Side-Scrolling Shooters?

[sirpigmeat]

Theirs a nice selection of platforms here which is good, especialy where different platforms have their own brand of shooter. Might do a spreadsheet by release date and platform. Not sure whether to start playing the early titles or just play them randomly by age and alternate platforms. Is there one or two games people might think of as a good starting point?

[joefish]

Is there one or two games people might think of as a good starting point?

Gradius / Nemesis - you'll probably find familiar
R-Type - for the differences
Uridium (C64) - for more than just shooting
Thunder Cross II - clever controls
Chronos (Speccy) - and relllaaxxx.

[PostieDoc]

Though many arcade vertical shoooters will be horizontal if you mount the monitor normally!

Here's a challenge - can anyone name a side-scrolling shooter that uses an aerial-view rather than a side-view?

Liberator on the C16/Plus4.

[SpockIOM]

I remember Burai Fighter on NES being a decent game. Give it a try. I might revisit it too.

[Shinobi]

Sanxion and Uridium on the Commodore 64

Yep, didn't think of those myself! All I could come up with was Speccy River Raid, and it's cr*p!

Arcade wise would Sega's Zaxxon and SNK's Viewpoint count as they're sort of diagonal scrolling and Soldier Girl Amazon

They're not an aerial view anyway - they're both isometric. And I'm pretty sure Soldier Girl Amazon is a vertical scroller like Commando...

Just checked Soldier Girl Amazon and you are right I'm certain there was an arcade side-scrolling shooter that uses an aerial-view.. It had a rotational stick like Guerrilla Wars and the bad guys all wore orange boiler suits and wielding masks.. It may had been largely vertical but I'm sure you had some side scrolling bits on a lift..

I like River Raid on the Atari 2600

[Shinobi]

Though many arcade vertical shoooters will be horizontal if you mount the monitor normally!

Here's a challenge - can anyone name a side-scrolling shooter that uses an aerial-view rather than a side-view?

Liberator on the C16/Plus4.

I thought I knew all the Commodore 16 games but I've never heard of Liberator.. I was thinking it was a Tynesoft game but after watching it on Youtube the title screen says Magnificent 7.. The only Magnificent 7 game I own is Pharaoh's Tomb never knew they did more than one game..

[joefish]

Sorry, not River Raid, that wasn't too bad - and it was vertical. It was River Rescue I was thinking of, which really is a bit rubbish.

[TMR]

Here's a challenge - can anyone name a side-scrolling shooter that uses an aerial-view rather than a side-view?

Off the top of my head, probably forgetting some formats and trying to skip titles already named; there's Uridium's sequels Uridium Plus (C64) and Uridium 2 (Amiga) as well as loads of games that have similar gameplay like Eon (C64), Psycastria (BBC and C64), Battle Star (C16), W.A.R (C64, it's vertical everywhere else and the preview is more playable), The Last Survivor (C64), Agent Orange (Spectrum, C64, CPC), Lunari (C64), Thunderbolt (C64), Erebus (C64), Arcade Flight Simulator (Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC), Terrafighter (C64) or GWNN (C16, the pre-release version called Challenger has working enemy graphics).

And there are some fixed direction scrollers as well, f'example Thundercross (C64), Zarkon (Amstrad CPC), Gladiators (C64), Lethal (C64), the horizontal scrolling parts of Re-Bounder (C64), Starforce Nova (C16 and C64), USL (C64), The Vice Squad (C64), Radius (C64 and Amstrad CPC) or my own GR9 Strike Force (C64) and Millennium Assault (C64).

Do i win anything? =-)

[The Laird]

Here's a challenge - can anyone name a side-scrolling shooter that uses an aerial-view rather than a side-view?

Off the top of my head, probably forgetting some formats and trying to skip titles already named; there's Uridium's sequels Uridium Plus (C64) and Uridium 2 (Amiga) as well as loads of games that have similar gameplay like Eon (C64), Psycastria (BBC and C64), Battle Star (C16), W.A.R (C64, it's vertical everywhere else and the preview is more playable), The Last Survivor (C64), Agent Orange (Spectrum, C64, CPC), Lunari (C64), Thunderbolt (C64), Erebus (C64), Arcade Flight Simulator (Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC), Terrafighter (C64) or GWNN (C16, the pre-release version called Challenger has working enemy graphics).

And there are some fixed direction scrollers as well, f'example Thundercross (C64), Zarkon (Amstrad CPC), Gladiators (C64), Lethal (C64), the horizontal scrolling parts of Re-Bounder (C64), Starforce Nova (C16 and C64), USL (C64), The Vice Squad (C64), Radius (C64 and Amstrad CPC) or my own GR9 Strike Force (C64) and Millennium Assault (C64).

Do i win anything? =-)

You can add Thunderfox, Mirax Force (both Atari XL/XE), Shoot 'em Up (Jaguar) and Return To Genesis (ST) to that list too.

[psj3809]

I remember Burai Fighter on NES being a decent game. Give it a try. I might revisit it too.

Used to love that game on the original Gameboy, remember buying that and calling it Biryani Fighter quite a few times. Nice old skool shooter

[joefish]

Do i win anything? =-)

Bully's Star Prize tonight - it'sthe speedboat!

[JamesC]

How could I have forgotten one of my favourite games on the Mega Drive? Ranger X is a must play!

It's a side scrolling shooter with run&gun elements and some tactical vehicle use. The best way I can think to describe it is a cross between Silk Worm and Midnight Resistance. It's one of the best looking games on the Mega Drive too.

[joefish]

Sounds interesting, though looks a wee bit confusing from YouTube videos. I like the idea of a run and gun with limited free-flight from a jet-pack, but the whole merge-with-a-motorbike bit..? Have to give it a try though.

[Treguard]

Project X and Apidya on the Amiga need to get more love than they do.

[joefish]

Project X and Apidya on the Amiga need to get more love than they do.

Then they should have tried a bit harder!
Nah, they're really good-looking games. I just feel they don't do anything especially clever. And Project-X was just too damn hard from the outset. Great games at the time though. There's a Project X 2 on the Playstation. Again, it looked OK and did its job when there weren't many horizontal shooters on the platform, but it's never going to appear on any top-ten lists.