Archive-name: games/video-games/shooters Posting-Frequency: biweekly Last-modified: September 26, 1999 Version: 1.5 URL: http://members.aol.com/fnlfanatic/arcanelore/agvsfaq.txt Copyright: (c) 1999 Zach Keene Maintainer: Zach Keene *************************************************************************** * Alt.games.video.shooters FAQ Version 1.5 * * FAQ Maintained by: Zach Keene * * Last Updated: 26 September 1999 * *************************************************************************** Table of Contents . . . . . . 16 1) Introduction . . . . . . . 39 2) Revision History . . . . . . 62 3) Credits . . . . . . . 97 4) Legal Crap . . . . . . . 123 5) About alt.games.video.shooters . . . . 143 5.1) What is alt.games.video.shooters about, anyway? . . 147 5.2) Regarding First-Person Shooters . . . . 163 5.3) How about platform shooters and light gun games? . 210 5.4) How did alt.games.video.shooters come about? . . 216 6) The History of Shooters, more or less... . . . 240 6.1) How did shooters get started? . . . . 249 6.2) What were early shooters like? . . . . 268 6.3) How about scrolling shooters? . . . . 302 6.4) What are platform shooters? . . . . 334 6.5) What are vector shooters? . . . . 339 7) Miscellaneous Shooter Information . . . . 378 7.1) What is the Konami Code, and why is it important? . 382 7.2) The AKA list . . . . . . 402 7.3) How can I play in Vertical Mode without all the LSD effects? 453 7.4) Where can I find out more about shooters on the Web? . 498 8) The End . . . . . . . 555 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ::: Introduction :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Welcome everyone to alt.games.video.shooters! If you're new to AGVS, please take a look at this FAQ to see what it's all about. If you're new to shooters as well, then read on to find out a little bit more about them. This FAQ was written using the world's most powerful typewriter, that blue-screened wonder, the MS-DOS Edit. For best results view with a monospace font (like Courier New), 75 characters a line, 8 characters a tab. Send any comments, corrections, additions, subtractions, suggestions, bribes, etc. to zjkeene@bellsouth.net Where to get the latest version of this FAQ ------------------------------------------- ftp://members.aol.com/fnlfanatic/arcanelore/agvsfaq.txt [This version is always current.] http://www.gamefaqs.com/ ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/faqs/games/video-games/shooters =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ::: Revision History :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Version 0.0 - 3 Apr 1999 - First proposal version of the alt.games.video.shooters FAQ. Version 1.0 - 5 Apr 1999 - First version of the alt.games.video.shooters FAQ. Version 1.1 - 21 Apr 1999 - Added AKA List - Added to the WWW resource list (one whole site, whoopee!) - Added definiton of vector games Version 1.2 - 26 Apr 1999 - Added one more site to the WWW resource list - Added some more questions regarding the status of FPS games in AGVS. - Added some information to the Konami Code, AKA List, and horizontal shooters sections. - Minor corrections here and there. Version 1.3 - 18 May 1999 - Added to the WWW resource list - The FAQ should now be availiable at the official FAQ archive at ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/faqs/games/video-games/shooters. Version 1.4 - 5 August 1999 - Added Vertical Mode section - Added a bit to the anti-spam clause of the Charter. Version 1.5 - 26 September 1999 - Added a site to the WWW list and removed a defunct link. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ::: Credits ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Benjamin - Gets his name here since I borrowed from his post in describing what is and is not on topic here. :) Joshua Kaufman - Pointed out a Konami code use I missed, as well as some AKA List and other information. King Kung - Gave suggestions as to what should be in the FAQ. Raymond McKeithen II - If my memory serves, gave me the suggestion to turn of the TV for a while to clear up colour distortion in Vertical Mode shooters. Kim Wild - Gave suggestions as to what should be in the FAQ. Thanks to everyone who sent me information about vector games. I thought Joel Schander explained it the best, so I quoted from his E-mail for the FAQ. Thanks also to Chris Gomez and Ross J. Micheals (did I forget anyone?) Thanks also to everyone who supported the creation of alt.games.video.shooters! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ::: Legal Crap :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The alt.games.video.shooters FAQ is (C) 1999 Zach Keene. As Grand Poo-bah of Copyrightedness, I grant upon thee the following rights: 1) Thou mayst give this FAQ to whomever you so choose. The key word here is "give". If anybody gets paid for this, it darn well better be me. :) 2) Thou mayst put this FAQ up on thine website, so long as it remains completely intact. And I do mean completely. All games and such mentioned in this FAQ are TM and C to whomever may hold the copyright. Zach Keene and the regulars of AGVS assume no responsibility for damage caused in any way by this FAQ, or by dropping your TV on your foot when you try to play RayForce in vertical mode. (See Question [7.3] for more legalese.) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ::: About alt.games.video.shooters :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [5.1] What is alt.games.video.shooters all about, anyway? Here is the official alt.games.video.shooters charter: " An unmoderated newsgroup dedicated to the discussion of the genre of videogames known as "shooters". Shooters have been around for much of the history of videogames themselves; early examples being Space Invaders and Galaxian, among others. Shooters have been released not only in the arcades, but also for almost every home videogame console ever produced. Shooter reviews, tips, strategies, FAQs, and requests for such will be on-topic in this newsgroup, as will any other shooter-related discussion. Commercial advertisements (spam) will be considered off-topic. " That last line especially applies to those advertising/searching for pirated copies (CD-R's) of games. [5.2] Regarding First-Person Shooters For convenience, first-person shooters will hereafter be abbreviated as "FPS's." [5.2.1] Are FPS's (DOOM et al) on topic here? No, for a couple of reasons: 1) Most popular FPS's already have newsgroups devoted to them. DOOM has several newsgroups, as do practically every FPS of fame up to and including Unreal. 2) Most FPS's emphasize exploration and puzzle-solving as much as, if not more than outright action, which practically places them into another genre entirely. Shooters of the type open to discussion here are based on a "shoot everything that moves" mentality. This isn't to say that FPS's are bad or that the regulars of AGVS do not like them (the FAQ author is rather partial to DOOM, himself), just that they do not belong here. [5.2.2] But the name of the group is alt.games.video.shooters! Surely that means FPS's are on topic also! If the name of the group were the only basis of what was allowed in a group, that might be true. However, all newsgroups are (supposed to be) created with a charter which clarifies the topic of a newsgroup beyond what is possible with a name alone. AGVS's charter has been reproduced in its entirety in section [5.1]. Should there still be any questions as to what a newsgroup's purpose is, a FAQ file is usually drawn up. This was the case with AGVS, after the members of the group (regardless of their personal opinions of FPS's) decided that they were a completely different genre of games than what the group was created for, and that FPS were therefore off topic. Most of the confusion surrounding this point is likely because of the fact that the newsgroup's creation was discussed in the console groups (particularly rec.games.video.sega) where the term "shooter" is understood by many to mean the kind of games discussed here unless prefaced by the "first-person" or any other appropriate label. Therefore the possibility of this confusion, while certainly predictable, was not forseen until it was too late to do anything about the name. [5.2.3] But who is going to look for the FAQ in a sea of messages? No one has to. The FAQ can always be found with little fuss via FTP or the WWW. See the Introduction section for links. [5.3] How about platform shooters (a la Contra) and light-gun games? While these can be quite different than the traditional shooters of the 1942 or Gradius mold, they are also based on a "shoot everything that moves" theme. Therefore, discussion of them will be welcome on AGVS. [5.4] How did alt.games.video.shooters come about? Sometime in late March of 1999, a poster to rec.games.video.sega was rather miffed at another RGVSega poster. Apparently there was some slander, flaming, and killfiling involved, but the important thing about this thread was that it drifted, as long threads often do, to a discussion about the idiocy of being fiercely loyal to a particular system or company. During that, an unsuspecting RGVSega regular posted the following line: > -That- is a great idea!! I'd be soooo cool to jump on > rec.games.video.shooters, and talk about ALL the great ones for ALL the > systems, instead of constant system bickering! At that point, a FAQ-writer, amateur Usenet junky, and all-around geek named Zach Keene happened to be reading, and took this message seriously. After taking an informal interest poll, he then wrote up a proposal for an "alt.games.shooters" and sent it to alt.config. For whatever reason, the regulars there (who are notoriously picky when it comes to new newsgroups) gave no opposition, other than suggesting the name be changed to "alt.games.video.shooters." So, one week later with no oppostion and 3 messages in support, alt.games.video shooters was created at about 1:30 PM CST on 2 April 1999. