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125-508: Commando was a critical and commercial success, becoming one of the highest-grossing arcade video games of 1985 and one of the best-selling home video games of 1986. It was highly influential, spawning numerous clones following its release, while popularizing the run-and-gun shooter genre. Its influence can be seen in many later shooter games , especially those released during the late 1980s to early 1990s. The game later appeared on Capcom Classics Collection , Activision Anthology , and on

250-496: A Wii U system using the "system transfer" tool. Any Wii Virtual Console titles can be transferred to the Wii U and played via its Wii Mode . Virtual Console games can be played using different controllers. The Wii Remote itself (turned on its side) can be used for NES , Master System , TurboGrafx-16 , and some Mega Drive/Genesis and Neo Geo AES games. The original and the pro versions of Classic Controller (sold separately from

375-408: A side-scrolling format. Later notable side-scrolling run and gun shooters include Namco's Rolling Thunder (1986), which added cover mechanics to the formula, and Data East's RoboCop (1988). In 1987, Konami created Contra , a side-scrolling coin-op arcade game, and later a NES game, that was particularly acclaimed for its multi-directional aiming and two-player cooperative gameplay. By

500-471: A "shmup" or "STG" (the common Japanese abbreviation for "shooting games"), is a game in which the protagonist combats a large number of enemies by shooting at them while dodging their fire. The controlling player must rely primarily on reaction times to succeed. Beyond this, critics differ on exactly which design elements constitute a shoot 'em up. Some restrict the genre to games featuring some kind of craft, using fixed or scrolling movement. Others widen

625-499: A Nintendo Direct, Nintendo announced the addition of SNES games on Virtual Console for New Nintendo 3DS . Taking advantage of its upgraded hardware on the New 3DS, the games support "Perfect Pixel mode", which allows these games to be played at their original resolution and aspect ratio . SNES games are not supported on the original Nintendo 3DS models or Nintendo 2DS . Virtual Console games are saved on an SD card and are accessible through

750-529: A Virtual Boy store on the Nintendo 3DS, if you can." In response to an August 2011 price drop on the Nintendo 3DS hardware, Nintendo announced plans to give early adopters of the system a number of Virtual Console releases as appreciation of their support. Owners of the system who logged into the Nintendo eShop by a specified time in their home markets became "Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors". In September 2011, ten NES titles were made available through Virtual Console to

875-782: A Virtual Console release of Puyo Puyo , released in Japan in Spring 2011, is the first Virtual Console to feature Wi-Fi support for online multiplayer. The Wii Shop Channel has functionality to allow games to be updated. This has been used four times so far to update Military Madness , Star Fox 64/Lylat Wars , Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (in North America and Europe), and Mario Kart 64 (in Europe and Australia). Several NES and SNES games released before March 30, 2007, have also been given updates in Europe and Australia to fix previous problems with

1000-401: A black background. It had a more interactive style of play than earlier target shooting games, with multiple enemies who responded to the player-controlled cannon's movement and fired back at the player. The game ended when the player was killed by the enemies. While earlier shooting games allowed the player to shoot at targets, Space Invaders was the first where multiple enemies fired back at

1125-406: A limited supply of hand grenades. While Joe can fire his gun in any of the eight directions that he faces, his grenades can only be thrown vertically towards the top of the screen, irrespective of the direction Joe is facing. Unlike his assault rifle bullets, grenades can be thrown to clear obstacles, and explosions from well-placed grenades can kill several enemies at once. At the end of each level,

1250-555: A more successful attempt to incorporate a 3D perspective into shooter games; Tempest went on to influence several later rail shooters. Sega's Zaxxon (1981) introduced isometric video game graphics to the genre. The term "shmup" is believed to have been coined in 1985 by the British Commodore 64 magazine Zzap!64 . In the July 1985 issue, the term was used by the editor Chris Anderson and reviewer Julian Rignall . 1985 saw

1375-542: A pop-up "virtual" keyboard, which can be toggled on and off by pressing the "1" button on the Wii Remote, and are only used to set up the game and are not for input during gameplay. Games downloaded from the Virtual Console library can be stored in the Wii's built-in 512 MB flash memory . Wii system software versions 2.0 and later allow Virtual Console and WiiWare games to be moved from the console's internal memory to

