An Ultimate List of Rail-Shooters: A work in progress.

RTS, FPS, Sports, Adventure, etc.
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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: Other Rail Shooters like Sin & Punishment/Panzer series?

Post by prfsnl_gmr »

Breetai wrote:
I would not put NAM 1975 (Neo Geo) on this list at all.
I agree that the games that I listed may not seem like rail shooters; however, I am hard pressed to see how their game play differs in any significant way from the other titles on the list. In every instance, the player controls a character from a third-person perspective while aiming a targeting reticule. Moreover, in each instance, the player's progress follows a predetermined path over time. The only differences that I can see between the games that I listed and Panzer Dragoon Orta, for example, are that, in the games that I listed, the characters movement is confined to the lower half of the screen and the rails move from left to right rather than from the background to the foreground.

If any game should be removed, it is Cabal since the levels in that game are completely static. To me, Cabal - a very fun game by the way - is like the great-great-grandfather of rail shooters, and its influence is clearly seen in games like NAM-1975, Wild Guns, and Sin & Punishment.

By my definition of a rail shooter (third person perspective, targeting reticule, and predetermined progress), I would think that the even numbered levels from NES Contra would count as rail shooters. Thoughts?
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Re: Other Rail Shooters like Sin & Punishment/Panzer series?

Post by Breetai »

prfsnl_gmr wrote:By my definition of a rail shooter (third person perspective, targeting reticule, and predetermined progress), I would think that the even numbered levels from NES Contra would count as rail shooters. Thoughts?
In that case, I guess NAM 1975 would be on it. Would you consider The Super Spy on the Neo Geo a rail shooter?
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Re: Other Rail Shooters like Sin & Punishment/Panzer series?

Post by emwearz »

Zombie Panic in Wonderland for Wiiware is sort of like that but the screen is static.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NExs5s-kqSI
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Re: Other Rail Shooters like Sin & Punishment/Panzer series?

Post by Opa Opa »

corn619 wrote:Although its not like Panzer or Sin & Punishment, Killer 7 has rail shooter type elements to it.
That one is hard to fit in this genre. Even though it's on rails I think it's a fps/puzzle solver.
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Re: Other Rail Shooters like Sin & Punishment/Panzer series?

Post by Opa Opa »

Betamax001 wrote:These are a bit different, but what about light gun games? They are rail shooters as well. Virtua Cop, Time Crisis, House of the Dead...fun stuff!
I'll probably make a thread asking about the best arcade style light gun games but I'm focusing on Space Harrier/Panzer Dragoon style games right now. Thanks though. I really like house of the dead. I haven't played Virtua Cop. I need to try it out.
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Re: Other Rail Shooters like Sin & Punishment/Panzer series?

Post by emwearz »

Oh yea, After Burner Climax - XBLA (PSN?) seems to play like this.
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Re: Other Rail Shooters like Sin & Punishment/Panzer series?

Post by Opa Opa »

emwearz wrote:Oh yea, After Burner Climax - XBLA (PSN?) seems to play like this.
That game is completely awesome. I played the sit down arcade cabinet that swings you around when you move and violently shakes when you get shot down.
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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: Other Rail Shooters like Sin & Punishment/Panzer series?

Post by prfsnl_gmr »

Breetai wrote:
prfsnl_gmr wrote:By my definition of a rail shooter (third person perspective, targeting reticule, and predetermined progress), I would think that the even numbered levels from NES Contra would count as rail shooters. Thoughts?
In that case, I guess NAM 1975 would be on it. Would you consider The Super Spy on the Neo Geo a rail shooter?
Good discussion. I have never played The Super Spy, but I watched a short YouTube clip of the game in action. (It looks very unique.) I would not consider it to be a rail shooter, since it is played from a first-person perspective and it appears that the player acts from a fixed location on the screen - but controls the scrolling. To me, this game seems like a proto-FPS.
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Re: Other Rail Shooters like Sin & Punishment/Panzer series?

Post by Hatta »

Try Novastorm for DOS/3DO.
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Re: Other Rail Shooters like Sin & Punishment/Panzer series?

Post by noiseredux »

Dragon Drive (GameCube)
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Blades Of Thunder (GBA)
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Defender (GCN)
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