10 best bullet hell games and shoot 'em ups for Android

Bullet hell games are a unique subgenre in gaming. The genre made a minor return to the mainstream with the release of NieR: Automata and its impressively fun bullet hell sequences. It takes the fun of a shooting and reverses it on the player. There are still shooting mechanics. However, the point is to dodge bullets flying at you and shoot bad guys. Thus, it’s somewhat different from your average shooting games.

Other names for the bullet hell genre are shoot ’em up (or shmup, for short), manic shooter, Danmaku (literally, bullet curtain), and STG (Japanese abbreviation for shooting games). It’s a prominent mechanic in top-down aerial shooters and some action games. There’s a decent, if somewhat small, selection of bullet hells on Android. Here are the best mobile bullet hell games we could find.

The best bullet hell games for Android

⑨弾幕

Price: Free (with ads)

⑨弾幕 is a rare, free shoot em up game with plenty going for it. It has the utter chaos usually associated with the genre, colorful retro graphics, and plenty of challenge. It’s a riff off of Touhou, a classic bullet hell game from the late 1990s, and that’s not the last time we’ll use that name in this article. In any case, this is a good, basic shoot ’em up, and it’s entirely free with no in-app purchases.

AirAttack 2

Price: Free

AirAttack 2 is a World War II-era aerial shooter. The game contains 22 campaign missions, a survival mission, surprisingly good-looking 3D graphics, and five planes to play with. Some other game features include Android TV and external gamepad support; you can play offline. The gameplay is good for the genre. Additionally, the controls are simple to learn. This one may bog down some midrange and lower-end devices, but otherwise, it’s pretty good.

Bullet Hell Monday series

Price: Free / Up to $4.99 each

Bullet Hell Monday is arguably the top game in the genre right now. The series has three games, including the original Bullet Hell Monday, Bullet Hell Monday Black, and Bullet Hell Monday Finale. The games all have retro-style graphics with outrageously colorful and bright graphics with tons of bullet hell action. Each game has various chapters, multiple upgrades to unlock, and simple controls. These are paragons in the bullet hell space, and any fan of the genre should check these out.

Decluster Zero: Bullet Nocturne

Price: $4.99

Decluster Zero: Bullet Nocturne is a top-down bullet hell shooter. It’s pretty similar to most classic top-down air shooters. You control a plane, dodge bullets, and try to kill all the bad guys. It uses pixel-style graphics, allowing the game to fill the screen with many bullets. Your hitbox is a small white square in the middle of the ship, letting you squiggle around bullets that seem impossible to dodge.

Some other features include multiple weapons, a level-select menu, leaderboards, and more. This is from the same developer as Bullet Hell Monday, so you know it’s pretty good. The game runs for $4.99 with no additional in-app purchases or ads.

Guardian Girls

Price: Free / Up to $6.99

Guardian Girls is a decent shoot ’em up with colorful graphics and anime-inspired characters. The game includes a story mode that isn’t for everyone, but at least it’s there, along with the usual series of things like boss fights, colorful battles, and simple controls. You get a boss fight every ten levels. The gameplay is relatively smooth. Additionally, the game has a strong soundtrack, and it’s friendly for beginners. It’s not the most popular, but that’s okay.

Mathmare

Price: Free / Up to $2.49

Mathmare is a minimal style shmup without any actual shooting. Players dodge the game’s various shooting patterns in order to proceed to the next level. This cuts the gameplay elements in half, but it’s a neat premise overall. Experienced players in the genre may find this game easy. Those newer to the genre will likely enjoy it way more. This is a great way to introduce yourself to the bullet curtain aspect of the genre. The game also runs pretty well on all of our test devices.

ShooMachi

Price: Free to play

ShooMachi is a reasonably decent bullet hell game. It’s a vertical shooter on the ground rather than in the sky. The mechanics are essentially the same, though. You dodge bullets as you take down bad guys, upgrade your weapons and armor as you progress, and continue playing to unlock more stuff. The game includes several difficulty modes, various power-ups and boosts, and more. Those who donate to the developer can remove ads permanently and get unlimited XP potions for quicker level-ups. The only real issue is that the game can get repetitive after a while and could use some new and more diverse levels.

Sky Force Reloaded

Price: Free to play

Sky Force is one of the most popular aerial shooters on mobile. Sky Force Reloaded is the latest in the series, and it’s pretty good. Players complete levels, upgrade their ships and continue progressing in that manner. The graphics are colorful and excellent, comparatively speaking. There are nine ships to play with, bonus cards to deliver permanent buffs, and a few difficulty modes so you can play at your own pace. It’s free to play with some microtransactions, but the in-app purchases are relatively tame and don’t affect gameplay much.

Touhou Thousand Night Anamnesis

Price: Free

Touhou Thousand Night Anamnesis is another game made in the Touhou style but is not an official Touhou game. The game includes tons of bullets to dodge, boss rushes, and 12 total stages to play through. Players can select the difficulty for an easier or tougher experience comparatively. Most reviews agree that this is about as close to an official Touhou game as you can get on Android, so those who want to see the genre’s roots should try this one out. It’s also free to play with no microtransactions.

AKA TO BLUE and Danmaku Unlimited 2

Price: $8.99 and $3.99, respectively

AKA TO BLUE and Danmaku Unlimited 2 are two older games in the genre that are still really good. AKA TO BLUE has a 90’s arcade quality to it in terms of gameplay and graphics. It also includes an actual voice cast, beginner-friendly features like auto-bombs, and other fun things. Danmaku Unlimited 2 is a bit more traditional and difficult. It contains four difficulty levels, various game modes, and graphical settings for lower-end devices. Both games saw their last updates in 2017 so we don’t think the developers actively support either game.

That makes it difficult to recommend since they are premium games (neither with in-app purchases, by the way). Still, both worked rather well on our test devices. AKA TO BLUE is available at the button below and Danmaku Unlimited 2 is available here.

If we missed any great bullet hell games on Android, tell us about them in the comments! You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game lists!