After the realease of Jeff Minters Lamasoft production I have discovered that I really is missing the originality of 2d shooters of the 8-bit area. ANCIPITAL is still one of my favorite 2d shoot-em-up simply becourse it is whithout any real competition in gamplay-design. But there is a lot of titels from the past which had original twist in the gameplay, making them a very different game - something besides: run and gun games & schmms. Look at; Wizball, Beach Head, Defender, Hunter’s Moon, Citadel, Paradroid etc. Where are the innovation in this genre today? I mean, the 2d platform-genre is stil evolving, but is there any games with new takes in the 2d shooters?
Well I have tried a lot - and most Pages just show; SCHMUPS (spaceship/fly/humanwitch) killing all enemies in an ongoing scrolling game. Or run-and-gun games (solder/bad-as) jumping and driving in a sideways scroller to kill as many enemies as possible. I have even tried to sheach on 50 games like steamworld heist, as this is one of the very few alternative shooters I know on the switch. And all which apeared was tactical/strategic roleplayng games, 3D shooters and others genre. Non 2d shooters.
So if you Can give me some good search-Words I would be very happy.
The originality in modern shmups is mostly the intricate scoring systems. Dedicated shmup fans generally regard the bullet hell sub-genre as the final perfected form of the shmup. There's the odd retro-style shmup (like a "Gradius" or "R-Type") release but they aren't often highly regarded among hardcore fans. So bullet hell is where shmups ended up.
Why aren't there more varied 2D shooters like back in the day? I remember back in the golden age of arcades, where each cabinet felt completely different and new compared to the one next to it, and to the next, and so on. That was before genres became more defined so they were all experimenting off into wildly different directions. Certain games became big hits, so you get copycats, and then that idea is run into the ground and exhausted. 2D games have been being made for nearly 50 years now, so it's very difficult to dream up something that hasn't yet been done, and if you do, it's probably an iteration of something that has.
"It's like Mario but...", "It's like Contra but...", "It's like Mega Man but...", and sometimes there is no but. They are just slightly different clones of old games hoping for some nostalgia bucks.
Your are absolut right about genres - since the cost of development is skyhigh today - compared to the very begining of videogames. Higher Price means less willingness to try something new - since your not sure to earn enough.
But What surprises me is, that it seems to me, that there is more willingness to try new things in 2d platforming-games than in 2d shooting games. Pehaps platforming is Selling better than 2d shooters?
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Topic: Where is the originality in 2d shooters
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