I'm not a huge Cave fan but they aren't the only game in town on 360, and honestly they've put out some damn good games on the platform too. Whether or not you like the size of the hitbox vs. the full sprite, Deathsmiles, Mushihimesama Futari, ESPgaluda 2, these are pretty damn good games.

And honestly, claiming that shooters now are all memorization vs. before? I'm pretty sure the vast majority of the genre since, the mid 80s have wanted you to memorize the best way through a level. You can fly blind and try to bulldog through, or you can actually learn enemy layout, attack patterns, etc. it's really no different than it was before except that it looks more overwhelming. In actuality, it isn't. More bullets and a smaller hitbox effectively equal less bullets but larger hitbox (and usually more enemies flying around, too). The fighting game analogy is a silly one too, they are just straight out two different genres, and the instances where the hitbox doesn't match the sprite usually ends up with a broken character. Whereas you don't look at the ship from dodonpachi and say "oh, that ship is way too good, you can only hit the cockpit," because the game is built around that concept. And honestly, if you had a ship that matched the hitbox, you'd never be able to see yourself on screen.

If you can honestly say that a person can sit down to R-Type, or Gradius, Life Force, or Rayforce, and plow through the game without knowing where things are in advance and the best way to go through a stage, then I will wonder who this super gamer is and when can I meet them.