Saturday, September 10, 2005
It's the rules... shoot 'em up edition
Shoot 'em ups, or shmups for the hardcore gamer who has reached a new level of laziness, are the grandfather of all genres. Haven't you ever noticed that Pong is a scaled-down shooter - one that takes place in the black nothingness of space but doesn't feature any guns or spaceships? No? Well, the real first video game of all time is actually Space War. I honestly have no clue what this game is about, other than its origination in some MIT lab; if my keen sense of word knowledge is right, it's clearly some sort of War game that takes place in Space - probably with a little ship shooting crap. If shooters have been around since the very beginning of gaming, if they are such a fundamental form of entertainment, why are they losing popularity at such a rapid pace as to soon become extinct? I blame MTV.
Thankfully, a few shooters still woo the hidden muse deep within developers, so we see the occasional twitch and curse journey on store shelves alongside eXtreme crap and raunchy sequels. Admittedly, in my old age I have veered away from these gems along with the gaming community as a whole. Honestly, they are simply too hard for me. I can remember the last time I got to the end of one, and if you can believe this I didn't even have the option of upgrading my operating system to Windows 95 at the time. But sometimes, when either old school guilt becomes overwhelming or Nick's insistence becomes physical, I fire up a taste.
Man this is ugly
Considering that video games were birthed via the exploding joy that is a shooter, it's not surprising that these are some of the simplest games around. Forced scrolling action either vertically or horizontally (I prefer vertically), you as a lone ship versus an unending swarm of enemies. There is no story to speak of, but a large amount of weaponry and plenty of flashy displays of formation flight by the all-too-happy-to-be-destroyed opposition. There are always a finite number of lives, which usually borders on ridiculously small, as well as the lovely mechanic of getting killed each time you're touched. And that's about it.
If that is all there is to shooters, what separates the gems from the, um, smeg? With a few exceptions (namely Einhander and Ikaruga) that I will not get into because they ruins my theory, every good shooter needs two player co-op and a variety of powerups that are acquired in an interesting way. It's not a coincidence that my favorite shooter of all time, and the last such game I actually finished, happens to have the coolest upgrades of any title I have played.
Since I can never actually remember the name of my favorite shoot 'em up of all time I was forced to use Google to solve my problems. I typed in "space shooter carrot ship" and, lo and behold, the seventh site to come up was one dedicated to the wonder of Tyrian. Granted, the site in question is about Tyrian 2000. I can assure you that, when I was playing through the ordinal adventure, a date as astronomically high as 2000 was so laughable Conan O'Brien was banned from my house for merely joking about it.
Just picture this with a carrot ship
Anyway, if I know my readers, and I assure you I don't (I'm writing about a decade old game no one else has even heard of for Christ's sake), they are intrigued, to say the least, at what I typed in to find this elusive game. First, let me explain how the upgrades in this classic work. Instead of merely picking up new weapons with each defeated enemy ship, you earn points for everything you do. At the end of levels, when your crew of one is exhausted from mass genocide, you can chose what weapons you would like in the next level. Everything is upgradeable, from what type of weapon you fire to where it fires out of (usually guns... but from where?) and, finally, upgrades to the ship itself. While I remember little about the actual gameplay, I do know that after playing through for more time than just about any current game, I finally upgraded my ship to be the ultimate killing machine: a body that took the form (and Vitamin A goodness) of a carrot and guns that fired twirling bananas. Any game that builds to being able to sling fruit at your enemies is clearly a classic any way you look at it. Just imagine what you would be flinging if the captain of your ship was a monkey.
While Tyrian is amazing because it featured the best upgrade system ever and a kicking two player mode, Nanostray for the Nintendo DS is severely lacking because neither of these key components are present. First of all, there is a two player mode, but you merely storm through bland levels in a score attack showdown. Considering the technology for two player cooperative play is clearly present, it's quite shocking that they decided to include this lame diversion instead of a true 2 player experience. Potentially even more embarrassing is the way weapons are handled - for some bizarre reason, you immediately start with four different guns, and as far as I can tell you acquire no new means of destruction along the way. To top things off, you are forced to take your hands off of the buttons to switch, manually tapping a section of the touch screen. The game looks awesome and handles just fine, but not including the two most important rules of shoot 'em ups doomed this to the "don't buy at all costs" pile.
