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Twin stick shooter appreciation thread

Robotron is the greatest arcade game ever. This has been proven by science.

I agree. Robotron is the only game from that era that I think still holds up 100 % today. I love playing the XBLA version, but nothing compares to the arcade cabinet. If I were ever to buy a cabinet, this is the one I'd get. I still prefer Robotron to all modern twin stick shooters. One of the main reasons it's so great is that you have to bring your A-game right from jumpstreet. No ten minutes to build challenge...BAM! Instant death.

Probably one of my top ten games of all time. And I'm not that good at it or anything. Love playing it though- such a pure experience.
 
Whoompthereitis said:
I agree. Robotron is the only game from that era that I think still holds up 100 % today. I love playing the XBLA version, but nothing compares to the arcade cabinet. If I were ever to buy a cabinet, this is the one I'd get. I still prefer Robotron to all modern twin stick shooters. One of the main reasons it's so great is that you have to bring your A-game right from jumpstreet. No ten minutes to build challenge...BAM! Instant death.

Probably one of my top ten games of all time. And I'm not that good at it or anything. Love playing it though- such a pure experience.

Yup, one of the classics, most definitely. Most definitely a very visceral experience.
 
Parallax Scroll said:
OK, only like 30 seconds into zombies init!!!!1, and I already love it.

Downloaded demo, played it, thought it was cool at first, but then got bored because it was too easy. Does it get more challenging the longer you play it?
 
nextgeneration said:
Downloaded demo, played it, thought it was cool at first, but then got bored because it was too easy. Does it get more challenging the longer you play it?
Yeah, how long did you play for? It got to the point where I could barely even move.

Also, I'm guessing this game is local co-op only?
 
Parallax Scroll said:
Yeah, how long did you play for? It got to the point where I could barely even move.

Also, I'm guessing this game is local co-op only?

Don't remember - a few minutes or until my trial ran out? I think all indies have a time limit? I'll give it another shot.
 
Man, I played Smash TV on XBLA and then a few days later played it on SNES. The SNES controller works much better than the 360 pad imo. Neither the left stick nor the dpad was as accurate or comfortable to use as the SNES dpad.

For shooting in the XBLA version, I fairlly quickly found that using the ABXY buttons is almost as good as on SNES. I don't care for using the right stick.
 

Quixzlizx

Member
Parallax Scroll said:
Man, I played Smash TV on XBLA and then a few days later played it on SNES. The SNES controller works much better than the 360 pad imo. Neither the left stick nor the dpad was as accurate or comfortable to use as the SNES dpad.

For shooting in the XBLA version, I fairlly quickly found that using the ABXY buttons is almost as good as on SNES. I don't care for using the right stick.

Yeah, I consider myself an expert of the SNES version, but the XBLA version feels unplayable to me.
 
Quixzlizx said:
Yeah, I consider myself an expert of the SNES version, but the XBLA version feels unplayable to me.
The arcade version is really good, though. I guess MAME is the best way to play arcade Smash TV? My friend has Total Carnage on one of the Midway arcade collection discs, but I don't think I've seen Smash TV in that format.
 

Quixzlizx

Member
Parallax Scroll said:
The arcade version is really good, though. I guess MAME is the best way to play arcade Smash TV? My friend has Total Carnage on one of the Midway arcade collection discs, but I don't think I've seen Smash TV in that format.

I have a SFIV pad I have yet to try. Maybe that will be an improvement over the dismal 360 d-pad.
 

stuminus3

Member
I remember thinking back in the day that you just couldn't get more violent than Total Carnage. Kind of silly, in hindsight.
 

evanlctr

Neo Member
I've been working on this with Tom Vine and Francis Coulombe for awhile now. It's not top-down, but it's dual stick and it's synced with progressive metal. Blow-up singing heads.

lvl2cap0018.png


You can watch a level here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDoTJuIdfmA

You can download the first level here. http://lastchancetoreason.wordpress.com
 
Muffdraul said:
When GunValkyrie came out, I remember thinking of it as a sort of updated 3D take on the classic twin stick shooter. It had the tricky ass flying/hovering gimmick, but it still boiled down to moving in one direction while shooting in another. But in the years since then, I've realized that it was really just one of the first typical 3D third person shooters, in the line that continued on through kill.switch, Lost Planet, Gears of War, etc. Anyway, I always felt lucky to be among the 17 or so people on earth who played GV and didn't hate it.

The heck? GunValkryie is like the most non-standard 3rd person shooter ever made - I think you were more right back then when you thought of it was an update of an arcade way of thinking. You and I both know that with the jetpack if you're playing that like a TPS you're playing it wrong. Besides, Kill.switch and Gears are both cover shooters and nothing like GV. I'd say Lost Planet is the only vanilla 3rd person shooter of those you listed and was consequently pretty damn boring (and not much like GV either).
 

Greyvvolf

Member
Wow! I remember playing Total Carnage all the time at this one hotel when I was younger. I haven't been there in a long time and forgot what the game was called. I'm going to go look for this game and buy it. I'm glad someone bumped this thread.
 

PokéKong

Member
I was totally expecting this thread to be gushing with Geometry Wars and all its clones that followed it, pretty glad it's mostly not.

Do y'all rememember Robotron 64?

198501_49457_front.jpg


Well of course you do, it was probably the only N64 game that came out that month so you rented it. A pretty trippy game for those unfamiliar with the original, to which it was completely faithful to, but pumped up with super high tempo techno music to keep you going for hours through it's seemingly endless supply of levels. You could map movement and shooting to any combination of the D-Pad, Analog stick or C buttons, giving you real analog shooting with the price of awkwardness.
 

RetroGreg

Member
PokéKong said:
Do y'all rememember Robotron 64?

I think you could plug in a second controller and use the analog stick on it to shoot with. Kind of awkward, but twin stick then. Robotron X on the PlayStation let you use the first iteration of the dual shock for twin sticks.
 

Daigoro

Member
i did wind up buying Zombie Apocalypse. classic twin stick shooter right there!

it is a little over long, but it is a fun game and well worth picking up. i enjoyed my time with it.

i wish i picked up Smash TV on XBLA before it dissapeared.
 
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