Summary
- Bullet hell games up the intensity with screens filled with bullets and challenging difficulty settings for adrenaline-pumping action.
- Titles like Mushihimesama Futari, Espgaluda 2, and Deathsmiles offer players unforgiving difficulty and unique gameplay mechanics.
- Games like Nex Machina, Cuphead, Ikaruga, and Touhou Bunkachou bring brutal but satisfying challenges for hardcore gamers.
After a long and stressful day, some turn to video games to relax, unwind, and get transported to a faraway land where they can escape their real-world problems. For whatever reason, the way some masochists do this is by indulging in the notoriously brutal bullet hell genre.
15 Best Bullet Hell Games
Bullet Hell games are ideal for gamers who want to jump into some intense action. Here are the genre's best games.
Bullet Hell (or Manic Shooter) games typically require the player to navigate a screen filled to the brim with bullets while also shooting down or otherwise defeating the opposition. They cover a lot of perspectives as well, from top-down to side-scrolling or isometric, but they all share the trait of being tough as nails. Here is a look at the most difficult bullet hell games players can get their hands on.
7 Mushihimesama Futari
GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 3.76
- Platform: PC
- Released: October 27, 2006
- Developer: Cave
- Genre: Bullet Hell
The truly fantastical world of the Mushihimesama series is one that is reminiscent of Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. The setting is a world that has outgrown the need for humans and instead is overrun by large insects.
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While the story is a bit lacking, the sequel, Futari, continues the original's penchant for unforgiving difficulty. It also brings back the controversial bullet-canceling mechanic where shots by enemies will turn into jewels upon their death, allotting the player points. This incentivizes a more aggressive playstyle on higher difficulties where more bullets will fill the screen at a time.
6 Espgaluda 2
GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 3.80
- Platform: PC, iOS, Android, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch
- Released: November 25, 2005
- Developer: Cave
- Genre: Bullet Hell
Bullet hell games definitely seem to have a hard time differentiating themselves from game to game, so Espgaluda 2 doesn't really try to. Instead, it doubles down on what made the first game interesting but ramps up the difficulty greatly.
There are also tons of ways for players to wring out mileage from Espgaluda 2, all of which involve different scoring mechanics. One of them, kakusei zesshikai, has bullets spawn even more bullets, filling up the screen and requiring players to clear them at the right time to be showered in points.
5 Deathsmiles
GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 3.83
- Platform: PC, Xbox 360, Arcade
- Released: October 19, 2007
- Developer: CAVE
- Genre: Bullet Hell, Scrolling Shooter
Anybody into the occult will find something to latch onto in Deathsmiles, a bullet hell where young witches are tasked with fighting off monsters using their extraordinary magical powers. There's not much in the way of story in the game, but it makes up for it in pure style.
Boss designs in Deathsmiles are often times horrific, but they give the player something interesting to look at while they get beaten down. Thankfully, there are difficulty settings, the easiest of which allows players to take in the sights, while the hardest will test the mettle of even the most hardcore shoot 'em up enthusiasts.
4 Nex Machina
GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 3.97
Nex Machina
- Released
- June 20, 2017
- Developer(s)
- Housemarque
- Genre(s)
- Shooter
Killer robots and colorful combat rooms are par for the course in Nex Machina, a top-down, twin-stick shooter. It has all the trappings of a traditional bullet hell, including some seemingly impossible-to-pass screens and uber-hard boss fights.
Unfortunately, the game is known to be a little unfair, taking away power-ups upon death that are frankly essential for progress. The level of grit and determination needed to see Nex Machina to the end is nothing to scoff at, but it's also no surprise for anyone familiar with Housemarque's work.
3 Cuphead
GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 4.24
Cuphead
Complete with an unassuming and timeless art style, Studio MDHR's debut hit should not be underestimated. Unlike most traditional bullet hell games that have players attempting to dodge a disgusting amount of bullets, Cuphead's many bosses often utilize all sorts of thematically appropriate attacks, leading to many, many game-over screens.
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Those that stick with it, though, are met with some of the most satisfying side-scrolling, run-and-gun combat, as well as many creative boss battles. Gamers will also quickly realize that the game is incredibly fair, partly because of the frame-perfect, hand-drawn animations that meticulously depict each enemy movement. Though the title may look approachable because of its charming art style, it can pose a real challenge to those willing to dive into it.
2 Ikaruga
GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 4.49
Ikaruga
Ikaruga is one of the first shining examples of the bullet hell genre to make waves in the West. With the camera positioned squarely overhead, players guide their ship forward, backward, left, and right to dodge all manner of projectiles and obstacles coming from all directions all at once.
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Some projectiles simply can't be dodged, so they have to be passed through by switching the ship's polarity. It's easy to imagine how a player's wires might get crossed while trying to do everything to survive a given stage. Ikaruga is bullet hell in one of its simplest and cruelest forms, and those brave enough to try it out will be in for a challenging time.
1 Touhou Bunkachou ~ Shoot The Bullet
GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 4.64
- Platform: PC
- Released: December 20, 2005
- Developer: Team Shanghai Alice
- Genre: Bullet Hell
The long list of Touhou Project games proves quite heartily that magical girls are some of the most resilient protagonists in media. But a lot can also be said about the characters surrounding them, particularly about how they handle the type of hectic situation that only a bullet hell can provide.
Shoot the Bullet stars Aya Shameimaru, the journalist featured in a number of Touhou projects, and sees players succeed by getting up close and personal with the enemies trying to do them in. With no attacks of their own to speak of, players must snap a picture to clear the screen. The more risky the image, the more points are granted, but getting said snaps is easier said than done.
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