Shmup is the way forward
- Zirolux
- Mar 15
- 1 min read
Shmups Need Their Own Space – And It Starts With the Word "Shmup"!
It’s 2025, and somehow, shmup visibility is still a struggle. 🫥 Search “shooter” on Steam, PlayStation, or the Nintendo eShop, and you’ll get buried in FPS and twin-stick games. Even in physical stores, shmups are often mislabeled or tucked away in the “action” abyss.
🔹 Why does this matter? Because shmups are their own genre. They have distinct mechanics, history, and culture—yet they’re constantly drowned out in the sea of modern shooters. The casual gaming world still doesn’t fully recognize them, and that makes discovery harder for new players.
🔹 The solution? Push "SHMUP" as the standard term. "Shoot ‘em up" is too broad, and calling them just “shooters” is outdated. We need to reinforce SHMUP as the go-to name so that stores, publishers, and players start recognizing it. The more we use it, the more devs and platforms will take notice.
✅ What can we do?
Use #shmup across posts, reviews, and game discussions.
Call out mislabeled games and ask for proper categorization.
Educate gamers on the genre’s depth—there’s more to shmups than just “old arcade games.” There are so many great new, modern shmups out there right now.
Support devs making new shmups and demand better storefront visibility.
Wear apparel that says SHMUP on it
The genre isn’t dying—it’s just buried under bad classification. Let’s carve out our space and make “SHMUP” a name that no one confuses again.
The amount of new shmups still coming out is huge. The genre is fortunately not dying, the opposite is true.
Glad to see yet another initiative to raise the awareness of this great genre 👍