2007: Return of the 2-D Shooter

How symbolic. In April, Raiden rises again on its new mission to blow your face off.

It was with the advent of the new 3-D capable systems such as the Playstation and Saturn where 2-D shooters seemed to die. Not only shooters, but 2-D games in general became a rarity. If you haven’t noticed by now, there is a rather large insurgence of 2-D shooters, shmups if you prefer, arriving on consoles this year. There have always been tons of 2-D shooters in Japan, but what makes 2007 different is that a lot of shooters are actually coming to the US.

Perhaps the resurgence started with Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. The $4.00 killer app for the Xbox 360 proved that a cheap, yet awesome game that could only be purchased via download could be a monster success. It paved the way for other classically styled games with a modern facelift to appear on the console, shooter or not. And they did. The low costs for having a game debut exclusively on Live Arcade gave vast possibilities for cheap, quality games. The next new shooters to come out on Live Arcade were Mutant Storm Reloaded and Crystal Quest, but they weren't nearly as popular as Geometry Wars. Assault Heroes by Sierra came just mid-December of last year. Assault Heroes is a great slower paced shooter in the vein of everyone's favorite Army Jeep shmup, Jackal.

Most likely due to the success of Geometry Wars, Sony also had a 2-D top down shooter with next-gen graphics ready for the PS3 launch. Blast Factor is a shooter that has you clearing cells of infectious nanite things. It’s a fun game that features the use of the SIXAXIS control. While it’s nice to see the SIXAXIS implemented, it honestly leaves a little to be desired because its sensitivity in the game is inconsistent. More recently, Blast Factor received a sweet multiplayer pack upgrade, giving the game more longevity and gameplay options. Shortly after, Cash Guns Chaos, a game with highly obnoxious music that is a retro space version of Smash TV (though not nearly as good) arrived on the PLAYSTATION Store.

2007 is well under way to being a landmark shooter year. January saw the release of Heavy Weapon, downloadable from Xbox Live Arcade. Heavy Weapon is a sweet little tank versus planes shooter with upgradeable weapons. It’s simple, yet lots of fun with two players. Later this year Rare will release Jetpac Refuelled, a game that continues the Solar Jetman games, but with what looks like a greater emphasis on shooting aliens.

In February the trusty Dreamcast had also received a new shooter with the very-much-like-R-Type shooter Last Hope. The Dreamcast has been getting new games in Japan for years, but Last Hope is different because you don’t need an adapter to play it on a US Dreamcast; it will work just fine for everyone in the 'states. This game is monstrously hard. While the visuals certainly are not up to Dreamcast standards (they're more SNES), the game is a nice diversion into the realm of shooters that rely on pin-point accurate piloting skills and not massive weapon blasting.

Not only do we see the long-awaited release of Raiden III on the PS2 in April, but also Raiden IV on the 360 courtesy of UFO Interactive. The last time we got a Raiden on a console was back in 1995 on the first Playstation. Perhaps if Raiden III and IV are successful, some developer, maybe even UFO, will bring the Raiden Fighters series on a US console. I believe the Raiden Fighters is up to four or so installments, so a collection disc would be perfect.

I'm not entirely sure how you become allergic to radios, but treatment obviously requires lots of enormous pills.

O3 Entertainment is readying Radio Allergy for the GameCube / Wii set to hit in April. Although the GameCube is pretty much dead, O3 is releasing the game for the system because the Wii is able to play all GameCube games and GameCube development is substantially cheaper. To help out the uninitiated, the cover even includes a Wii Compatible label so people know they can play it on their Wii. It’s a smart move and could help sales of the game. The downside is that how many stores will actually carry the title being that it is a GameCube disc? Many retail stores' GameCube sections are becoming relatively thin. 

Square Enix, whose shooter fame began and ended with Einhänder, will be bringing Project Sylpheed to the 360. Even though it’s spelled with a ‘y’, Project Sylpheed is a pseudo-sequel to the Sega CD’s underrated Silpheed and the PS2’s almost equally underrated Silpheed: Lost Planet. While Project Sylpheed is not a 2-D shooter since it looks to have more in common with a game like Ace Combat, it is in a way a resurrection of an old 2-D shooter franchise.

