Good/Interesting Operation Wolf-style games?

[4ppleseed]

Hi all,
I'm doing a little research into the Operation Wolf-style, 2D, scrolling shooting gallery genre. Besides the sequels (Operation Wolf, Operation Thunderbolt, Operation Wolf 3 and Operation Tiger) Wikipedia has brought up Cabal, Blood Bros, Dynamite Duke, NAM-1975, Wild Guns, Laser Invasion.

Can you recommend me some more to check out? I'm especially interested in either, games made around the same time as Operation Wolf or games that push the boundaries of the genre for example do they all have to be Rambo-inspired war time games or futuristic space shooters?

I'm not sure I'd include non-scrolling, non-linear shooting gallery games like Point Blank in this list or the 3D on-rails House of the Dead type.


Any kooky titles out there I should have a look at? Or games that in your opinion perfect the genre better than Operation Wolf?

Thanks

[ExedExes]

I can think of a few.

Let's begin pre-Operation Wolf. Look up the company Exidy; they made all sorts of shooting gallery games. Crossbow is probably their most notable, also games like Chiller, Cheyenne, Showdown, Combat, and others.

Sega came out with a game called Shooting Master in 1986 that is very much a shooting gallery type game.

Sega also made Laser Ghost in 1990, which supported 3 players.

Namco made Steel Gunner & Steel Gunner 2 in the early 90s.

Don't forget Midway's Terminator 2 in 1991.

Those are a few to check out.

[flojocabron]

dont remember where I read it or saw it on youtube.

but i think theres a punisher game that may fit this.

[alienjesus]

Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie Barbeque on Nintendo DS is quite similar to those games, and worth a look. Zombie Panic in Wonderland on Wiiware is too, but not everyone likes download games.

Of the list you posted though, definitely try Wild Guns, it's awesome.

[J T]

Operation Wolf was originally a game you played in the arcade with a machine gun peripheral. When it was ported to the NES, you could play with the Zapper, or you could play it with a controller and crosshair.

The games you mentioned from wikipedia like Nam 1975 (classic game by the way), Blood Bros, Cabal, etc. are not light gun games, they are rail shooters. I made a thread about these once:
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 5&start=10

There are a lot of light gun threads on the boards already and at least one article from the main site (back when we thought the Wii was going to be called the Revolution):
http://www.racketboy.com/retro/best-lig ... revolution

[prfsnl_gmr]

Am I the only person who thought that the arcade version of Revolution X was a lot of (cheesy) fun?

[harper]

dont remember where I read it or saw it on youtube.

but i think theres a punisher game that may fit this.

Yep, Punisher on the NES.

Also Adventures of Bayou Billy (NES) has segments like this, if I remember correctly it's training mode B or something. I had more fun playing that than the rest of the actual game. haha

[J T]

Yeah, Bayou Billy on the NES is great as a mix of Beat em up and side scrolling zapper levels.

Mechanized Attack on the NES is another that is a more futuristic Operation Wolf.
Gotcha! The Sport! on the NES is kind of lame, but it fits in the genre.

Also, Gumshoe, which is my personal favorite NES Zapper game, is a side scroller where you also have to protect a character by shooting projectiles that might hit him and shooting him to make him jump. I've never seen another light gun game like Gumshoe.

[Hobie-wan]

Gangster Town for SMS.

[ExedExes]

Am I the only person who thought that the arcade version of Revolution X was a lot of (cheesy) fun?

I went as far as looking up the locations for all those damn wings so you can get the true ending -- I partied with Aerosmith for about $5-$10 in tokens in 2002

Mechanized Attack on the NES is another that is a more futuristic Operation Wolf.

OOF! How did I forget that one! Ripped off Operation Wolf so well, too.

I know some of his games were rail-shooters, but I'm just trying to focus on the fixed-gun games like Op Wolf.

In that case, I also remember --

Alien 3 The Gun (Sega)
Space Gun (Taito)
Beast Busters & Beast Busters Second Nightmare (SNK)

There are also a couple of ultra modern ones from Raw Thrills I've seen make the rounds, another one based on the Aliens franchise as well as Terminator Salvation.