I assume yall allow advertising. I've been working on this Online Co-op Bullet Hell/shmup with music-synced boss fights (for 2 years already). The Steam page is finally live! Hope everyone likes the gameplay!

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5213850/Bullet_Hell_Zombies/

Hi r/shmups!

I'm an indie developer from Japan working on KON-PON SHMUP, a Japanese-inspired vertical-scrolling shoot 'em up.

I'm currently participating in Steam Next Fest, and I'd love to get some feedback from experienced shmup players!

Here's a gameplay clip of the Stage 1 boss on Normal difficulty.

Does the difficulty feel appropriate for a first-stage boss?

• Are the bullet patterns fair and readable?
• Does the fight feel too easy, too difficult, or about right for Normal?
• Is there anything you'd change about the attack patterns?

The demo is available on Steam, so you can try the first stage yourself!

🎮 Play the free demo: Steam：KON-PON SHMUP -Shapeshifter Showdown-

Honest feedback is very welcome. Thanks for watching!

Hi fellow shmuppers!

A first glance at my current project, Seraph Zero, a new vertical shmup for the Neo Geo. It's a one-person project, made with the help of AI, and it will be released for free.

Here's the first teaser, with all footage taken from the current build:

Teaser trailer: https://youtu.be/0B90rsou0Jk

Vertical (TATE) version: https://youtube.com/shorts/NVo4tNcHmzg

What's in it:

7 stages with giant bosses, secret levels and hidden zones

6 pilots with their own ships and voices, and 6 weapons

2 players at the same time, or 1 player with a CPU wingman

4 difficulties, from Easy to Very Hard

Fully voiced (600+ lines), with pilot bonds that grow as you fly together

20+ achievements and a gallery to unlock

TATE, with YOKO for horizontal screens in progress

The game is mostly done. Now I'm polishing it and fixing bugs. So far I've only played it on the MiSTer. I have an AES (who does not?), but no flashcart yet, so I haven't been able to test on real hardware.

The full game will be free for everyone, as a digital download in 2026. No paywall, no catch, no DRM bullshit.

More info: https://naspri.ch. There's also a Buy Me a Coffee link there.

With love from Switzerland

Nasprich

Hey everyone!

It’s been a while since I last shared footage here, back when the game was still called Project Aether. I’ve kept working on it since then, experimenting with different approaches to a few systems and spending some time on side projects along the way. The game now goes by Aether: Quiet Frontier, and there’s a playable browser demo if you’d like to give it a try!

Play the demo on itch.io

For anyone coming across it for the first time, it’s a mission-based horizontal shmup with changeable loadouts and squad support abilities. The campaign includes encounters where protecting contacts or containing a threat matters alongside shooting down drones. You can choose Story for the full narrative presentation, or Arcade to get into combat sooner and retry from wave and boss checkpoints. Standard and High Threat offer different encounter difficulties.

I’d really appreciate some impressions from people who regularly play shmups. I know the stages a little too well at this point, so I’m particularly interested in:

• Do movement and shooting feel responsive?
• Can you clearly read your ship, enemy formations and incoming fire during busier sections?
• Does the pacing keep you interested and make you want another attempt after a defeat?

Even a short run would help. If you stop before finishing, knowing where you stopped and what put you off is useful too. If you encounter performance or input issues, please mention your browser and controls.

Thanks for taking a look!

Here is the link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4621530/Behelade/

Please give it a shot and tell me what you think, would mean a lot! I'm trying to make it tough, but short, to make it easy to practice while providing an appropriate challenge for shmup players.

It's the second time I post about my game Alexus 2040, a retro fixed shooter.

There is now a demo on Steam during this Next Fest. It’s now!

Here is some un-edited gameplay of the 3rd boss. I failed, it was Game Over.

Alexus 2040 is a Galaga-like game with arcade style power-ups that stack but don't last, so you get combinations that are constantly changing.

The game is made for Windows, I had several reports that it works fine on Linux (that's as much as I can guarantee atm), and works on Steam Deck too.

Game release planned for the end of 2026

* No GenAI is being used.

If you like the demo, please wishlist the game. You know it helps the developer. Thank you.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3584730/Alexus_2040/

I've really enjoyed Night Striker Gear and subsequently the original arcade game, but I'm stuck trying to figure out how to get the fourth option below Game World in the Library. Does anyone know how to get it? Do I have to complete B-Side Mode? Also, what even is it?

Sorry I don't have any tape mode spase ship games on Switch but I thought you guys might like this.

The 360 ​​version of SDOJ is known for having high and fluctuating input lag. Is it known how the Switch version compares in this regard?

OHHHHHH MY GOD! I’M FREEEEEE! The plot changes, environmental death placements, swift laser attacks, not being able to see my hitbox.

