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Shoot 'em up (also known as shmup) is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the...

Shoot 'em up (also known as shmup) is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often a spacecraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what design elements constitute a shoot 'em up. Some 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 amounts of enemy projectiles, the patterns of which the player must memorise in order to avoid. The genre's origins can be traced back to Spacewar!, one of the very earliest computer games, developed in 1961 and eventually released in arcades in the early 1970s. However, Space Invaders, released in Japanese arcades in 1978, is generally credited with inventing and popularising the genre proper. Shoot 'em ups were popular throughout the 1980s and early 1990s as they evolved. From the mid-1990s and the