Snarboo

@Snarboo

they/he

I play video games!

Snarboo @Snarboo6/28/2023, 9:20 PM

Snarboo @Snarboo

Snarboo @Snarboo4/25/2023, 11:48 PM

Made-up Genre of the Moment - Vertigo Shooters

Screenshots From:

Notable Features:

Vibes or Mechanics: A little from Column A, a little from Column B
Text or Graphics: Graphics to the Max!
2D or 3D: Almost exclusively 3D
Primary Perspective: Top-down
Real-time or Turn-based: Real-time
Alive or Dead: Deader than Disco
Back of the Box Blurb: The toppest of top-down shooter.

I wouldn't normally write a big summary for a genre I made up off the top of my head, but I admit the more I thought about this one, the more weight it had. It's also a style of game I wish would return, so here's a completely fabricated genre history to go with it:

#made-up genre of the moment #video games #genres #vibes #mechanics #Vertigo Shooters #take no prisoners #machine hunter #Red Zone #APE OUT

Snarboo @Snarboo6/28/2023, 9:20 PM

Bumping this to note that Take No Prisoners is now available on GOG and Steam! No clue how good this re-release is, but it's there if you want it.

#video games #retrogaming #RAVEN SOFTWARE #take no prisoners #Vertigo Shooters

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in reply to @Snarboo's post:

Ceryl the Pretty @ceryl4/26/2023, 2:10 AM

Loaded and its sequel Reloaded immediately come to mind as another, although Take No Prisoners feels like the ur-example of the (sub?)genre.

(Oh god I rechosted when I meant to comment!)

Snarboo @Snarboo4/26/2023, 2:14 AM

Loaded and its sequel were the first games I thought of when I was trying to recall this weird era of top-down shooter! I opted to pick Take No Prisoners since it had better screenshots on MobyGames, and also because I felt Loaded might have been too obvious/well known.

ROTSHARP, mirror-ape ogre @rotsharp4/26/2023, 2:20 AM

teleglitch?

Snarboo @Snarboo4/26/2023, 2:32 AM

I'd say yes! There's a different technique involved since it's 2D, but it still induces vertigo. The recent game Endoparasitic also uses a similar parallaxing technique to give the game depth.

Michael Klamerus @Michael-Klamerus4/26/2023, 2:28 AM

would like to add Mageslayer to the list https://www.mobygames.com/game/3103/mageslayer/

Snarboo @Snarboo4/26/2023, 2:35 AM

YES, this was top of the list for this post, but I didn't want to feature two Raven games! This also jogged a memory of a more recent game that looked very similar to Mageslayer, but dealt with heavier themes. I need to dig through my Steam library to see if I can find it.

Gretchen Leigh @gretchenleigh4/26/2023, 3:26 AM

When you get further into the fifth generation, I see this mini-genre evolving into a strange variety of top-down-ish third-person shooter epitomized by games like Silent Bomber, Apocalypse, Expendable... and probably a bunch more that I'm forgetting. They aren't really quite the same vibe, but they do the top-down in 3D thing with less claustrophobic environments and more big, cinematic set pieces.

Snarboo @Snarboo4/26/2023, 5:58 PM

When put like this, it seems as though top-down shooters evolved in the same way FPS games did once the "WOW!" factor of 3D died down. Both genres went from claustrophobic environments and aggressive architecture to more open, cinematic experiences. I feel like this transition was less jarring for FPS games since they were always 3D, where as top-down shooters lost a lot of depth as they slowly transitioned to more sensible spaces and better camera usage.

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