2d Shooter – The 2d Shooter Blog

Posted by John as 2d Shooter

Welcome to the 2d Shooter blog!

We’re going to cover everything in the 2d shooting world, and occasionally some things that might fall slightly outside of it. The focus will be on horizontal and vertical forced-scrolling shooters, but we’ll look at outstanding games in the related shmup genres as well.

I’ve always been fascinated by these games. I clearly remember the first time I saw and played Scramble.  I must have been about 11 years old and I was already hooked on Space Invaders.  My dad had taken me to the speedway motorcycle races and we went to get some popcorn and cokes between heats.

Next to the popcorn stand, someone had set up a Scramble machine.  There was a crowd of older boys around the game.  I pushed my way to the front of the crowd and got a glimpse of Scramble in action.  One of the boys was working his way through stage 5, carefully sliding up and down the narrow coridors and blowing up the fuel tanks.

I begged my dad for a quarter. He gave in, and I lined my quarter up behind the others. By the time it was my turn, we’d missed a race and the next one was getting ready to start.  But I wasn’t interested in the races at that point – there were alien bases to be stormed!  I slotted my quarter, grabbed the controls, and … died … 3 times … very quickly …

I’ve been hooked every since.

I eventually learned to make it to the base and vanquish the alien threat, but I’ve never really stopped playing Scramble or the huge variety of other 2d shooter games in the genre it introduced me to.

With all of the ways to get “casual” games now — the Xbox 360 Live Arcade, the PS3′s Playstation Network, and the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Arcade, 2d shooters are easier than ever to get into, and it seems a whole new generation of fans is being spawned.

Here we’ll cover both vintage and new shoot-em up games, as well as recreations and rereleases of old games on the popular game systems.

So grab a joystick, kick back, and get ready for the 2d shooter blog.

And, if you love video games as much as I do, be sure to check out this guide on becoming a video game tester.  What could be better than getting paid to do what you love?  This exclusive material will show you how to make up to $150 a day testing your favorite games.  This can be a great “in” to the video game industry, and perhaps give you some much needed cash while you work making on your first (or next) 2d shooter game.

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