I believe Buck Bumble is free roaming.
Knife Edge: Nose Gunner certainly isn't a great game, but it's enjoyable to take for a spin every once and a while. Some of the boss battles are pretty cool.
Is it any good?
That reminds me of another N64 game, Buck Bumble. Is Buck on-rails or free-roaming?
Father Brain
I believe Buck Bumble is free roaming.
Knife Edge: Nose Gunner certainly isn't a great game, but it's enjoyable to take for a spin every once and a while. Some of the boss battles are pretty cool.
morituri te salutant
Sewer Shark!!! Stop laughing...no, really, stop...
or bust.
It's been over a decade, but as I recall Solaris wasn't strictly a rail shooter - there were rail sections, but much of the game was free roaming in space. It was the sequel to Star Raiders; I believe there was another in the series as well. I believe those two were also free roaming. Solaris was damned impressive for that hardware, even if I could never figure out how the hell you were supposed to win it.Originally posted by NeoZeedeater
Atari released Solaris for the 2600 in 1986.
Your definition of the genre is quite broad - going by that, I'd list games like Cabal and Blood Brothers, as well as Zaxxon and Viewpoint.
My personal favourite is Rez, although I'd say Space Harrier and Star Fox are the twin kings of the genre.
I should be picking up Orta this week; I'm really looking forward to checking that out.
-Kyo
NO MERCY
mmmmmmmm REZ... =)
you forgot Solar Eclipse, the Saturn sequel to Total Eclipse.
I LOOOOVE Rail Chase 1, great level design and layout.
Planet Harriers I got a chance to play once and hated the controls...I don't know if they were messed up but the game was just as people say, dissapointing. AMAZING, and I really mean amazing visuals though.
The Darkest Soul
Originally posted by Sqoon
Has anyone ever played either of the Rail Chases? The preview in Next Gen made it look real good.
Yippee, Tarkovsky!
And it actually is based on the film/novel. In one level, you have to sit through ten minutes of traffic, and in another, you have to look at Solaris's pink clouds and the ocean for an hour. Pressing the button at any time during the game results in automatic game over.Good stuff
And Neo, Another awesome bit of history write-up. Keep up a great work man.
I love Sin & Punishment, even with some flaws it has, its one very cool game. For me its the only game worth getting N64 for
Button Masher
nice thread
no mention of starglider 1 and 2 - the parents of starfox
camps
Glad you guys like the thread. Thanks.
Thanks for the Solaris correction, Strider. I bought Solaris a month or so ago but I only played it once or twice and I assumed the whole game was on-rails. It really is impressive for the hardware. The 2600 was pushed farther than it was even supposed to go.
I figured a broad definition was necessary for this genre since it's very difficult to decide where the line is drawn.
Even Zaxxon wasn't isometric in every version: the 2600 and Intellivision versions had a behind the ship view.
or bust.
Did you ever figured out what that pre-Starfox Argonaut/Nintendo Game Boy collaboration was? It looked like it belongs here as well.
And if you ever figure out how to win Solaris, let me know. I got the impression there was a way to find the quadrant you're looking for, but I went everywhere back in the day and couldn't find it.
-Kyo
Actually, I completely forgot about X. When I was thinking about games to include in this thread, I neglected portable games. Blue Lightning was an important one I missed.
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