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Ok. So I have been playing Sega Genesis since it came out, I'm 21 years old, somewhat educated, English/Transcentialist Lit Major....
But what the heck is this SHUMPS genre of games? I sure hope its an acronym or something, because its driving me CRAZY.
It's SHMUPS not SHUMPS.
It is a squashed version of the phrase "shoot-em-ups". Personally I think the term is retarded. I prefer "shooters". It sounds less retarded and you are less likely to get beaten up by those around you if you say it. It's just safer. That whole thing in the Middle East? Someone in Lebanon said "SHMUPS" and now look how many missiles they're getting 24/7!
I am with you, all throughout the life of the Genesis I don't think I have heard many, if any, people say "SHMUPS".
I think it may be a recent term. It's only in the last few years that I've heard it used. Then again, that may just mean I need to get out more.Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Redifer
I prefer more descriptive terms, myself. Like "vertically autoscrolling shooting games. In space."
What if the game takes place in space, on several different planets, in a time warp, and underwater? What if there is a brief diagonally scrolling segment like in just about every Thunder Force game? Oh man! :)
Wow. Shoot em ups huh? Yeah that term is deffinatly retarted. Whatever happened to just plain ol shooter?
I still think the term "shoot 'em up" sounds like Contra and games like that. I mean, a beat 'em up is a game where you run around on foot punching a large number of enemies, so, by analogy, a shoot 'em up should be a game where you run around on foot shooting a large number of enemies.
I'm 99% percent positive the term was created to differentiate between first-person shooters and the type of game we're talking about right now. So it's relatively new, yeah. I always call Contra-style games "run 'n gun" instead of "shoot 'em ups", so people won't confuse them with shmups/FPS games.
Genre terms are annoying.
Personally I heard the word SHMUPS at Sega-16 first.
Here in Germany FPS are ever called Shoot ém ups, the usual word is Ego-Shooter.
Run´n gun sounds kinda cool...
The term "shoot 'em up" is seen in my old Sega Force magazine from 1992, meaning games like Thunder Force, Empire of Steel etc. I read on Wikipedia that "Doom-clone" was the most popular name on FPSs until 1996.
I am sick of Doom clones. I hated Halo 2 and all of those damned "corridor shooters".
Really? IMO "Doom clones" have surpassed their inspiration so far that they should hardly be considered rip-offs anymore. Although yeah, corridor-based FPS games get really tiring after a while. Why don't they use more outdoor environments?
I was just making fun of the terms "Doom clone" and "corridor shooter". But in reality I am not a huge FPS fan most of the time.
The only FPS I really love is Deus EX.