Rail Shooters

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Wether they're in first person with a light gun (Time Crisis, House of the Dead, etc...), Third Person (Sin and Punishment, Kid Icarus Uprising...) or even ship-based ones (Starfox, Panzer Dragoon...) feel free to talk about your favourites of a genre that sadly died out a bit with the arcade becoming scarcer and FPS taking over on consoles.

 

[ciro64]

Star Fox 64 <3

Still waiting for a true official/spiritual successor.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Star Fox 64 <3

Lylat Wars (yeah I'm a filthy European that doesn't do things like the others) is cool, very cool. I even got the 3DS remake and more recently Starship on PC.

I legit wish we could get the SNES game (aka Starwing where I live) on PC with proper widescreen and sweet 60 FPS

At least Starfox Exploration Showcase has a lot of content.

Still waiting for a true official/spiritual successor.

Aside from Assault and Zero you say?

Well, there's Starlink but it's not exactly a Starfox game, more like its own thing featuring Fox McCloud from the Starfox series.

There's also Ex-Zodiac which is a neat low poly rail shooter that is also reminiscent of Panzer Dragoon

Save 55% on Ex-Zodiac on Steam

A fast-paced low-poly 3D rail shooter heavily inspired by classics of the early 90's. Join protagonist Kyuu as she fights to free the worlds of the Sanzaru Star System, overrun by the intergalactic terrorist organization known as Zodiac.

store.steampowered.com

 

[Sunnyside]

Panzer Dragoon's atmosphere is something else. Ditto for Rez. I think anyone with an interest in rail shooters owes it to themselves to check those out.

I personally love House of the Dead Overkill. The whole thing is pure vulgar stupidity but that gives it a lot of charm imo. It's still hated by part of the fanbase, understandly so.

And of course I have to mention the grandfather of all of them: Space Harrier. Primitive but the music still gives me waves of nostalgia.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Panzer Dragoon's atmosphere is something else. Ditto for Rez. I think anyone with an interest in rail shooters owes it to themselves to check those out.

Reminds me that I should do Zwei and Orta before tackling the more complex Saga.

I wish Sega expanded that mysterious and intriguing world more because it reminds me a bit of Dune and Nausicaa (of the Valley of Wind) with a notch of Mobius' great style (I love his drawn cover). I'd buy the remake of Zwei if they ever made one but like HotD 1 and Panzer Dragoon 1 I'd wait for sales.

Rez is basically the reason I fell in love with Mizuguchi's synaesthetic games (followed by Meteos because I already liked Sakurai as well). I need to tackle Child of Eden someday.

I personally love House of the Dead Overkill. The whole thing is pure vulgar stupidity but that gives it a lot of charm imo. It's still hated by part of the fanbase, understandly so.

I'm not into Grindhouse but I always saw Overkill as a spinoff if not its own thing but then again HotD had cheesy moments with the infamous voice acting of 2.

Shame that 3 was the weakest and Scarlet Dawn didn't feel that great. On the other hand I really liked 4 and still wish for a proper re-release.

And of course I have to mention the grandfather of all of them: Space Harrier. Primitive but the music still gives me waves of nostalgia.

I was not used to the whole analog controls where the character "recenter" each time you let go the stick (I prefer the more conventional control you can have in the Sega Ages release on the Switch).

I absolutely love that theme btw, probably one of my top 10 video game music of all time.

 

[ciro64]

I legit wish we could get the SNES game (aka Starwing where I live) on PC with proper widescreen and sweet 60 FPS

Me too.

Assault, Zero, and Ex-Zodiac all have qualities of their own, but I think they all went too far apart from 64's formula.

I want arcade replayability, branching pathes, a story that unfolds during gameplay, multiple killable allies that affects your route, other talking characters through the levels, all-range mode, a score that uses single units as a base, a charge shot that awards bonus points for hitting multiple enemies at once, medals, no pace killers and no detached movement from shooting.

I'm picky, I know.

 

[nobitakun]

Does Elemental Gearbolt count? :)

 

[Mahan_Native]

i enjoy them a lot.
my favorites one is House of the dead.
i also enjoy Panzer Dragoon, Sin & Punishment and Star Fox 64.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

House Of The Dead was always my favorite in the arcade. I remember almost getting kicked out because I liked pretending to hit zombies with the butt of my gun LOL.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

I’ve been getting into Panzer Dragoon more recently. Totally see what the buzz is about. As a series, it has this artsy vibe to it while still not letting that distract it from having awesome gameplay.

They are hard though. Considering the entire game world can be pretty difficult in more heated battles. Thankfully, the games are designed so you’ll always be able to get through with a bit of planning and good aim. I recently got through most of the first game while on the infamous U.S. SEGA Saturn arcade stick lmao. Turbo buttons go!!!

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Me too.

Assault, Zero, and Ex-Zodiac all have qualities of their own, but I think they all went too far apart from 64's formula.

I want arcade replayability, branching pathes, a story that unfolds during gameplay, multiple killable allies that affects your route, other talking characters through the levels, all-range mode, a score that uses single units as a base, a charge shot that awards bonus points for hitting multiple enemies at once, medals, no pace killers and no detached movement from shooting.

I'm picky, I know.

Ex-Zodiac is trying to be closer to SNES Starfox but I think the dev said they would make multiple paths.


There are also 2 All-Range levels although there's no maneuver (like the loop and U turn) and to be honest I prefer the straightforward levels over those.

Does Elemental Gearbolt count? :)

Yeah, why not?

I’ve been getting into Panzer Dragoon more recently. Totally see what the buzz is about. As a series, it has this artsy vibe to it while still not letting that distract it from having awesome gameplay.

They are hard though. Considering the entire game world can be pretty difficult in more heated battles. Thankfully, the games are designed so you’ll always be able to get through with a bit of planning and good aim. I recently got through most of the first game while on the infamous U.S. SEGA Saturn arcade stick lmao. Turbo buttons go!!!
View attachment 85994

My small gripe is that in Panzer Dragoon when you want to go up to dodge hits you'll have to aim up.

It's not that intuitive and the lack of the ability to shoot down while being still up like in a conventional rail shooter makes the game trickier to deal with.

Thankfully there's a charged shot for multiple aiming in the game to help with it.

I'm noticing that Sky Chase from Sonic Adventure is basically a replica of Panzer Dragoon because of the multi-aiming charged shot: