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Bullet hell (弾幕, danmaku, literally "barrage" or "bullet curtain"), also known as manic shooter, is a subgenre of shoot 'em up video games featuring large amounts of projectiles the player character is required to dodge. Introduced in 1993 with Batsugun and initially limited to vertically scrolling shooters, bullet hell elements were later added to numerous other genres. Pure bullet hell games remain a niche genre due to their high level of difficulty, akin to masocore games.

History

The origin of the bullet hell genre is attributed to Toaplan, a now-defunct Japanese video game studio that developed arcade shoot 'em ups. In 1993, the studio released Batsugun, an innovative game that, after the first level, featured increasingly complex and hypnotic bullet patterns. In order to make the game more fair to players, only a small part of the player's ship served as the hitbox, rather than the entire vessel itself. This remains a tenet of bullet hell shooters, allowing players to navigate through seemingly impossible swarms of bullets. The company collapsed soon after, but former employees started a different studio, Cave, that continued to develop bullet hell games.

The 1995 DonPachi added more twists to the formula that continue to be reflected in the genre going forward. It added a fighting game-style combo system that forced the player to defeat enemies quickly or lose score. Around this time, the Touhou Project, the most prolific fan-made shooter series as recognized by Guinness World Records, was also conceived. Largely the work of a single doujin soft developer, ZUN, he had begun developing the games to showcase his musical compositions. The second game in the series, the 1997 Story of Eastern Wonderland, was its first bullet hell shoot 'em up. The 2002 Embodiment of Scarlet Devil marked a large step forward for the series, and, due to its Windows release, gained massive popularity with a new Western audience.

In 2001, Ikaruga gained significant attention outside of Japan due to its release on the GameCube. It was many Western players' first experience with bullet hell, and gained a respected place in gaming culture. In the modern day, more bullet hell titles have been released on mobile platforms than ever before. While it is still a heavily Japan-centric genre, there have been some Western-developed exceptions, such as Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony.

Bullet hell hybrids

Some games began incorporating bullet hell elements despite being different genres, muddying definitions of what exactly the genre is. RPG/bullet hell hybrids include Knights in the Nightmare (2008), Undertale (2015), Nier: Automata (2017) and Deltarune (2018) which have combat systems featuring bullet dodging. Enter the Gungeon (2016) is a twin-stick shooter roguelike with "smart" bullets. Due to the "die-hard" nature of pure bullet hell fans, such hybrids open the genre to a new audience who might never seek to try one.

Competitive play

The competitive bullet hell scene is defined by hyper-fast reflex gameplay with a focus on achieving high scores. It has not become an esport due to a lack of human drama, as well as a belief that highly-skilled Japanese players are "gods" of the genre, causing fewer Western players to pick them up.

Bullet heaven

Bullet heaven or reverse bullet hell are terms for games in which, rather than attempting to dodge enemy projectiles, the player's character or vessel generates the bullets, typically in the manner of an auto shooter, in order to take out waves of enemies while the player moves. These games often have the player choose power ups from a random selection to improve attack and passive abilities. Such games became popular with the release of Vampire Survivors in 2022, and include games like Brotato, 20 Minutes Till Dawn, and HoloCure – Save the Fans!.

References

1. Patterson, Blake (2010-05-07). "Cave Raises the Bar with Stunning Shooter 'Espgaluda II' – TouchArcade". Retrieved 2023-04-07.
2. ^ Davison, Pete (2013-06-08). "Curtains for You: The History of Bullet Hell". VG247. Retrieved 2023-04-05.
3. Al-Aaser, Amr (2017-09-20). "What Other Games Can Learn From the Bullet Hell Genre". Paste Magazine. Retrieved 2023-04-05.
4. Wadeson, Danny (2015-07-07). "The frenetic past and bright future of the bullet hell shooter". Kill Screen - Previously. Retrieved 2023-04-05.
5. Johnson, Mark R.; Orlando, Alexandra (2017-03-18). "An Insider Look into the World of Competitive Bullet Hells". Vice. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
6. Bolding, Jonathan (August 13, 2023). "Here's a free shooter for fans of Vampire Survivors and Brotato". PC Gamer. Retrieved October 14, 2023.

v t e Video game genres
List of video game genres
Action	Platformer Endless runner Platform fighter Shooter Arena First-person Hero Light gun Shoot 'em up Bullet hell Rail Twin-stick Tactical Third-person Survival Battle royale Survival horror Other Beat 'em up Hack and slash Fighting Platform fighter Maze Pac-Man clone Snake Stealth
Action-adventure	Grand Theft Auto clone Metroidvania
Adventure	Escape room Graphic adventure Interactive fiction Interactive film Visual novel Walking sim
Digital tabletop	Deck-building Roguelike deck-building Digital collectible card
Puzzle	Hidden object Sokoban Tile-matching
Role-playing	Action role-playing Looter shooter Soulslike Dungeon crawl MMORPG Monster-taming Roguelike Roguelike deck-building Tactical role-playing
Simulation	Life Dating Farming God Social Virtual pet CMS Business City-building Government Sports Fishing Racing Kart racing Sim racing Vehicle Flight simulation Combat Lunar Lander Space Submarine simulator Train simulator Vehicular combat Other Falling-sand Immersive sim
Strategy	4X Auto battler MOBA Real-time strategy Time management Real-time tactics Tactical role-playing Tower defense Turn-based strategy Turn-based tactics Artillery Wargame Grand strategy
Other genres	Cozy Fitness Horror Survival horror Incremental Music Rhythm Non-game Party Photography Programming Typing
Related concepts	Themes Advergame Bishōjo Christian Comedy Educational Girls Licensed Otome Sexual Eroge Nonviolent Personalized Sci-fi Serious Art Climate change News Player modes Multiplayer Co-op MMO PVP Single-player Production AAA Indie Doujin soft Fan game Design Casual Hypercasual Emergent gameplay FMV Gacha Kaizo Masocore Nonlinear gameplay Open world Sandbox Side-scrolling Twitch gameplay Vertically scrolling Other Minigame Toys-to-life Video game clone Video game modding Video game remake

• Bullet hell video games
• Video game genres