The verb-'em-preposition theory of genre names

There are all these debates about what to call genres, but the shoot-em-'up folks got it right: pick a verb about the essence of what the genre is, and append -em-'up.

So games where you shoot a bunch of little ships are shoot-'em-ups, of course. Puzzle games are solve-'em-ups, unless you want to be more specific: translate-'em-up, deduce-'em-up, rules-discover-'em-up. Platformers are jump-'em-ups.

But what if you need additional qualifiers like "rogue-like" or "open-world?" That's where the preposition comes in. For instance, the original Rogue and many of the early games it inspired were about descending into a dungeon. So if Dominion is a shuffle-'em-up, Slay the Spire is a shuffle-'em-down.

(So would Gradius and the like be a shoot-'em-right? Don't be silly.)

It solves a couple of the other genre names everyone hates, too:

• Metroidvania becomes upgrade-'em-around and Metroidbrainia becomes learn-'em-around, sharing the emphasis on exploration but differing on whether you progress through knowledge or gaining upgrades.
• "Friendslop" or other co-op focused games become verb-'em-withs: often survive-'em-withs, but some games have other focuses.