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For the film genre, see Western (genre). For the 2007 action film, see Shoot 'Em Up (film). This is a good article. Click here for more information. Kasteroids.svg Part of a series on: Action video games Sub-genres[show] Topics[show] Lists[show]

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A screenshot from Project Starfighter, a side-scrolling shoot-'em-up video game.

Shoot 'em up (also known as shmup or STG) is a subgenre of the shooter genre of video games.

In a shoot 'em up, the player character engages in a lone assault, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up.[citation needed] Some[who?] restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character movement; others allow a broader definition including characters on foot and a variety of perspectives. Shoot 'em ups call for fast reactions and for the player to memorise levels and enemy attack patterns. Newer "bullet hell" games feature overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles.

The genre's origins can be traced back to Spacewar!, one of the very earliest computer games, developed in 1961 and eventually released in amusement arcades in the early 1970s. However, Tomohiro Nishikado, creator of Space Invaders, is generally credited with inventing the genre. Space Invaders premiered in Japanese arcades in 1978. Shoot 'em ups were popular throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. In the mid-1990s, shoot 'em ups became a niche genre based on design conventions established in the 1980s, and increasingly catered to specialist enthusiasts, particularly in Japan.

The shoot 'em up encompasses various subgenres. In a fixed shooter such as Space Invaders, the protagonist can only move across one axis and enemies attack from a single direction. In a multidirectional shooter the protagonist may rotate and move in any direction. By contrast, a rail shooter player character is viewed from behind, and moves "into the screen", while the player retains control over dodging. Tube shooters feature similar viewpoints, and their protagonists fly through abstract tubes.

The scrolling shooter genre encompasses both horizontal shooters (which are side-scrolling video games) and vertical shooters (which are vertically scrolling video games). Subgenres include bullet hell, cute 'em up, and run and gun games. In the latter, player characters are on foot, rather than in a vehicle and may be able to jump. Run and gun games may scroll on more than one axis.