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Defunct Genres

Defunct Genre Notes

• Beat 'em Up   Alternate term for "Brawler" that comes off sounding a bit too informal and somewhat ignorant, as a result of casual slang and the way tribal peoples with imperfect English tend to be stereotyped in early media. (Drive 'um home, Get 'um up, Eat 'um up, e.g.)
• Shoot 'em Up   Alternate term for "Shooter" that comes off sounding a bit too informal and somewhat ignorant, as a result of casual slang and the way tribal peoples with imperfect English tend to be stereotyped in early media. (Drive 'um home, Get 'um up, Eat 'um up, e.g.)
• Sh'm'up   Abbreviation of "Shoot 'em Up" that comes off sounding even more informal and ignorant, as a result of the sloppy contraction of three words, combined with the unpleasant and excessive sound of sloshing saliva that occurs during the pronunciation of this slang.
• Cute 'em Up   Alternate term for "Shoot 'em Up" that is, first and foremost, highly inaccurate - for two reasons. The first reason being that the player is shooting enemies to destroy them, not to make them "cuter". The second reason being that "cuteness" is a theme, not a Genre. Terms like "cute" or "cartoony" describe a visual art style that could be applied to any Genre of gaming, removing any potential usefulness for categorizing Genres. And just like "Shoot 'em Ups", "Cute 'em Ups" is a term that comes off sounding a bit too informal and somewhat ignorant, as a result of casual slang and the way tribal peoples with imperfect English tend to be stereotyped in early media. (Drive 'um home, Get 'um up, Eat 'um up, e.g.)
• First-Person Shooter   To begin with, "First-Person" is not a genre term, because there are so many different genres that can be played in a "First-Person" perspective. Additionally, even though you use projectile weapons, games like "Doom" and "Quake" do not play like Shooters, they play like Scouters as you search for keys on your way to find the level's exit. While games like "Half-Life" and "Quake II" play like Adventure games due to the extensive navigation and exploration involved as you complete objectives and traverse interconnected areas. It is time for the term "First-Person Shooter" to be retired.
• Metroidvania   The term "Metroidvania" was coined to describe a Castlevania game that, like Metroid, requires backtracking through an open world (as oppposed to the exit-based levels in the original Castlevania). Thus the problem with this term is two-fold. The first problem is that the term "Metroidvania" only applies to games in the Castlevania franchise making it too narrow to be useful. The second problem is that we already have a genre term for games like Metroid with backtracking, and that term is the "Adventure Game" genre. It is time for the pointless term "Metroidvania" to be retired.
• One-on-One Fighter
• Tournament Fighter
• Tourney Fighter
• Versus Fighter   Alternate terms for "Fighter". The extra words are ultimately superfluous, adding nothing important.
• Point & Click   "Point & Click" is not a genre because it describes game controls. You wouldn't say the genre of Pac-Man is "Joystick" or the genre of Super Mario Bros. is "Gamepad".
• Puzzle Game
• Puzzler   An inoffensive term that is far too broad to be useful because it fails to distinguish between "Organizers" and "Logic Games". The term has sadly fallen victim to people who use it to describe very simple and ordinary obstacles (like switches or buttons) that do not require any puzzle-solving skills to overcome.
• Run & Gun   Overly specific. Games like Contra are "Scrollers", but it seems unnecessary to distinguish them solely because of your weapon type. We don't need a separate term for the moments in Super Mario Bros. where he gets a fire flower and starts shooting enemies. To put the final nail in the coffin, is there even one of these games that have some way to move faster? It's hard to think of any. That really takes the "run" out of the equation.
• Side-scroller   Overly specific. A "side-scroller" is just a lateral "Scroller", with the only distinction being the Play Style (which is not a genre term). There are also aerial "Scrollers", vertical "Scrollers" and 3D "Scrollers", so it just creates too many unnecessary terms.
• Stealth   Overly specific. Stealth is a particular way of dealing with enemies, it is a strategy, and certain games allow detailed controls for that strategy, but stealth gameplay could occur in an "Adventure" game or a "Scroller" game, thus it is not a genre term (a sub-genre, perhaps).
• Survival Horror   Overly specific. Resident Evil is just an "Adventure" genre game that happens to be scary and spooky. Horror is not a genre term, it is a theme, like Christmas, Science Fiction, Tropical Islands or Fantasy.
• Fixed Shooter
• Forward-facing Shooter
• Horizontal Shooter
• Vertical Shooter
• Rail Shooter
• On-rail(s) Shooter
• Space Shooter
• Spaceship Shooter   Alternate terms for "Shooter". The extra words generally describe trivial aspects like perspective and orientation, not gameplay, making them ultimately superfluous, adding nothing important.
• JRPG
• CRPG   Overly specific. As long as it's a good RPG it doesn't matter where it was made or what platform it's on.

