Amiga 500 shoot-em-ups

What order would you put them in?

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Horizontal

1. Disposable Hero

I had difficulty deciding between this and R-Type II as the best horizontal scroller on the system, I think maybe R-Type II plays a little better, but they're fairly comparable, and Disposable Hero is much more optimised to make the most of the Amiga hardware

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/6...ablehero05.png

2. R-Type II

I prefer this version of R-Type II to the compromised SNES port, the mid-level restarts are here (they were missing on SNES), and I'd say there's a little less slowdown ( I've also heard the game doesn't actually slowdown at all if you play it on NTSC).

There's a few reasons I put this in two, but generally its not quite as polished as Disposable Hero, some parts of the music cut out when sound effects play for instance.

http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/2348/rtypeii.png

3. R-Type

It took a while to decide this over Apidya, but thinking about it properly I think this clearly has more variety in its stages, and better design overall. The game is one of the older shooters on Amiga, released in 1989 from a 1987 arcade game, but I think it was so ahead of its time at release that its dated quite well anyway. The port is very much respectable, though not perfect, I think the PC-Engine port was probably better to be honest but this is certainly still very good.

http://img806.imageshack.us/img806/2995/rtype03.png

4. Apidya

This is essentially Gradius with insects (it has the same power-up system). The game plays very well, and has some awesome music, but I'm not too keen on the graphics (this screenshot is taken from the best looking stage IMO), and there are a few cheap sections which can be frustrating.

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/7242/apidya14.png

5. Agony

This game is made by Psygnosis, and it has really fantastic art design throughout, with awesome graphics, animation, and music. Many people criticise it for the simplistic gameplay, but personally I think it manages to do the minimum required for a playable shmup (decent enemy waves, respectable power-up system etc), whilst looking great at the same time.

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/2448/agony09.png

6. Silkworm

This is an older game for the system (1989, from a 1988 arcade machine), but unlike R-Type it does show it somewhat, the gameplay is fairly simple, without much in the way of power-ups, but the action gets frenetic later on, and there's a two player co-op. Many people seem to think the Amiga version is actually better than the arcade original, I haven't played enough of that version to comment though.

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/6674/silkworm06.png

7. Necronom

This game basically plays like a cross between X-Out (allocate equipment between levels), and Hellfire (pressing space bar changes the direction of your shot). The game is alright but nothing particularly special, some points about it are good, but often you feel as though the stages could've been designed with more imagination.

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/6554/necronom04.png

8. X-Out

I found this to be disappointing in comparison to the C64 game, here the sprites are large, and the screen area quite small, the music is also inferior to the C64 version IMO. Something about the gameplay just screams "8-bit" in my opinion, still its an alright game.

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/9180/xout06.png

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Meh

Saint Dragon

Had they gotten rid of the copious amounts of slowdown, and gone above and beyond the call of duty (such as retaining loads of parallax) this game could've been a contender, but unfortunately its only a half alright port of a game which was only fairly respectable in gameplay to begin with.

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/9004/saintdragon04.png

Dragon Breed

Another arcade port, this game is too ugly, and the difficulty curve is too high in my opinion

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/1...gonbreed02.png

Hall of Shame

Project-X

This game is total garbage, god knows what the designers were doing, its like they'd been stuck in a cave for the last 5 years when they made this. Outside of the painfully dated level design, the difficulty curve here is also extremely poor, and very much based on trial and error, graphics look cheap and nasty.

http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/7082/projectx05.png

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I was going to do more for this, and I'm sure I missed out some obvious games, but this took too long and I lost interest :p

Maybe I'll add the vertical shooters later.

Even if it's inferior to the C64 version, X-Out needs to be above both Necronom & Silkworm, specially Necronom which is downright terrible.
The list needs Z-Out as a "Meh", and Ziriax at the bottom of the good ones. I'd also put Apidya above both the first R-Type.

The list needs Armalyte too. I'm nut sure if it should be in the Hall of Shame or in the middle of the main list. Sometimes I hate it other times I'm wishing more Amiga shooters were like it :?.

"The Oath" needs to be in the Hall of Shame too.

Uridium 2 should probably be on the list somewhere, even if it's not a standard H-Shooter. Tubular Worlds too.

Starush too, plays better than Agony at least has better enemy formations than Agony, the huge size of the ship kinda ruins it...

