Japanese homebrew shmups deciphered

via joystiq

Japanese homebrew shooters, or doujin shmups, form a subculture of developers and dedicated players in the indie gaming scene. It's a massively confusing (but not-so-multiplayer) world of strange games, websites with squiggly characters, and obscure names that have become the subject of fanboy worship. If you've played Warning Forever, Clean Asia, or even Cave Story creator Pixel's new project Guxt (a work-in-progress demo) you're off to a good start.

The Independent Gaming Source has published a quick guide to the world of doujin shmups. Everything is divided into digestible bits of information that actually makes sense to the doujin n00b. And once you know who Kenta Cho is and why you should put him in your will, an entire universe of free indie shooters is at your disposal.

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You just gotta love shmups!

Yes, I have played Warning Forever, and I am glad to see it on that list. It is a game in which there are nothing but bosses, and when you destroy a boss, it will become stronger on the area you destroyed it in. So, if you attack its front, it willl have more armor there. Attack wings, more armor there. Get killed by a beam, and it gets stronger beams.

Anotehr good one I like is rRootage which is also on homebrew for the PSP.

Shoot em up is probably my all time favourite game genre, love to so many small dev teams making them.