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ::: The History of Shooters, more or less... :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NOTE: I am afraid my knowledge of the early history of shooters, and videogames in general, is spotty at best. In this section, I'm going to try to hit upon the highlights of shooter history, but this is certainly not the definitive history of shooters. [6.1] How did shooters get started? Well, it just so happens that the first true videogame was a shooter of sorts. It all started back in the 1960s when the Massachutsetts Institute of Technology got a hold of a computer called the PDP-1. Soon after, an MIT student named Stephen Russell got a hold of it and created a game where two players each controlled a spaceship and attempted to destroy the other. This game, of course, was known as Spacewar!, and practically every computer and video game console for the next 30 years would end up with some variation of this game. (Asteroids could even be considered a variant of Spacewar!, since the general mechanics were similar, even if the goal was different.) (As an aside, in the late 80's the Commodore 64 magazine Compute!'s Gazette ran a variation of Spacewar! called Delta War that claimed to be 300-something games in one. True, if you considered every possible combination of ship speed, gravity source, and other miscellaneous options to be a separate game. And you thought massive over-hyping was a recent invention. :) [6.2] What were early shooters like? I know I'm skipping 20 years and who knows how many games, but as far as I know the next important type of shooters would be the static-screened wonders from the early 80's (late 70's?). The prime example would be Space Invaders. For those of you who missed out, Space Invaders was a very simple game where several rows of alien-looking things slowly (and later, not so slowly) descend on your laser cannon, with only 4 destructable blocks between you and them. Your mission, should you have chosen to accept it, was to blast them all. And then do it again. And again. Namco's Galaxian was very similar, except for a few things. 1) It was in colour. 2) The aliens stayed at the top of the screen for the most part, while formations of one, two, or three ships would drop down to attack you. Namco expanded on this a bit with Galaga, an excellent variation of Galaxian where the aliens had the ability to capture your ship... but you had the ability to get it back, and then you would have double the firepower. Galaga might not have been the first game to have bonus stages, but they were certainly put to good use here. Also worth mentioning for a hoot was Bally/Midway's Gorf, an odd shooter that cycled through four screens: the first being a Space Invader clone, the second being a more Galaxian-ish level with far fewer enemies, the third some sort of Space Warp where some blue thing rotates outward from the center of the screen, and finally: the Flagship, a large blue craft that flies back and forth across the top of the screen while you chip away at it from below. Robotron was another static-screen shooter worth mentioning. You had free reign of the entire screen, and you had to shoot an endless number of enemies while trying to save the humans wandering around on screen. The most innovative thing about Robotron was probably the dual joystick system, where one joystick controlled your character's movement while the other controlled where you fired. This system was used in the later Robotron descendants Smash TV and Total Carnage. [6.3] How about scrolling shooters? [6.3.1] Vertical shooters While Xevious wasn't the first scrolling vertical shooter, it is probably the best example of one. Xevious put you in control of a fighter with the ability to fire at flying enemies and to bomb at ground based enemies, as you flew across various landscapes from fields to rivers to lakes to deserts and back again. Other good examples of vertical shooters include Capcom's 194X series, Seibu Kaihatsu's Raiden series, Taito's RaySeries, and last but not least, Treasure's Radiant Silvergun. [6.3.2] Horizontal shooters Defender might not have been the first horizontal shooter (Joshua Kaufman has put forth that Scramble by Konami was; can anyone confirm/deny?), but it certainly makes for a good example. Defender was fairly simple: shoot stuff, rescue hostages. You had some control over which way you were going, but you always had to be going somewhere. As far as forced scrolling horizontal shooters go, probably the two most important were the Gradius and R-Type series. Gradius is well known mostly for its powerup bar at the bottom of the screen, where each powerup you pick up advances the bar one notch. When it gets to the powerup you want, push a button and presto! Extra lasers, missles, speed, or whatever. R-Type introduced this neat little pod that you could attach to either the back or front of your ship, use as a shield, use as a weapon, and all sorts of neato stuff. Finally, what shooter FAQ would be complete without mentioning Taito's fabulous Darius series, that contains more fish than your local Red Lobster. [6.4] What are platform shooters? A cross between a platform game (such as the Super Mario Bros. series) and a shooter. The best