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1500-417: A rail shooter released in 1985, broke new ground graphically and its wide variety of settings across multiple levels gave players more to aim for than high scores. In 1986, Arsys Software released WiBArm , a shooter that switched between a 2D side-scrolling view in outdoor areas to a fully 3D polygonal third-person perspective inside buildings, while bosses were fought in an arena-style 2D battle, with

1625-691: A rate of more than 1,000 titles an hour. Neo Geo AES support was added on September 18, 2007, for the Japanese Virtual Console, becoming the first addition to the list of consoles since the TurboGrafx-16 was added two days after the U.S. launch. On October 9, 2007, Nintendo announced that 7.8 million Virtual Console titles had been downloaded, and as of December 2007, this number topped ten million. Games from several new past consoles were added during 2008: Master System on February 26, 2008, for Japan's Virtual Console; Commodore 64 support

1750-492: A removable SD card and then back to the same console. Wii Menu 4.0 added a new menu to run channels from an SD card provided there is enough free space to hold a copy of the channel in internal memory. If the console runs out of memory, the SD menu will offer to move other channels to the SD card. Virtual Console games are locked to the Wii on which they were purchased—they cannot be transferred to another Wii via an SD card, although it

1875-473: A shoot 'em up, as opposed to an action-adventure game . The success of Commando and Ikari Warriors led to run and gun games becoming the dominant style of shoot 'em up during the late 1980s to early 1990s, with the term "shoot 'em up" itself becoming synonymous with "run and gun" during this period. Konami 's Green Beret (1985), known as Rush'n Attack in North America, adapted the Commando formula to

2000-463: A single Wii can only have four Wii Remotes and four GameCube controllers connected at the same time, a combination of the two are needed for five-player games. The same issue is found in 5-8 player Commodore 64 games as well. Because the Wii U doesn't have GameCube controller ports, only up to four-player games can be played on the system. MSX games also support USB keyboards, as the original system featured their input. However, Commodore 64 titles use

2125-526: A straight line at constant speeds. The player's character can collect " power-ups " which may afford the character's greater protection, an " extra life ", health, shield, or upgraded weaponry. Different weapons are often suited to different enemies, but these games seldom keep track of ammunition. As such, players tend to fire indiscriminately, and their weapons only damage legitimate targets. Shoot 'em ups are categorized by their design elements, particularly viewpoint and movement: Fixed shooters restrict

2250-516: A third-person view, and featured the use of force feedback , where the joystick vibrates. Over the course of the 1990s, a new subgenre of shooters evolved, known as " danmaku ( 弾幕 , "barrage") in Japan, and often referred to as "bullet hell" or "manic shooters" in English-speaking regions. These games are characterized by high numbers of enemy projectiles, often in complex "curtain fire" patterns, as well as collision boxes that are smaller than

2375-611: A total of 659 titles for the Wii, 244 titles for the 3DS (256 for Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors) and 466 titles for the Wii U available. There were 12 total NES, SNES, N64, and Sega Genesis games available at launch on the Wii Virtual Console for the North American region. Two TurboGrafx-16 titles were added two days later on November 21, 2006. The Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console launched with 4 Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles. North America saw its first release of Commodore 64 games on

2500-454: A variety of subgenres such as scrolling shooters, run and gun games and rail shooters. In the mid-1990s, shoot 'em ups became a niche genre based on design conventions established in the 1980s, and increasingly catered to specialist enthusiasts, particularly in Japan. " Bullet hell " games are a subgenre of shooters that features overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles , often in visually impressive formations. A "shoot 'em up", also known as

2625-487: A vehicle or spacecraft under constant attack. Thus, the player's goal is to shoot as quickly as possible at anything that moves or threatens them to reach the end of the level, usually with a boss battle . In some games, the player's character can withstand some damage or a single hit will result in their destruction. The main skills required in shoot 'em ups are fast reactions and memorising enemy attack patterns. Some games feature overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles and

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2750-413: A video game release until Spacewar! (1962). The shoot 'em up genre was established by the hit arcade game Space Invaders , which popularised and set the general template for the genre in 1978, and has spawned many clones. The genre was then further developed by arcade hits such as Asteroids and Galaxian in 1979. Shoot 'em ups were popular throughout the 1980s to early 1990s, diversifying into

