Whats the first shmup you EVER played

[rag-time4]

My first shooter ever was Sidearms in the arcade.

Sure? may I ask for your age, rag?

Born in the summer of 1980 (30 years old as of this posting)

[Starfighter]

I played 1942 when I was 11 or 12 at an arcade in Spain of all places but I didn't care all that much - it was just the only cab they had on the hotel. The first shmup I got a hold of with score-intentions was Strikers 1945 II.

[Gogan]

Had to be Blazing Lazers for me.

Turbo to the bone

[Arkhan]

Had to be Blazing Lazers for me.

Turbo to the bone

Blazing Lazers gives me a turboner

[Digi.k]

probably space invaders in the arcade... others like GORF and moon buggy and scramble

for home console I think it was berzerk on atari 2600.. but would you class it as a shmup ?

[SignOfZeta]

I think his idea of shooter is "scrolls by itself, either vert/hor/diag, you shoot everything that comes at you, there is probably an ending". If we include every game from the 70s and 80s where you shoot something...that would be about %95 of the games from that period. Centipede, Bezerk, Space Invaders, etc are not shooters. Defender and Chop Lifter are *almost* shooters. Fantasy Zone pretty much is a shooter. Even though the user controls the scrolling, there is nothing to do but shoot. In other words, when you buy a "shooter" today, from Cave or whoever, the types of shooters that the PCE, Saturn, and DC (and now, 360) are famous for, that kind of game. They first really came to form in mid-late 80s.

I'm pretty sure Vanguard was the first shooter if this type. It scrolled by itself and even had an ending (which was just a vertical bar that said "END" in big letters. When you touched it the game was over.

Not shooters:

Battle Zone
Hogans Alley
Doom
Ikari Warriors
Space Harrier
Hyperball
Asteroids

Shooters for sure:

Aero Blasters
Zaxxon
Side Arms
Xevious (even though it suuuuucks)
Gate of Thunder
Ikaruga
Twin Cobra

Grey area:

Choplifter
Fantasy Zone

[nodtveidt]

First one ever was Defender in the arcade. I remember being severely disappointed by the Atari 2600 version. My first TG shmup was Fantasy Zone, but before that, I had written a few of my own on the Commodore 64... including one that I might someday port to our beloved PCE.

[Starfighter]

No way Fantasy Zone is in the gray zone!

[Arkhan]

No way Fantasy Zone is in the gray zone!

I imagine its in the FANTASY ZONE.

fuuuuuck yeah

[TR0N]

Spaceinvader,Galaga,Galaxian i think.

[blueraven]

For the Compaq 286 I had Galaxian. 4-color graphics mode was the only one that worked.

[Starfighter]

I imagine its in the FANTASY ZONE.

 

[DragonmasterDan]

Space Invaders or Galaga

[guyjin]

I think my first shmup was Demon Attack, but that may just be the first memorable one. It could also have been Vanguard; Vanguard was definitely my first Scrolling shmup.

[nodtveidt]

Fantasy Zone is pwnage. It somehow manages to pull off cute and hardcore at the same time, and it does it without bullet-hell.