Let's not forget that Defense of the Ancients came from Aeons of Strife in Starcraft!pakopako wrote: DotA (Defense of the Ancients) -- I remember this; a WarCraft3 mod that became LoL.
Sorry, sore subject for me - always loved Starcraft way more than Warcraft 3 - and everyone hails Warcraft for the "DotA" genre, when it originated in Starcraft, plus, DotA was stolen from a re-make of Aeons of Strife in Warcraft 3 - the only thing they made was the map itself, all of the heroes and abilities were ripped right out of other maps.
/End nerd rant.
But to continue on the idea of shmups - don't be afraid to try "bullet hell" style games, they can be extremely enjoyable and satisfying, all you have to keep in mind is the hitbox of your ship/lolita/whatever they use as a character and make small motions, but as for easy to jump into shooters, you always have the classics and progenitors to the genre, if you care to do some digging around on abandoneware sites (at your own risk, of course) see if you can scrounge up "Raptor: Call of the Shadows" Awesome DOS shooter. Also, Layer Section/Gunlock/Galactic Attack for the SS is pretty outstanding.