So much potential... lost
Finally, after some 957 words, I am finally at the reason I began this column in the first place. Nick and I enjoyed a healthy round of Gradius V the other day and I am still sweating from the experience. Thankfully, Konami somehow heeded my advice, though the game was finished long before this post was typed, and included what should be the standard two player mode as well as an interesting, and fun, upgrade system. Since this horizontal shooter is standard in every other way except this (which is a very good thing) I'll expand on how it works and little else.
First, you have a box at the bottom of the screen comprised of six sections. When you grab an upgrade, which fall out of random exploding ships, each section, in chronological order, lights up. So, if you want to use the first upgrade, which makes your ship fly faster, you only need one upgrade icon and away you go. If you don't use it right away, however, you can collect even more upgrades which, obviously, are more important than a faster ship. If you collect two icons you get missiles, which are weak but fire in every direction. Three yields double the fire power. Four power-ups give you lasers. And six does something Nick and I couldn't quite figure out.
Five power-ups give you Multiple and, as you can see, this requires an entire paragraph all alone. Like in the R-Type series, if you decide to upgrade Multiple you get a tiny ball floating behind your ship which, shockingly enough, joins you in firing at enemies. It seems like you can collect as many as four different spheres which, I can assure you, transforms your ship into a major killing machine. What's even cooler is each of the four available ships use the multiples in an interesting way. By holding R1 you can move them around in different ways depending on what you chose. My favorite is the utterly ridiculous circle rotation ability. You can create a nauseating light show by upgrading to lasers and constantly firing while rotating these bad boys around your ship. Pure joy.
There goes the blood pressure again
While Gradius V gave me fits the first two times through, on the third attempt (starting from scratch each time) I entered a zone which all shooter fans can identify with. After Nick was obliterated once and for all I was possessed with, dare I say, Japanese-level maneuverability. Juking in and out of boss-fired laser beams, I stormed through my deadly foes with nary a life lost. Granted, after playing ten or so minutes without getting touched once, I eventually found death the hard way and, losing all my upgrades in the process, promptly ran through my remaining lives before I could regain my stride. For those moments of bliss, however, I was able to appreciate how an industry which started from this humble genre was able to grow so large.
Thankfully, a few shooters still woo the hidden muse deep within developers, so we see the occasional twitch and curse journey on store shelves alongside eXtreme crap and raunchy sequels. Admittedly, in my old age I have veered away from these gems along with the gaming community as a whole. Honestly, they are simply too hard for me. I can remember the last time I got to the end of one, and if you can believe this I didn't even have the option of upgrading my operating system to Windows 95 at the time. But sometimes, when either old school guilt becomes overwhelming or Nick's insistence becomes physical, I fire up a taste.
Man this is ugly
Considering that video games were birthed via the exploding joy that is a shooter, it's not surprising that these are some of the simplest games around. Forced scrolling action either vertically or horizontally (I prefer vertically), you as a lone ship versus an unending swarm of enemies. There is no story to speak of, but a large amount of weaponry and plenty of flashy displays of formation flight by the all-too-happy-to-be-destroyed opposition. There are always a finite number of lives, which usually borders on ridiculously small, as well as the lovely mechanic of getting killed each time you're touched. And that's about it.
If that is all there is to shooters, what separates the gems from the, um, smeg? With a few exceptions (namely Einhander and Ikaruga) that I will not get into because they ruins my theory, every good shooter needs two player co-op and a variety of powerups that are acquired in an interesting way. It's not a coincidence that my favorite shooter of all time, and the last such game I actually finished, happens to have the coolest upgrades of any title I have played.
Since I can never actually remember the name of my favorite shoot 'em up of all time I was forced to use Google to solve my problems. I typed in "space shooter carrot ship" and, lo and behold, the seventh site to come up was one dedicated to the wonder of Tyrian. Granted, the site in question is about Tyrian 2000. I can assure you that, when I was playing through the ordinal adventure, a date as astronomically high as 2000 was so laughable Conan O'Brien was banned from my house for merely joking about it.
Just picture this with a carrot ship
Anyway, if I know my readers, and I assure you I don't (I'm writing about a decade old game no one else has even heard of for Christ's sake), they are intrigued, to say the least, at what I typed in to find this elusive game. First, let me explain how the upgrades in this classic work. Instead of merely picking up new weapons with each defeated enemy ship, you earn points for everything you do. At the end of levels, when your crew of one is exhausted from mass genocide, you can chose what weapons you would like in the next level. Everything is upgradeable, from what type of weapon you fire to where it fires out of (usually guns... but from where?) and, finally, upgrades to the ship itself. While I remember little about the actual gameplay, I do know that after playing through for more time than just about any current game, I finally upgraded my ship to be the ultimate killing machine: a body that took the form (and Vitamin A goodness) of a carrot and guns that fired twirling bananas. Any game that builds to being able to sling fruit at your enemies is clearly a classic any way you look at it. Just imagine what you would be flinging if the captain of your ship was a monkey.
While Tyrian is amazing because it featured the best upgrade system ever and a kicking two player mode, Nanostray for the Nintendo DS is severely lacking because neither of these key components are present. First of all, there is a two player mode, but you merely storm through bland levels in a score attack showdown. Considering the technology for two player cooperative play is clearly present, it's quite shocking that they decided to include this lame diversion instead of a true 2 player experience. Potentially even more embarrassing is the way weapons are handled - for some bizarre reason, you immediately start with four different guns, and as far as I can tell you acquire no new means of destruction along the way. To top things off, you are forced to take your hands off of the buttons to switch, manually tapping a section of the touch screen. The game looks awesome and handles just fine, but not including the two most important rules of shoot 'em ups doomed this to the "don't buy at all costs" pile.
So much potential... lost
Finally, after some 957 words, I am finally at the reason I began this column in the first place. Nick and I enjoyed a healthy round of Gradius V the other day and I am still sweating from the experience. Thankfully, Konami somehow heeded my advice, though the game was finished long before this post was typed, and included what should be the standard two player mode as well as an interesting, and fun, upgrade system. Since this horizontal shooter is standard in every other way except this (which is a very good thing) I'll expand on how it works and little else.
First, you have a box at the bottom of the screen comprised of six sections. When you grab an upgrade, which fall out of random exploding ships, each section, in chronological order, lights up. So, if you want to use the first upgrade, which makes your ship fly faster, you only need one upgrade icon and away you go. If you don't use it right away, however, you can collect even more upgrades which, obviously, are more important than a faster ship. If you collect two icons you get missiles, which are weak but fire in every direction. Three yields double the fire power. Four power-ups give you lasers. And six does something Nick and I couldn't quite figure out.
Five power-ups give you Multiple and, as you can see, this requires an entire paragraph all alone. Like in the R-Type series, if you decide to upgrade Multiple you get a tiny ball floating behind your ship which, shockingly enough, joins you in firing at enemies. It seems like you can collect as many as four different spheres which, I can assure you, transforms your ship into a major killing machine. What's even cooler is each of the four available ships use the multiples in an interesting way. By holding R1 you can move them around in different ways depending on what you chose. My favorite is the utterly ridiculous circle rotation ability. You can create a nauseating light show by upgrading to lasers and constantly firing while rotating these bad boys around your ship. Pure joy.
There goes the blood pressure again
While Gradius V gave me fits the first two times through, on the third attempt (starting from scratch each time) I entered a zone which all shooter fans can identify with. After Nick was obliterated once and for all I was possessed with, dare I say, Japanese-level maneuverability. Juking in and out of boss-fired laser beams, I stormed through my deadly foes with nary a life lost. Granted, after playing ten or so minutes without getting touched once, I eventually found death the hard way and, losing all my upgrades in the process, promptly ran through my remaining lives before I could regain my stride. For those moments of bliss, however, I was able to appreciate how an industry which started from this humble genre was able to grow so large.
// posted by Tom @ 9:01 AM 
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