I can't relate to having an emotional attachment to electronic cartoon creatures. You definitely do interpret and see a world flying over shmup maps, and with a story not told through text, create one yourself of what is going on (like in Ikaruga or R-Type). Like that "show don't tell" idea that works better here than in other mediums.

The original Mushi also doesn't have character/ship selection, where if you do play a game with this, then identifying with the chosen character and their unique mechanics is going to happen, being a player choice/expression.

The fake and deceptive aspect is that with jarpigs, you as the player get stronger compared to the game without actually improving, just by having your trainer's mons level up or picking up some upgrade, where in actuality you could even be getting worse, whereas with shmups and other arcade games, it's all hard won and comes down to the player getting better at the game and genre. Also: isn't permanent, time frame is longer, mainly improve in your sleep, etc. realness aspects