Complete list of "Cabal clones?" and similar games?

[OdiousTrident]

Can anyone add to the list below? I'm not sure what to call this sub-genre.

Shoot Out - pre-Cabal Arcade game
Cabal - Arcade / various ports
Punisher - NES
Double Hawk - SMS
Predator 2 - Amiga / various systems
Spinal Breakers - Arcade
Blood Bros. - Arcade
Hard Times - Arcade - Blood Bros. hack?
Dynamite Duke - Arcade / ports
Dick Tracy -SMS / Genesis
Riot - Arcade
NAM-1975 - Neo Geo
Alligator Hunt - Arcade
Wild Guns - SNES
Pirates - Arcade - another Blood Bros. hack?
Sin & Punishment 1 / 2
Charge N' Blast
Zombie Panic in Wonderland

I vaguely remember another Blood Bros. hack or two?

similar games:

Devastators - Arcade
GI JOE - Arcade
Rambo 3 - Arcade
Shien's Revenge - SNES
Dead Angle - various ports

Not including Super Spy or Crossed Swords 1 / 2 due to the melee aspect.

[CIT]

You can add Gamshara.

I guess you're talking specifically about games that are kind of a shooting gallery, but from the third person view, and you can also control the character, right? I haven't really heard any termy other than "Cabal type games" etc. either.

I guess there's also "shooting gallery game", but that would also include first person view games.

[undamned]

Wow, nice list! Yeah, aside from Gamshara, I can't think of anything else.
-ud

[viper_phase1]

I use the term "Cabal shooter" to describe this genre of action shooting games. Another title would be The Great Battle V released on Super Famicom.

[BryanM]

They're called Rail Shooters. If you don't wanna include the likes of Super Thunderblade and Panzer Dragoon to it; "rail shooters where you're on the ground."

For a moment here, thought I was going to get to mention Abuse. Talk about public domain classics..

This reminds me I never got to beat those bastard robots in Thunderblade as a lad. Thank god for yootoob.

[system11]

SWAT Police
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DopIyCSFYGU

I would say Rambo 3 fits because the character is visible, X axis only and crosshair control.

[louisg]

I'd count the first Sin and Punishment, but not the second. I think the extra axis of movement changes the game significantly. It makes it Space Harrier with aiming.

There's also Machine Gun Joe for SMS.

[Jeneki]

Nice topic. I remember playing Cabal (arcade had a trackball right?) many years ago, although I never went and sought out other similar games.

[Ghegs]

Cabal had both trackball and joystick versions in the arcades. I actually bought a PCB of the latter from system11 a while back, very fun game.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I'd count the first Sin and Punishment, but not the second. I think the extra axis of movement changes the game significantly. It makes it Space Harrier with aiming.

There's a pretty rad stage played almost exclusively on ground (the F-Zero-like one). So good it has to count for something.
What about Rez, by the way? Did it define a sub-genre? S&P2 would be more of a "Space Harrier with dodging".

[Austin]

In Turok Evolution for the GBA, there are a couple of stages that play in that fashion.

[null1024]

What about Rez, by the way? Did it define a sub-genre?

Rez is pretty much Panzer Dragoon, but like you're always turned to a side [so no direct movement] and can only shoot lockons. So it's closer to a straight rail shooter.

[boagman]

They're called Rail Shooters. If you don't wanna include the likes of Super Thunderblade and Panzer Dragoon to it; "rail shooters where you're on the ground."

I was so *totally* going to object until you qualified your statement with the last part. I can't for the life of me posit that NAM-1975 and Planet Harriers should belong in the same category. Both are resplendent, but they're so ridiculously different from each other that it'd be like putting apples and filet mignon in the same category because they're both, you know...food.

I might be more willing to go with "third person ground shooter" or something akin to that. I tend to think of a "rail shooter" as one where the controlled being has autonomy to reach all corners of the screen. Then again, I could differentiate further with the "first person" and "third person" qualifiers.

This could just go on and on. Nice list, OP, by the way. And yes: Gamshara should most definitely be included.

