Some Robotron types old, recent & upcoming

Fost · Post by **Fost** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 11:15 am

This looks like it will be really hot:

Factor X 2

worth downloading the video anyway.

Last Man On Mars You can download a test version of this - the developers are looking for feedback and have an online feedback form.

Some recent and old arena shooters:

puppytron 2084 - kind of like 'Pocket Robotron' nicely balanced gameplay, and lovely retro look. Auto highscore uploading - try and beat my not particularly great highscores (Baron Samedi). You can play the full thing for absolutley ages, but I ended up buying it since it was $5

Alien ShooterSharp looking, and deliciously gory!
After The End Looks like a cross between crimsonland and alien shooter. My work colleague has been playing this and liked it, although he says it takes ages to get interesting.
Mutant Storm The Indie Game kings pompom release a more abstract shooter. Despite buying this, I've hardly had a chance to play it. I'm much more of a fan of their first, defender-like game Space Tripper though.
Crimsonland. this is the only one I haven't bought in the list. Loads of people absolutley love it though, but I have to admit I'm a bit of a graphics whore and this doesn't quite do it for me.

any I've missed?

Blue Lander · Post by **Blue Lander** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 3:51 pm

How could you forget Jeff Minter's Llamatron?

Fost · Post by **Fost** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 4:41 pm

Oh! of course, I was just thinking of PC ones you can get hold of now.! Was anyone else dissapointed when Jeff Minter's unity was cancelled?

That said, I worked on a similar game several years ago, and used to have nightmares where I was stuck in a tunnel that I couldn't get out of

Hopefully one day he'll get a chance to ressurect it...

Blue Lander · Post by **Blue Lander** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 4:56 pm

Wasn't there a version of Llamatron for the PC? I've only played the Atari ST version, but I could have sworn he ported it to the PC.

Yeah, I was VERY dissapointed when I learned Unity was cancelled. Maybe Yak will resurrect it on a next gen platform someday.

Fost · Post by **Fost** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 10:06 pm

Blue Lander wrote:Wasn't there a version of Llamatron for the PC?

You are completely right of course (in fact, Malc appears to have reviewed the pc version - http://www.classicgaming.com/shmups/reviews/llamatron/

I looked on llamasoft.co.uk expecting to see it but to no avail. Jeff does appear to have a new version of Gridrunner available for PC and pocket PC though that's worth having a go of.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 10:42 pm

Hello and welcome to the forum. Robotron and similar "arena" shooters are not considered shmups. I am going to move this to OT. We are currently considering making a separate forum for games such as Robotron, Smash TV, Metal Slug, Gunstar Heroes, Space Harrier, Star Fox, ect. which are considered "in-between" shooters.

Blue Lander · Post by **Blue Lander** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 10:58 pm

I wonder if he's gonna go back to writing PDA games now that Unity's fallen through. I downloaded the windows version of Gridrunner++ awhile ago, I thought it was a pretty fun shooter.

Fost · Post by **Fost** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 11:09 pm

No I'm pretty sure I read that he thought the PDA market was not ready for games yet based on his experiences. Not sure what he's going to do - maybe something still for Lionhead?

I looked into that myself recently and the impression I got was that it was not a good place to even break even selling a game - although there appears to be more and more people doing it.

Blue Lander · Post by **Blue Lander** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 11:26 pm

I just hope he does something new. I'd like to see what he could do on the DS or PSP or GBA. Maybe do "Tempest 4000" or something like that.

I wonder what the best platform is these days for simple 2D games these days. A while back I wrote a Space Invaders clone for the Genesis in assembly language (just for fun, and I never quite finished it), it might be fun someday to try writing a simple commercial game.

magnum opus · Post by **magnum opus** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 1:32 am

well there's also

battle girl, also has a a little defender in it. which from the demo is quite nice, but without joy2key isn't very playable
Entropy XVII (or what ever) from one of our own boardies, a lot of fun really feels old school in the best way.
[urlhttp://www.megagames.com/news/html/freegames/g ... pain.shtml]gearbolt rage[/url], made in klik and play, once you're used to the controls it's pretty fun.
http://www.remakes.org/ has three or four that i haven't tried so any one's guess to the quality.

i'm pretty sure there's a couple more that i'm not remembering.

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 2:08 pm

I didn't know Minter had anything to do with Grid Runner. Weird.

straight · Post by **straight** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 4:09 pm

Crimsonland is indeed awesome. And I don't see what you find lacking in the graphics. They're as good as the other games on your list. Excellent weapon effects. And I love the way the characters are drawn: one of the few top-down shooters that looks straight down on the characters without showing them at an angle. You'd think that would look awful, but I love the way the Crimsonland monsters look.

Fost · Post by **Fost** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 6:42 pm

straight wrote:And I don't see what you find lacking in the graphics.

I just find them a little too 'bare bones' - just not my preference. Actually more a criticism of myself than of the game. For me, Alien Shooter looks leagues ahead graphically, and the upcoming FX2 really seems to have chosen a great art style and stuck to it, to great effect.

Like I said though - just my preference; I know loads of people who love that game.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 6:47 pm

I heard there's a new version of Sinistar out. Can anyone confirm this, and is it only out for PC's?

Fost · Post by **Fost** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 11:25 pm

dave4shmups wrote:I heard there's a new version of Sinistar out. Can anyone confirm this, and is it only out for PC's?

There was a PC version called Sinistar Unleashes, although it's pretty old:

http://gr.bolt.com/download/pc/action/sinistar.htm

RUN COWARD!!!

damn that was scary...

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 12:08 am

Fost wrote:There was a PC version called Sinistar Unleashes, although it's pretty old:

http://gr.bolt.com/download/pc/action/sinistar.htm

It's not very good either. For some reason, the amount of waiting around seems longer than the old Sinistar and it really doesn't translate well into 3D.

straight · Post by **straight** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 4:53 am

I just discovered a very old but surprisingly fun Robotron-style game.

It's an ancient aracde game from 1982, Black Widow. It's done with vector graphics like Asteroids or Tempest. It was a dual joystick game, and while it's not quite as frantic as Robotron, I think it's better than a lot of the more recent imitators.

You play a spider in its web and shoot the bugs that come from all sides. On various levels there are lines on the web that you (the red ones) or the enemies (the green ones) can not cross, which adds some strategy. Like Robotron, there are invulnerable bugs that you can repel with your shot and score items to grab before the bugs do. Some bugs lay eggs that will hatch into invulnerable bugs, but you can avoid that and get some bonus points by pushing the eggs off the edge of the web before they hatch. Then there's the bugs that explode when you shoot them...

So. Frantic arena shooting with some variety to the enemies and levels. And I love the vector graphics. I think they look as cool now as they did 20 years ago. It seems strange to me how the vector graphics games completely died off when they look so great. I need to start a thread about other old vector games...

kong · Post by **kong** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 2:29 pm

You missed Operation Carnage. Download link is at the end of the description.
http://www.midnightsynergy.com/ancient.htm

It's an older dos pc title. Excellent game.