Posted by Eos
Sat, 23 Sep 2006 22:09:00 GMT
Yes, it’s that time of the year again – Shubun no hi, the Japanese Autumnal equinox Day. To celebrate this special occasion, I’m going to feature a game. A game “of the month”, if you will. And I use this phrase very loosely because it’s not so much an “award” as it is brownie points. Well, it’s more like pats on the head or giving a gold star to a well-deserved child or a three-dollar martini.
So without further ado, I’d like to present this three-dollar martini to Fren-ze, a vertical shooter with vivid, vibrant colours. It’s probably a bit too dazzling because my poor little blue fighter can’t seem to last 5 minutes. I blame my genetic code that lacks the SHMUP DNA that would otherwise let me do this.
Posted in Shoot-em-ups, Community, Windows | 3 comments
Posted by Albert Lai
Tue, 19 Sep 2006 13:12:00 GMT
Invalid Tangram, screenshot
aside, may seem like another puzzle game, possibly asking you to complete more
and more difficult tangrams in order to escape from a diabolical room, or something.
But no! Invalid Tangram is instead a fast-paced STG/Shmup (Which one do we
use again?) developed for a Guildhall exhibition. Similar to games made by Mr.
ABA himself, Invalid Tangram is simultaneously creative and enjoyable to play
– though enemy sprites could use a bit of a makeover.
Gameplay itself is simple. Enemies come in four colors – destroying them causes
a block to fall and stack on the bottom of the screen. You, the strange tangram…thing,
can absorb similarly colored blocks to upgrade your attacks for a limited amount
of time. A more in-depth explanation can always be accessed from the tutorial
function. As it should.
Posted in Shoot-em-ups, Windows, Freeware | 3 comments
Posted by Eos
Fri, 01 Sep 2006 00:47:00 GMT
Speaking of competitions, SHMUP-DEV has just announced their AutoFire 2007 Shooter Competition. There’s a nice booty for the winner – tons of free games, and of course , the $250 prize money.
There’s only one basic rule for the contest – you guessed it – “The game must have an autofire feature. It can be the primary and only weapon, a powerup, or another weapon in the game.”
There’re already 5 titles in the registered entries section. So make sure you register and post before the deadline of January 1st if you’re interested.
Posted in Shoot-em-ups, Community, Competitions | 1 comment
Posted by Tim
Mon, 14 Aug 2006 06:53:00 GMT
The latest Shmup-Dev competition results are out, but with very little to cheer for as most participants either dropped out of the contest or were disqualified.
Still, there are seven playable entries though many are not particularly striking either. Plus the innumerable delays had caused a loss of interest when the actual winners were announced.
I was also expecting to read different views for best graphics, sound and most unique category but we’re left with vanilla reviews which is slightly disappointing.
Could the uninspiring prizes be the reason for a lack of success this time around? Or the contest frequency itself? We can only wonder.
A round of applause goes out for of all the contestants. Finishing a game can be a rather daunting task and they deserve credit for the attempt.
Posted in Shoot-em-ups, Competitions, Freeware | 7 comments
Posted by Tim
Mon, 14 Aug 2006 06:52:00 GMT
The latest release from Mr. Warning Forever, RAY-HOUND is an action game which requires no shooting from the player’s part. Trapped in a room with enemies consisting of turrets, you can retaliate by clicking on the left mouse button to muster a shield and send their shots back at them. The other method is to move your ship towards the lasers rapidly to initiate a boost and repel the beams of destruction.
In the options menu, it is possible to adjust and increase the chances of boosting with quick mouse movements by lowering the figure. Press F11 or use the ALT and enter key combination to play in full screen mode.
A timer is always counting down, but you can increase it by destroying all enemies to complete the level. The gameplay system is pretty offbeat, since it can be rather hard to direct shots unless the player is adept at slinging projectiles.
(Source: the2bears)
Posted in Shoot-em-ups, Windows, Freeware, Doujin | 2 comments
Posted by Tim
Thu, 10 Aug 2006 16:16:00 GMT
JIG’s flashy game competition. Are you guys excited about playing flash games all day long? So many competitions to write about…
But let’s begin with the Retro Remakes Competition, a contest consisting of entrants mostly in their 30s (and serious enough to code until the end). I mean, look at the list of entries. I’ll attempt to play every single entry but there’s no possible way for me to write about all of them. No, sir. 150 games! Madness, these old fogies.
