Why bullet hell games?

I'm a shmup enthusiast myself, and I think it's one of the best and richest genres out there — just misunderstood by the ill-informed. I want to show off how cool the genre can be using something with wide-ranging appeal like Touhou, since it originated from bullet hells. Shmups also have well-paced, arcade-y gameplay that anyone can follow as long as the gimmick is straightforward. That's the beauty of shmups.

Who is this for?

For the first event I gathered 4 players who are relatively beginners. They'll play on Normal difficulty, use any shot type, and restart as many times as they want. Going forward I plan to rotate between a beginner-friendly kumite, an expert kumite, and a shmup kumite that's open to anyone — a chance to show off some cool Touhou fangames and shmups along the way.

When and where?

Weekly on Saturdays at 4/5 PM (16:00/17:00 UTC), hosted in a Discord VC — ideally in the server with mod perms, or a group call otherwise. I'll also be livestreaming on YouTube (I prefer it over Twitch — fewer headaches around what I can say and Twitch's guidelines). The VC stays open between matches so players can chat and shit-talk for fun.