great old school PC shooters

lilmanjs · Post by **lilmanjs** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 7:41 pm

I don't know of many good old school pc shooters(ones you had to buy) but I remember raptor: call of the shadows. that game ruled.
videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdmFGZ1XqIo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQmFnYtU5FI
both are made by me. anyone know any others besides zone 66 that were good back in the 90s and came out only on pc.

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 8:16 pm

Tyrian of course

Major Stryker was an EGA game, not really that good though

Evasive Maneuvers - This hori is pretty rare & hard to find these days but I do remember playing the shareware of it in about 1993

Of course, these days, even Tyrian sucks compared to the high quality stuff from Cave. I have very very fond memories of Tyrian, but I just can't play it anymore

lilmanjs · Post by **lilmanjs** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 9:08 pm

indstr wrote:Tyrian of course

Major Stryker was an EGA game, not really that good though

Evasive Maneuvers - This hori is pretty rare & hard to find these days but I do remember playing the shareware of it in about 1993

Of course, these days, even Tyrian sucks compared to the high quality stuff from Cave. I have very very fond memories of Tyrian, but I just can't play it anymore

check here for the full version of evaasive maneuvers: http://www.errorwear.com/evasive/
they found the source code disk and now its free for the full version.
anyone got any others?

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 9:29 pm

Try Jets N Guns.

It's like Tyrian, but sidescrolling.

lilmanjs · Post by **lilmanjs** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 9:39 pm

hmm are there any sites with good freeware shooters? I know of cloud phobia but can't find a site with a download for it.

Observer · Post by **Observer** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 10:29 pm

lilmanjs wrote:hmm are there any sites with good freeware shooters? I know of cloud phobia but can't find a site with a download for it.

Cloudphobia is still a WIP (looks so damn badass but the guy takes his time), the latest release added a melée character.

http://www.dwahan.net/uki/

The progress looks really interesting with Homeworld ships, missile barrages and huge mecha.

Then you have some of the "obvious" ones:

Warning Forever
Kenta Cho games
CHO REN SHA 68k

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 1:16 am

There's TONS for PC that are relatively new and good. Just not that many classics that are good on PC

The ones Observer mentioned are all good, I'd also highly recommend "Blue wish Resurrection", and "Flew fighter"

Plenty more here...

http://shootthecore.moonpod.com/database.php

best thing to do is to sort that by games that have received awards by the site, and you will surely find lots of good games to play

ROBOTRON · Post by **ROBOTRON** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 1:35 am

WAVY NAVY.

Old school C64.

Otherwise stick with:

WARNING FOREVER.

ED-057 · Post by **ED-057** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 6:47 am

How about these:
Overkill
Fox Ranger
Galactix

seemed nice at the time, especially with the Adlib music

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 9:16 am

I remember playing Tyrian back when 'multimedia' was a catchphrase...

To me that game is a throwback to the C64/Amiga days, with slow moving enemies drifting down from the top of the screen and firing straight ahead only. Basic enemy patterns and nearly no bullet patterns. This goes on and on and on... The game just lacks dynamics. Those youtube videos make it look a bit fun though.

Note to US shmup developers: Don't strive for realism.

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:06 am

It's not quite 90s (2001) but Siter Skain's Kamui is one of the most finely designed shooters around. Simple but challenging scoring, godly weaponry, Seibu / Raizing quality shrapnel-spewing destruction, and nonstop action with a conspicuous lack of dead time. And an excellent soundtrack, both haunting and driving. I suggest putting it on Hard immmediately (its bullets are a bit slow on Normal), for a much wilder ride. Menu Translation

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:49 pm

Every time a thread like this comes up, I tell people to play this game and no one ever listens to me. In any case, here goes: Star Goose.

Features: excellent level design, well-utilized 2D "depth", cool graphics, and interesting structure (you have to collect items instead of just shooting). It's sweet and very unique.

Ozymandiaz1260 · Post by **Ozymandiaz1260** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 6:51 am

Hey Andi, I downloaded and tried Star Goose. I don't know, it's an okay game I guess, it just seems really really repetitive. I haven't played it very much yet, and I really haven't gotten very far in it, so I won't judge it too harshly just yet, but mostly it seems really ridiculously boring to me. Apparently you like it quite a bit, I mean, you even made it your avatar, so could you possibly elaborate a bit more on why you think it's so good or fun? Does it get much different if you get further into it? Should I actually put some real time into it, do you think it will grow on me? Also, there's music at the startup screen but none during the actual game play... is there supposed to be music playing throughout the levels?