Perhaps I’ll talk about one, since I’m in the mood to mention some shmups today. Just a sampler of the flood of games to come. A remake featuring Vic Viper, yes…
Well, there’s no demo yet so we just have to be content with gawking at the limited screenshots. Looking pretty faithful, I must say. And if you’re thinking that it’s just another Gradius remake, note that it’s done by the guys from Ovine by Design – master of remakes. I suppose we can expect reasonable quality from them. Plus that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Posted in Remakes, Shoot-em-ups, Windows, Competitions, Previews | no comments
Posted by Tim
Tue, 08 Aug 2006 14:55:00 GMT
A trend presumably started by Postman from Shoot the Core, this peculiar gimmick of naming things really took off when Zun began shooting bullets.
Now we have Hyper Wars: The Mega Firestorm taking the Zero Wing route. Currently a work in progress, the author cites influences ranging from Truxton to Raiden and several other classic arcade shmups from the yesteryear. Imagine cramming them all into a Game Boy display and we have a basic idea of what this Game Maker effort is all about.
Standard power-ups and boss encounters like the one pictured above can all be expected out of this humorous production. But watch out for the strong language, though.
Posted in Shoot-em-ups, Windows, Freeware, Previews | 6 comments
Posted by Tim
Tue, 01 Aug 2006 10:18:00 GMT
This post serves two purposes. One, to offer a crash course on STGs (ShooTing Games) by recommending the brilliant shmup documentary on this site. The 200MB video can be subtitled by using the free VLC player, both available on the same page.
If bullet-dodging is your forte, then skip right ahead to eXceed 2nd Vampire. Fans of Ikaruga will be familiar with the gameplay system. Change polarity using the C key, press the Z key to shoot, absorb bullets to charge your special weapon, etc. The 70MB trial version will take a while to download, but it’s not really a bad deal with four levels to blast through. Have fun.
Posted in Shoot-em-ups, Windows, Freeware | 7 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 18 Jul 2006 02:07:00 GMT
“An experimental shoot-em-up. An experimental shooter with minimal art assets. Use your different weapons to destroy the waves of ships. The longer you last, the harder it gets. 20 stages in total, each 1 minute long. If you die you lose your score and retreat one stage. Enemy ship configurations are partially random.”
From the creator of Fleafall comes this lil’ mini-shooter. Although at first glance it seems quite simple, you’ll soon realize that you can’t just hold down the fire button(s). Enemies can set up shields to block your shots and sometimes won’t put down their guard unless you ease up on the firepower. I still don’t think I’ve quite figured out what’s going on exactly.
Negatives: the controls feel a bit floaty to me, and it can get quite annoying trying to get past those damn shields after a while.
Posted in Shoot-em-ups, Windows, Freeware | 1 comment
Posted by Tim
Sun, 09 Jul 2006 21:33:00 GMT
Old news to some, but since it’s not on TIGSource yet (and we can never get enough of KC, can’t we) let’s talk a bit about Val & Rick. (direct download)
As translated by the2bears, Mr. Cho says: “Val & Rick was a sample game for people who want to create their own shmup, and I released it on the forum for shmup developers.” Makes you wonder what other goodies he has posted on this mysterious forum.
Back to the game. Val & Rick is probably the precursor to Gunroar, featuring similar controls but in a different environment. Only 2D sprites and backgrounds are used in what seems like a tribute to Xevious and Star Soldier.
It could be a prototype although the game is pretty much complete and bug free. No information page was ever made for it either. Press the Z key to shoot and hold down the X key to fix the direction of your aim.
A power-up icon in the shape of a tiny ship named Rick will appear if you collect enough blue orbs from defeated enemies, which is indicated at the bottom left of the screen. This will cause your ship to go into hyperdrive, that is until all energy is spent or your spacecraft takes damage from enemy bullets. Each successful hyperdrive attempt increases the counter by another hundred.
The X key can also be used to drop bombs on grounded objects. Tap the P key to pause. The closer your ship is to the top of the screen, the faster it scrolls.
For another excellent Star Soldier tribute, visit Studio SiestA’s Soldier Force page. This one is going to cost you, but it doesn’t disappoint. (just ask dess!)
(Image from the2bears)
Posted in Shoot-em-ups, Windows, Freeware | no comments
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