As Intergalactic Shmuppreciation Month draws to a close, we at ShmupMonth.com would like to thank all participants in Shmuppreciation 101 and Shmup-off Fridays for their participation throughout the month. We’d also like to thank the following websites for their support of ISM:

Team Fremont
VGEvo
Shmups.com
Shoot the Core!

Most of all, though, we’d like to thank all of you for supporting this genre of game throughout the years, for helping to keep shmups alive. We’ll see you next year!

The random drawing to determine the winner of the Contest has just been held. And the winner is…

RPT. Congratulations, sir! You’ve won a Japanese PS2 and the vertical shmup Espgaluda. We’ll be contacting you soon to get your information so we can send your prize to you.

Thanks to all participants, and to TeamFremont.com for their generous support with this Contest!

All entries receiving a grade of Pass in the 2008 Shmuppreciation 101 event have been posted. You can see them all here, in case you missed any of them. Each participant has been entered into the drawing to win a Japanese PS2 and the classic vertical shmup Espgaluda.

The drawing will be held this Sunday at the Midwest Gaming Classic in Oconomowok, Wisconsin. If the winner is in attendance, he / she will be able to take the prize home; otherwise, it will be mailed to the winner. Once the winner is determined, the name will be posted here on ShmupMonth.com; so check back on Sunday night to see if you’re the winner.

Thanks to all the participants in the 2008 Shmuppreciation 101 event!

Tondog was assigned the Dreamcast shmup Bangai-O as his game for Shmuppreciation 101. For his entry, Mr. Ondog chose to show his Shmuppreciation with an essay from the perspective of… space fruit. The textual version of this madness follows after the break.

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rwiggum was assigned the PS2 game Gradius V, also known as The Greatest Shmup Ever Made, for his Shmuppreciation 101 game. Mr. Wiggum, whose hairline apparently doubles as an ocean, would seem to have pulled a Barnholdt with his take on this game; i.e., he had nothing to say of it save for complaints about its difficulty level. Fortunately, Mr. Wiggum has nevertheless provided this delightful comic as his S101 entry– check it out here.

BadBadLeroyBrown was assigned the freeware PC shmup Warning Forever as his game for Shmuppreciation 101. For his entry, he submitted a short story entitled “The Pain Never Ends”. The story is presented here, in its entirety…

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Savory Cade was assigned R-Type II for his Shmuppreciation 101 game. R-Type II is available on the PSOne as part of the R-Types collection. For his entry, he chose to create a sculpture, titled “The Anguish of R-Type II”. He describes the piece as follows:

The pilot slowly enters the boss chamber, a monstrous metal behemoth appearing in front of him. He maneuvers his trusty R-9 star fighter and frantically blasts away with its lasers, using the force pod to shield himself from the biomechanical beast’s projectiles. Suddenly, the metal shielding explodes, revealing the face of none other than Dobkeratops! The vile monstrosity he fought years ago has been resurrected and encased in a fortified metal shell. The brave pilot retreats from its vile visage and… explodes as he collides with the wall. The player stares blankly as his last life is lost so carelessly. He throws the controller to the floor in hopeless frustration and clasps his face in his hands letting out a stream of curses that would make a dockworker blush. The game has bested him, for now…

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For his ISM game, RPT was assigned Xexex– originally developed for arcades, and never released outside Japan, the game is nevertheless available as part of Salamander Collection for PSP. Salamander Collection is region-free, and can therefore be played on any PSP, regardless of its nationality. The following was submitted by RPT for his Shmuppreciation 101 entry.

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The final Shmup-off Friday event for 2008 has concluded. Scores for all the Shmup-off Friday events throughout the month can be seen on the Shmup Month Scoreboard. Thanks to all who participated!

The final Shmup-off Friday for 2008 is now underway! This week’s game is Triggerheart Excelica for Xbox Live Arcade. As with last week’s game, you’ll need to take a picture of your best score using a digital camera before you submit your score; and also as with last week’s game, the only rule is that the score you submit must have been obtained between now and midnight tonight, CST.

Good luck!