Retro|Spective 202: Arcade Lightgun Shooters

[Asura]

Game 25 - Silent Scope 2
The sequel to the original came out as a pretty conservative follow up, largely offering new levels as its set up remained unique in the light of other rival lightgun games.

It actually did something pretty cool; the machine functions like Time Crisis 2, where you could network 2 machines for co-op play, who usually have different vantage points on the action (though in some parts you pair up).

Cringe part is when you're about to storm a base and one of the characters says "Now it's time to play Metal Gear for real."

Personally I've always felt the second game is the weaker of the two; the action is much more OTT and it has a lot of level gimmicks to try and get more out of the formula, but in this respect it always felt to me like Crazy Taxi 2 or Virtua Tennis 2. There's a weird purity to the first one, plus it doesn't go anime bat**** mental until you fight the weird armoured dominatrix in the last stage

Still, it was a good game. I love Silent Scope so it's definitely part of my fantasy arcade.

[fuse]

Fuse, you're spot on, my god

I'm not currently in the market for new acolytes, but your faith is noted

[Neon Ignition]

Game 26 - The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Following on from the light gun game of the original film, this follow up took advantage of Sega's Model 3 arcade board and AM3 set the game around a rescue team sent to Isla Sorna to rescue Malcolm and Sarah during the events of the film. Rescuing humans worked like House of the Dead and rewarded players with additional lives and the following year a Special edition was issued with a more advanced cabinet and changes to the plot and action to more closely mirror the events of the film. A plan to port the game to Dreamcast was axed when the system was discontinued.









An extinct of fun experience or a title that spared no expense?

[fuse]

You know how an old game looks a certain way in your head, and then you're presented with how it actually looked/looks? Yeah.

I remember liking this a lot and in my head it was really quick and snappy and everything looked convincing. I'm hoping that the above video is just a lot of emulation jank and the issues are from the crude forcing of a low-res game onto a modern display, rather than me having to own up to wearing the biggest, rosiest pair of glasses.

[wakka]

It's probably partly emulation issues on Supermodel I reckon. At ~06:43 in the T-Rex fight for example, it's surely not meant to look like that.

Been looking into Supermodel today with Neon's two Model 3 posts - this and Daytona 2. Going to have a tinker and see if I can get it up and running, I'd love to play those two.

Just kills me that I don't have a lightgun. [MENTION=345]Neon Ignition[/MENTION], have you got your Aimtraks yet?

[endo]

[MENTION=5490]wakka[/MENTION] Supermodel takes a bit of fiddling with but works well when you get it sorted. I've only played Scud Race and Daytona 2 on it (and something else, can't remember what). Let me know if you find a frontend for it. I'm sure there's one out there, but I can't find it.

[wakka]

I will be on Mac so think I'll be very much command line only

Will update on how I get on though def would love to play Scud Race again for the first time in ~25 years.

[Neon Ignition]

It's probably partly emulation issues on Supermodel I reckon. At ~06:43 in the T-Rex fight for example, it's surely not meant to look like that.

Been looking into Supermodel today with Neon's two Model 3 posts - this and Daytona 2. Going to have a tinker and see if I can get it up and running, I'd love to play those two.

Just kills me that I don't have a lightgun. @Neon Ignition, have you got your Aimtraks yet?

Yep, not tried them yet though. My gaming TV setup is too close so I put everything on the Win3 to plug into the living room screen but the Win3 doesn't seem to be a fan of it. I'm going to keep tinkering with it. The main thing with Teknoparrot is getting the game files, once you have that it's broadly a very simple emulator to get running

[Neon Ignition]

Game 27 - Crypt Killer
Coming from Konami, this horror themed shooter had players use shotguns to tackle various creatures and monsters as you tackled various levels to find treasure hidden within cursed crypts. The game featured four endings and six levels and it mixed 3D settings with 2D characters.









Dead on its feet or a killer experience?

[QualityChimp]

Sorry, just catching up.

Lucky & Wild is mint and I have played the arcade!
It seems to take the best bits of Chase HQ and Virtual Cop and splice them together with a great light-hearted tone like you're in a buddy cop movie. The rearview mirror to show their expressions was a clever idea.
Probably my only criticism is that the guns are on sticks, which isn't as cool as holding a lightgun.

Lethal Enforcers II - never played. Those type of games never appealed. In their quest for photorealistic graphics, the fun was lost. See also Pit Fighter.

Time Crisis 4 - I've played but it's very forgettable. I can't remember much about it!

Silent Scope 2 - I think the appeal had waned as I'd found looking at the screen easier than using the scope.

The Lost World - was okay, but it's more shooting dinos, innit?

Crypt Killer - I played this once and it was actually a lot of fun!

[Neon Ignition]

Game 28 - The House of the Dead 3
The third game was released in a Typing of the Dead 2 form but the arcade main title continued the franchises plotline and this time gave players shotguns to fire instead of semi-automatic weapons. It was otherwise a very traditional sequel, its newer hardware technology providing the most obvious improvement over the prior generations game.










Was the third entry a worthy follow up to the classic earlier titles?

[Colin]

Funnily enough we ended up playing a whole bunch of these at NQ64 in Edinburgh last night.

Time Crisis 2
Point Blank
House Of The Dead 2
Terminator 2
Silent Scope

HotD2 was still the most enjoyable of that lot to play for me, Terminator 2 was the worst as the tracking was way off.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 29 - Rambo
Sega knocking out another light gun blaster, this time a licensed game that sees players take on the role of Rambo during the events of the second and third films. The game featured five levels that also contained non-shooting sections such as stealth and hand to hand combat. A rage meter can be activated when full granting temporary invulnerability to the player.








If you were pushed, would you say that playing Rambo arcade was as easy as breathing?

[QualityChimp]

Deffo played HotD 3, but the novelty of a pump-action shotgun wore off once RSI set in!

Not played Rambo as these modern lightgun games seem to be all about making the money rather than giving an experience, IMHO.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 30 - Crisis Zone
A spin-off of the Time Crisis series, this title is about a complex taken over by a terrorist group. A special forces group are sent in to take them down which the player is part of, the machine using the same pedal system for reloading and cover that the Time Crisis games do but here you are using a machine gun. Players can choose which order to tackle the main three missions before tackling the final mission.









Was Crisis Zone strong enough to justify itself?