2875-456: A way to restart from the previous suspend state. There are some exceptions, however. Arcade games released by Bandai Namco feature an updated menu and when reset during gameplay, the save state will be saved before the console is reset. There were 10 titles total of NES, Super NES, and Nintendo 64 games available at launch on the Virtual Console for South Korea. The store updates irregularly on Tuesdays. There are 40 titles available. Depending on

3000-555: A wrap-around game world, unlike most later games in the genre. The scrolling helped remove design limitations associated with the screen, and it also featured a minimap radar. Scramble , released by Konami in early 1981, had continuous scrolling in a single direction and was the first side-scrolling shooter with multiple distinct levels . In the early 1980s, Japanese arcade developers began moving away from space shooters towards character action games , whereas American arcade developers continued to focus on space shooters during

3125-482: Is a subgenre of shooters in which the screen becomes crowded with complex "curtain fire" enemy patterns. It is also characterized by collision boxes that are smaller than the sprites themselves, to accommodate maneuvering through these crowded firing patterns. This style of game, also known as "manic shooters" or "maniac shooters", originated in the mid-1990s as an offshoot of scrolling shooters. The DonPachi and Touhou Project series are early titles establishing

3250-612: Is available in these games while Monster World IV was fully translated to English. A total of 17 NES, SNES, N64, Sega Mega Drive and TurboGrafx titles were available at launch on the Virtual Console in Europe and 11 titles for the Oceanic region (TurboGrafx games were first added there from July 6, 2007 ). There were 385 titles in Europe and 384 titles in Australia and New Zealand for the Wii, 168 titles for Nintendo 3DS (178 for Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors) and 258 titles for Wii U available. Though

3375-433: Is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character movement, while others allow a broader definition including characters on foot and a variety of perspectives. The genre's roots can be traced back to earlier shooting games , including target shooting electro-mechanical games of the mid-20th-century, but did not receive

3500-477: Is notable for using a traditional fantasy setting in contrast to most shoot 'em up games filled with science fiction motifs. R-Type , an acclaimed side-scrolling shoot 'em up, was released in 1987 by Irem , employing slower paced scrolling than usual, with difficult, claustrophobic levels calling for methodical strategies. 1990's Raiden was the beginning of another acclaimed and enduring series to emerge from this period. Run and gun games became popular in

3625-479: Is possible to purchase games in the Wii Shop Channel and send them as gifts to people on their Wii Friends list. This procedure does not work across regions and it has been reported that purchased titles cannot be sent to users from other countries either, even if they are on the same region. In the event that a Wii is damaged and the Virtual Console games can no longer be played, Nintendo will provide support (if

3750-559: Is saved properly (since it was saved to the cartridge itself) but one of the features in Mario Kart 64 (saving ghosts for racing at a later date) will not work, since that particular feature utilized the Controller Pak, and the option to copy data to the Controller Pak won't function in those games. Like other emulation software, the Wii Virtual Console enables the user to suspend play of a game at any time. To do this, users simply return to

3875-859: Is still a single axis of motion, making these a subset of fixed shooters. Rail shooters limit the player to moving around the screen while following a specific route; these games often feature an "into the screen" viewpoint, with which the action is seen from behind the player character , and moves "into the screen", while the player retains control over dodging. Examples include Space Harrier (1985), Captain Skyhawk (1990), Starblade (1991), Star Fox (1993), Star Wars: Rebel Assault (1993), Panzer Dragoon (1995), and Sin and Punishment (2000). Rail shooters that use light guns are called light gun shooters , such as Operation Wolf (1987), Lethal Enforcers (1992), Virtua Cop (1994), Point Blank (1994), Time Crisis (1995), The House of

Commando (video game) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4000-413: Is superb." Computer and Video Games praised the fast-paced gameplay, smooth movement, rousing music jingle, and cartoon-style graphics, while criticizing the lack of color in the graphics. Cash Box magazine said it "is fierce and strategic, the graphics realistic and the fire power explosive" which makes it "an exciting and challenging play experience." The home computer ports of Commando topped

4125-503: The Geometry Wars series, Space Invaders Extreme , Super Stardust HD , and Resogun . The concept of shooting games existed before video games , dating back to shooting gallery carnival games in the late 19th century and target sports such as archery , bowling and darts . Mechanical target shooting games first appeared in England 's amusement arcades around the turn of

