# ASCII Gunship: Shmup — Retro terminal bullet hell

> Retro terminal bullet hell (iPhone/iPad app by Anguished LLC.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ascii-gunship-shmup/id6786530509 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Anguished LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/6783188455)
- Category: Games, Action, Casual
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 16.0 · 6 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2026-07-20
- Data updated: 2026-10-28

## What is ASCII Gunship?

Your gunship is made of characters. So is everything trying to kill it.

ASCII GUNSHIP is an arcade vertical shoot-em-up rendered entirely as a live terminal character grid. Every ship, bullet, boss and explosion is a glyph in a bright ANSI palette, with optional CRT scanlines.

Drag to fly. Your cannons never stop. Tap the bomb when the screen fills with fire.

BUILD A DIFFERENT GUNSHIP EVERY RUN
Clear a wave, then pick 1 of 3 upgrade cards: fire rate, orbiting drones, chain lightning levels, tail guns. 18 cards and 8 weapons, from VULCAN and LASER to TESLA ARC and PLASMA SNAKE.

BOSSES WORTH FIGHTING
Every fifth wave a multi-part ASCII boss fills the top of the terminal. Shoot off its turrets, survive three escalating gun phases, and salvage the credits.

A CAMPAIGN, THEN MORE
Fight through 5 sectors with their own procedural backdrops and enemy rosters, then loop them at MK-2 ferocity and beyond. Keep your chain multiplier alive up to x9.

THE HANGAR
Spend salvage on 8 gunships, each with its own passive and starting weapon, from the reliable RAPTOR to the drone-carrying PALADIN.

FEATURES
- Everything is text: real-time character-grid renderer, zero sprite art
- 8 weapons, 18 upgrade cards
- 5 multi-part bosses with destructible parts and 3-phase patterns
- 8 buyable glyph gunships with real passives
- 5 sectors + endless MK tiers, chain multiplier up to x9
- CADET / VETERAN / ACE difficulty, CRT scanline toggle
- Offline, private, no accounts, no tracking
- No ads, no paywalls. Every ship earnable in-game (optional tip jar)

From Anguished Studio. Fly. Fire. Pick a card. Beat your best.

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Unlock All Ships | $4.99 | one-time |
| Big Tip | $4.99 | one-time |
| Small Tip | $0.99 | one-time |


## Is ASCII Gunship safe?

Not enough ratings yet to assess ASCII Gunship.

## Is ASCII Gunship legit?

ASCII Gunship: Shmup appears legitimate, with a few gaps. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for ASCII Gunship is 65 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.


## Version history (last 2 releases)

### 1.1 — 2026-10-28

- Fixed waves appearing empty or getting stuck because enemies stayed offscreen.
- Fixed ray enemies getting trapped at screen edges or hidden behind the HUD.
- Improved boss reward timing and scaled boss health displays.
- Improved controls and upgrade-card layouts on compact screens.
- Improved launch reliability on newer iOS versions.

### 1.0 — 2026-07-20

No release notes.

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| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
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| [NovaSwarm: Space Shooter](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/novaswarm-space-shooter/id6787172658) | — | Free | Games |

## More apps by Anguished LLC

- [Voltline: Color Block Surge](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/voltline-color-block-surge/id6785609271)
- [Little Wrecking Balls](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/little-wrecking-balls/id6786007572)
- [Bit Night Runner](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bit-night-runner/id6786451201)
- [Farmers AI Nightmare](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/farmers-ai-nightmare/id6794670053)

All apps by Anguished LLC: https://appshunter.io/developer/6783188455

## Related topics

[shmup](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/shmup)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-10-28.*