space invaders! It was one of the cartridges I had growing up on atari 2600!

Aside from Space Invaders, first I played was Super Fantasy Zone on the Sega MegaDrive. I had been off school sick so my parents bought me a new game to cheer me up and this was it.

I mean probably space invaders but the first one i took seriously was touhou eosd ^_^

Probably a weird one to have as a first-ever shmup but mine was M.U.S.H.A! Played it as one of the first games I tried out on Mega Drive NSO when that initially came out and ended up really enjoying it!

....that being said (and this pains me to say), I've still never actually beaten it (I may enjoy shmups a fair bit but I am not good at them in the slightest XD)

Galaga probably

galaga was the first I played and mushihimesama was the first I really connected with / 1cc'd

I probably played one or two before in some random arcades, but the first Shoot 'Em Up I ever beat was Tadpole Tales. Is a lil' free games and honestly kinda fun for what it was, nothing amazing or great, but pretty cute nonetheless, and it was what eventually got me into triying ZeroRanger, Cycle Chaser H-5 and some others.

Also it's technically the ony one I've 1CC'd, but that's only because diying would mean starting all over again, so it really doesn't count xD

I'm not 100% certain because it was definitely in arcades as a kid, but I am pretty sure my first game was Galaga.

My first rail shooter and probably the first one I ever completed was Star Fox 64, though. The Nintendo 64 was my first console, the game looked good and I truly love it. The first one I tried really intensely to get into was Touhou and I did start with Scarlet Devil too. I had gotten into the music long before the game along with browsing for fan stuff (IIRC Danbooru had launched already), which made me really invested. Furthest I ever got was Sakuya and I feel like I really should try to 1cc one sometime. Not sure what my first 1cc or anything was.

For me it's Galaga like most people here, first one I ever cleared was Forgotten Worlds though which I have beaten several times for the reason that it was the only thing my friends and I would play together for years in high school as a running joke. I could not convince the Mrs. to see it through to the end lol

the first one i played was ikaruga on xbox live arcade as a kid!! never got through much of it but i was enamoured by its art style. the first one i took seriously as an adult was einhander ^~^

@Fizza - M.U.S.H.A is a great game but dam it's hard! I've only beaten it with save states.

These have been great responses, thanks everyone. Interesting to see what kinds of patterns are forming. To any onlookers, keep 'em coming! There's no wrong answers!

I guess the first proper shmup I played was Darius 2, though I only really finished it with judicious save states. As for the first one I beat honourably, it was Cycle Chaser H-5

touhou 6 was the first shmup i ever played while like, actually caring about it

(this sushi bar place i went to a lot as a kid with my parents had a galaga cabinet that i played a lot of but i dont remember it honestly lol)

R type Final was my first, then Progear was the first I played that made me wanna learn shmups (but I never got good at Progear itself lmao). Don't remember first one I heat, but my first 1cc was battle mania daiginjou

@MagneticBurn finally another R-Type Final truther

i remember playing raiden x flash on crazeymonkey games, that was the first time i loved playing a shmup. the first one i officially beat was harmful park, im not sure which one i think should be posted on here lol

My first was probably one of the Twinbee games that I played in an arcade when I was really young. Didn't beat it or anything. After I got serious into gaming, I bought a few shoot em ups starting with Death Smiles. That LE Xbox faceplate made it really tempting. Overall, I never gotten serious into the genre and play them more for a casual experience. Bonus points if it has local coop.

Galaxian and Galaga were the first ones I played as a kid on gamecube and gba

ZeroRanger was my first cause i got it in a bundle

I suppose Galaga would be my first schmup too

Gradius Iii for the SNES. A stripped down remaster of the Arcade game of the same name.

I've played a few shmups before this but Hazelnut Hex was the first one where I seriously cared about clearing with one continue. I've cleared both Normal and Moderate mode with 1 continue and I still play Hazelnut Hex to this day.

@Yuzrnaime Hazelnut Hex is a great one. many recent indie STG think they'll be the one to "finally" hit the sweet spot between being approachable for new players while also appealing to gristled oldheads but Hazelnut Hex actually does it

Tyrian on the good ol' DOS back in the day

Had to have been one of the bad shareware ones for PC ... let's go with KILOBLASTER

@DJSCheddar with a name like that, and RATINGS like that, i'm thinking this is the most video game of all time

Probably Galaga, but maybe the Coin Launcher in Super Smash Bros Brawl lol

Super R-Type, and yes I couldn't even make it past the first stage for a while.

Also my first 1cc on default difficulty(easy), which ain't saying much because you're essentially required to 1cc Super R-Type anyway to beat it. I have an attachment to it for starting my love of that franchise and adore the music.

.....I'm also still working on a pro mode 1cc, which I'll eventually try with the fastrom hack....I'm crazy I know.

Perfect Cherry Blossom. Not really the first because years before I played Ikaruga and thought these games weren't for me, that I lack the skill. But playing Touhou reintroduced me in one on my favourite genres now.