History of Crosshair Shooters

[1983parrothead]

I've linked to the gameplay videos if you want to see them in action. This thread is also to discuss about them.

Shootout (Data East, 1985) - The one that started the crosshair shooter genre.

Empire City: 1931 (Seibu Kaihatsu, 1986) - Another crosshair shooter, but with a real crosshair added to it. The grandfather of Dynamite Duke.

Cabal (TAD Corporation (splinter of Data East), 1988) - The one that popularized the genre.

Dead Angle (Seibu Kaihatsu, 1988) - Sequel to Empire City: 1931 and father of Dynamite Duke.

Dynamite Duke (Seibu Kaihatsu, 1989) - Unlike previous crosshair shooters, this was the first to feature close combat, which is why it was successful.

Blood Bros. (TAD Corporation, 1990) - Spinoff of Cabal.

NAM-1975 (SNK, 1990) - First Neo-Geo title. You even can throw bombs in this one.

The Punisher (NES) (LJN/Beam Software, 1990) - Perhaps the first to be home exclusive, as well as being a licensed game.

Spinal Breakers (Video System, 1990) - Features rolling.

Riot (NMK, 1992) - Crosshair shooter where you can shoot in the foreground and background.

Lucky & Wild (Namco, 1993) - Arcade-exclusive crosshair shooter with a steering wheel added to it.

Wild Guns (Natsume, 1994) - An underrated crosshair shooter similar to Blood Bros..

Sin & Punishment (Nintendo/Treasure, 2000) - First 3D polygonal crosshair shooter. Features close combat using weapons.

Sin & Punishment: Star Successor/Successor of the Skies (Nintendo/Treasure, 2009) - Sequel to Sin & Punishment.

[SuperDeadite]

GAMSHARA!

[BIL]

Sin & Punishment (Nintendo/Treasure, 2000) - First 3D polygonal crosshair shooter. Features close combat using weapons.

So does Wild Guns, most frequently in the final stage. Along with the double jump and evasion roll, this is why I consider S&P a badass hybrid of WG and Starfox.

[1983parrothead]

Sin & Punishment (Nintendo/Treasure, 2000) - First 3D polygonal crosshair shooter. Features close combat using weapons.

So does Wild Guns, most frequently in the final stage. Along with the double jump and evasion roll, this is why I consider S&P a badass hybrid of WG and Starfox.

Dynamite Duke at least has one close range weapon: the "Dynamite Punch".

[Imhotep]

Pirates

[Ruldra]

Oh man, NAM-1975 is soooo damn hard. The intermission bosses in particular are complete bullshit, they're totally meant to kill you as fast as possible.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Aren't most Operation Wolf ports technically crosshair shooters? Meaning MANY ports.

[Skykid]

Oh man, NAM-1975 is soooo damn hard. The intermission bosses in particular are complete bullshit, they're totally meant to kill you as fast as possible.

Nah, it's easy! Even those intermission bosses are fairly easily dispatched with a few stocked up bombs and neat rolling. The problem is Muckly: the last boss is an outright coin trap. You can 1 credit there but he just rapes you instantly, ruins the game tbh. I've only ever beaten him once after many attempts, and that was good enough for me.

[BIL]

Tooo late. You are not the enemy for my new weapon.

Aren't most Operation Wolf ports technically crosshair shooters? Meaning MANY ports.

I think he means Cabal-style: crosshair shooting from an over the shoulder perspective, with the player character onscreen and able to evade/defend much as in Commando, Contra, etc.

Contra's own Base stages almost count, only they don't have the independent "crosshair" aiming. Wheee, subgenres!

[Specineff]

Rambo III arcade should count, even if the scrolling is forced.

[Vexorg]

Some other ones you could add are Sega's Gunblade NY and LA Machineguns:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI4kjrP6dsw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi6czl6-WkY

[system11]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vIN-XVNzE8

Virtually unknown one here - Hard Times.

Oh, don't forget SWAT Police too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F95wN91lcc

[Drum]

Tooo late. You are not the enemy for my new weapon.

Aren't most Operation Wolf ports technically crosshair shooters? Meaning MANY ports.

I think he means Cabal-style: crosshair shooting from an over the shoulder perspective, with the player character onscreen and able to evade/defend much as in Commando, Contra, etc.

Contra's own Base stages almost count, only they don't have the independent "crosshair" aiming. Wheee, subgenres!

Well, I think I see what he's going for but the inclusion of Lucky & Wild may open the floodgates here a bit.
Nobody is ever allowed to mention that game without me bringing up its grandpappy Night Stocker.

[BIL]

Oh - didn't notice he'd listed that. I wouldn't consider Lucky & Wild one of these games either. It's more like Chase HQ plus gun shooting. Or Night Stocker.