4250-513: The 2009 version of Bionic Commando for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 , the character of Super Joe is identified as Joseph Gibson, one of the three player characters in Mercs . The game Duet by Elite Systems Ltd was also called first "Commando '86" then "Commando '87". Run and gun game Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games . There

4375-666: The Commodore 64 , ZX Spectrum , BBC Micro and Amstrad CPC versions in November 1985. The BBC Micro and Acorn Electron versions were developed under contract by Catalyst Coders, while Elite developed the Amiga , Atari ST , Acorn Electron, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64 versions. The Commodore 64 port's theme, a more complex and extended version of the arcade music, was created in less than 12 hours by Rob Hubbard , "[I] started working on it late at night, and worked on it through

4500-569: The Front Line tank shooter format with unique rotary joystick controls, which they later combined with Commando -inspired run and gun gameplay to develop Ikari Warriors (1986), which further popularized run and gun shooters. Ikari Warriors also drew inspiration from the action film Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), which it was originally intended to be an adaptation of. Contemporary critics considered military themes and protagonists similar to Rambo or Schwarzenegger prerequisites for

4625-584: The Nintendo 3DS family of systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on past home and handheld consoles and were run in their original forms through software emulation (excluding Game Boy Advance titles on the 3DS and Wii titles on Wii U), therefore remaining mostly unaltered, and could be purchased from the Wii Shop Channel or Nintendo eShop for between 500 and 1200 Wii Points , or using real currency, with prices depending on

4750-530: The Nintendo 64 controller 's Rumble Pak peripheral, however, are not supported by the built-in "Rumble" feature of the Wii Remote (with a Classic Controller attached) and the GameCube controller, which also happened to make a certain optional item in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time useless. With the release of Bomberman '93 , it was revealed that TurboGrafx-16 games can support full five-player games. Since

4875-669: The PlayStation Network in 2008 . Outside Japan, the arcade version of Bionic Commando was marketed as a sequel to Commando and the main character, a nameless soldier in the game, is identified as "Super Joe" in an American brochure for the game. Super Joe would appear as an actual supporting character in the later versions of Bionic Commando for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy , as well as in Bionic Commando: Elite Forces . In

5000-599: The TurboGrafx-CD format would also join the Virtual Console beginning in October 2007, with five titles to be released for the remainder of 2007 and ten titles for 2008, each priced at 800 points. On June 1, 2007, Nintendo of America issued a press release to announce the upcoming release of its 100th Virtual Console title, which was Zelda II: The Adventure of Link . Within this press release, Nintendo stated that more than 4.7 million Virtual Console games had been downloaded, at

5125-518: The Wii Virtual Console Arcade, as well as Capcom Arcade Cabinet for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 . A sequel, Mercs , was released in 1989. The player takes control of a soldier named Super Joe, who starts by being dropped off in a jungle by a helicopter, and has to fight his way out singlehandedly, fending off a massive assault of enemy soldiers. Super Joe is armed with an assault rifle (which has unlimited ammunition) as well as

Commando (video game) - Misplaced Pages Continue

5250-473: The Wii Shop Channel on November 19, 2006, alongside the launch of the Wii. While the gameplay remains unchanged for all of the classic titles offered for the Virtual Console, Nintendo has stated that some games may be improved with sharper graphics or better frame rates. In reality, however, many games suffer from drops in frame rate or have graphical glitches not present in the original, and many PAL SNES games run with significantly reduced borders compared to

5375-462: The Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 and Wii online services, while in Japan arcade shoot 'em ups retain a deep-rooted niche popularity. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2005 and in particular stood out from the various re-releases and casual games available on the service. The PC has also seen its share of dōjin shoot 'em ups like Crimzon Clover , Jamestown: Legend of

5500-430: The vertical scrolling format later popularized by Capcom 's Commando (1985), which established the standard formula used by later run and gun games. Sega's Ninja Princess (1985), which released slightly before Commando , was a run and gun game that was distinctive for its feudal Japan setting and female ninja protagonist who throws shuriken and knives. SNK 's TNK III , released later in 1985, combined

5625-512: The "AGB_FIRM" kernel running on the other CPUs is responsible for emulating the Game Pak, applying a video filter, and allowing the brightness to be adjusted or the game quit without manually rebooting the 3DS. Many save types supported by AGB_FIRM (many of them having been discovered in September 2017, after injection became convenient and accessible to most users of custom firmware) were not employed in