[Ed Oscuro]

I could swear we've had this topic before!

Street Fight / Empire City 1931 came before Dead Angle. Same developer (Seibu).

The Stuporous Spy (also on MVS) plays a bit like Cabal, but with a knife. I don't recall whether you can aim firearm powerups.

[BryanM]

I might be more willing to go with "third person ground shooter" or something akin to that.

Like Metal Slug?

The semantics can go in crazy circles. CABAL doesn't actively scroll during play; is it a Gallery Shooter? But you can still move your guy. And what the hell is "rail" really conveying here anyway; you're on Rails in House of the Dead, aren't you?

But still it's the best fit for term we have; we know it just means "shooting into the screen as though it had depth, and you can move your guy". Tempest fits, we can't make a new bucket for everything, so Floor Rail Shooters (floor railers) it is.

(I mean, you spend 90% of the time in Super Mario World flying in the air. Does that really change what it is all that much?)

[Mortificator]

I'm thinking "x clone" is the least ambiguous way to describe many video game styles. What's a Cabal clone? It's a game like Cabal. No semantics necessary.

[BryanM]

What's CABAL? Sounds like a Cadash clone.

[system11]

How about '3rd person gallery shooter'?

[boagman]

I might be more willing to go with "third person ground shooter" or something akin to that.

Like Metal Slug?

The semantics can go in crazy circles. CABAL doesn't actively scroll during play; is it a Gallery Shooter? But you can still move your guy. And what the hell is "rail" really conveying here anyway; you're on Rails in House of the Dead, aren't you?

But still it's the best fit for term we have; we know it just means "shooting into the screen as though it had depth, and you can move your guy". Tempest fits, we can't make a new bucket for everything, so Floor Rail Shooters (floor railers) it is.

(I mean, you spend 90% of the time in Super Mario World flying in the air. Does that really change what it is all that much?)

Well, MS already falls more into the run-n-gun category, and there's a specific difference: in MS, you're seeing your character in profile, whereas in the type of game we're referring to here (see how I not-so-gracefully dodged that? ), you see your character from behind, thus "third person", which, as you point out, isn't completely accurate, either.

"CABAL clone" is sounding better all the time, I guess.

[boagman]

How about '3rd person gallery shooter'?

I could live with this.

[louisg]

They're Cabal-alikes. If they scroll and manage to keep the gameplay similar, then that's groovy. Something like S&P1 is just about borderline as it is. It's definitely NOT in the same category with Space Harrier any more than Mercs and DoDonPachi are in the same category.

[BryanM]

What about Galaga then? Only 1 pane of movement.

[D]

Great thread. So what is the best, what do you call this genre anyway? cabal shooter?
I'll have try all of them. Curious about Gamshara. I love Mitchell Corp.

[Ghegs]

I looked into Gamshara when I saw the PCB for sale, but a video on Nico showed high-level gameplay that was very boring to watch, it's just milking to a ridiculous degree.

[undamned]

What about Galaga then? Only 1 pane of movement.

Wrong camera angle
-ud

[szycag]

I wish I could get a better look at Gamshara, hardly any videos on Youtube where you can see the game clearly. Pretty sure someone brought it to a shmupmeet I was at one time.

[Ed Oscuro]

What about Galaga then? Only 1 pane of movement.

Wrong camera angle
-ud

More importantly, no 2D aiming reticle. Not a serious counter-example anyway.

[system11]

I wish I could get a better look at Gamshara, hardly any videos on Youtube where you can see the game clearly. Pretty sure someone brought it to a shmupmeet I was at one time.

It looks a little crappy in person too - it's interlaced. I imagine with Youtube only being 30fps it's quite hard to capture how it looks.

[dave4shmups]

Great thread, I love these types of shooters! I pumped a lot of quarters into Blood Bros. my freshman year of college; awesome game!

Turok on the GBA looks like a fantastic mix of run-and-gun and Cabal-style action!

[Specineff]

Would Iwanaga count?