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Shoot 'em up video games
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Shoot 'em up video games
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==Definition== A "shoot 'em up", also known as a "shmup"<ref name="igntop10">Buchanan, Levi, [http://uk.retro.ign.com/articles/865/865346p1.html Top 10 Classic Shoot 'Em Ups], [[IGN]], April 8, 2008, May 26, 2009</ref><ref name="Jets'n'Guns"/> or "STG",<ref>Davies, Jonti. ''[http://www.gamespy.com/articles/895/895329p1.html The Shooting Never Stops]''. [[GameSpy]]. 30 July 2008.</ref><ref>Carless, Simon. ''[http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2011/04/final_form_games_interview_dev.php Final Form On Jamestown's Origins, Mechanics]''. Game Set Watch. 5 April 2011.</ref> is a game in which the protagonist combats a large number of enemies by shooting at them while dodging their fire. The controlling player must rely primarily on reaction times to succeed.<ref name="ashcraft70">Ashcraft, p. 70</ref><ref name="ysguide"/> Beyond this, critics differ on exactly which design elements constitute a shoot 'em up. Some restrict the genre to games featuring some kind of craft, using fixed or [[scrolling]] movement.<ref name="ashcraft70"/> Others widen the scope to include games featuring such protagonists as robots or humans on foot, as well as including games featuring "on-rails" (or "into the screen") and "run and gun" movement.<ref name="ysguide"/><ref name="lecture"/><ref name="bloodywolf"/> Formerly, critics described any game where the primary design element was shooting as a "shoot 'em up",<ref name="ysguide"/> but later shoot 'em ups became a specific, inward-looking genre based on design conventions established in those shooting games of the 1980s.<ref name="lecture"/>
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