5750-522: The 20th century, before appearing in America by the 1920s. Shooting gallery games eventually evolved into more sophisticated target shooting electro-mechanical games (EM games) such as Sega 's influential Periscope (1965). Shooting video games have roots in EM shooting games. Video game journalist Brian Ashcraft argues the early mainframe game Spacewar! (1962) was the first shoot 'em up video game. It

5875-721: The Ambassadors at no cost before their general release; the games included marquee titles such as Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda . They were released to the general public for purchase at a later date, with additional features such as simultaneous multiplayer across multiple systems; Ambassadors received the new features as free software updates. On December 16, 2011, Ambassadors received access to ten Game Boy Advance titles, also at no charge, that were never released to those who are not Ambassadors. Unlike other Virtual Console-branded releases, GBA games are not emulated, but rather they run directly on an ARM7TDMI processor core;

6000-627: The BBC Micro, Amstroid CPC, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum versions in January 1986, calling it a "must-have" war simulation "to end all war simulation games" with "fast and furious" action "bordering on the impossible." Computer Gaming World said in 1988 that "few cartridges can equal [ Commando ]'s non-stop action" on the NES. TouchArcade reviewed the iOS version in 2017 and gave it a score of 2.5 out of 5 stars. NintendoLife wrote, "Commando might be one of

6125-507: The Dead (1996) and Elemental Gearbolt (1997). Light-gun games that are "on rails" are usually not considered to be in the shoot-em-up category, but rather their own first-person light-gun shooter category. Cute 'em ups feature brightly colored graphics depicting surreal settings and enemies. Cute 'em ups tend to have unusual, oftentimes completely bizarre opponents for the player to fight, with Twinbee and Fantasy Zone first pioneering

6250-709: The Japanese Virtual Console is also available for customers in Taiwan and Hong Kong and like other regions are able to buy Japanese Nintendo Points cards at certain retailers. On June 6, 2011, Nintendo launched the Virtual Console service for the Nintendo 3DS on the Nintendo eShop . Games released for the service include titles for the Game Boy , Game Boy Color , NES , Super NES ( New Nintendo 3DS only), Game Gear and TurboGrafx-16 games (available in Japan only). There are also special features available while playing Virtual Console games, such as viewing classic Game Boy titles with

6375-696: The Japanese Wii Shop Channel and Xbox Live Arcade in that region while the 3D Classics versions ported by M2 are still available on the Nintendo 3DS for download via the 3DS eShop. However, both North America and Europe still have both games available to download on the Wii Shop Channel and Xbox Live Arcade. While these and other removed titles can no longer be found or purchased from the Shop Channel, they remain available to those who have purchased them prior to their removal. Such users may still re-download them on their Wii consoles and even transfer them to

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6500-498: The Lost Colony , Xenoslaive Overdrive , and the eXceed series . However, despite the genre's continued appeal to an enthusiastic niche of players, shoot 'em up developers are increasingly embattled financially by the power of home consoles and their attendant genres. Virtual Console The Virtual Console is a defunct line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo 's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and

6625-568: The Nintendo 3DS home menu. The save feature for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual console service is similar to the Wii's. However, unlike the Wii's, the games can save a single "restore point" that can be used as much as the player wants to but is replaced and overwritten if the player makes another one. Before the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console officially fully launched in South Korea , the New Nintendo 3DS Super Mario Bros. 30th Anniversary bundle came with

6750-547: The Nintendo 3DS. TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine games were added to the service in Japan starting with Gradius and China Warrior on December 25, 2013, in Japan. R-Type and Alien Crush were later added a few months later in February, the following year. No new TG-16 games were added to the Virtual Console service again afterward. On November 12, 2015, it was announced that during a Nintendo Direct that Pokémon Red , Pokémon Blue , and Pokémon Yellow would be released on

6875-594: The PAL region on December 17, 2010. A version for Atari 8-bit computers was created by Sculptured Software in 1989, intended to be released by Atari Corporation for the XEGS . However, although the game appeared in Atari catalogs of the time, it never reached the market in spite of being completed. In the 2000s the game's prototype cartridge was found. In Japan, Game Machine listed Senjō no Ōkami on their June 1, 1985 issue as being

