A bullet hell, or bullet hell shooter, is a game much akin to a ShMUp but has the addition of dodging patterns of onscreen bullets. Most bullet hell games are top down or side-scrolling with no platforming aspects, and due to the nature of having to dodge, many of them allow for regressive play. Some take this a step further by staging the levels in explorable zones or dungeons with 4 (or 8) directions of movement. Possibly the most prolific series of bullet hell games would be the Touhou (東方) games, which feature intense top-down gameplay.

Notable bullet hell games include; Ikaruga, 1943 battle for midway, the Binding of Isaac, Beat Hazard and Geometry Wars.