The arcade version of Dragon Breed rocked back in the day.:rock:

i dunno where i'd put it on your top 10 list, but fly harder needs to be there. its one of the best gravity shmups on the format, and the amiga had plenty of them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheSonicRetard

i dunno where i'd put it on your top 10 list, but fly harder needs to be there. its one of the best gravity shmups on the format, and the amiga had plenty of them.

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That would be in a future Gravity shooter section since this is a Horizontal shooter list :p. But yeah, fly harder is freaking awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4izuLJoTHs
I'd put this one at the bottom of the list of playable ones. It's short, it's pretty basic, only has 1 song, but damn does it sound badass. The soundeffects are really good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Thenewguy

5. Agony

This game is made by Psygnosis, and it has really fantastic art design throughout, with awesome graphics, animation, and music.

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Yikes, I just watched a Youtube video of the first couple levels, and I found the music ridiculously overbearing: "BAM! BAM! ORCHESTRAL HIT! YEEEEEAH!" It's like a jacked-up Powerthirst version of the SNES at its worst! The second level wasn't as bad, but...well, it's not very owly, is it?

So where are we gonna put Katakis/Denaris on this list? It's a legendary Amiga game, it's got an awesome pedigree (Manfred fuckin' trenz worked on it), and it is directly responsible for both R-Type and R-Type II being on the Amiga. Yet, despite it's historic importance, the actual game feels dated and slightly barren today. The total lack of music is a pretty big downside, too.

Also, are we gonna count Jim Power? 1/2 of the game is a shmup, although I'm personally not a fan.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheSonicRetard

So where are we gonna put Katakis/Denaris on this list? It's a legendary Amiga game, it's got an awesome pedigree (Manfred fuckin' trenz worked on it), and it is directly responsible for both R-Type and R-Type II being on the Amiga. Yet, despite it's historic importance, the actual game feels dated and slightly barren today. The total lack of music is a pretty big downside, too.

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On the Mehs I'd say, considering R-Type is like it only better.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheSonicRetard

Also, are we gonna count Jim Power? 1/2 of the game is a shmup, although I'm personally not a fan.

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I wouldn't for the same reason Turrican 2 doesn't count. It's not the focus of the game.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

I wouldn't for the same reason Turrican 2 doesn't count. It's not the focus of the game.

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Turrican 2 only has 3 levels that are Shmup. Jim Power, however, has half of the game as a shmup. You can say the shmup segments of Turrican 2 don't count because it's a tiny portion of the game, but with Jim Power, half of the game is a shmup.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

Even if it's inferior to the C64 version, X-Out needs to be above both Necronom & Silkworm, specially Necronom which is downright terrible.

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Whilst I can definitely see X-Out above Necronom I don't see there being much of a disparity between the two, certainly not to the extent that Necronom is "terrible"

X-Out's gameplay has virtually no tactics, or finesse during levels at all, essentially levels in X-Out are just a case of hammering on the fire button, easily dispatching enemies until a boss turns up, which then proceeds to fly erratically around the screen until it kills you, and you work out what you need to do the next time you run into it. In Necronom you have to at least be swapping between spread shot, and a focused shot during gameplay (and whilst the stages are nowhere near as cleverly designed as the ones in Hellfire, swapping to vertical shot is also occasionally useful), you also pick up additional power-ups, such as multiple homing rockets during play, and can swap out a few weapons.

X-Out's between-level-shop has masses of stuff in it, but 60% of it at least is completely redundant, its a whole load of useless junk, in Necronom there's much less stuff, but its imperative that you're careful about how you kit out your ship, as you'll get your ass kicked otherwise.

I think both games look a little cheap in graphics, but Necronom is at least a proper 320x200 game, whilst X-Out runs in a silly little window.

Necronom also lets you choose which stages you want to go to a la Darius.

(by the way I'm not arguing Necronom as great or anything, I put it, and X-Out as ~6/10 at best)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

The list needs Z-Out as a "Meh"

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I played a lot of it today, but couldn't come to much of a decision, it seemed like it could get to the bottom of the playable ones, but I wasn't really feelin' it much, 2-player co-op was also uber disappointing.

I was looking for info on a lot of these games today, and I ran into this picture of one of the later levels

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/7241/zout51.gif

Apparently someone else was brought in to finish the artwork at the end, I kind of wish they'd worked on the whole game LOL.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

I'd also put Apidya above both the first R-Type.

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I don't think Apidya has the level design to put it higher than R-Type personally, and whenever I die in Apidya I actually feel like I'd might as well restart the game, regardless of what level I'm on, other than that I think it looks cheap on many of the levels, things like badly drawn moles aren't interesting bosses IMO.

This makes it sound like I don't like the game, but I do actually think its pretty good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

Starush too, plays better than Agony at least has better enemy formations than Agony, the huge size of the ship kinda ruins it...

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I thought this one looked cool, but I couldn't get it to work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

Uridium 2 should probably be on the list somewhere, even if it's not a standard H-Shooter. Tubular Worlds too.

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I haven't played Uridium enough to comment, I thought the original was really crappy though.

Tubular Worlds just pissed me off, I think it doesn't have any in-game sound on 500? I was just playing through it in complete silence, really crappy frame-rate too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SonicR

So where are we gonna put Katakis/Denaris on this list? It's a legendary Amiga game, it's got an awesome pedigree (Manfred fuckin' trenz worked on it), and it is directly responsible for both R-Type and R-Type II being on the Amiga. Yet, despite it's historic importance, the actual game feels dated and slightly barren today. The total lack of music is a pretty big downside, too.

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The C64 game is the famous one, the Amiga version is different, and is nowhere near as good IIRC.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Thenewguy

I haven't played Uridium enough to comment, I thought the original was really crappy though.

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The original was pretty crappy, and 2 is still annoying, but it's a much better game.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Thenewguy

Tubular Worlds just pissed me off, I think it doesn't have any in-game sound on 500? I was just playing through it in complete silence, really crappy frame-rate too.

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Hum... it shouldn't be like that...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoqahGI9zm8

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Thenewguy

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/7241/zout51.gif

Apparently someone else was brought in to finish the artwork at the end, I kind of wish they'd worked on the whole game LOL.

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No doubt, at least level 2 the ugliest one.

I like Uridium 2, but for purely nostalgic reasons. When I was younger, my dad and I used to play Astro Warrior on my Sega Master System - we'd take turns through the game, and see how many times we could loop the game without dying.

Uridium 2 gives me an astro warrior vibe. I think it's the way you fly over the other ships and destroy bits of them. I feel like it's a bit too fast paced at times, and it's got all the level design of Defender, but the strong recall I have to Astro Warrior makes me like it enough. It's a game that I'm sure my dad would like to play today - he enjoys retro games, but hasn't touched anything past a Genesis.

Someone mentioned Geometry Wars in another thread, and I reminded me that I need to mention one of the very best games on the entire Amiga format - Stardust. It's not a horizontal or vertical shmup, but it's still a shmup. Super Stardust was a better game, but that was an A1200 game. Stardust, by contrast, ran on the A500 and was one of the best and prettiest games for the original Amiga.

Wonderful game, too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

Hum... it shouldn't be like that...

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Are you sure that isn't the AGA version?

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Maybe we could make this into a democracy if we get enough people, and shift the list around.

I take it Karmahl would aim for something like this?

1. Disposable Hero (same position)
2. Apidya (promoted 2 places)
3. R-Type II (demoted 1 place)
4. R-Type (demoted 1 place)
5. Agony
6. X-Out (promoted 2 positions)
7. Silkworm (demoted 1 position)
8. Ziriax (new entry)
9. Cardiaxx (new entry)

Meh

Saint Dragon
Dragon Breed
Z-Out
Katakis

Hall of Shame

Necronom
Project-X
The Oath

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Disclaimer: anyone trying to vote Project-X into the good section gets immediately disqualified from voting :D

I would never put Apidya over R-Type or R-Type 2. I would, however, put the SMS version of R-Type over the Amiga version, and the Amiga version of R-Type 2 over the SNES version, but those are two different topics.

Also, while I agree that Project-X deserves to be in the hall of shame, it received regular incremental upgrades, sort of like Street Fighter 2, and by the time it arrived on the Ultimate Body Blows disc on the CD32 as Project X SE, it was a much better game. Not top tier, but more comfortably at the top of the "meh" list.

1. Disposable Hero
2. Apidya
3. R-Type 2 (would be above if not for the slowdown. No, NTSC doesn't count when it comes to the Amiga)
4. R-Type (rushed game, much like the c64 version. Would be above apidya otherwise)
5. Agony
6. Armalyte (this varies from here to the Hall of Shame depending on my mood)
7. X-Out
8. Uridium 2
9. Ziriax
10. Tubular Worlds (if it has music in the A500 version, otherwise Cardiaxx)

Out of all of these, only Disposable Hero can go head to head to the greats available on the MD or PCE.

