No wonder, that the 80's-90's was the era of rising games of all genres. But the most popular and wide-spread one was the 'Shoot 'em up' genre when all space shooters evolved. The genre's origins can be traced back to Spacewar! - one of the very earliest computer games, developed in 1961 and eventually released in arcades in the early 1970s. From the mid-1990s and the burgeoning use of 3D graphics in video games, shoot 'em ups became a niche genre based on design conventions established in the 1980s and increasingly catered to specialist enthusiasts, particularly in Japan.
A new type of shoot 'em up emerged in the early 1990s: variously termed "bullet hell", "manic shooters" and "maniac shooters", these games required faster reactions from players and were overloaded with 2D graphics. The mid-1995's 3D came to life and that was a new break-through but the genre started experiencing recession. Several attempts were initiated to restore the space theme by launching Ikaruga game in 2001, which featured improved graphics and was again acclaimed as one of the best games in the genre.
But the era of space shooters is nearly over. I think we all remember such space shooters as Namco's Galaxian and Galaga games, which were successfully ported to the 8-bit consoles and every kid got this game on the ROM cartridges, where hundreds and sometimes even thousands of games huddled within one little plastic box making every kid happy. We spent most of the time sitting in front of TVs leading our space crafts for the sake of space exploration and killing numerous enemies on our ways. Now those days are gone and there's nothing left but the memories, broken joystick pads, hurt knuckles...
The genre's continued appeal is kept only by an enthusiastic niche of players, but there will always be the ones who honor the great times of space shooter games.
What do you think? Is there a chance that this genre will get its fame back?
Here's a couple of links for space shooters:
PC: Spacewar
Gamecube: Ikaruga
PC: Galaxian
iPhone, iTouch, iPad: Space Storm
