Crop Circles & Shoot Em ups...

[ST Dragon]

Swiv was one of the best shooters I had played on the good ‘ol Amiga back in the day. I loved its detailed & varied levels, the numerous enemy waves and the imposing laser beams of the bosses.
However, what I found very noticeable & interesting, were the Crop Circles left behind by an indestructible weird looking ship, as it flew away at the waste-lands in level 2.
This ship was completely different to any other you encounter in the game and its Alien-look & orientation is evident, leaving a direct innuendo of the “origins” of the crop-circles on earth.







Interestingly it looked very similar to the actual crop-circles scattered around the world:

The following look ideal for shoot em ups...
This one in particular looks similar to the one in Swiv:



This looks exactly like the ship sprite from Crisis Zone on the NES!





And doesn’t this remind you of the enemy waves in Project X on the AMIGA?







So it would seem that many Shoot Em Up artists were influenced by the crop-circles and their mysterious sci-fi themes after all!

[chempop]

Damn, thats very cool! I need to play more games with evil aliens as the enemies (not just weird biological monsters, but true sci-fi aliens). Any other recommendations?
I have a MAC and I've noticed that most doujin games are PC only... time to start having my housemate download me games to play on his rig.

[Dragoforce]

Awesome!

I'm quite sure that i've seen the Crisis Force pattern somewhere else... Think it had something to do with Wicca.

[Herr Schatten]

Swiv was one of the best shooters I had played on the good ‘ol Amiga back in the day.

Really? I mean, REALLY??
How many have you played?

Swiv was alright, I guess, but its main selling point were the seamless level transitions. On a sidenote: I just picked up the GBC port and I'm getting nowhere in it. It looks nice and has some great music, though.

[Gespenst]

Don't forget that phoenix-like pattern in Xevious.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Don't forget that phoenix-like pattern in Xevious.

I was about to mention those myself, They are taken from those designs you find in South America like the Nasca Lines in Peru



This is from Super Xevious

[Herr Schatten]

Don't forget that phoenix-like pattern in Xevious.

I was about to mention those myself, They are taken from those designs you find in South America like the Nasca Lines in Peru

Aren't those in Mushihimesama, too?

[Observer]

And aren't those in Super Aleste too? Been playing it and the enemies have that alien feeling too.

[Ixmucane2]

So it would seem that many Shoot Em Up artists were influenced by the crop-circles and their mysterious sci-fi themes after all!

Good research, but I'd rather say that many crop circle artists were influenced by shmup graphics and their mysterious sci-fi themes...

[ST Dragon]

So it would seem that many Shoot Em Up artists were influenced by the crop-circles and their mysterious sci-fi themes after all!

Good research, but I'd rather say that many crop circle artists were influenced by shmup graphics and their mysterious sci-fi themes...

For Project X & Crisis Zone maybe, but I don't think that's the case with Swiv. Those types of crop circles are the basic ones that have been observed countless times since the 70's (Before Swiv was created) and don’t seem to be influenced from any specific object or structure…

[ST Dragon]

Swiv was one of the best shooters I had played on the good ‘ol Amiga back in the day.

Really? I mean, REALLY??
How many have you played?

I would say around 50-60…
But Swiv along side, Agony, Apidya, Banshee, Disposable Hero, Project X, R-Type II, Saint Dragon, Stardust, Super Stardust, T-Zero & X-Out, are in fact the best shooters on the Amiga.

So, what else have I over looked and should try out?

Swiv was alright, I guess, but its main selling point were the seamless level transitions. On a sidenote: I just picked up the GBC port and I'm getting nowhere in it. It looks nice and has some great music, though.

In my opinion, Swiv is most memorable for its awesome explosions and those kick-ass laser beams that the Bosses fire! The animation of the blast is so imposing!
It also utilizes all the 64-Half-bright colours the A500 was capable of in OCS/ECS mode.
However, I always wondered why the programmers never bothered to add some in-game music?!

[Herr Schatten]

So, what else have I over looked and should try out?

I think you've played the most important ones. I was just puzzled, because I never thought much of Swiv gameplay-wise. I always found it a bit stiff, if you know what I mean. It's a technical marvel to gawk at, but not really a game I enjoy playing. I'd say the same about Agony, Project X, and X-Out. All of these are pretty much all style and no substance.

If you haven't played Z-Out and Battle Squadron, you should do so immediately. (I assume you have, but these are absent from your list and really do rank among the best shooters on the system.)

[ST Dragon]

Yeah, I’ve tried both Z-Out and Battle Squadron, but I found X-Out & Xenon 2 respectively, to be slightly better in comparison.

A few more AMIGA shooters I enjoyed (Especially Fly Harder & Sonic Boom)

Blastar
Carcharodon - White Sharks
Fly Harder
Katakis (Denaris)
Pegasus
Project X SE '93
R-Type
Silk Worm
Sonic Boom
Star Control

[guigui]

Don't forget that phoenix-like pattern in Xevious.

