History Main / UnexpectedShmupLevel

%%* ''VideoGame/AstroBoyTheVideoGame'': Every chapter has at least one shmup level.

* In the third mission of ''VideoGame/GhostReconAdvancedWarfighter 2'', you man a helicopter minigun turret to destroy an enemy convoy. The first ''GRAW'' has two levels of this type, one where you're clearing a landing zone near Zocalo Plaza, another while being dropped at Chapultepec Castle.

** ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures'' has multiple auto-scrolling shooter sequences, such as the ''VideoGame/SilverSurfer'' sequence in "Future Fuckballs 2010"(reprised in "[[AllTheWorldsAreAStage Laughin' Jokin' Numbnuts]]"), the [[Film/TheGiantClaw Giant Claw]] fight in "Dungeons and Dickholes" and the shark ride in "Thy Farts Consumed".

** The [[VideoGame/FreedomPlanet2 sequel]] features the level "Bakunawa Chase", which involves the heroines guiding Mayor Zao's airship towards the raising Bakunawa after it has been resurrected by [[BigBad Merga]]. The level culiminates in a battle against GiantEnemyCrab robot Crabulon.

* ''Dark Nebula 2'' has one right at the end of the game in which you link up to a space-ship and fly into the sky to do battle with the final boss and escape.

* ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat'' on the NES has one of these when Felix is flying his spaceship in order to get The Professor's lair on an alien planet. This is also one of the more difficult levels, as you '''have''' to keep on collecting power-ups in order to keep your spaceship going; unlike the other levels, Felix can't survive without his spaceship.

* Franchise/MegaMan series:

* Many ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' games, following ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic and Knuckles]]'', tend to have a TrueFinalBoss battle that plays like this as a reward for collecting all of the GreenRocks, getting HundredPercentCompletion, etc. The main character goes {{Super|Mode}} and flies off to fight the Big Bad by either shooting at it or ramming into it. Or in one case, letting it shoot at you and then ramming the things it shot.

* While it's tough to consider it "unexpected" given the BulletHell [[Franchise/TouhouProject franchise it's based on]], the World 6-2-4 boss in the mostly Mario-like fan-game ''Super Marisa World'', Kaguya, is a side-scrolling version of the Kaguya fight from ''Imperishable Night''. (The level itself is based on the aforementioned ''Super Mario Land'' 4-3, as despite the title suggesting its a straight ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' knockoff, every pre-''64'' Mario game is referenced at times--even ''Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island'' and ''Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins''.)

** In ''Touched!!'', Ashley's boss stage has you controlling the Earth itself, dodging bullets and other stuff before finally shooting away at an alien mothership, similar to a heavily toned-down version of ''Videogame/{{Touhou}}''.

* Konami's ''Ajax'' alternates between a top-down helicopter ShootEmUp and a 3D jet rail shooter. A form of GameplayRoulette, actually.

* ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors 7'' ([[BeatEmUp of all things]]) had these "siege weapon" sections, which are mountable weapons put in certain places in the battlefield. First there's the Ballista (you aim, fire, and wait for the ammo to hit the gate, rinse repeat), used for opening gates. Then there's the {{Gatling|Good}} [[AutomaticCrossbow Crossbow]] with BottomlessMagazines ([[AnachronismStew seriously]]) sections where you basically go MoreDakka with arrows on a huge number of people (thankfully they're fixtures, so you [[GameBreaker can't use one on the whole level]]). Then there's the optional Tiger ''[[TankGoodness Tanks]]'', which [[AwesomeButImpractical move as fast as molasses]] and has an extremely slow firing rate, and is somehow [[StrongFleshWeakSteel as fragile as porcelain despite being made of bronze]], making it completely useless in harder modes where you need to quickly travel around the map and defeat enemies.

* The second half of the first mission of VideoGame/StarCraftIINovaCovertOps is suddenly this, where you not only have to gun down enemies, but also avoid civilian cars on a highway.

* The Cloud Land boss battle in ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' combines this with a BattleshipRaid against an airship/zeppelin. Earlier, the River stage is a vertical-scrolling shmup-style level on a raft.
* ''Final Zone II'', a run-and-gun shooter, switches to continuous vertical-scrolling helicopter action in Round 3.

** ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures'' has multiple auto-scrolling shooter sequences, such as the ''VideoGame/SilverSurfer'' sequence in "Future Fuckballs 2010", the [[Film/TheGiantClaw Giant Claw]] fight in "Dungeons and Dickholes" and the shark ride in "Thy Farts Consumed".

* ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'' has a portion before Battle Glacier in Adventure and Classic modes that involves shooting flying enemies, either with [[spoiler: Dragon Pangu as Lilac, who acts as a flying shooter ship with straight line shots, or with one of Zao's tanks as Carol or Milla, which can double jump and can aim with its primary weapon.]]

* ''VideoGame/PacManWorld'' has a ''VideoGame/{{Galaga}}''-like space shooter level.

* ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'' has a portion before Battle Glacier in Adventure and Classic modes that involves shooting flying enemies, either with [[spoiler: Dragon Pangu as Lilac, who acts as a flying shooter ship with straight line shots, or with one of Zao's tanks as Carol or Milla, which can double jump and can aim with its primary weapon]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'' games have a tradition of becoming shmups for penultimate battles, usually in conjunction with an EleventhHourSuperpower, starting with the second game in the series, ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'', and reaching an apotheosis in ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar''. As it's standard for the series, ''unexpected'' is probably the wrong word, but, let's face it, the rest of the stages are about a cuddly pink thing running around and eating stuff.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' has a form of this in the Yellow SOUL segments during a few of the Mettaton fights, most prominently featured in [[spoiler: [[SuperMode Mettaton EX]]]]. While you are in Yellow SOUL form, you can move like normal, but can fire a magical bolt upward by pressing Z. This is [[spoiler:actually incapable of damaging the target]], but it is excellent at destroying (boxes, bombs) or modifying (disco ball, arms, [[spoiler:legs, and Mettaton's SOUL]]) attacks, making it a strong utility power and by far the most useful SOUL color.
** This SOUL color makes another appearance in [[spoiler:the [[FinalExamBoss Asriel]] [[TrueFinalBoss Dreemurr]] fight at the end of True Pacifist. Here, you call upon Alphys as a Lost Soul to help you, and she attacks you like the rest of the Lost Souls. However, she uses much of the same attacks Mettaton EX does, so nothing new here]].
** FridgeBrilliance: [[spoiler:Alphys [[NonActionGuy is not a fighter by any stretch of the definition]], but she was able to construct Mettaton, who is a mild (and ultimately subverted) KillerRobot. If [[BatmanGrabsAGun she had to fight]], she likely would simply use the weaponry she designed and built for him]].
** ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'', the follow-up to ''Undertale'', has the Yellow SOUL mechanic return with the addition of a ChargedAttack, with Susie and Ralsei gaining unique [=ACTs=] granting you faster charging and an OrbitingParticleShield. It shows up primarily in the [[spoiler:[[BonusBoss Spamton NEO fight]] in Chapter 2]].

* ''20th Anniversary VideoGame/PacMan World'' has a ''VideoGame/{{Galaga}}''-like space shooter level.

* Levels 2-3 and 4-3 in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand'' are this kind of level, with Mario in the Marine Pop submarine or Sky Pop airplane, respectively.
* The first part of ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'''s Outer Space chapter and the battle against Brobot had elements of this.

* While it's tough to consider it "unexpected" given the BulletHell [[Franchise/TouhouProject franchise it's based on]], the World 6-2-4 boss in the mostly Mario-like fan-game ''Super Marisa World'', Kaguya, is, well, pretty much a side-scrolling version of the Kaguya fight from ''Imperishable Night''. (The level itself is based on the aforementioned ''Super Mario Land'' 4-3, as despite the title suggesting its a straight ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' knockoff, every pre-''64'' Mario game is referenced at times--even ''Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island'' and ''Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins''.)

* Creator/{{Taito}}'s ''Superman'' UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame ended each stage with a HorizontalScrollingShooter section.
** ''The Death and Return of Superman'', a BeatEmUp by Creator/{{Sunsoft}} for the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendo, had similar segments.

* Believe it or not, someone made a shmup level in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker''. It is actually pretty well done, and it even has a custom boss and everything. Of course thanks to the fire blowing clown car, anybody can invoke this.
* You can pretty much invoke this deliberately in ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet'', for a game revolves around a LevelEditor.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Driver}} DRIV3R]]'' features a rail shooter mission in France.
** And then again in Istanbul, only here, you have a {{BFG}}. No more needing to burst the police cruisers after you with a [[BoringButPractical machine pistol]]!

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' does this with the Gummi Ship, which is used to travel between worlds. ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' plays the trope even straighter: while the ''Kingdom Hearts'' example was essentially a 3D standard "moving forward" shmup, ''Kingdom Hearts II'' updates it to be a full rail shooter. It even adds a BattleshipRaid complete with a ReactorBoss. And then there's the random rail-shooter segment during the [[FinalBoss final battle]] which does not involve the Gummi Ship. And that's leaving out the minigame in Christmas Town...

