History GameBreaker / ShootEmUps

* In ''VideoGame/GHOSTSquad'', the two best weapons are the [=SPR11=] sniper rifle and [=TR14=] machinegun, two weapons that are classified as having high-rank [[ArmorPiercingAttack penetration]], allowing you to shoot enemies behind objects that even the best real-world firearms should not be able to cleanly pierce through. Aside from allowing you to kill enemies well before they have a chance to strike, this also means you can easily score a lot of Quick Shot bonuses. Of course, all of this only applies if you are playing the version of the game with card slots, ''Evolution'' (a cardless upgrade which provides the perks of a card that has achieved OneHundredPercentCompletion), or the Wii port; those with the basic, no-card arcade version of the game only get four weapons, only one of which has any piercing properties and even then lacks the hilarious penetration of the [=SPR11=] or the [=TR14=].

* In ''VideoGame/GHOSTSquad'', the two best weapons are the [=SPR11=] sniper rifle and [=TR14=] machinegun, two weapons that are classified as having high-rank [[ArmorPiercingAttack penetration]], allowing you to shoot enemies behind objects that even the best real-world firearms should not be able to cleanly pierce through. Aside from allowing you to kill enemies will before they have a chance to strike, this also means you can easily score a lot of Quick Shot bonuses. Of course, all of this only applies if you are playing the version of the game with card slots, ''Evolution'' (a cardless upgrade which provides the perks of a card that has achieved OneHundredPercentCompletion), or the Wii port; those with the basic, no-card arcade version of the game only get four weapons, only one of which has any piercing properties and even then lacks the hilarious penetration of the [=SPR11=] or the [=TR14=].

* In ''VideoGame/GHOSTSquad'', the two best weapons are the [=SPR11=] sniper rifle and [=TR14=] machinegun, two weapons that are classified as having high-rank [[ArmorPiercingAttack penetration]], allowing you to shoot enemies behind objects that even the best real-world firearms should not be able to cleanly pierce through. Aside from allowing you to kill enemies will before they have a chance to strike, this also means you can easily score a lot of Quick Shot bonuses. Of course, all of this only applies if you are playing the version of the game with card slots, ''Evolution'' (a cardless upgrade which provides the perks of a card that has achieved OneHundredPercentCompletion), or the Wii port; those with the basic, no-card arcade version of the game only get four weapons, none of which are the [=SPR11=] or [=TR14=].

* In ''VideoGame/GHOSTSquad'', the two best weapons are the [=SPR11=] sniper rifle and [=TR14=] machinegun, two weapons that are classified as having high-rank [[ArmorPiercingAttack penetration]], allowing you to shoot enemies behind objects that even the best real-world firearms should not be able to pierce through. Aside from allowing you to kill enemies will before they have a chance to strike, this also means you can easily score a lot of Quick Shot bonuses. Of course, all of this only applies if you are playing the version of the game with card slots, ''Evolution'' (a cardless upgrade which provides the perks of a card that has achieved OneHundredPercentCompletion), or the Wii port; those with the basic, no-card arcade version of the game only get four weapons, none of which are the [=SPR11=] or [=TR14=].

* The [[SpreadShot Spread Gun]] in ''{{Contra}}''. Since it fires five shots at a time, you can destroy quite a few bosses with ease just by firing point-blank. And most other enemies only need one shot anyway. If you're a component platform player, the jig is up once you have this weapon.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tyrian}}'' has the Plasma Storm, a "sidekick" weapon that has limited ammo (although it regenerates slowly) but does '''massive''' damage and has a ''very'' fast fire rate - you can empty it's ten shots in about a second, which will easily wipe out anything that's not invulnerable. Oh, and it's ''[[DiscOneNuke available before the first level]]''. You can only afford one of two, but that's enough. It was toned down slightly in Tyrian 2000, but still retains most of its original awesomeness.
** Also, the Zica Flamethrower, a "sidekick" that fires a stream of flame that passes through enemies, allows one to "affect" an enemy that has a collision box, and then ram their ship into said enemy and {{One Hit Kill}} them. This also includes almost any boss that is not invulnerable at the time. (This {{Game Breaker}} applies to any weapon with a penetration effect.)
** Not a weapon-type GameBreaker, but something of note is that during Episode I, in Savara V, during the boss fight, you can stay in a spot away from the boss and intercept its shots for money. The best part? The bosses never have a time limit, so you can do this for as long as you like for bottomless amounts of money.