Going back to Live Arcade, the service will receive a series long-loved by gamers, Wing Commander. The games were first-person perspective arcade flight-sims, so it was odd to see that Wing Commander Arena is going to be an overhead isometric, or 2.5-D style, shooter. The change in perspective will probably turn some away from it, but it will feature sixteen-player battles and that sounds awesome. Wing Commander Arena should arrive this summer on the 360.

Apparently being the easiest of the new generation of systems to develop for has its rewards: Treasure. They dropped word that they are developing a brand new 2-D shooter for the 360. Many Treasure fans are hoping its a spiritual successor to Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun, two of the finest overhead shooters ever made. Speaking of Ikaruga, the famed shooter should arrive on Live Arcade in the near future.

Senko no Ronde is a game that looks like it will be some strange 2-D / 3-D hybrid shooter fighter. From what I've seen of screenshots, the shooting portions look like they may use 2-D or 2.5-D gameplay with a 3-D fighting mode using the ships or mechs or whatever they are. However it is played, Senko no Ronde will be coming to the 360 sometime this year.

A name synonymous with shooters is Konami's Gradius. It was announced before the PS3 launched that Gradius VI was coming for the system and has since been reconfirmed. No new information has surfaced so we can only imagine the kind of insanity the Vic Viper will need to overcome. As incredible as Gradius V was for the PS2, the PS3 version promises to blow our collective socks off.

These guys are only playing Otomedius for the hardcore shooter action.

A new Konami shooter that we may not see is Otomedius, which is the "little girl" version of Gradius. America never received any of the Parodius games, shooters that parodied their own Gradius, so I doubt that a game very similar to it will make its way over. However, there is a gleam of hope. The game does have a touch-screen interface and since the DS is pretty much the most popular system in the world, perhaps we will see it makes it way over. Hell, if games like Phoenix Wright and Cooking Mama can find success, then certainly Otomedius, a game with sexy anime chicks shooting stuff, would have a decent shot.   

Whether or not Otomedius actually makes it to our shores, the DS won’t sit out on the shooter goodness of 2007. ROTOR, formerly know as Raid over the River, will be coming to the DS courtesy of Nibris. The PSP did get a new After Burner, which is cool and all, but for 2-D style shmups is the lone Xyanide Resurrection. Xyanide was already on Xbox last year and this looks like it's just a port and not a sequel. However, last month Konami released three, five-game collections of Parodius Portable, Salamander Portable, and Twin Bee Portable for the Japanese PSP. Why should you care? Because each of these is region free, meaning you can play them on your US PSP with no problems. Import with confidence, friends.

The Wii Virtual Console is aimed at those seeking nostalgia and many classic shooters have already been released for it. Classics like Gradius, Xevious, R-Type, R-Type III, Soldier Blade, Super Star Solider, Bio Hazard Battle, and the upcoming Gradius III and Galaga, have the potential to renew old fans love of classic gameplay. The same goes with Xbox Live Arcade. While it doesn't have quite as many classic shmups as the Wii, it does have Time Pilot and has had the mighty Galaga for some time now. Now, I don't include these in the count of new shooters because they shouldn't be, but they may find new life and their success could ultimately lead to new games.

It is only March and there are already at least ten shooters out or coming out to the US this year. To put this in contrast, the number of 2-D or 2-D style with 3-D graphics shooters from 2000 to 2006 was a mere nine across the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube. You could add four, maybe five more to account for GBA and DS releases in that time frame. There were a few new shooters additions in 2006, like the aforementioned downloadable games and the Xbox's Xyanide, but 2007 is raring to bring back the 2-D shooter. Who knows what other announcements we could yet see as the year is still early. 2007 is looking to be a great year for shmup fans.

- Shawn - 03/21/07