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Defunct Genre	Notes
• Beat 'em Up	Alternate term for "Brawler" that comes off sounding a bit too informal and somewhat ignorant, as a result of casual slang and the way tribal peoples with imperfect English tend to be stereotyped in early media. (Drive 'um home, Get 'um up, Eat 'um up, e.g.)
• Shoot 'em Up	Alternate term for "Shooter" that comes off sounding a bit too informal and somewhat ignorant, as a result of casual slang and the way tribal peoples with imperfect English tend to be stereotyped in early media. (Drive 'um home, Get 'um up, Eat 'um up, e.g.)
• Sh'm'up	Abbreviation of "Shoot 'em Up" that comes off sounding even more informal and ignorant, as a result of the sloppy contraction of three words, combined with the unpleasant and excessive sound of sloshing saliva that occurs during the pronunciation of this slang.
• Cute 'em Up	Alternate term for "Shoot 'em Up" that is, first and foremost, highly inaccurate - for two reasons. The first reason being that the player is shooting enemies to destroy them, not to make them "cuter". The second reason being that "cuteness" is a theme, not a Genre. Terms like "cute" or "cartoony" describe a visual art style that could be applied to any Genre of gaming, removing any potential usefulness for categorizing Genres. And just like "Shoot 'em Ups", "Cute 'em Ups" is a term that comes off sounding a bit too informal and somewhat ignorant, as a result of casual slang and the way tribal peoples with imperfect English tend to be stereotyped in early media. (Drive 'um home, Get 'um up, Eat 'um up, e.g.)
• First-Person Shooter	To begin with, "First-Person" is not a genre term, because there are so many different genres that can be played in a "First-Person" perspective. Additionally, even though you use projectile weapons, games like "Doom" and "Quake" do not play like Shooters, they play like Scouters as you search for keys on your way to find the level's exit. While games like "Half-Life" and "Quake II" play like Adventure games due to the extensive navigation and exploration involved as you complete objectives and traverse interconnected areas. It is time for the term "First-Person Shooter" to be retired.
• Metroidvania	The term "Metroidvania" was coined to describe a Castlevania game that, like Metroid, requires backtracking through an open world (as oppposed to the exit-based levels in the original Castlevania). Thus the problem with this term is two-fold. The first problem is that the term "Metroidvania" only applies to games in the Castlevania franchise making it too narrow to be useful. The second problem is that we already have a genre term for games like Metroid with backtracking, and that term is the "Adventure Game" genre. It is time for the pointless term "Metroidvania" to be retired.
• One-on-One Fighter • Tournament Fighter • Tourney Fighter • Versus Fighter	Alternate terms for "Fighter". The extra words are ultimately superfluous, adding nothing important.
• Point & Click	"Point & Click" is not a genre because it describes game controls. You wouldn't say the genre of Pac-Man is "Joystick" or the genre of Super Mario Bros. is "Gamepad".
• Puzzle Game • Puzzler	An inoffensive term that is far too broad to be useful because it fails to distinguish between "Organizers" and "Logic Games". The term has sadly fallen victim to people who use it to describe very simple and ordinary obstacles (like switches or buttons) that do not require any puzzle-solving skills to overcome.
• Run & Gun	Overly specific. Games like Contra are "Scrollers", but it seems unnecessary to distinguish them solely because of your weapon type. We don't need a separate term for the moments in Super Mario Bros. where he gets a fire flower and starts shooting enemies. To put the final nail in the coffin, is there even one of these games that have some way to move faster? It's hard to think of any. That really takes the "run" out of the equation.
• Side-scroller	Overly specific. A "side-scroller" is just a lateral "Scroller", with the only distinction being the Play Style (which is not a genre term). There are also aerial "Scrollers", vertical "Scrollers" and 3D "Scrollers", so it just creates too many unnecessary terms.
• Stealth	Overly specific. Stealth is a particular way of dealing with enemies, it is a strategy, and certain games allow detailed controls for that strategy, but stealth gameplay could occur in an "Adventure" game or a "Scroller" game, thus it is not a genre term (a sub-genre, perhaps).
• Survival Horror	Overly specific. Resident Evil is just an "Adventure" genre game that happens to be scary and spooky. Horror is not a genre term, it is a theme, like Christmas, Science Fiction, Tropical Islands or Fantasy.
• Fixed Shooter • Forward-facing Shooter • Horizontal Shooter • Vertical Shooter • Rail Shooter • On-rail(s) Shooter • Space Shooter • Spaceship Shooter	Alternate terms for "Shooter". The extra words generally describe trivial aspects like perspective and orientation, not gameplay, making them ultimately superfluous, adding nothing important.
• JRPG • CRPG	Overly specific. As long as it's a good RPG it doesn't matter where it was made or what platform it's on.