* The X-Wing series is fond of these:
** X-Wing gave us the B-wing.
** TIE Fighter gave us the TIE Defender and Missile Boat. The former is [[MasterOfAll better than any other ship available before it either game at everything]] besides carrying the most ordnance, which it was still good at. It was faster than the [[FragileSpeedster A-Wing and Tie Interceptor]], better shields than the Y-Wing and B-Wing, four laser cannons, ion cannons, and could carry a good set of missiles. The latter was well shielded and fast, not as much as the TIE Defender, it could carry WAY more missiles than anything else and had the ability to use a temporary boost that doubled its speed, making it the fastest ship in the game, and it carried so many missiles it could just rely on them exclusively.
** X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter gave us the rule that you could use any Rebel craft on any Rebel mission and any Imperial craft on any Imperial mission. And you could use the TIE Defender, B-wing, TIE Avenger (called TIE Advanced for some reason), and Assault Gunboat. Yeah.
*** Freighters like the YT-1300 have turrets, completely negating the maneuverability advantage of unshielded Imperial craft. A pair of these can wipe out dozens of Tie Fighters in a single battle.

* ''GunstarHeroes'' has one of two game-breakers depending on your movement choice at the beginning of the game. If you chose "free shot" (i.e., move while firing), your best option is the Lightning/Chaser combo, which fires a large homing laser that stays onscreen and seeks out any targets as long as you hold the fire button. It makes many situations much easier, in that you can focus entirely on dodging enemy attacks while letting it do its thing. It's kinda stupid, though, in that it's nigh-impossible to force the weapon to attack a particular target, and it may just end up trying to destroy something that's indestructible; its damage output is also rather lacking. On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you chose "fixed shot" controls (i.e., holding the fire button makes your character unable to run, which has the side-effect of aiming diagonally much easier), use Lightning/Fire instead. It's essentially a short-range beam of energy that's extremely powerful and can even ''destroy most enemy bullets.'' Which one ends up breaking your game largely depends on your playing style, but most vets will conclude that Lightning/Fire is superior despite its terrible range that often puts the player right in the face of danger (contending, of course, that the high damage and bullet-killing properties made close-range encounters end in a snap).

* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] GameBreaker of sorts: The Boundary Team in ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}: Imperishable Night'' is by and far the easiest of the teams to beat the game with, with their homing attacks, smaller hitbox, and extremely long deathbomb timer (which was already quite long for a ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' game to begin with). The characters that make up the team? The main character of the series, and the second BonusLevelOfHell's boss from the previous game that can control boundaries (Read: Able to [[RealityWarper manipulate damn near anything she pleases]], be it Dream and Reality, Motion and Stillness, Life and Death, or pretty much anything that could be conceived of as having a boundary whether or not it makes sense in real life.), is older than [[FantasyKitchenSink Gensokyo]] itself, and has a very capable shikigami to help with her attacks. Yes, [[SuperpowerLottery the plot power there is as great as implied]].

** The Fire Gun in ''Contra III'' constantly does high damage to anything in the fire. Most bosses die in seconds if you aim it at their weak spots. Also the Laser Gun, [[AwesomeButPractical which fires at a slow rate but also pierces through many enemies and kills bosses faster.]]

* In ''VideoGame/WarningForever'', the enemy ship's weapon "Smash" is one of these. The turrets have a huge fire arc, are usually located in banks on the front and rear, and eject an enormous, slow-moving shotgun blast of large purple projectiles that don't all move at the same rate, shutting down large areas of the screen every time they fire.
** The bosses in later levels will frequently [[RammingAlwaysWorks ram into you.]] Unfortunately, they will do this at the very beginning of the level, which is not enough time to destroy anything, making it an unavoidable death.
** Bosses can also have lasers; lasers that are attached to [[CognizantLimbs limbs on the ship.]] The later bosses can rotate these limbs, with the lasers on them too, giving them an unacceptable InstantDeathRadius. Since this laser isn't the only onscreen threat, this will often force you to move out of the way quickly. Into another laser. [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard Oh.]]

