What Is Everyones Obsession With 2d Shooters About?

[freddykreuger666]

yeh shooting unlimited amount of spaceships with unlimited amount of bullets that come out in a stream, its just so boring, theres not sort of "environment change" obstacles or anything, and most of the time they are very easy, just spray and pray. why do some ppl like em

 

[foleyjo]

yeh shooting unlimited amount of spaceships with unlimited amount of bullets that come out in a stream, its just so boring, theres not sort of "environment change" obstacles or anything, and most of the time they are very easy, just spray and pray. why do some ppl like em

so are you juat asking why people like the 2D space shooters?? Are we talking the side scrollers or the top vertical scrollers??

 

[sething]

he is probibly talking about both,
its for me owning a bunch of ships while dodging all their bullets...
...i suggest you keep playing different kinds until you find one you like
a good start would be anythhing on the cps2 emu,
my personal favorites:
gigawing
mars matrix

....if i could play gigawing2 on the gp2x i would be in absolute heaven....maybe someday...

 

[PokeParadox]

some are boring, agreed.
But to dismiss an entire genre... that's just foolish. That's what pisses me off about most people that class themselves gamers... they play like one or two genres...

 

[saehn]

yeh shooting unlimited amount of spaceships with unlimited amount of bullets that come out in a stream, its just so boring, theres not sort of "environment change" obstacles or anything, and most of the time they are very easy, just spray and pray. why do some ppl like em

Why do you like the games you like? Why are some things boring for some people and exciting for others? Why does chocolate taste good?

- "Why is anything anything?"

 

[ralp99]

shooters are a leftover from the bygone gays of gaming, the pre-3D era. i don't expect most folks to give them much mind who are not from that period.


back in the day, shooters were probably what made up a good portion of games released, they often had cool glitzy fast moving hi-tech graphics and metal/electro soundtracks, and they were all about jumping in and getting immediate gratification of gameplay. no generic leveling up, no slow progression - just put your quarter in, suddenly everyone's shooting at you from all sides of the screen and you better dodge and shoot back or it's the next guy's turn. Another big component, unlike many platformers of the day, were the proliferation of powerups in these games - you'd start out with a wimpy lil' pea-shooter but if you were good, you could upgrade your fighter into a competent killing machine dripping with lazery goodness and side ships and etc, filling the screen with all sorts of weird wonderful colorful gunfire.


also those games got HARD, where the gameplay was incredibly simplistic "move and shoot and dodge, wash rinse and repeat" but the goal was to just endure a little bit more than you did last time, see how long you could survive - an addictive test of one's reflexes.

yeah, so most people these days who are not from that generation will take one look at a thunderforce and an rtype or a musha, and be dismissive "what's the point!" But hey, "those of us who were there, remember why these games are fun" -- and why we still can get a charge out of them..

 

[yalborap]

Well, personally, I wasn't there for the arcade revolution sort of stuff.

However, shoot-em-ups are still one of, if not my absolute favorite genre of games. The sheer rush of a good bullet hell shmup, darting to and fro between dozens or even hundreds of bullets to put an end to the enemy's digital existence is truly, truly worthwhile.

 

[grahf]

I actually disliked shooters during their heyday. They were just too hard for me at that age, and playing one or two levels before game over wasnt fun at all.

These days they are one of my favorite genres. Its one of the purest forms of gaming. You rely on your reflexes and quick thinking to survive.

 

[darkman]

For me it is a passion. And I cannot explain it. I just love the vertical or horizontal shooter. I can play for five minutes or for hours. I am helplessly addicted to them. Sometimes I like them hard and sometimes I like them easy. My mood will determine if it will be vertical or horizontal. I love a lot of power ups sometimes. This week I have been playing Crisis Force (NES). Before that I was playing Parodius (NES). The Turbo Grafx 16 is my favorite system for this reason alone.

When I pick up my GP2X, it is usually a shooter that I will start playing immediately before going to anything else.

ahhh........Thunder Force 4.....now that is a game. Love it!

 

[freddykreuger666]

hm the only shooter i liked, was noisia2x
cos
1. it didnt have the cheesy spaceship shooter feel
2. had good music (i like dnb/techno)
3. it had a good feel to it, i dunno

but was bit hectic, too much things on screen and stuff, but i liked it
gonna try some more shooters out

 

[foleyjo]

hm the only shooter i liked, was noisia2x
cos
1. it didnt have the cheesy spaceship shooter feel
2. had good music (i like dnb/techno)
3. it had a good feel to it, i dunno

but was bit hectic, too much things on screen and stuff, but i liked it
gonna try some more shooters out

Try 1942
Doesnt have spaceships at all

 

[saehn]

hm the only shooter i liked, was noisia2x
cos
1. it didnt have the cheesy spaceship shooter feel
2. had good music (i like dnb/techno)
3. it had a good feel to it, i dunno

but was bit hectic, too much things on screen and stuff, but i liked it
gonna try some more shooters out

Try this guy's site: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/

It's full of abstract shooters like Noiz2sa. In fact, he's the person who wrote. I particularly like rRootage and TUMIKI Fighters in addition to Noiz2sa.

