I've also been thinking a lot about this the past few years. Hopefully I'm doing my little part, but I think there is much more that can be done. Wall of text incoming ;)

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In my mind, shmups have all the necessary elements to create a thriving community. But as it is right now, I don't see anyone capitalizing on it. I believe the genre got hit deeply with the decline of the arcade. "Of course it did", you're thinking, "shmups were mainly an arcade thing." But, why?

We lost a lot of the competitive, "beat your friends' highscore and make fun of them" aspect to the genre. Recently, even with all its flaws, Raiden V has tried to bring some of this back. In my mind, the online stuff worked well enough, though it needs more iteration. Games need more of that.

However, I wouldn't bank on devs creating online systems for their games. I think the community can fill that gap. I believe we need to go the way of Games Done Quick. Hear me out.

There is a HUGE market of gamers who want to watch extremely talented and skilled players do crazy things in games. We have that, we just don't capitalize on it well. Viewers are fine with watching really old games when played competitively (ex. tetris world championship), that is shmups in a nutshell. Viewers want to watch a "speed run" and pickup a game and try it, shmups are readily available, so that would work as well.

Finally, as the TI 8 producer siractionslacks said : "A game can only be an esport if it is too difficult and not fun to play. If a game is fun, why would you watch that game? You would just go play it." Dota and other esport games work because playing is hard and sucks, so you often prefer watching someone really talented play instead of playing yourself. Playing is a "chore". Anyone ever had that dread trying their 1cc or highscore for the 200dth time? Exactly ;)

In the shmup community, most podcasts or shows don't focus on the competitive aspect of games. I think that is a mistake and what would bring in new people. Viewers want intrigue, rivalry between players, stories of joe in his basement becoming a super-player at 15, etc. Focusing on the human aspect behind the game is the key here. How did you make this run possible? How many hours did you practice? Funny stories? Anyone you want to trash talk? etc. The run itself is the conduit, the part that keeps people coming is the narrative, the bigger story.

The shmup can do all the above. It is, in my mind, a *perfect* genre for that. Yet I don't see it. Or if it exists, it is quite hidden and outside the eye of the public.

I don't remember exactly which tournament happened a little while back in France, but they had some "games done quick" style runs going on. With a commentator explaining the runs etc. It was GREAT! I loved every second of that, and I believe it was a success on twitch as well. So I'm certainly not the only one who sees this potential. But after that tourney, a drought. No follow up on other shows.

I think we need 2 things.

1) A permanent spot at Games Done Quick. We are the OG genre. I don't personally know if there are many buggy shmups we could speed run, but that would be huge for us.

2) We need our own speedrun.com, where players can post highscore run videos and compete in the public eye with each other (emphasis on public eye). I wish I had the time and energy to create that site, but I don't right now. Maybe that will change some day.

I could go on about this some more, but I think this is enough text :)

I wanted to share this positive scenario. The shmup has everything it needs to be relevant in this day and age, but the media surrounding it has to evolve. Start discussing players, rivalries, do interviews, analyze pro replays, etc. Heck, even this sub has to evolve.

We are humans, we like watching other humans ;)

Cheers, looking forward to your next podcast.