Organic shmups history?

Skyknight · Post by **Skyknight** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 6:14 pm

I'm curious as to when the genre of fighting within SOME sort of living body first materialized. The earliest I'm aware of is 1989's X-Multiply. Although that's not being inside a gigantic alien. In this case, you're entering a human body...or perhaps corpse...in order to destroy a colony of alien pathogens. I can't remember when Life Force and Abadox (which DID involve a gigantic alien) came out...

On a side note, any idea as to WHY many shmups tend to go from technological to organic as you fight?

SFKhoa · Post by **SFKhoa** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 7:40 pm

My assumptions is that many of those shmups usually like to involve the plot of technology being overwhelmed by aliens or something.

.. Like look at Philosoma.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 7:56 pm

Skyknight wrote:On a side note, any idea as to WHY many shmups tend to go from technological to organic as you fight?

For this I'd guess that it's just to sort of get the feeling across that you're getting closer to "the source of the trouble" as you progress...in the earlier stages you fight lots of ships, mechs, etc., but as you progress you start seeing the actual "living" stuff that's behind all the evil machine thingies. At least that's how it's always seemed to me.

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 9:14 pm

Also in 1989 was Dangerous Seed, where you actually flew into the enemy itself at stage 9 or something.

*shrug*

Afterbirth · Post by **Afterbirth** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 11:32 pm

Hori schmups....

Konami's Lifeforce/Salamander - 1986 - It was set inside a body as such and aliens were geared around orgranic matter but if you were really anal about it then Millepede was the first (if you call a garden a representation of organic)

Back in them days you were limited to what you could display so you had planet internals, and organics were the 'natural' step up, added to the usual techno levels, snow and ice, etc.

It was Rtype really took it to the fore with one of the most famous (and largest) bosses in shmup history.

In fact, Irem are proberly one of the best companies to check for organic games.

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:56 am

I love Abodox. That's one of my favorite games of all time - no matter what anyone says! lol

When i was little that game was the most violent thing i had ever seen.

Zweihander · Post by **Zweihander** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 3:51 pm

anyone notice that most of the time, R-Type's odd-numbered levels tend to be mostly technological in nature, while the even number tends to be primarily organic, as in enemies constantly being 'born' from spawnpoints and such? correct me if i'm wrong, but... look at the history, man. o_O

RTF was an exception, the last few levels of that went all over the place. XD

circuitface wrote:I love Abodox. That's one of my favorite games of all time - no matter what anyone says! lol

When i was little that game was the most violent thing i had ever seen.

a friend of mine says that game spooked him out as a kid. XD

Jon · Post by **Jon** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 5:06 pm

circuitface wrote:I love Abodox. That's one of my favorite games of all time - no matter what anyone says! lol

When i was little that game was the most violent thing i had ever seen.

Thank you. I am glad I am not alone when it comes to my love for this game. Probably the best example of 8-bit organic shooters in my opinion. God that last boss was frustrating,

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 6:54 pm

Jon wrote:Thank you. I am glad I am not alone when it comes to my love for this game. Probably the best example of 8-bit organic shooters in my opinion. God that last boss was frustrating,

God, that game is frustrating from stage one. Cool levels though.

llabnip · Post by **llabnip** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 7:28 pm

Fantastic Voyage for the Atari 2600 came out in 1982 and was a full vertical shooter that took place inside the human body.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 8:33 pm

Was it based on the movie of the same name?

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 8:36 pm

I would guess that it was, offhand anyways.

llabnip · Post by **llabnip** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 8:41 pm

Specineff wrote:Was it based on the movie of the same name?

Yes, Fantastic Voyage for the 2600 was developed 20th Century Fox (they produced a number of movie-related games for the Atari systems). It's not the most common cart out there, but fairly easy to get hold of (I think it's rarity 4 on the AA 1-10 scale). The manual talks about encountering and fighting antibodies, enzymes, bacteria, clots, etc. It's a full overhead scrolling vertical shooter and fairly fun. You can see more details of the game at www.atariage.com and search for "Fantastic Voyage".

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 2:20 am

Jon wrote:
circuitface wrote:I love Abodox. That's one of my favorite games of all time - no matter what anyone says! lol

When i was little that game was the most violent thing i had ever seen.
Thank you. I am glad I am not alone when it comes to my love for this game. Probably the best example of 8-bit organic shooters in my opinion. God that last boss was frustrating,

And then you fly out of it's exploding butt! NAAASSSTTTYYYY!!!!!!

shmups.system11.org

Organic shmups history?

Organic shmups history?

Re: Organic shmups history?

Re: Organic shmups history?