Meh (not in order)

Starush
Saind Dragon
Dragon Breed
Z-Out
Katakis
Necronom
Apache
Silkworm
Lethal Zone

Hall of Shame

Project-X
The Oath
Darius+
Nucleus
Ilyad
T-Racer

I'm gonna rush through this as I'm realising I don't have the time to do this tommorow, and there's not massive amounts of interest around here for Amiga anyway.

This one is going to be slim pickens I fear

Vertical

1. Battle Squadron

I've done a bit of a turnaround where it comes to this game over the past week, to the extent where when taking this screenshot I actually started to enjoy myself, and got pretty far into the game. This change is mainly because I'm now playing the marginally superior PAL version (notice the high screen), and because I've been experimenting with the mouse control (i'm fed up with desperately needing to set off a bomb only to ineffectually spin my ship around in circles and get blown up before the bomb works). This version is actually much, much better than the Mega Drive version, funnily enough, if anything its a little too easy whilst the Mega Drive port was pretty tough at times. Generally this is a no extras blast through waves of enemies, the weapons aren't massively interesting, but are respectable, and the explosions are meaty, and happen don't let up for a second, there's also a 2-player co-op, and the game has its own level select system where each stage is attached to a main hub level. Its nothing special by Mega Drive/PC-Engine standards, but I think it might just scrape a 7/10.

http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/8...esquadron3.png

2. Mega Typhoon

This is one of those sad occasions where a game has a lot of potential but doesn't quite live up to it. Mega Typhoon is a very frenetic shooter, filled with enemies, and bullets, at times it even feels somewhat like a bullet hell game, bosses are cool, sound effects respectable etc, unfortunately there's no in-game music though, and the game is only 4 stages long (albeit they are long stages). Still, I think the main gameplay is good here, so the flaws may well bring down an otherwise awesome game to 7/10. Its best to try to 1cc the game as its too easy otherwise. ECS ONLY

http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/9...atyphoon05.png

Hybris

This is a Terra Cresta varient made by the same people who did Battle Squadron, it doesn't hold up that well against 16-bit console shooters, but its actually one of 1st Amiga shooters on the system which wasn't an ST port, arriving during christmas of 1988, when you look at what was around that year its actually one of the better vertical shooters out there (even NES didn't seem to get many complex vertical shooters outiside of its own Terra Cresta until 1989, and the Mega Drive, and PC-Engine were only just getting going at that point). Generally you pick up pieces which attach to your craft and increase firepower, and you can also do a move which separates your ship into multiple pieces with different shot behaviour.

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/3483/hybris02.png

Wings of Death

I thought about whether this should go higher than Hybris or not for quite a while, and in the end decided that either way there wasn't enough disparity in gameplay between the two to offset the fact that the game runs in a small window, looks unimpressive, and was much less competitive for a game released 2 years later. Generally this is a Phelios style fantasy shooter, it has some pretty nice power-ups in it (and there are quite a lot of different ones), and the enemies come thick and thin. On the downside the art design isn't the best, and there's some in-game voice acting which is cringe-worthingly bad

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/1...sofdeath03.png

Lethal Xcess

I haven't spent enough time with this game to be honest, but from what I've played of it it seems much like its predessessor Wings of Death, but with slightly weaker gameplay and better presentation.

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/4...halxcess07.png

SWIV

This is kind of OK, but realistically its a very barebones game, there's no in-game music, the power-up system is as basic as you can get, and the bosses aren't particularly good either. On the upside is mainly just the 2-player co-op really, also being the jeep is kinda' unique I guess, and there's loads of big explosions. Its a shame the sequel never came out on Amiga.

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/480/swiv04.png

Meh

Xenon

This game is ok, but its flawed. Basically you can transform between an airplane and a tank, dealing with enemies on different vertical heights, unfortunately to transform you have to spin the d-pad around, which really doesn't work well (you're often changing by accident). This was better on ST from what I recall.

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/8135/xenon02.png

Flying Shark

This is actually half playable, but jeez its a disappointing port, and of a pretty old game no less. I think this was fairly respectable on the Atari ST, but you expect more from Amiga.

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/8...ingshark03.png

Gemini Wing

Again, like Flying Shark this made for a repectable enough, and entertaining Atari ST game, but for Amiga it was disappointing. I think the 2-player co-op was bugged too.

