History Main / Bullethell

* Creator/HudsonSoft's ''VideoGame/StarSoldier: Vanishing Earth'' pulls no punches on bullet shower, after relatively bullet-light predecessors, especially on bosses. The player ship can roll their ships to bounce the bullets back as well.

* ''The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibbia'' combines Bullet Hell with a typing game, and places you in the shoes of an exorcist priest who must battle the forces of darkness.

* ContinuingIsPainful: A single death will generally severely damage your score (often breaking any combo you have built up), and using a continue will generally reset it to zero.

* Dream Trigger 3D, a launch title for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS. Not only is it Bullet Hell, it also has INSANE mechanics.

* ''VideoGame/JudgementSilversword'' for the UsefulNotes/{{WonderSwan}} Color, one of the first bullet hell games on a ''handheld'' platform. It would later get a SpiritualSuccessor in the form of ''VideoGame/{{Eschatos}}'', which would in turn get another successor in ''VideoGame/GingaForce''. And that one would get a [[VideoGame/NatsukiChronicles spin-off]] too.

* ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}}'', on its higher difficulties. The difficulty of dodging is enhanced at some times by the fact that there doesn't necessarily ''have'' to be a pattern.

* HarderThanHard: Bullet Hell games often start at NintendoHard even on their "easy" level, and their highest difficulty levels will be among the most unrepentant (and grueling) examples of this trope.

* ExcusePlot: Most Bullet Hell games feature a token story to explain [[ItsUpToYou why your lone hero is facing such overwhelming opposition]], and occasionally there are even actual characters or cutscenes... but no one plays these games for their plots.

* AllThereInTheManual: You will often need it to understand the scoring system, and to find any information about the plot, [[ExcusePlot such as it is]].

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: This distinguishes different types of energy shots from each other and from the player's.

* GlassCannon: Players in this genre are almost invariably this, able to output massive streams of firepower while being a OneHitPointWonder.

* NintendoHard: The whole genre looks difficult due to the sheer bullet count, and many games in the genre are, but not every single such game is. It should be noted that bullet patterns tend to be fairly slow and are easier to "sight read", compared to the fast and aimed bullets of more "classical" shooters that tend to invoke TrialAndErrorGameplay, though some Bullet Hell games, particular ones from long-running series, combine these two for torrential bullet shower with limited sight-read times for players.

* RecursiveAmmo: One of the many sources of additional bullets and changes of attack direction.
* RoboTeching: Don't count on bullets continuing to move in the direction they are fired. Some types will home in, others will change or even reverse the way they're moving just to screw with you and give something else to worry about.

* WaveMotionGun: Players often have a special attack that is far more powerful than their normal weapon, usually with charging required or some other limit on its use.

* VideoGameLives: Bullet Hell games usually give you three or (less commonly) five lives to start, and may or may not offer chances to earn a {{OneUp}} in play.

* SuicideMission: Taken to the literal extreme as a gameplay focus. You're supposed to dodge bullets by going ''into'' them, diminishing your chances to endure the onslaught. [[ItMakesSenseInContext It makes more sense]] if you watch pro videos. And you're supposed to do this extremely often on harder bosses.

* ExcusePlot: Most Bullet Hell games feature a token story to explain why your lone hero is facing such overwhelming opposition, and occasionally there are even actual characters or cutscenes... but no one plays these games for their plots.

* MoreDakka: The most common form of attack, for both players ''and'' enemies. Players spend most of their time dodging swarms of bullets rather than just a single one, while they themselves can usually fire an absurd number of bullets to shred the obligatory hordes of enemies.

* VideoGameLives: Bullet Hell games usually give you three or (less commonly) five lives to start, and may or may not offer chances to earn {{OneUp}}s in play.