** TIE Fighter gave us the TIE Defender and Missile Boat.

* ''{{FreeSpace 2}}'' has the Trebuchet, presented in-game as an anti-bomber missile with an effective range of 5000 meters. However, it does ''extreme'' SubSystemDamage, more even than the Stiletto II (which is actually designed to take out subsystems, much slower than the Trebuchet, and vulnerable to being shot down), and no anti-fighter capship weapons can reach even ''close'' to five kilometers. This basically allows you to disarm capital ships with impunity with no chance of the target ship retaliating or destroying your incoming warheads.

* The auto-bomb feature, which substitutes a life lost for a bomb fired (if any are left) if you get hit. Games that implement this become much easier, as your bombs are essentially extra lives and you don't need to concern yourself with deciding in a sticky situation whether to use up a bomb. Take ''VideoGame/MushihimeSama Futari'''s Novice mode, which has auto-bomb, for instance. You start with 3 lives and 3 bombs, and every time you die you reset to 3 bombs. 3 lives × 3 automatically-fired bombs = what is essentially 9 lives, which you can get 1 more of by getting a bomb and 3 more of by getting a OneUp. ''{{DoDonPachi}} Dai-Fukkatsu Ver. 1.5'' also has (non-disableable) auto-bomb, which contributes to ''Dai-Fukkatsu'' being regarded as the easiest ''[=DonPachi=]'' game to complete one loop of.

* ''{{DoDonPachi}} [=DaiFukkatsu=]'' has Strong Style, which is essentially a beefed up version of Bomb Style. Compared to Strong Style, Bomb Style is utterly useless. Hence why in ''[=DaiFukkatsu=] BLACK LABEL'', selecting Strong Style will sharply increase enemy difficulty, essentially turning Strong Style into the rough equivalent of ''VideoGame/MushihimeSama'''s [[HarderThanHard Ultra Mode]].

* In the AdobeFlash WebGame ''{{Enigmata}} 2: Genu's Revenge'', the [[TimeStandsStill Stop Time]] skill is this. It stops time, allowing you to wail on a boss without much problem, and you can activate it again as long as you have energy remaining. However, it has a high ammo cost... which can by solved by upgrading the skill so that it uses less energy.

** ''Thunder Force V'': Grab a Free Range powerup. Get up close to a boss and spam its Over Weapon. Instant win ''and'' x16 point multiplier.

** The "Field" ship, the sixth unlockable ship, has a circle that it uses to target enemies; anything that enters the circle will be zapped with lasers until they leave the circle or die. Said circle gets wider the more you power it up, until its diameter becomes the size of the whole screen. At this point, anything that dies in one shot will not be able to touch you. Bosses still take some time to be killed, but if you shrink your circle by half the attack will do extra damage.

* The auto-bomb feature, which substitutes a life lost for a bomb fired (if any are left) if you get hit. Games that implement this become much easier, as your bombs are essentially extra lives and you don't need to concern yourself with deciding in a sticky situation whether to use up a bomb. Take ''VideoGame/{{Mushihimesama}} Futari'''s Novice mode, which has auto-bomb, for instance. You start with 3 lives and 3 bombs, and every time you die you reset to 3 bombs. 3 lives * 3 automatically-fired bombs = what is essentially 9 lives, which you can get 1 more of by getting a bomb and 3 more of by getting a OneUp. ''{{DoDonPachi}} Dai-Fukkatsu Ver. 1.5'' also has (non-disableable) auto-bomb, which contributes to ''Dai-Fukkatsu'' being regarded as the easiest ''[=DonPachi=]'' game to complete one loop of.

* ''{{DoDonPachi}} [=DaiFukkatsu=]'' has Strong Style, which is essentially a beefed up version of Bomb Style. Compared to Strong Style, Bomb Style is utterly useless. Hence why in ''[=DaiFukkatsu=] BLACK LABEL'', selecting Strong Style will sharply increase enemy difficulty, essentially turning Strong Style into the rough equivalent of ''VideoGame/{{Mushihimesama}}'''s [[HarderThanHard Ultra Mode]].