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/6449/geminiwing03.png

Hall of Shame

Dragon Spirit

Not only did this get ported straight from the ST, but some genius decided to put a huge intrusive status bar at the bottom of the screen, on a vertically orientated shooter no less!

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/2/dragonspirit02t.png

Xenon 2

Total garbage in its purest form. Crappy power-ups, crappy speed, cheap enemy attack waves, stupid dead ends which you have to slowly reverse out of. frustrating, and unfair. Avoid!

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/2...egablast04.png

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There's actually loads of others I've played, but I'm running out of time.

Plutos - Dated port of an old Atari ST game
Kamikaze - don't think this was any good but its been a while since I played it.
Sky High Stuntman - this one's like Flying shark, it polished, but too hard

Others I can vaguely remember thinking weren't much good, Frenetic, Sidewinder, Black Hornet

This is one of the first shooters I got for my Amiga 500. Damn, it was hard!



Of course, I had the previous one as well...



I liked the music better on Menace.

Dragon breed for the arcade is harsh too....it's irem and that's how they roll.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheSonicRetard

So where are we gonna put Katakis/Denaris on this list? It's a legendary Amiga game, it's got an awesome pedigree (Manfred fuckin' trenz worked on it), and it is directly responsible for both R-Type and R-Type II being on the Amiga. Yet, despite it's historic importance, the actual game feels dated and slightly barren today. The total lack of music is a pretty big downside, too.

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Katakis and Denaris were originally for the C64, and it shows (lack of backgrounds, no in-Game sound. The Amiga ports are disappointing by comparison. So yeah, pretty much a Big whopping "Meh".

Do AGA-Shooters count, by the way? I thought T-Zer0 was pretty Good (like, at number 8 or 9, I definitely prefer it over Tubular Worlds).

http://www.lemonamiga.com/games/popu...=t-zero_13.png



/edit: In regards to Vertical Shooters another AGA-title springs to mind: "Banshee"

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phantar

Do AGA-Shooters count, by the way?

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Amiga 500 shoot'em ups ;)
T-Zero is pretty good for what it is, but banshee has NO reason to be an AGA game. The lack of music completely kills it for me.

Also, this time Thenewguy's list is spot on to me. Battle Squadron's biggest problem is the poor controls (fixed with a mouse) and the horrible looking first stage, after that the game isn't bad.
Needs Apano Sin in there as the vertical equivalent to Agony, except with worse gameplay.

oh man I love this topic. me I grew up with amiga and loved all of it's shooters. turrican, battle squadron, they left an impresison with me I never forgot

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

Amiga 500 shoot'em ups ;)

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Oh, I see! Man, he who can read clearly has an advantage...

In that case I can hardly add anything... well, there was "Death Angel"; promising, but rather mediocre... kinda like SWIV, only weaker when it comes to sound and visuals... Also, it needs at least 1 MB of extra RAM, and even then it doesn't run too smoothly.

http://www.lemonamiga.com/games/scre...h_angel_05.png


Looking back there were also two Shooters akin to Ikari Warriors and the like that I played excessively on my A500:

Dogs of war

Was maybe a bit bland in the long run, and suffered from muddy graphics. But it had a few nice features in its favor, like mission selection and weapon shops. I spent hours with this game back in the day, so I enjoy the occasional revisit.

War Zone

A game in a similar vein. Better graphics, good gameplay, overall really enjoyable. Unfortunately it has no in-game music, otherwise it would've been great.

I'd also add Frenetic to the hall of shame. Damn does that game suck.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

4. R-Type (rushed game, much like the c64 version. Would be above apidya otherwise)

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I don't think R-Type on the Amiga is even remotely comparable to the C64 version to be honest, the C64 version is a complete mess.

C64 version

• Force Pod control wrong (too fast, doesn't stay anywhere)
• homing missile behaviour wrong (too fast, too straight)
• Bit pod behaviour wrong (its stationary)
• 1st stage gun circle doesn't rotate
• certain enemies wobble up and down ineffectually instead of going after you.
• 1st boss is buggy
• 1st boss behaviour completely wrong (you have to shoot it as fast as possible)
• 2nd level pod enemies behaviour wrong (don't break open)
• 2nd level Snake boss wrong (sections dissappear when they take damage)
• They didn't put death explosions in 2nd, or 3rd bosses, the screen just amateurishly cuts to black
• Pieces of 3rd level boss don't break off to reveal guns
• level 4 boss glitchy
• snake enemies in level 5 behaviour wrong (they don't break up)
• level 5 boss completely wrong (its just a mass of balls you shoot, originally you got rid of them to reveal the boss)
• The entirety of level 6 is completely wrong (all the tech hazards are missing, it just a stage of enemies)
• Level 7 is glitchy (leaves black squares all over the place)
• Final boss doesn't have any enemies come from above and below.