[Jeneki]

Spinal Breakers (Video System, 1990) - Features rolling.

And the most badass Waffle in history. Gotta love that intro and cutscenes.

[Specineff]

That Hard Times game is nothing but a re-skinned Blood Brothers. The layout of some levels is identical to TAD's game!

[JBC]

Getting into Wild Guns. I'm playing it using a Wii & originally tried it with a GameCube controller, which sucked. I swapped over to the Wiimote + nunchuck & redefined the controls a little. This way it feels like it plays easier than on an actual SNES.

+1 for Spinal Breakers. Love that game

[Frenetic]

hehehe, have you seen Alligator Hunt by Gaelco yet?

--the F-man

[andsuchisdeath]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vIN-XVNzE8

Virtually unknown one here - Hard Times.

What game is the music from in the beginning of this video!?

They only credit Louis Armstrong.

[D]

Wow, what a great thread and to see all games of this genre is amazing.
I used to play Cabal on the ZX Spectrum.
Now sometimes rocking Wild Guns with an official Nintendo SCART cable. (3rd party cables do not even come close).

hehehe, have you seen Alligator Hunt by Gaelco yet?

--the F-man

No, but it seems to fit the bill
https://youtu.be/Xq0QvT86wwk
Should be added to the list

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vIN-XVNzE8

Virtually unknown one here - Hard Times.

Oh, don't forget SWAT Police too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F95wN91lcc

These should be added too.

And Lucky & Wild also belongs on this list, because you can kind of dodge, I guess. This genre deserves a video.

Dear Game Sack, ......

[trap15]

Gotta get Macaw to do a video, I would be surprised if he doesn't know all of them

[BrianC]

The problem is Muckly

This guy?

[Ed Oscuro]

Thinking that the only videos for Shoot Out are MAME Player and some guy with a sinus infection makes me sad.

A few near misses:

Aliens (Konami, 1989) - has some segments in this style (i.e., the first boss fight), except lacking a crosshair.
The Untouchables (NES, 1990, OYEAN) - Cover-based. I don't think Eliot Ness can walk out into the open, but this is an interesting foreshadowing of Time Crisis, even the Gears type of game if you're willing to bet it.
Dick Tracy (SMS 1990? 1991 MD/Gen) - I haven't played the Master System version, but the Mega Drive / Genesis version is a side scroller where you can rake the backgrounds with a Tommy Gun. Great idea, but I don't think it's ever been well executed.
Robocop 2 (Data East, 1991?) has some segments of this type - I think in the very first level Robutt faces the end of an alley for this style. Later there's a first person road chase sequence.

Both in terms of style and gameplay, Taito's Dead Connection has some kinship with games like this (but also Smash TV and the like, of course, since it's an arena game without a crosshair).

I bet there's some unknown C64 and maybe even Spectrum and Apple ][ games of this type, of course.

The problem is Muckly

This guy?

Eckert and Mauchly?

[BrianC]

Eckert and Mauchly?

lol

Muckley and Muttley may not have that much in common, but they are both short, both evil (Muttley less so), and both have a crazy laugh.

I watched a video of the SMS Dick Tracy. It seems to be similar to the Genesis version and has that same shoot into the background attack.

[Ed Oscuro]

Good one

Sometimes poster Arasoi avers that Shoot Out's hero looks like Popeye Doyle. My first thought on seeing the game was actually of Darren McGavin as The Night Stalker due to the white getup, but I think Doyle's probably a better fit. Luckily, it's a single player game

The flyer's hero looks more like Ronald Reagan / David Carradine in Q / anybody else, though.

[SuperDeadite]

In regards to the C64, I think Forbidden Forest should be added to the list.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j86veyiIcS8

[BIL]

Dick Tracy (SMS 1990? 1991 MD/Gen) - I haven't played the Master System version, but the Mega Drive / Genesis version is a side scroller where you can rake the backgrounds with a Tommy Gun. Great idea, but I don't think it's ever been well executed.

I need to revisit the MD one... it seemed cool on both planes, but it annoyed me that you lost points for damaging scenery.

WHAT

(might've worked as a finesse thing but AFAIK you can't see where your initial shot will go, so good luck ROFL)

But that was a couple years back, and now I JUST DONT GIVE A FUCK.

"oh noez muh insurance premiumz lololol" STFU civilian! Fuck yo house and small business! This be the po-lice!

Spoiler

[Obiwanshinobi]

One's got to appreciate the Dredd vs Death FPS-er's take on law enforcement (arrested/sentenced gives you more points than killed).

[Ed Oscuro]

One's got to appreciate the Dredd vs Death

Negatory...shit game is still shit.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I think v-sync can be forced OFF, though (might depend on the OS and graphics card drivers).