10 MONTHS AFTER I BROUGHT THIS GAME HOME I FINALLY GOT GOOD AND BEAT IT!

My entire day feels like a dream now. If anyone asks how I did this: THANK LORD BRITISH.

I MADE THE TOP 70 GUYS!!!! I AM GOING TO START ASCENDING!!!! 🥹

Just in time for Halloween!

My wife served me divorce papers this morning. We’ve been separated for a while, but something finally pushed her over the edge. I’ve been mulling it over and there’s only one explanation:

It was Pan.

If you don’t know, Pan is a shmup Youtuber who is absolutely toxic to the community. He puts out guide videos that show you how to get 1CCs. The problem? These videos can be viewed by literally anyone. Your wife, your mother, even your children could stumble upon a Pan stream.

I’m convinced my wife googled “Ray Force” and found this video specifically.

She heard him say “this game is actually mad doable” and “it’s really not that bad.”

It corrupted her mind. She started wondering why her husband demands total silence while shmuping if Pan can live-clear games and chat with an audience. She wondered why I’ve skipped work to practice a game that can be cleared in “under 10 hours.” She wondered why I’m still dying on stage 3 even though Pan beat the game on his second try -- then called Ray Force a “comfy clear.” She wondered why she ever married me.

Where does he get the nerve?

Jaimers would never do this. He knows proper etiquette -- that’s why he doesn’t speak. Everyone assumes he’s an ascetic Dutch hermit who just eats beans and plays shmups all day. Only true shmupers understand the restraint he possesses. The discipline it takes to not misuse his incredible power. The complete opposite of Pan.

Pan makes people think you suck. That you’re wasting your time. That you’re a loser who puts Ray Force above your own son.

He lives in your nightmares and relishes in it. Each waking moment is filled with the terror of your wife falling under his spell. You tell your children that monsters aren't real, but they see the truth in your pupils -- the mask slipping. You run out into the rain, scream at the moon, pray for a miracle!

But the miracle... the miracle never comes....

The happiest day of my life was when I heard about the dune-buggy crash. I thought my family was finally safe, but I was wrong. Pan is too resilient. To my horror, not only did he survive, but he was playing shmups a week later with a broken neck. The crash only increased his sex appeal.

And now he’s done this. He’s killed my family.

All afternoon, I’ve been devising a way to stop him. I’ve accepted that Pan cannot be destroyed, but maybe he can be silenced. It will just require the shmup community to band together.

Here are our demands. Pan must:

1. Change his wording to make sure people understand these games are practically impossible.

2. Add a disclaimer to all his videos stating that he holds the Contra AC world record (this is true).

3. Make all his videos private and only allow access to people who pass a shmup test/initiation/trial (suggestions welcome).

And if he doesn’t comply, we thumbs-down his videos.

My marriage was not the first that Pan has destroyed, but if we work together, it can be the last. Godspeed.

One more to go! :-)

Esse jogo Tinha a gameplay exatamente igual ao Naruto mobile até os gráficos e o estilo de combate, eu lembro que jogava muito com uma personagem que ela era paga que Lutava No estilo Ranged Que lançava Bombas em formato de bichos igual o Deidara de Naruto, Ela voava as asas eram robóticas, o personagem que a gente começava tinha uma longa espada e uma roupa vermelha

Updated my shmup and prepared a new demo plus trailer on Steam in preparation for the upcoming Next Fest
https://store.steampowered.com/app/5054650/

Hope everyone likes the tweaked gameplay and polished looked

Full game launch scheduled on Steam for end of this month of October

Other platforms soon hopefully as well

Hello fellow shmuppers! My pixel art, heavy metal themed beer shmup CATACLYZM will be in Steam Next Fest Oct 19 - 26 🤘🏾

A little hobby project of mine. I'm recompiling the original NES code into C and adapting it for Android.

Got it running at ~60 FPS with responsive touch controls. Still plenty of bugs to fix, but it's already playable.

Just wanted to share some progress!

Hi! My game needs 12 closed testers for 14 days before it can go public on Google Play.

Mach-X: a roguelite shooter in a gritty WW2 style. Shoot down waves, choose upgrades, fight bosses, unlock planes and pilots. Works offline, no ads.

To join:

1. Google Group: https://groups.google.com/g/machx-testers

2. Opt in + install: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.machx.game

Feedback is welcome but not required, just keep it installed for 14 days. Thank you!

Back in the day when you mainly played shmups at arcades, how the hell did you guys manage to actually learn these games? Like, I hate to think about how much money I would have spent on Dodonpachi by now, and I'm still really bad at it. But you guys figured the games out somehow. How?