Essentialy the C64 version of R-Type is Katakis with artwork swaps and different music.

The only thing about Amiga R-Type worth bringing up is that the bosses are too easy to kill, other than that the inaccuracies are mostly minor as far as I can see.

Yes the C64 version is obviously a bigger rush job, but it doesn't change the fact that the Amiga version is too. They not only said no to parallax scrolling, they said no to having backgrounds! Abysmal color choices, plus lot's of other cuts. Even the music is really poor. An ST game running at 50 fps.

R-Type II is a much better port, and a better example of what the Amiga can do. Like I said, I prefer the SMS version of R-Type to the Amiga version, but I prefer the Amiga version of R-Type II to Super R-Type on the SNES.

EDIT: That said, I still think R-Type on the Amiga is the 3rd best shmup available behind DH and R-Type II. It's a mediocre port of a fantastic game, and while it sacrifices visuals, most of the gameplay is intact.

Personally i'd put Apidya above the two R-Types, R-Type 2 is an excellent port (R-Type 1 isn't), but Apidya is an original game like Disposable Hero, and R-Type has superior ports and that, plus I prefer R-Type 1 to 2.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

They not only said no to parallax scrolling, they said no to having backgrounds!

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On one stage, half of one stage no less, are you sure you're not mixing it up with the Atari ST version? I don't think that version had any backgrounds.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

An ST game running at 50 fps.

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With hardware sprites (marginally increasing colour counts), and much better colour choice from the bigger palette

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/5...ypeamigast.png

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Originally Posted by Chilly Willy

This is one of the first shooters I got for my Amiga 500. Damn, it was hard!

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Blood Money- one of the few games I've enjoyed while getting nowhere! Must dig it out and play for a few hours.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Thenewguy

On one stage, half of one stage no less, are you sure you're not mixing it up with the Atari ST version? I don't think that version had any backgrounds.

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http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/5...ypeamigast.png[/QUOTE]
Oh look, a background... and no background.

Nice thread. :)

Is Mega Typhoon playable on a 500? I thought it was just for later hardware.

This is my very tentative top 20 Amiga 500 shoot 'em ups. It's for various types of shooters and I only took one game from a series. My opinion will probably change on the games and order if I put more time into them again. Shooters are like my sixth or so favourite genre nowadays so I don't play them that often.

1. Super Obliteration
Pang meets Asteroids.

2. Gravity Force
Probably my favourite of the Amiga Gravitar/Thrust games despite lacking visually.

3. Disposable Hero

4. Cabaret Asteroids
Years before emulated versions this was the closest you could get to the 1979 classic. There's zero originality here but timeless gameplay.

5. The Chaos Engine

6. R-Type II

7. Walker
For me, the strength of Amiga shooters lies not so much in the games trying to imitate late '80s Japanese arcade/console games but in other types of shooters. I enjoyed this 2d mech blaster with mouse/joystick combo controls.

8. Datastorm

9. Desert Strike

10. Apidya

11. Star Wars
The port of the Atari Empire Strikes Back arcade game is good, too, but has some slowdown issues.

12. Agony

13. Llamatron - 2112

14. Uridium 2

15. Tubular Worlds

16. Fly Harder

17. Defender II
An underrated remix by Minter. It got bad reviews due to its less than intuitive mouse controls but once you adjust to them, they work well.

18. Cybernetix

19. X-Out

20. Battle Squadron

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

Oh look, a background... and no background.

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Neither of them have backgrounds on that level, nor does the arcade version, no background graphics, no stars, nothing.

The Amiga version doesn't have any floor though, if that's what you meant, its zoomed in to make way for the larger ship, I think its a decent compromise, just as vertically scrolling the screen was a decent compromise in the TG-16 game.

I haven't got the time to waste on playing multiple versions of R-Type any more so I'll just quickly run through this with a list

Level 1: Starfield background for half the stage, midway background missing.
Level 2: Background retained, unlike Atari ST version
Level 3: No background on any version, including arcade (floor & ceiling absent though)
Level 4: Background retained, starfield
Level 5: Background retained
Level 6: Background retained, no animation though
Level 7: Missing background
Level 8: No background on any version, including arcade

All levels are missing parallax.