example of such a union is Gryzor, aka Contra. [6.5] What are vector shooters? First off, here's Joel Schander on what exactly a vector game is: " As for vector games: Atari put out a bunch of early-80s arcade games that used vector screens, rather than raster screens. Raster screens are used for TVs, computer monitors, etc. The screen is divided into a number of parallel horizontal lines. To refresh the screen, the light gun in the back of the TV/monitor starts in the upper-left corner of the screen and updates the line from left to right. Then, like a typewriter, it goes to the left-hand side of the next line and repeats all the way down the screen. And it does this dozens of times a second (at least). Vector screens don't have any raster lines. The light gun in the back of the monitor can point where ever it is told to. Basically, it it's a lot like using colored pencils or markers. Programmer says, "Draw line from point A (x,y) to point B (x,y) in color X," and the light gun does that -- over and over. As more lines are added, the gun just moves around more, draws more lines, and changes color more often, etc. For solid shapes, a bunch of lines have to be drawn next to each other -- like a coloring book. " Anyway, worth mentioning are several Atari games, such as Asteroids and Tempest. Asteroids was a fairly simple game where your little triangluar spaceship flew around blasting asteroids, which then broke into smaller asteroids, and so on. If flying chunks of rock weren't bad enough, flying saucers would appear from time to time. Tempest was a neat game where your ship rotated around the outside of a grid, while all sorts of weird stuff would creep out from the center of the screen. Later levels included some really twisted grids that made it difficult to determine where exactly your enemies were, and enemies that would electrify various portions of the grid. Preferably the portion you happened to be in. Probably the most famous example of these would have to be the original Star Wars Arcade game, complete with sound samples from the movie. It was quite impressive for its time, complete with TIE fighters and flying down the Death Star's trench while dodging fireballs and mysterious levitating girders. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ::: Miscellaneous Shooter Information ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [7.1] What is the "Konami Code", and why is it important? The Konami Code is Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start. A very large number of Konami games use this code in some way. This FAQ will restrict its uses to Konami shooters, although it has crept into several non-shooter Konami games. This is not yet a complete list, however. Contra (NES): If done at the title screen, gives you 30 lives. Gradius (NES): If done while game is paused, gives you Shields, Missiles, and two options. Gradius III (SNES): If done while game is paused, your ship self-destructs. A slight variation, however, will give your ship full powerups just like the original. That variation being Up, Up, Down, Down, L, R, L, R, B, A, Start. Gyruss (NES): If entered backwards at the title screen, gives you 30 lives. Life Force (NES): If done at the title screen, gives you 30 lives. Nemesis (Gameboy): Just like in Gradius/Gradius III. [7.2] The AKA List For some bizarre reason, game publishers feel that they must change the name of a game when it moves from one country to the next. Shooters are not immune, so I've whipped up a list of name changes. Please feel free to add more: Name: Also Known As: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contra Gryzor, Probotector Darius Darius Plus, Super Darius Darius 2 Sagaia Darius Force Super Nova Darius Plus Darius, Super Darius Galactic Attack RayForce, Layer Section Galaga '88 Galaga '90 Galaga '90 Galaga '88 Gradius Nemesis[1] Gradius 2 Vulcan Venture Gradius: The Interstellar Assault Nemesis 2[2] Gryzor Contra, Probotector Layer Section Galactic Attack, RayForce Layer Section 2 RayStorm Nemesis[1] Gradius Nemesis 2[2] Gradius: The Interstellar Assault Parodius[3] Parodius Deluxe Pack Parodius Da! Super Parodius Parodius Deluxe Pack Parodius[3] Probotector Contra, Gryzor Raiden Raiden Trad Raiden Trad Raiden RayForce Galactic Attack, Layer Section RayStorm Layer Section 2 Sagaia Darius 2 Smash TV Super Smash TV Space MegaForce Super Aleste Super Aleste Space MegaForce Super Darius Darius, Darius Plus Super Parodius Parodius Da! Super Nova Darius Force Super Smash TV Smash TV Vulcan Venture Gradius 2 Notes: [1] The Gameboy title known as Nemesis is a different (but related) game than the original Gradius. [2] The MSX title known as Nemesis 2 is a different game than the Gameboy title. [3] The UK release of the Parodius Deluxe Pack is apparently simply known as Parodius. [7.3] How can I play in Vertical Mode without all the LSD effects? Many vertical shooters released for home consoles, especially arcade ports, offer the option to rotate the display 90 degrees, for the display to more closely resemble the aspect ratio of the arcade monitor