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 11:47 pm

Ozymandiaz1260 wrote:Apparently you like it quite a bit, I mean, you even made it your avatar, so could you possibly elaborate a bit more on why you think it's so good or fun? Does it get much different if you get further into it? Should I actually put some real time into it, do you think it will grow on me? Also, there's music at the startup screen but none during the actual game play... is there supposed to be music playing throughout the levels?

Sure, I'd love to elaborate. First off, the use of 3D depth adds a lot of technique to the game since it isn't just about dodging, it's about placing yourself behind cover so that as few enemies are able to target you as possible (this is especially mandatory since some attacks are quite fast and difficult to dodge). It's a unique approach to the shooting game. As a result of having actual terrain, level-design (more than just simple enemy placement) becomes important whereas it isn't so much in other shooters. Beyond that, I think that looping through the levels until you have collected everything (instead of just having to kill all the enemies) forces the player to take different approaches to sections of the level based on whether they are trying to avoid an enemy of collect one of the coins, and I also like how fuel works when mixed with this aspect of the game.

Don't get me wrong. It's not flawless and it is definitely much slower paced than a lot of shooters (even older ones) but it has an unique style of play that makes it worth taking a look at.

escadrille · Post by **escadrille** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 11:33 pm

Observer wrote:
lilmanjs wrote:hmm are there any sites with good freeware shooters? I know of cloud phobia but can't find a site with a download for it.
Cloudphobia is still a WIP (looks so damn badass but the guy takes his time), the latest release added a melée character.

http://www.dwahan.net/uki/

The progress looks really interesting with Homeworld ships, missile barrages and huge mecha.

This release has just the first level, correct?

I'm looking forward to more.

The Angry Bee · Post by **The Angry Bee** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 12:57 am

This is the Siter Skain's newest link to their newest game, RefleX!
http://www.siterskain.com/reflex/index.html

nimitz · Post by **nimitz** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 1:05 am

remove "great" from the topic and I got plenty for you

.

Observer · Post by **Observer** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 1:13 am

Oh, let's add two obvious ones:

Diadra Empty.

Think Fantasy Zone 2008 gone Cave/Darius/Gradius/Real Arena Shooter, with loli and Pedobear (I wish I was kidding, it's called "Kuma-san" to make it less obvious), Panzer Dragoon-like aura, screen-sized enemies, lasers, epic fights and more.

One hell of a surreal combo.

HellSinker.

This beast is amazing. One of the most complex interfaces/HUD ever, 4 characters with heaps of firing modes (including an option you can deploy independently on the screen and move it) and also a great surreal trip.

edit:

escadrille> Yes, only one level for now but the latest version added incredible effects for the boss+weather. Looks absolutely sweet.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 1:32 am

Major Stryker
Major Stryker
Major Stryker
Raptor: Call of teh Shadows I heard is good.

They're both freeware so you'll get what you pay (Apogee) for, at least.

escadrille · Post by **escadrille** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 4:34 am

Observer wrote: edit:

escadrille> Yes, only one level for now but the latest version added incredible effects for the boss+weather. Looks absolutely sweet.

Agreed. I'll be watching for more.

IronGiant · Post by **IronGiant** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 1:54 pm

One vertical scrolling PC shmup that I love is Star Monkey:

http://www.smallrockets.com/pc/starmonkey/

http://www.smallrockets.com/pc/starmonk ... nshots.htm

Looks great, plays great and has a real nice 'solid' feel to it that I love. Damn good sound f/x and music too.

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 2:35 pm

Puppygames make some good games. Titan Attacks is a fun Space Invaders clone and Droid Assault is Paradroid-derived but with much tighter action.

http://www.puppygames.net/

trivial · Post by **trivial** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 1:03 am

Star Goose was fun when I was withdrawing from the NES in college, but I doubt it holds up.

Funny music from the PC squeaker though. The end of its EGA graphics made me crap my pants with glee when I discovered Autodesk Animator, the first use I had for "MCGA".

/end blog of the eighties

kemical · Post by **kemical** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 12:50 am

glad to see someone mention OVERKILL and Fox Ranger, those two are awesome.. I was blown away by the intro cinematics to Fox Ranger at the time. Overkill has really catchy music.

Check out Baryon, it's a Korean shooter with influences from seibu kaihatsu games imo..
also another great oldschool pc side scroller is Zyclunt, also Iron Blood.

Antic · Post by **Antic** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 6:19 am

Apeiron X is great. It's a very addictive Centipede knock-off. I love playing it 'till the wee hours of the morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbwCXWiRkiw

Best sound effects ever!

MathU · Post by **MathU** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 8:23 am

Hey, good old Ambrosia! Those guys made some fun games.