I was about to mention those myself, They are taken from those designs you find in South America like the Nasca Lines in Peru



This is from Super Xevious

Exactly same patterns are found in Shining Force 2, genesis. Although I suspect old school JRPG and shooting games are not quite the same.

[BulletMagnet]

I was about to mention those myself, They are taken from those designs you find in South America like the Nasca Lines in Peru.

Observer is correct, Space Megaforce/Super Aleste also includes those in a pair of stage backgrounds, one on Earth and one on the alien homeworld if memory serves.

[Ed Oscuro]

Nasca / Nazca being the name of that developer formed of ex-Irem developers.

The guy who originated crop circles is already being hailed as one of the biggest unsung performance artists of the twentieth century (it was actually two guys but apparently one of them was the leader). Of course, now we're supposed to believe that aliens are emulating our crazy pressed-wheat patterns in hopes of communicating with us...much less intimidating and inconvenient to get some flattened crops than a giant purple slime dancing around on your doorstep, I guess.

One interesting thing about the Nasca lines is that one of a certain spider shows a "limb" coming off the leg of a spider design - this is actually the male spider's male part and is considered microscopic, so how they managed to see it and thought it was important enough to include (even if far larger than real size) is probably an open question. Maybe they borrowed some of those aspheric lenses the Vikings had shipped from the far lenses to focus in on it.

[sunburstbasser]

We've got crop circles and Nazca drawings and these guys haven't been mentioned?

[ST Dragon]

We've got crop circles and Nazca drawings and these guys haven't been mentioned?

Gradius!
Actually they looked so natural shooting those rings & bubbles out of their mouths.
If memory serves me right, two gigantic versions also served as Bosses in Gradius Gaiden...

[Ed Oscuro]

We've got crop circles and Nazca drawings and these guys haven't been mentioned?

They seem to have a pouty lip for not having been mentioned, but they should just deal with it because they get mentioned more than enough!

Ahh, surprise red swiveling Moai heads, what will they think of next?!

p.s. I love that Stage in Gradius Galaxies / Generation / Advance because the boss battle adds nearly 1/4 the value of my score up to that point.

[ZOM]

If memory serves me right, two gigantic versions also served as Bosses in Gradius Gaiden...

How could anyone forget? " 'think you can beat me with that?! Loser! "

[Udderdude]

You guys have got it the other way around. Clearly the aliens played those shmups, and then made crop circles so their incoming invasion would look more authentic .. >_>

[sunburstbasser]

Going by that logic, three starfighters should be enough to stop the invasion.

We'll add a fourth one if the pilots manage to shoot down 100,000 aliens.

BTW, Pyramids + Moai:

[Gespenst]

This is from Super Xevious

Even that thing became a superweapon after activated by the mothership in Xevious 3d/g's ending lol.

[Ed Oscuro]

BTW, Pyramids + Moai:

just look at this poor game

what is bullet, what is friend? mystery.

[Shatterhand]

Yeah, I’ve tried both Z-Out and Battle Squadron, but I found X-Out & Xenon 2 respectively, to be slightly better in comparison.

This is the most crazy thing in the whole topic. How can someone rate X-Out better than Z-Out and Xenon 2 better than anything (specially Battle Squadron)?

[ZOM]

BTW, Pyramids + Moai:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... meplay.png

just look at this poor game

what is bullet, what is friend? mystery.

Never had trouble distinguishing those while actually playing the game. But looking at a still really does look like a complete mess.
Never liked that particular stage anyway.

[sunburstbasser]

BTW, Pyramids + Moai:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... meplay.png

just look at this poor game

what is bullet, what is friend? mystery.

Never had trouble distinguishing those while actually playing the game. But looking at a still really does look like a complete mess.
Never liked that particular stage anyway.

I'd say its the weakest stage in the game, personally. I couldn't think of any other game with pyramids off the top of my head though (not counting the double-pyramid Stone Like).

Anybody know a shmup with a Stone Henge level?

[Ed Oscuro]

I couldn't think of any other game with pyramids off the top of my head though (not counting the double-pyramid Stone Like).

Daioh, GG Aleste (one of them), Crisis Force, possibly more.

[Herr Schatten]

I couldn't think of any other game with pyramids off the top of my head though (not counting the double-pyramid Stone Like).

Daioh, GG Aleste (one of them), Crisis Force, possibly more.

Lethal Xcess. (That one sucks pretty much, though.)

[Gespenst]

I couldn't think of any other game with pyramids off the top of my head though (not counting the double-pyramid Stone Like).

Tyrian2000 - Surface stage has lightning-firing pyramids.
Raiden DX - are those hidden pyramids counts?