iv

Seven years ago today, R-Type Final 2's crowdfunding closed with US$1,094,459 raised. Backers paid for extras like tribute stages from earlier R-Type games. It came out in April 2021 on Switch, PS4, Xbox and PC, the first new R-Type in over a decade. https://shmupindex.com/game/r-type-final-2

The index has 17 shmups from the 1970s, and 13 are from 1979, the year after Space Invaders. They include Namco's Galaxian, Atari's Asteroids and Nintendo's Space Fever and Sheriff. Ozma Wars, also 1979, was the first game SNK developed and published. https://shmupindex.com/?decade=1970

For Halloween, Taito's KiKi KaiKai from 1986. Sayo-chan, a shrine maiden in feudal Japan, throws o-fuda scrolls at obake, yurei and other spirits from Japanese folklore. It led to Natsume's Pocky & Rocky. The arcade game is on Switch and PS4. https://shmupindex.com/game/kiki-kaikai

Konami has more games in the index than any other developer. Which of their shooters did you play first? Gradius, Salamander, TwinBee, Parodius or another one? #shmups https://shmupindex.com/?developer=konami

Irem's Image Fight (1988) opens with five stages in a combat simulation. Destroy under 90% of the enemies on average and you get an extra stage before the three real ones. Up to three Pods fly with your ship. It's on Switch and PS4 via Arcade Archives. https://shmupindex.com/game/image-fight

Cataclyzm is due on Steam today, for Windows. Dogroach Games' heavy metal shmup has you fighting corrupted amps, demonic guitars and metalheads in a hellish concert of bullets. Its page has screenshots, the trailer and a gameplay video. https://shmupindex.com/indies/cataclyzm-5db16f

PCMag and Eneba both picked the best shmups for 2026. All six PCMag picks in the index are also on Eneba's list: Ikaruga, DoDonPachi Resurrection, Mushihimesama, Deathsmiles, Geometry Wars 3 and Cygni. Eneba ranks Ikaruga first. https://shmupindex.com/lists/pcmag-best-shmups-for-2026

Three shmups are at their lowest recorded price on the Humble Store for about a week more. Neko Navy, the one with flying cats, is US$5.49. Xmas Shooting: Scramble!! is US$2.49, and Lone Ruin is US$3.74 (75% off). Prices can change, so check first. https://shmupindex.com/sales?store=humble

Vertical or horizontal, which do you play more? The index has about 750 vertical shmups and about 570 horizontal ones. Pictured are Toaplan's Batsugun and Taito's Darius Gaiden. #shmups https://shmupindex.com/stats

Taito's RayForce (1994) has two weapons. The main shot hits enemies at your height, and a lock-on laser hits up to eight on the layer below. At home it became Layer Section, or Galactic Attack on the Saturn in the West. It came back in 2022 as S-Tribute. https://shmupindex.com/game/rayforce

StealthRUSH ranked 100 favourite shooters on Giant Bomb, and 66 are in the index. Soldier Blade is first, then Gradius, Lords of Thunder, Image Fight and Gate of Thunder. Three of that top five are PC Engine games. https://shmupindex.com/lists/stealthrushs-top-100-favorite-shooter-games

If you like comparing tier lists, u/Spydar05 on r/shmups ranked the 68 shmups they've played, and 27 are in the index. Mushihimesama and DoDonPachi DaiOuJou are in S+, DoDonPachi Resurrection and ZeroRanger in S. What's in your top tier? https://shmupindex.com/lists/deep-dive-into-68-shmups

For console shmup collectors, Hiroyuki Maeda's The Complete Book of Shooting Games: Home Consoles 1981-1999 covers over 700, from Epoch's Cassette Vision to the Dreamcast. It's in Japanese, from Sansai Books. Its page searches eBay and Amazon. https://shmupindex.com/books/9784866734873

If you're new to Touhou, Team Shanghai Alice remade its 2002 Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, with new graphics and ZUN's rearranged music. It's on PC, Switch, Switch 2 and PS5, with 97 from 4,175 Steam reviews. https://shmupindex.com/game/touhou-koumakyou-new-classic-the-embodiment-of-scarlet-devil

Commodore 64 kids may remember Uridium. Andrew Braybrook's 1986 shooter has fifteen levels named after metals, ending with Uridium, a made-up metal. On the NES it became The Last Starfighter in 1990, with the same levels. https://shmupindex.com/game/uridium

If you want something creepy for Halloween, try Irem's 1989 X Multiply. Your tiny ship flies inside a body infected by an alien queen. Instead of R-Type's Force, it has two tentacles that enemy fire can't hurt. Hamster put it on Switch and PS4 in 2019. https://shmupindex.com/game/x-multiply

Amiga fans, have you played Apidya? In Kaiko's 1992 shooter, a man uses magic to become a bee and find an antidote for his poisoned wife. A 24-bit pixel remake, Apidya' Special, came out this year from ININ Games, with 94 from 35 Steam reviews. https://shmupindex.com/game/apidya

If you play on Switch, four Cotton games are on sale on the US eShop until Nov 4. Cotton Fantasy is 88% off at US$4.79 and Cotton Reboot! is US$7.99. Rainbow Cotton is US$5.99, and 1994's Cotton 100% is US$1.99. Prices can change, so check first. https://shmupindex.com/sales?store=eshop

70s robot anime fans, try 70s-style Robot Anime Geppy-X. It came out only in Japan in 1999, on four PlayStation discs with over 8,000 hand-drawn frames. Now it's on PC, Switch, PlayStation and Xbox, with 96 from 50 Steam reviews. https://shmupindex.com/game/70s-style-robot-anime-geppy-x

If you love arcade shmups, CBR's Tyler Werrin ranked the 10 best, and nine are in the index. Ikaruga is first, then In the Hunt and Darius Gaiden. Batsugun, Radiant Silvergun, DoDonPachi, R-Type Leo, Giga Wing and Raiden II follow. https://shmupindex.com/lists/cbr-10-best-arcade-shmups-ranked

The oldest game in the index is Galaxy Game, from 1971. Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck built it on a PDP-11 for Stanford's student union. Two players dogfight around a star, Spacewar!-style, at 10 cents a game or 25 for three. https://shmupindex.com/game/galaxy-game

If you like playing close to enemies, Devil Blade Reboot is built around it. Close-range kills raise your multiplier, and Berserk mode raises it more but makes enemies tougher. Easy mode starts you with a shield. It scores 98 from 831 Steam reviews. https://shmupindex.com/game/devil-blade-reboot