7000-737: The UK software sales charts in December 1985, becoming the seventh best-selling game of 1985 in the UK. It topped the charts again in January 1986, and went on to become one of the top three best-selling games of 1986 in the UK. In the United States, the home computer versions received two Gold Awards from the Software Publishers Association in 1987 for more than 200,000 units sold in the region. The NES version released in 1986 sold 1.14 million copies worldwide. New Straits Times reviewed

7125-625: The Virtual Console prior to this, the first being Battle Lode Runner from the TurboGrafx-16 , added on April 23, 2007, this and all others were originally written in English and required no localization. Despite the fact others fit the category, there are currently 25 titles listed under the "Import" genre with 1 removed: Sin and Punishment , Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (previously available in North America as part of Super Mario All-Stars ), Ninja JaJaMaru-kun , Alien Soldier (although

7250-460: The Virtual Console service on February 27, 2016, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series. The games featured Local Play for trading Pokémon and battling, replacing the game link cable due to the Nintendo 3DS having wireless connections, but Game Boy Printer features in Pokémon Yellow , like other titles on the Virtual Console, was not be usable on the Nintendo 3DS. On March 4, 2016, during

7375-538: The Virtual Console service was discontinued on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Purchased titles remain playable. There were 38 Famicom, Super Famicom, Nintendo 64, Sega Mega Drive, and PC Engine games available at launch on the Wii Virtual Console for the Japanese region. The Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console launched with 7 Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles. New Virtual Console software is added on Tuesdays (Wii) and Wednesdays (Nintendo 3DS, Wii U) at 2:00 pm JST and there were

7500-884: The Virtual Console titles primarily cover only the games that have been released in Europe, Nintendo UK has commented that there is a possibility that in the future, Nintendo will localize Japanese and North American games that have never been released in Europe such as Super Mario RPG , which was released on the European Virtual Console on August 22, 2008, after being unreleased in that region for 12 years. In March 2007, Hudson released three TurboGrafx games which were not originally released in Europe: Double Dungeons , Dragon's Curse , and Battle Lode Runner . Five Hanabi Festivals have been held since, releasing former Japanese and/or North American exclusive titles. The first few Virtual Console games were released to

7625-505: The Virtual Console version of Super Mario Bros. pre-installed. The full launch includes six games with three being for the NES and three of them being for Game Boy. Nintendo of Hong Kong launched the Virtual Console in Taiwan and Hong Kong for the first time in Nintendo 3DS/Nintendo 3DS XL systems in Chinese, their first releases are the Japanese versions of Pokémon Red , Pokémon Blue , Pokémon Green and Pokémon Yellow for Game Boy on

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7750-546: The Virtual Console. A select few first-party and nearly all other N64 game cartridges utilized the extra memory capability of the N64 Controller Pak . Saving of data to the Controller Pak is not supported by the Virtual Console, so for those games which used this feature, the save feature will not work properly in the Virtual Console. An extreme example is that of Mario Kart 64 which uses internal cartridge memory for progress and save game data. Consequently, all progress

7875-481: The Wii Internal Memory and function exactly as the original cartridge did. A game that in its original cartridge form did not have any form of save feature will not have any save game feature on the Virtual Console (though depending on its original system it may have the suspend feature as described below). Most first-party N64 games used internal cartridge memory for game save data and thus will save properly on

8000-443: The Wii also included games for platforms that were known only in select regions, such as the Commodore 64 (Europe and North America) and Microsoft 's and ASCII 's MSX (Japan), as well as Virtual Console Arcade , which allowed players to download video arcade games . On the other hand, the Virtual Console on Nintendo 3DS had a smaller library consisting of NES, SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Gear titles. Launching with

8125-402: The Wii at the end of 2006, Virtual Console titles had been downloaded over ten million times as of early 2008. The distribution of past games through the Virtual Console is one of Nintendo's reasons for opposing software piracy of old console games. On January 30, 2019, the Virtual Console service was discontinued on the Wii, following the shutdown of the Wii Shop Channel . On March 27, 2023,

8250-400: The Wii component cables. These updates are free of charge to those who have downloaded a previous version of the game. In later years, some games have been removed from the service due to their licenses expiring, namely R-Type and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , among others. The three Donkey Kong Country SNES games produced by Rare were unknowingly withdrawn. Since Nintendo retains