After playing this game on Amiga, ST, and arcade all of today, I actually doubt the Amiga version is an ST port, I think it just shares art assets because everything else is different, the graphics scale is different, the enemy placement is different, the enemy behaviour is different, the control is different, the player sprite is different, the status bar is different (and its an interrupt), the shading on many of the objects is different, the bit is different (you can actually out-run it and leave it behind on Atari ST), Amiga has proper backgrounds, the entire 3rd level looks completely different etc

The Atari ST version also has a parallax starfield LOL

Yes I meant the floor like on the arcade.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Drakon

Dragon breed for the arcade is harsh too....it's irem and that's how they roll.

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The Amiga game is actually much harder than the arcade game

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

10. Tubular Worlds (if it has music in the A500 version, otherwise Cardiaxx)

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I'm pretty sure Tubular Worlds was made for ECS now, on a stock 500 it has a crappy frame-rate and no sound (total silence), I'm not sure whether the 500 can be upgraded to play it properly though.

I'm using my votes to say that Cardiaxx, Armalyte, and Ziriax aren't good enough for the main list :p

Armalyte - This pretty much breaks every rule of game design there is all within the first half of the 1st stage! I have a strong suspicion that most of my friends wouldn't be able to last more than 5 seconds in this game even after an hour of play, I struggled my way through the 1st stage and it was pretty painfull.

Ziriax - This is one of those sad cases where the Euro developers tried to ape a big Japanese arcade game without actually understanding the fundamentals of game design first, enemies rush from all over the place, from behind, below, above with no warning, enemies blend in with the background, the power-ups are uber sparse until the 2nd level. Essentially this one is primarily a trial and error game (it also looks pretty weak graphically). Missed opportunity, could've been great.

Cardiaxx - Again, trial and error, its not bad, but even when you work out where you need to be for each section it still feels very unpolished, the control isn't great either, and the enemies, and levels are uninspired.

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Really, I'm starting to think that the Hori list should just be cut down to looking something like this -

1. Disposable Hero
2. R-Type II
2. R-Type
2. Apidya
5. Agony
6. X-Out

I mean, we're arguing about whether the other games are half decent, or meh, which probably indicates they don't deserve to be mentioned anyway :D

You and I disagreed about this R-Type/Apidya placing, as did SonicR, and Gogo, so at the moment they're all in #2, Silkworm is in limbo now unless someone else says they think it deserves to be in the main list, and I still can't make a decision about how I feel about Uridium 2, and Z-Out.

There's talk about Blood Money and Menace too, but I never thought much of those games to be honest, maybe I'll give them another play later for a while.

Anyone managed to get Sky High Stuntman to work with in-game music? if you hit esc at the main menu it offers you the choice of SFX or music, but everytime I change it to music it crashes for me, Alistair Brimble did the music so I was keen on finding out what it was like.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Thenewguy

Really, I'm starting to think that the Hori list should just be cut down to looking something like this -

1. Disposable Hero
2. R-Type II
2. R-Type
2. Apidya
5. Agony
6. X-Out

I mean, we're arguing about whether the other games are half decent, or meh, which probably indicates they don't deserve to be mentioned anyway :D

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Yeah, since I usually don't put games in the same series when the sequel just completely obliterates the original, my list would be the same without R-Type.
5 horizontal shooters, with only 1 I'd say is really good... poor Amiga :p.

And no really good vertical shooter... sigh... the Amiga really needs a Paul Kooistra of it's own.

Worse still, Lemon's database is wrong, Mega Typhoon is ECS :(

A crushing blow to an already struggling line-up.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Thenewguy

Silkworm is in limbo now unless someone else says they think it deserves to be in the main list

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I think it's a good game.

I take it you guys don't like Defender-style games. Or are you not including them because they're a different kind of horizontal shooter? My taste in the genre is as much 1982 as 1992 so they appeal to me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater

I take it you guys don't like Defender-style games. Or are you not including them because they're a different kind of horizontal shooter? My taste in the genre is as much 1982 as 1992 so they appeal to me.

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I did mention Cardiaxx which is a defender clone. I'm not too familiar with others that exist, but I'll assume they either look crappy or play crappy, otherwise it's strange I don't know of them.
I'd gladly be proven wrong.