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'' has a literally on-rails mission in Pinna Park where one must get water rockets while on a roller coaster to aim and fire at Mecha-Bowser while avoiding Bullet Bills from behind. This is repeated in the same world except with shooting down balloons under a time limit.

** Subverted in The "Da Nang Thang" from ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andreas]]'', where it initially looks like it's going this route, only for your helicopter to be shot down almost immediately, forcing you to complete things on foot.

* ''VideoGame/QuakeIV'' features a scene where you go between two towers on a monorail which is slightly damaged, so it doesn't make full speed. Other rails are constantly catching up...
** There's also the convoy level.

* ''VideoGame/CandyMountainMassacre Revenge'' puts you in a Cupcake-piloted fighter craft for the final mission, which plays out like a rail shooter. You have a machine gun (which can overheat), and missiles (which you get two of at a time). You're up against pretty much all the enemies of the game, including ones in ships that fly and shoot purple beams and missiles at you. This is also how you fight [[SequentialBoss all three phases]] of the FinalBoss of the game.

* Many ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' games, following ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic and Knuckles]]'', tend to have a TrueFinalBoss battle that plays like this as a reward for collecting all of the GreenRocks, getting HundredPercentCompletion, etc. (The TrueFinalBoss of ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'' just requires you to beat the regular final boss in hard mode.) The main character goes {{Super|Mode}} and flies off to fight the Big Bad by either shooting at it or ramming into it. Or in one case, letting it shoot at you and then ramming the things it shot.

** ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'', the SpiritualSuccessor to DMC, turns into a rail shooter for Chapter 14, inspired by the classic Sega arcade game ''VideoGame/SpaceHarrier''. True to the game's mood, you're not flying a jet, spaceship, or even unassisted; you're riding a missile toward the next area.

* The credits of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee'' is a shooting game.
** ''Brawl'' does this too when you beat Classic or All-Star mode. It also features the Coin Shooter minigame that lets you collect trophies and stickers, and is a [[SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer great source of distraction]].

** Or Slippy. So infinitely preferable.

* Many ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' games, following ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic and Knuckles]]'', tend to have a TrueFinalBoss battle that plays like this as a reward for collecting all of the GreenRocks, getting HundredPercentCompletion, etc. The main character goes {{Super|Mode}} and flies off to fight the Big Bad by either shooting at it or ramming into it. Or in one case, letting it shoot at you and then ramming the things it shot.

** This act also has two bosses (only counting bosses that have their own scene, otherwise three)- RecurringBoss Trouble Bruin, now piloting the Wheeler Dealer, and the act’s final boss, Baby Face. Non-shmup fans, prepare for a DifficultySpike.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' has a form of this in the Yellow SOUL segments during a few of the Mettaton fights, most prominently featured in [[spoiler: [[SuperMode Mettaton EX]]]]. While you are in Yellow SOUL form, you can move like normal, but can fire a magical bolt upward by pressing Z. This is [[spoiler:actually incapable of damaging the target]], but it is excellent at destroying (boxes, bombs) or modifying (disco ball, arms, [[spoiler:[[ShesGotLegs legs]], and Mettaton's SOUL]]) attacks, making it a strong utility power and by far the most useful SOUL color.

* The last section of ''VideoGame/GhostRecon: Future Soldier'''s first proper mission combines a rail shooter with an EscortMission, where you drag Paez with one hand while taking down enemies with your pistol in the other.

* ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'' games have a tradition of becoming shmups for penultimate battles, usually in conjunction with an EleventhHourSuperpower, starting with the second game in the series, ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'', and reaching an apotheosis in ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar''. As it's standard for the series, ''unexpected'' is probably the wrong word, but, let's face it, the rest of the levels are about a cuddly pink thing running around and eating stuff.
** ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand'', the first game, used it for the level 3 boss fight with Kaboola instead. This boss was left out of the rehash of the game in ''Kirby Super Star'', but finally made a comeback in ''Kirby Super Star Ultra'', now renamed Kabula.

** ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'' has two types of these. The first is the Rocket Metamortex, which transforms into a rocket ship that goes upwards. The second is [[spoiler:the Starship Metamortex, which brings back the Starship from ''Kirby Super Star'' for a battle with Kracko in Bubbly Clouds]]. It returns again in the final BonusLevel.

** ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'' features this to a larger degree then past titles, with multiple stages utilizing the Robobot Armor's Jet mode for shooter segments. [[spoiler:Kabula also makes another return as a surprise boss.]]

** The TrueFinalBoss of ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'' is fought in this manner, though you're not chasing the boss, instead circling around it avoid its attacks and taking aim at various parts to cripple it and expose its weak point.
** With 2D shooter segments already present in multiple levels of ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'', it opts to change things up for the final battle by making it a 3D rail shooter instead.