|
|
Post by Sarge on Dec 4, 2018 17:13:35 GMT -5
So, I might not be a huge fan of shmups as a whole, but I tend to really enjoy overhead shooters where you have control over the screen scrolling. Games like Mercs, Jackal, Neo Contra, Shock Troopers... all tons of fun, and basically the overhead equivalent of the side-scrolling run-and-gun. What are folks' favorites in the genre? Do you have any off-the-radar recommendations that most folks might not know about? I'm genuinely curious about what might be out there. For one of the "off-the-radar" picks, I submit Nitro Ball. Made by our friends at Data East (hey, that's great for this month!), it's a Mercs-style game, but taking place in a sort of futuristic game show where all the action takes place on themed pinball tables. Wacky premise aside, the game plays quite well.   My understanding is that this has been ported to Switch via the Johnny Turbo line of games. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2018 17:52:58 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Dec 4, 2018 17:56:44 GMT -5
You know, I always tend to think about SNES/Genesis and older, and PS2 and newer, but almost always forget about PSX games when it comes to these things. Not to mention PC games, many of which I missed! I'm definitely going to give these a look. I vaguely remember Loaded from back in the day. I definitely am planning to play the Crusader games at some point; I bought 'em from GOG the last time they were on sale. My cousin used to have the original. I might need to look into mapping the controls for a gamepad. (There's also the PSX version. Are there any major changes in that port?)
|
|
|
|
Post by toei on Dec 4, 2018 23:32:42 GMT -5
This isn't a genre I know very well, but I do have some lesser-known suggestions:
Ninja Princess / Sega Ninja (Arcade) -
An early example of the genre, this is actually one of the best I've played. I'd say it's got a more methodical feel. One button shoots in whatever direction you're facing, one always shoots up, and one makes you disappear for a second.
There's a Master System half-port, half-sequel simply called The Ninja. It's good, but it's got this cryptic requirement for beating the game that involves finding a number of hidden scrolls along the way, at least one or two of which are hidden so well you might never find them without a FAQ. The arcade version is probably the way to go.
For off-the-radar, there's Rambo III (Genesis). It's not great, but it seems pretty decent to me. Some of the levels have you searching for hostages to liberate or planes to destroy on huge bases, so it's not all action all the time, and restarting the levels can get tedious if you're not too good at the genre (which is why I stopped playing). In others words, it's got a dash of Metal Gear mixed in with the Commando. However, it's an early title, and was probably rushed, cause there are slowdowns when a ton of enemies appear on screen. Might be worth a play:
This is basically a speedrun disguised as a longplay, it'd take you at least three to four times longer to beat it, I'd bet.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2018 3:06:48 GMT -5
There's also the PSX version. Are there any major changes in that port? And a Saturn port as well. Wiki says: Since both the consoles have only 2 MB of RAM each, some aspects had to be scaled back for the conversion; the resolution was cut from 640x480 to 320x240, and the color palette was reduced In turn, the unique features of each console were utilized to improve on the PC version in places; new music was added to use the music overlays, and the Saturn's second processor was used for background calculations. [...] Jorg Newman, producer of both the PlayStation and Saturn versions, remarked that despite the changes, "overall I'd call this a very conservative, very direct port." - The game was developed by Origin and it actually runs on an improved version of the Ultima VIII engine. I believe I have only played the PS1 version briefly myself. I should pick it up on GOG. |
|
|
|
Post by anayo on Dec 5, 2018 12:25:32 GMT -5
Does Geometry Wars (XBOX 360, 2008) count? I used to love that game.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Dec 5, 2018 13:23:47 GMT -5
Yeah, since stuff like Smash TV or Robotron would count as well. It's not necessarily what I was originally thinking, but they fit, so recs for those are certainly appreciated as well.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Dec 6, 2018 15:05:41 GMT -5
I'm continuously finding myself short on time this week due to real life, but I will at least post something here.
Here's some overhead shooters I recommend:Cold Zero: No Mercy (PC) Exector (PS1)
 Expendable (PS1) Fortified Zone (Game Boy) Ikari no Yousai 2 (Game Boy) [An English fan translation exists.)
Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road (NES)
Project Overkill (PS1) Rambo First Blood Part II (SMS) Shock Troopers (Arcade)
Soldiers of Fortune (SNES) -
Unfortunately right now I don't have time to explain why I recommend these - but if you're interested Google is your friend...
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2018 15:15:08 GMT -5
 True Lies, Genesis/SNES   I feel like I have to mention the old freeware DOS games Cyberdogs and its upgrade/sequel C-Dogs. I spent a lot of time messing around with these as a kid. C-Dogs even has an ongoing open source project that's been working to improve the game. They've done some cool stuff with it and it receives regular updates: cxong.github.io/cdogs-sdl/ |
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Dec 6, 2018 15:44:02 GMT -5
Oh, dang! I don't know why I keep forgetting about True Lies! I even bought the cart for SNES last year. That would be a really good one to play through. I will look at those PC games as well. I always found some of those shareware/freeware games fascinating. I kinda miss those days in some ways. Good choice of avatar, by the way. One Must Fall 2097 was one of those awesome shareware/freeware games that I played the mess out of. Ex : I've played about half of those, but some of those I've never even heard of! Cold Zero and Exector in particular. Okay, looks like the list is starting to stack up.  |
|
