Man, when I brought up my question in a shmups forum, let me tell you, I learned the error of my ways. This is a Cold Civil War that's been brewing in the shmup online community for years. It's their "toxic fandom."Hot take time:
Vertical shmups > Horizontal shmups
Incidentally, one of my favorite shmups is the NES classic shmup/zelda hybrid The Guardian Legend, which has pretty much all those things (not the color-swap thing obviously), but throws in some additional fun toys like static beam sabers.
Just, whatever you do, don't ask anyone to define the elements of a JRPG.Man, when I brought up my question in a shmups forum, let me tell you, I learned the error of my ways. This is a Cold Civil War that's been brewing in the shmup online community for years. It's their "toxic fandom."
Oh, that's easy! The chief element of a JRPG is surprise... surprise and fear... fear and surprise... The two elements of a JRPG are fear and surprise... and ruthless efficiency... The three elements are fear, and surprise, and ruthless efficiency... and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope... The four... no... Amongst the elements... Amongst the elements... of a JRPG are fear, surprise... I'll come in again...Just, whatever you do, don't ask anyone to define the elements of a JRPG.