Mmmh. Shooters. Me like.
For me shooters are R-Type, Parodius, Axelay, Jets'n'Guns, Pocky&Rocky. Stuff like that. I could never warm up to those Bullethell games. Hate me all you want, but I am utterly disinterested in Ikaruga aside from the colorchanging/bulleteating aspect and the neato selfadjusting difficulty (continue/life unlocking). I also idolize Rez, but that's not quite the same genre despite the "on-rails shooter" moniker.
Aside from that many bullethell games creep me out. No more lolis, schoolgirls, busty babes, or robots please. That also means no more busty loli schoolgirl robots, or any other combination. It was funny to see a bunnygirl ride a rocket (hurrr hurrrr) in Parodius, but my tolerance for those shenaningans has worn thin over the years. I just want to sit in a spaceship/plane, evade a moderate amount of bullets and shoot down the entirety of an invading fleet, power up on extras and take on huge-ass endbosses in spectacular battles of epic proportions. So manly and testosterone-filled. No need for voice-acting or much of a story. For some odd reason anything else just doesn't sit well with me in that genre.
Doesn't mean I'm not in awe when someone plays through those kind of games and posts that on youtube. It's clearly a matter of personal preference. So rock on you guys and buy lots of games to keep shooters alive. There has to be the occasional oldschool shooter in development out there for me.
Oh, and those gravity-based "cave" shooters were the shit back in the days. So awesome, and so hard to control.