Yes, Metal slug is a run and gun game, which is one of the main genres of shoot 'em up. Shmup refers to any 2D shooter, or any shooter where the action occurs on a 2D plane. If it's a 2D shooter, it's a shmup.

Here's a list of the main shmup genres to help you:

Scrolling shooter: shooters in which the screen automatically scrolls, usually vertically or horizontally
e.g. Gradius, Ikaruga, R-Type

Fixed shooter: shooters in which the screen does not scroll
e.g. Space Invaders, Robotron

Run and gun: shooters in which the player controls a character or vehicle on the ground. Can be top-down view or side view.
e.g. Contra, Metal Slug, Shock Troopers (the best run and gun game, imo)

Rail shooter: shooters in which the screen scrolls automatically from front to back (or vice versa)
e.g. Star Fox, Sin and Punishment, Panzer Dragoon

Note that there are many other games that contain elements of run and gun, most notably Mega Man and Metroid. But the shooting action is secondary in these games so they are more broadly categorized simply as action (or action-adventure in the case of Metroid) rather than as shooters.

Oh cool. That makes a bunch of sense. Thanks

So apparently the new Darius game is $50.

I guess I'm in the minority of people disappointed with the game regardless of the price. While I'm okay with paying that much for a good game, at the same time I'm annoyed at how people keep pushing the CS and Chronicle modes to justify the asking price. It's like the devs distilled the fun parts of the genre to its essence, then threw it away and served us the spent game. Welcome to the grindfest folks, enjoy beating your 3000 copy-paste stages.

The arcade mode conversion is good, though. I just wish runs were a bit longer, the 3-stage format doesn't sit well with me, I'd always thought that was simply a "business" decision made for the arcade coin ops, and didn't improve the gameplay at all.

Aah, Uridium, such memories, such carnage, such....Wow, 30 years old today!? :D

https://twitter.com/HewsonJoystick/status/704664237789089792

Here comes a new one: http://cave.degicagames.com/

Also in the page source there was the string "Cave Announce DDP", which is now changed to "Cave Announce SUPER TOP SECRET!!". Could be a red herring... but hoping that we get DDP Saidaioujou since that's the only one I've yet to play, and everybody says the XBOX port was next to unplayable due to input lag.

And yet another one...

http://store.steampowered.com/app/435970/

Dudes & dudettes - Mecha Ritz Steel Rondo available on Steam and Humble DRM-free! If you haven't played the original freeware version, it was one of the best things released in the doujin scene recently. This update can only get better.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/463070/

DRM-free from Humble (not listed in store yet, probably later today, link posted by the publisher):
http://bit.ly/MechRitzHumble

Trizeal Remix on Steam in about an hour. That'll finally put an end to having to go through crappy Dreamcast emulation.

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Hi all,

Check out my SHMUP, called Andromeda Wing available to buy on Steam here;

store.steampowered.com/app/691750/Andromeda_Wing/

Sorry, but I don't buy DRM-encumbered software, and therefore don't use Steam.

Any plans to offer a DRM-free version?

Well the good news is, it doesn't use DRM - it is an option open to the developer but I haven't used it.

The Steam release of Andromeda Wing does require a connection to Steam and an account that owns the game in order to play it.

However, if you really don't like Steam, I am planning to release it through humble, gog, gamersgate and eventually get it on xbox live in the near future also.