8375-504: The Wii main menu from the game. Two exceptions to this are the N64 and Neo Geo AES, titles which do not support this feature. The N64 will allow play to be halted by returning to the Wii Menu but will require the person to start from the title screen to continue playing. Note that suspending play enables the player to pause the game indefinitely but does not function as a "save state" in that, once

8500-486: The WiiWare part of the Wii Shop Channel, as opposed to through the Virtual Console. Satoru Iwata stated in a speech on March 23, 2006, that Nintendo, Sega , and Hudson Soft were working in collaboration to bring a "best of" series of games to the Wii. At E3 2006 , Hudson also declared it would bring upwards of 100 titles to the Wii's Virtual Console. Additionally, Hudson mentioned that its lawyers were working on acquiring

8625-629: The closure of Toaplan, the following year, a number of studios formed from former Toaplan staff that would continue to develop this style, including Cave (formed by Batsugun's main creator Tsuneki Ikeda) who released 1995's seminal DonPachi , and Takumi, who would develop the GigaWing series. Bullet hell games marked another point where the shooter genre began to cater to more dedicated players. Games such as Gradius had been more difficult than Space Invaders or Xevious , but bullet hell games were yet more inward-looking and aimed at dedicated fans of

8750-509: The console) can be used for all Virtual Console games. The controllers from the GameCube can also be used for all games on the Virtual Console, except for some multiplayer TurboGrafx-16 games that use the GameCube controller for the fifth player. As a result of this, the wireless GameCube controller (the WaveBird ) has seen increased popularity. All Virtual Console games have their buttons mapped to

8875-426: The dominant style of shoot 'em up during the late 1980s to early 1990s, when Your Sinclair called Commando "the great grand-daddy of the modern shoot 'em up" genre. It has also been credited as the "product that shot" Capcom to "8-bit silicon stardom" in 1985, "closely followed by" Ghosts 'n Goblins . Commando spawned numerous clones following its release. Home computer clones and imitators released later

9000-629: The early 1980s, up until the end of the arcade golden age. According to Eugene Jarvis , American developers were greatly influenced by Japanese space shooters but took the genre in a different direction from the "more deterministic, scripted, pattern-type" gameplay of Japanese games, towards a more "programmer-centric design culture, emphasizing algorithmic generation of backgrounds and enemy dispatch" and "an emphasis on random-event generation, particle-effect explosions and physics" as seen in arcade games such as his own Defender and Robotron: 2084 (1982) as well as Atari's Asteroids (1979). Robotron: 2084

9125-400: The early 1990s and the popularity of 16-bit consoles , the scrolling shooter genre was overcrowded, with developers struggling to make their games stand out, with exceptions such as the inventive Gunstar Heroes (1993) by Treasure . Sega's pseudo-3D rail shooter Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom demonstrated the potential of 3D shoot 'em up gameplay in 1982. Sega's Space Harrier ,

9250-503: The emergence of one of Sega's forefront series with its game Fantasy Zone . The game received acclaim for its surreal graphics and setting and the protagonist, Opa-Opa, was for a time considered Sega's mascot . The game borrowed Defender's device of allowing the player to control the direction of flight and along with the earlier TwinBee (1985), is an early archetype of the "cute 'em up" subgenre. In 1986, Taito released KiKi KaiKai , an overhead multi-directional shooter. The game

9375-511: The few examples of the stripped-down ports actually being stronger than the original game. These later ports added powerups, better music and depth to the gameplay that are all sadly lacking in the arcade original." Computer Gamer magazine's Game of the Year Awards gave the original arcade version of Commando the award for best coin-op game of the year , beating Paperboy and Marble Madness . After being ported to home computers, Commando

9500-494: The first games to popularize twin-stick controls was Robotron: 2084 (1982). Space shooters are a thematic variant of involving spacecraft in outer space . Following the success of Space Invaders , space shooters were the dominant subgenre during the late 1970s to early 1980s. These games can overlap with other subgenres as well as space combat games . Tube shooters feature craft flying through an abstract tube, such as Tempest (1981) and Gyruss (1983). There

9625-452: The game featuring a variety of weapons and equipment. In 1987, Square's 3-D WorldRunner was an early stereoscopic 3-D shooter played from a third-person perspective, followed later that year by its sequel JJ , and the following year by Space Harrier 3-D which used the SegaScope 3-D shutter glasses . That same year, Sega's Thunder Blade switched between both a top-down view and

