Psyvariar has been around for a long while. Originally it debuted in Japanese arcades in 2000 from developer Success Corporation, but it's since gone on to develop an audience on PS2, spawn several upgraded iterations, and a sequel. It was ...

There are only a handful of popular competitive shmups out there, and when people even mention the fairly niche subgenre, Twinkle Star Sprites immediately enters the conversation. Rival Megagun has the potential to make a similar impact whe...

Whenever I see Treasure still being talked about, my eyes light up. Most of their classics are still relevant and played today, but the more platforms we can play them on, the merrier. Based on this complete tease of a tweet, we might be ge...

With how mega popular Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. franchise has been, you’d think more developers would try their hand at making wild crossovers. I know Capcom has been doing it with Street Fighter and Marvel and it’s ...

Ikaruga is one of those games that can't be ported enough. The vertical shoot-'em-up is a bona fide gem, the kind of shmup that even people who "don't really mess with shmups" can learn to love. A recent listing with Germany's ratings board...

The ACA Neo Geo range, brought to us by the good people at Hamster, continues this week with the release of '90s shmup sequel, Aero Fighters 3.Originally blasting into arcades in 1995, Aero Fighters 3 was developed by Video System for SNK's...

We're going to start seeing beloved games built with GameMaker Studio resurfacing on Nintendo Switch. An upcoming export-to-Switch feature for developers will help enable new ports for titles like Undertale, and that's such wonderful news....

Whether you realize it or not, new shoot 'em ups are being released all the time on the PC, PS4, and most recently, the Nintendo Switch. While some genres have waxed and waned over the years or have been relegated to niche communities, shmu...

This week sees a true gem arrive in Hamster's ACA Neo Geo range, as fast-paced, intergalactic shmup Blazing Star becomes available to purchase on PS4 and Xbox One.Originally released in 1998, Blazing Star is the sequel to so-so space blaste...

George Fan is a wild and crazy guy. Well maybe not in the sense that you're probably thinking, but he has a wild mind that's able to come up with all sorts of strange ideas like an insane neighbor that sells you seeds to fight off a zombie ...

Taito and Degica have been teasing something Steam-releated for Space Invaders' 40th anniversary. I kept my expectations in check, hoping for ports of the more recent games. That's happening! Space Invaders Extreme is up first with a Febru...

The R-Type series was one of the first shooter franchises I remember playing outside of my random jaunts with Galaga and the like, so I'm always happy to see it maintain its relevance. Retro-Bit is doing just that by re-releasing it in...

Over 2017, the Neo Geo ACA range raked in big bucks for SNK, as many a '90s arcade found itself ported to modern platforms. The trend continues this week as horizontal shmup Pulstar is now available on the Nintendo Switch.Featuring impressi...

Locomalito's Super Hydorah lands on PlayStation 4 and Vita next Wednesday, December 13. This is a touched-up version of Hydorah, a great freeware shoot-'em-up in the vein of Gradius and R-Type. The PS4 version of Super Hydorah has local co-...

Speaking to Engadget, Helsinki-based developers Housemarque announced that they are moving on from their trademark arcade shmup shooters, due to the genre not being financially viable in today's gaming climate.The company have put out sever...

'member Cave? If you're a '90s kid there's no way you wouldn't recall some of their hits, like DoDonPachi, Espgaluda, and Mushihimesama. Even if you don't know them by name you've probably played their brand of bullet hell in an arcade befo...

Man, Virtual On seems to be getting everywhere these days! Senko no Ronde 2 was never going to set the scene aflame but it's carving a niche for itself and its good to see that the developers are still very keen to keep it updated and healt...

THQ Nordic have announced that their time-based Euro-shmup Sine Mora EX will be getting a Switch release in North America this month, with a European launch to follow in October.The bullet-hell shooter, in which time is both the ultimate we...

Selling an original game is hard! Trying to convince players why they should try something new without being able to compare it to an existing property is tough at the best of times and with a huge marketing budget and even then, the possib...

We first heard about Spry Fox's Steambirds Alliance two years ago, just before PAX Prime 2015. At PAX West 2017, I got to sit down and play a bit of the massively multiplayer online shoot-'em-up, and it was a cool playground for cooperative...

Xbox 360 owners with a taste for the more niche titles on that system may remember a game called Wartech: Senko no Ronde. It was published in the west by Ubisoft and was a rather unique title. Taking elements of a shmup and a 1v1 vs fightin...

For a good while, I've been interested in going to Japan's Comiket convention, since it's dedicated to people selling their fan works and/or original indie creations. Luckily, Edelweiss (Astebreed, Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin) uploaded a ...

When Sine Mora EX hits on August 8, it'll sport 4K60FPS visuals, at least on the PC and PS4 Pro platforms. The Xbox One and the Switch will be the odd ones out on that front, and the latter doesn't even have a confirmed date yet as it'...

Almost nothing recalls the halcyon days of the arcade quite like a shmup. The twitchy, reactive and often infuriating genre swamped game rooms the world over, ensnaring a community of masochistic fans who are still dedicated to the genre to...

I don't know if I'm being selfish when it comes to what I want to see on the Switch. The fact that so many indie developers flocked to the Wii U and not enough big studios is what ultimately led to its demise (among other Nintendo related r...