the game was originally designed for. The idea being, that if you rotate your TV set as well (place it on its side), you will be able to play the game almost as if you were playing it in the arcade. However, most TVs were not meant to be operated at odd angles, so here are a few common problems and some suggestions of how to fix them. [ACHTUNG! PELIGRO! DANGER WILL ROBINSON! TRY THE FOLLOWING AT YOUR OWN RISK! ATTEMPTING TO PLACE YOUR TV AT ODD ANGLES COULD POSSIBLY CAUSE SERIOUS DAMAGE OR INJURY. THE AUTHOR OF THIS FAQ IS NOT AN ELECTRONICS EXPERT, SO I CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT ANY OF THE BELOW IS/ISN'T ACCURATE, OR WILL NOT DAMAGE YOUR TV. THE AUTHOR OF THIS FAQ, THE MEMBERS OF AGVS, AND THE DEVELOPERS AND PUBLISHERS OF ANY GAME OFFERING THIS OPTION ACCEPT _NO_ REPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGE OR INJURY CAUSED.] With that out of the way, the most likely cause of damage or injury is having a TV that will fall over if placed in a non-standard position. If you have a particularly large or heavy TV, you probably should not even try this, as the potential for damage to both the set and yourself is that much greater. If you can get your set rotated without any other trouble, another concern is overheating. If your set's cooling vents are blocked in the rotated position, then you probably should not use it for prolonged periods (if at all; I'm not an electronics expert) or take other steps to reduce overheating (fans, etc.) At this point, it is very likely that when playing the game the colours will be moderately to heavily distorted. It has been suggested that after rotating your set you should turn it off for about 15 minutes or so, then turn in on again. This does seem to work for my TV, but your mileage may vary. Even so, some distortion around the corners may remain. With my TV I can reduce this somewhat by tilting my TV backwards a bit. BE CAREFUL if you attempt this yourself, though, as depending on the shape of your TV doing this may cause yours to fall over, resulting in damage or injury. Another problem I have is that my TV set will work fairly well when rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise (placed on its left side; most games rotate in this manner), but nothing will help the distortion of rotated 90 degrees clockwise (placed on its right side; Namco Museum Vol. 1, unfortuantely, rotates in this manner.) I've found no solution to this, but perhaps your TV will work better. [7.4] Where can I find out more about shooters on the Web? [7.4.1] General Shooter Sites Shmups - http://www.classicgaming.com/shmups/ Probably the best shooter site on the web. It mostly contains reviews (and lots of them), but it also has a webboard, a list of shooters released for practically every system, and links to other shooter sites. Blazing Lasers - http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~felixthecat/index.htm Covers fewer games than Shmups, but is much more in-depth, with reviews, FAQs, art, audio, and all sorts of stuff for various games such as Einhander, Axelay, Radiant Silvergun, and a few others. Destroy All Monsters - http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~bevhome/DAM.htm Not specifically a shooter site, but contains lots of info and reviews. Be sure to check out the section devoted to Darius Gaiden boss Titanic Lance. :) GameFAQs - http://www.gamefaqs.com/ This is not a shooter site, but it's worth a mention as the best videogame FAQ archive on the Web. Try here if you can't find what you're looking for elsewhere. The OPCFG - http://www.classicgaming.com/castlevania/bus/ Worth a look to find out what shooters haven't made it out of Japan, and what you can do to complain about it. (Unfortunately, it will probably do little good, but it is better than nothing, I guess.) The Shooting Game Laboratory - http://www4.big.or.jp/~hor/ Japanese site that contains, presumably among other things, high score listings of various games so you can see how much better the Japanese Shooter Gods[TM] are than you at your favourite game. :) It also apparently has lots of strategies and stuff as well. Erm... could someone who reads Japanese clue me in further here? [7.4.2] Specific Shooter Sites Life Force Planet - http://zap.to/lifeforce Dan Riley's site devoted to the Salamander/Life Force series. Planet Gradius - http://wwwcsif.cs.ucdavis.edu/~tangay/gradiusmain2.html Devoted to the Gradius series. R-Type - http://www.rtype.com/ Devoted to (what else?) the R-Type series. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ::: The End ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= That's it for now! Again, feel free to let me know of any corrections, additions, subtractions, or suggestions you may have. Zach Keene 26 September 1999 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Author of many FAQs: MK2, FF1, Einhänder, CSOTN, and the AGVS FAQ ftp://members.aol.com/fnlfanatic/arcanelore/ Shooter fans: Visit the new alt.games.video.shooters today! -----------------------------------------------------------------------