3D game with Ground enemies

[Darkcomet72]

I just realised how hard it is to find a 3D vertical shmup with a good number of ground enemies. Games like Psyvariar series, Ikaruga, and the Shikigami series have barely any ground enemies at all, and games like Soukyugurentai, Radiant silvergun, Gigawing 2, and the newer 3D verts(Trizeal, Gigawing Generations) have some ground enemies, but not nearly to the extent of many 2D modern verts.

Hmmm... There is a very interesting feel I always get when blowing up Ground enemies, especially in 3D, whenever there is any. Zero Gunner 2 is a good case. I hope Raiden 3 will be the same.

[the2bears]

Can you clarify a little, just in terms of "ground enemies". Do you mean enemies that require a different type of shot to hit? What I mean is if you need to bomb them a la Xevious or do all shots "magically" hit in the 2D plain. Because in that case, though I haven't played it all yet, I don't believe Ikaruga has any "ground enemies".

Bill

[RedKnight]

Ground enemies as.
Tanks, Missiles launcher, Cows, chickens, Cars, stuff that running around the ground
is that what people defined them as ground types?

[the2bears]

You miss my point.

In Xevious you have to use bombs to hit the ground-based enemies. Call the object what you will, names don't mean anything. I'm asking whether the definition of a ground-based enemy means you have to target it differently. If you use the same weapon for ground and air-based targets, then gameplay does not change. It's essentially the same kind of target with perhaps different movement.

Darkcomet72 wants games with more ground-based enemies. I'm trying to suss if that means a) visually different only, b) you have to hit them with a different weapon.

Bill

[Darkcomet72]

Hmmm... Redknight is right.
I know the gameplay does not change, I just like the satisfaction of destroying many popcorn ground enemies... Mabye it's just me.

[RedKnight]

Your both right(or halve right)

In Horizontal Shmups you got the bombs, which you drop on the enemies
In vertical shmups you can shoot most of the ground enemies with the main weapon.
or in some cases you can uses it with some lock on weapons

[OptimusPrimeX]

when i read the thread, i immediately thought of Alpha Mission 2. Which stricly depends on Bombs for anything that isn't flying on the same plane as you are. Then on the flip side, there are many shmups that let you hit ground targts, with the same weapon that hits air enemies, which i thought was always weird!??.. but didn't mind much

[the2bears]

I always thought it a little weird too, that in most games ground enemies are hit without changing the tactics. But... it never bothered me for more than a second and never kept me from enjoying the game

OptimusPrimeX - where in NJ are you from? I just moved from Princeton to California. Have to say, the weather is pretty good here but it's expensive and I can't find a good diner

Bill

[straight]

How about the Rayforce/Raystorm/Raycrisis series? The last two are 3D and have quite a few groundlings to zap.

And then there's borderliners like Starfox and Sin and Punishment for the Nintendo64.

[Zhon]

Ground enemies do have slightly different rules. The player ship doesn't collide with them, and in many but not all games, they stop firing if you get close.

As for the topic, it was about normal ground enemies that you don't have to use a different weapon to hit - notice his reference to Zero Gunner 2. And Raiden 3, it'd be pretty weird not to have many ground enemies - and so far screens do show groups of turrets and tanks.

[nullpointer]

i think i know why this is..
in 3d games it is easier to place all the ships on the same plane, that way you can follow bullet patterns correctly (with no problems of foreshorteneing etc). Once you start putting them on lower planes, you get issues with parallax (ie objects further away appear to move slower) and so it can get annoying to track movement etc..
Its kind of the same thing that happens in those half 3d shmups like silpheed on the ps2 where bullets converge into the distance..
To be honest you could fix it if you wanted to but the usual approach is just to cheat and stick them all on the same plane, and hope you dont notice that they arent actually below you!

[Thunder Force]

Ground enemies do have slightly different rules. The player ship doesn't collide with them, and in many but not all games, they stop firing if you get close.

Also, they pop in and out of cover like bases, rather than just fly onto the screen and stay shootable.

Ground enemies =/= (not equal) Air enemies

[OptimusPrimeX]

I always thought it a little weird too, that in most games ground enemies are hit without changing the tactics. But... it never bothered me for more than a second and never kept me from enjoying the game

OptimusPrimeX - where in NJ are you from? I just moved from Princeton to California. Have to say, the weather is pretty good here but it's expensive and I can't find a good diner

Bill

sorry not to get too off topic here.

lol.. yeah there's always tons of diners around here. ^^ I'm in the Fort Lee area.. north jersey. Prob like 2 hours from Princeton.. or maybe less. Right across from NY and the George washington bridge. Use to live in Howell Township and Brick though 7 years back. Lucky to get out of this state, i'm really starting to hate the season here and the congestion. I need to see the sun all year round lol.. or at least some more warm weather