Do you have to be good at games to enjoy them? I’d argue I’m living proof that’s not the case: I’m abysmal at the things and I love them. Indeed, some of the games I love the most are from a genre with a reputation for being the most hardcore. Shmups, it would seem, are serious business.
Can you be a casual shmup player? Well I’m certainly one, drawn as much to the spectacle and strangeness of the genre. These things are so pure in their abstraction, and often so dazzling in their art and aesthetic, that I’ve always found them irresistible, even if I’m typically drawn to more stately classics such as Darius or Gradius which are more apt for aging players like myself.
Up until now I’ve never really dabbled so much in Cave’s work, probably because I’d been put off by their own reputation: offering diamond-edged challenge and featuring arcane scoring systems, they’ve always seemed the preserve of the real purist. M2’s Shot Trigger series seemed like a good point to jump in, though, especially now one of them’s finally found its way to Nintendo’s Switch (or at least it has in Japan, where it’s still easily enough to grab a copy off the eShop if you can’t be bothered with the hassle of importing).
Source: Eurogamer Unlocking the thrill of one of gaming's most hardcore genres