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A fixed shooter game, also known as a 2-D shooter or shoot-em-up ("shmup" for short), is a video game where the player has limited control of their character and the focus is almost entirely on annihilation of their enemies. There are several major sub-genres.
Stationary shooter
A stationary shooter has players only able to control their two-dimensional position on the screen and sometimes the direction they are facing. Stationary shooters have various degrees of movement freedom, sometimes only allowing control on a one dimensional line. Also known as a proto-shmup, examples include classics such as Space Invaders and Galaga.
Scrolling shooter
The scrolling shooter has the players auto-moving throughout a level at a mostly fixed speed. These are the games most purists would consider "shmups," other games listed here are related sub-genres of the larger shooter classification These generally fall into two categories, "vertical" and "horizontal". Vertical shmups come into two more varieties, so-called tate or yoko shmups. Tate shmups are those that are played on a monitor oriented vertically, and such games generally exist solely in arcades. Yoko shmups are those played on a standard horizontal monitor set-up. Horizontal shmups are always played on horizontally oriented screen, although certain exceptions, such as Darius, use more than one monitor to create an extremely long playfield. Examples of horizontal shmups are Gradius and R-type; some famous vertical shmups include Raiden and Strikers 1945.
Rail Shooter
Desputes amongst the shmup community are divided on how to classify such games, typified by a character traveling forward into space while movement is restricted to the vertical plane perpendicular to the forward motion. Many feel they fit into a separate class of shooter. Examples include Star Fox and Space Harrier.
Run & Gun Shooter
Unlike the shmup, run & gun shooters consist of a charcter running along the ground. The character can fire in all directions, and often is able to jump. These games generally do not include fixed scrolling; the screen will move as the character progresses. Most games are played horizontal, from a side-scrolling perspective, but several notable exceptions are top down, some even with screens oriented vertically. Some famous examples are Metal Slug and Contra (a game that consists of both side-scrolling and top down levels).
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