 

[EvilDragon]

Well, I'm not that much into shooters myself... but Katakis (C64 Version), Apidya, Parodius... geeez, love em

 

[___]

You are saying it's too cheesy a genre for you because you don't like colorful spaceships, fast paced gameplay and crazy 2d effects? What do you like then? Why are you playing videogames on a retro-emulation platform then?

Check out a few of the neogeo shooters, those are awesome. For example blazing star, which is colorful and quite hard to beat. Also you need to develop strategies with many of these games as some of them go by a certain pattern of bullets or how the swarms of enemies actually enter the screen.

They are skillgames. You need to be really really skilled if you want to get a highscore and beat the game...

 

[DaveC]

The nice thing about these shooters is you can just pop it in and play for a nice blast when you have a few minutes to kill. With these shooters you are always ingrossed with action and you have to constantly be reacting. This is true with most of the "retro" arcade type games even down to Pac-Man.

With these old games there is no real lull in the action or "dead space", you are always active. Many new games, which I do like too when in that mood, have alot of "dead space". For example in an RPG you will spend alot of time just wandering to the next town, or wandering around the town, not really doing much other than looking around at scenery. Many FPS games you will be just wandering around the environment waiting for the next firefight which is many times spread out. There is alot of time spent here when your brain can just go into "veg-mode". This is not true with most arcade games especially shooters.

Try Gate of Thunder on the PC-Engine CD (have to use a PC , Real PC-Engine CD, or other system here though as no emu on GP2X runs this well) The music rocks, the parallax is amazing and the action is great. It is a "cheesy spaceship" shooter but that one really impressed me for a classic console shooter.

 

[rooster]

My obsession with 2D shooters: Terra Cresta

When I was 13 on holiday in Cap Feret, France I stood watching this dude beat Terra Cresta a Nichibutsu 2D shooter from 1985 (sequel to Moon Cresta). No matter how hard I tried on this game I could never get anywhere as good as this guy.

Terra Cresta stuck in my mind as part of happy holiday memories along with stuff like Bomb Jack and a bunch of pinball tables..

Then 11 years later in 1997 when RAINE came along on the PC and I could play Terra Cresta at home I was obsessed with trying to get to the same boss I saw this guy get to. I was better, but no way as good as the guy in the arcade.. Then they added a TC driver to MAME.

Now 19 years after first seeing Terra Cresta I still can't beat the bastard on the the GP2X. One day I will. I think my obsession is about overcoming a difficult game that I really like for the music and game design.

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

For me the best scrolly shooter is Battle Squadron. But being just about the only girl on the forum, I'm bound to get told I'm wrong :wacko:

And why did I like it? Well it had heart poundingly good music, amazing graphics and excellent game play. The Amiga Ruled in those days....

 

[darkman]

After reading this thread thru today, I spent my free time playing ProGear and Gigi Wing on my GP2X. :huh:

For some reason it motivated the itch. :blink:

Noiz2sa might be next on my list tonight.

edit: I remember playing something on the Amiga. It was a side scroller that had round space ships coming at you in a pattern. It was sort-of like R-type. I can't remember what it was, but I do remember that it was hard.

 

[DaveC]

edit: I remember playing something on the Amiga. It was a side scroller that had round space ships coming at you in a pattern. It was sort-of like R-type. I can't remember what it was, but I do remember that it was hard.

Blood Money maybe?

 

[rooster]

For me the best scrolly shooter is Battle Squadron. But being just about the only girl on the forum, I'm bound to get told I'm wrong :wacko:

Well thanks for bringing up the issue of you being wrong.. Now I feel slightly less awkward telling you that you are

Battle Squadron was the best on the Amiga by far with its jaunty faux-metal chiptune music and juicy arcade looks. Yes! Many happy hours played on that game. Closely followed by Apidya, Project X, SWIV then Hybris (The Battle Squadron prequel and rip-off my beloved Terra Cresta)

Best of all time on any platform though? Surely that honour goes to Ikaruga on Arcade/Dreamcast/Gamecube.

Maybe it is unfair to compare a 16-bit game to one on a far more advanced system; but to that I'd have to say, life is generally unfair which gets me out of that corner.