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The origin of the SHMUP

KarujiKaruji
edited in General
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/LukeMcMillan/20130206/186184/The_Origin_of_The_Shmup_Genre_A_Historical_Study.php
In 2003 I began research for my PhD topic. As part of my research, I began to explore the family tree of the Shmup genre, the oldest and most profilific genre of gaming (within the context of the arcade medium). Using MAME, A Yahoo Auctions Japan account & a Sega Astro City Arcade machine I began to trace the origins of this genre by playing over 3,500 arcade games.

This blog post is an excerpt from the final dissertation which explores the origins of the Shmup genre and examines the games which set the standards that we accept today.

I thought it would be fitting to publish this work as a blog post now that it is a decade old and use this to reflect on the research and how it was conducted. I will present the chapter in it's entirity, as it was publsihed and then provide some quick reflection on the process at the end.

Comments

  • retroFutureretroFuture
    Better check out the post and see whether he lists Space Invaders as the first shmup or Xevious as the first scrolling shmup.
  • retroFutureretroFuture
    Looks like I'm actually way off regarding Xevious... definitely need to brush up on my shmup history.
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