* The auto-bomb feature, which substitutes a life lost for a bomb fired (if any are left) if you get hit. Games that implement this become much easier, as your bombs are essentially extra lives and you don't need to concern yourself with deciding in a sticky situation whether to use up a bomb. Take ''{{Mushihime-sama}} Futari''[='=]s Novice mode, which has auto-bomb, for instance. You start with 3 lives and 3 bombs, and every time you die you reset to 3 bombs. 3 lives * 3 automatically-fired bombs = what is essentially 9 lives, which you can get 1 more of by getting a bomb and 3 more of by getting a OneUp. ''{{DoDonPachi}} Dai-Fukkatsu Ver. 1.5'' also has (non-disableable) auto-bomb, which contributes to ''Dai-Fukkatsu'' being regarded as the easiest ''[=DonPachi=]'' game to complete one loop of.

* ''{{DoDonPachi}} [=DaiFukkatsu=]'' has Strong Style, which is essentially a beefed up version of Bomb Style. Compared to Strong Style, Bomb Style is utterly useless. Hence why in ''[=DaiFukkatsu=] BLACK LABEL'', selecting Strong Style will sharply increase enemy difficulty, essentially turning Strong Style into the rough equivalent of ''{{Mushihime-sama}}''[='=]s [[HarderThanHard Ultra Mode]].

** There's also [=MarisaB=] from ''Double Dealing Character''. The game has a system where when you autocollect point or power items (whether by bombing or by using the auto-collect point at the top of the screen), it rewards you based on how many items you collected - 60+ items guarantees you a life piece, 3 of which make an extra life. This normally works fine, since you won't see 60+ items in one place very often. But [=MarisaB=]'s bomb converts any bullets it hits into power items, which add to the collection total and make it ridiculously easy to gain lives by simply throwing the bomb into dense areas - and remember, just bombing causes an autocollect by itself, triggering another bonus. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_EGRwLQer8 See here]] for this in action.

** There's also [=MarisaB=] from ''Double Dealing Character''. The game has a system where when you autocollect point or power items (whether by bombing or by using the auto-collect point at the top of the screen), it rewards you based on how many items you collected - 60+ items guarantees you a life piece, 3 of which make an extra life. This normally works fine, since you won't see 60+ items in one place very often. But MarisaB's bomb converts any bullets it hits into power items, which add to the collection total and make it ridiculously easy to gain lives by simply throwing the bomb into dense areas - and remember, just bombing causes an autocollect by itself, triggering another bonus. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_EGRwLQer8 See here]] for this in action.

* The hidden Slave fighter in ''VideoGame/RaidenFighters''. It fires shots that spread out in front of it, which fire very fast and are capable of doing large amounts of damage, particularly at point blank. Moreover, it has a small hitbox, and if you choose the Judge Spear variation of the Slave, you not only can move absurdly fast, but you also have the Judge Spear's super-powerful bomb. On the ''Raiden Fighters Aces'' compilation, the Slave dominates every single online leaderboard, save for ship-specific leaderboards.

** Even Touhou's best fangames are not immune to this, as [=ReimuA=] in the popular Touhou fangame ''Marine Benefit'' shows us. At first glance, she appears to be a basic forward-focus needles shot with a rather bad bomb to make up for the power of her shot - the bomb doesn't even hit the boss at all, only clearing the area directly around Reimu when the bomb button is pressed, and not moving to where Reimu moves during its duration. But this ignores one important thing about how the game works: in ''Marine Benefit'', grazing increases the oxygen counter, which is what gives the player extra lives. Instead of the bomb being ReimuA's weakness, it's actually a godsend. Every time the player bombs, rushing up to the boss and grazing everything they shoot during the invincibility period can give the player a ridiculous amount of resources. For some idea of just how bad this can get, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7Mbk9N_uuE see here]], where a player ends an attack with double the resources they came in with...despite dying ''six times'', and making multiple mistakes. Or [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lk4W26dRDE4 here]], in which that same player demonstrates that it's a constant issue throughout the game, instead of just being the fault of that one attack.