9750-402: The game is resumed, the user will be able to pause play again (overwriting the suspend point) but will not be able to return to the previously suspended state. The suspend feature will not be available if the user resets the Wii with the reset button on the front of the console during gameplay. Further, if the Wii loses power during gameplay, there is no further suspend state, nor will there be

9875-823: The game was previously available in North America through the Sega Channel ), DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure , Puyo Puyo 2 , Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa , Dig Dug , Gley Lancer , Super Fantasy Zone , Break In , Star Parodier (Removed), Cho Aniki , Final Soldier , Digital Champ: Battle Boxing , Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou , Bomberman '94 , Detana!! TwinBee , Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair , Pulseman , Secret Command , Street Fighter II: Champion Edition , Castlevania: Rondo of Blood , Ironclad , Ufouria: The Saga and Monster World IV . Furthermore, at least two import titles ( DoReMi Fantasy and Puyo Puyo 2 ) were released without any English translation, and thus only Japanese text

10000-548: The game, they are playable in either Japanese or English. Super Mario World is the only game that can be bought in either language. Companies currently supporting by publishing games are Bandai Namco Entertainment , Hudson Soft , Irem , Konami , Nintendo , Taito and Windysoft . Since Nintendo of Taiwan and Nintendo of Hong Kong never offered a Chinese version of the Wii console in Hong Kong or Taiwan, they have released Japanese Wii's in that region and by hardware extensions,

10125-431: The genre looking for greater challenges. While shooter games featuring protagonists on foot largely moved to 3D-based genres, popular, long-running series such as Contra and Metal Slug continued to receive new sequels. Rail shooters have rarely been released in the new millennium, with only Rez and Panzer Dragoon Orta achieving cult recognition. In the early 2000s, the genre achieved recognition through

10250-456: The last Super Joe dead, or survives 140 levels, which ends the game. The arcade version contains eight unique levels. The NES version contains only four unique level designs, but repeats those levels with minor changes and increasing difficulty to create a total of sixteen levels. The game was developed by Capcom, where it was designed by Tokuro Fujiwara . He was concurrently leading the development of both Commando and Ghosts 'n Goblins at

10375-607: The licenses to games from now defunct companies. Nintendo announced MSX compatibility on September 19, 2006, announcing on February 23, 2007, that the MSX titles Eggy and Aleste would be released in Japan. In February 2007, a heading for Neo Geo AES games was added to the Japanese Virtual Console page, and in September of that same year, games for that system appeared on the list of future releases, priced at 900 points each. Also in September Hudson announced that games made for

10500-420: The mid-1980s. These games feature characters on foot, rather than spacecraft, and often have military themes. The origins of this type of shooter go back to Sheriff by Nintendo , released in 1979. SNK 's Sasuke vs. Commander (1980), which had relatively detailed background graphics for its time, pit a samurai against a horde of ninjas , along with boss fights . Taito's Front Line (1982) introduced

10625-432: The mobile game Space Impact , which is considered one of the important games in the history of mobile games . Treasure's shoot 'em up, Radiant Silvergun (1998), introduced an element of narrative to the genre. It was critically acclaimed for its refined design, though it was not released outside Japan and remains a much sought-after collector's item. Its successor Ikaruga (2001) featured improved graphics and

10750-603: The most-popular arcade game for the previous two weeks. In the United States, it had topped the American RePlay chart for upright arcade cabinets by November 1985. In the United Kingdom, it became one of the top-grossing arcade games in London West End test locations, leading to orders for thousands of units in the UK alone, where it became a major hit. Commando similarly became a major hit across Europe. It had become

10875-616: The night. I took one listen to the original arcade version and started working on the C64 version. [...] By the time everyone arrived at 8:00 in the morning, I had loaded the main tune on every C64 in the building! I got my cheque and was on a train home by 10:00". The arcade version was re-released on the Virtual Console as Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando in Japan on October 5, 2010, in North America on December 6, 2010, and in

11000-441: The original cartridge releases. As with disc-based games, the Virtual Console service is region-locked—that is, different versions of games are provided to different regions, and game availability may vary from region to region. Nintendo stated that the Wii Shop Channel would not be used exclusively for retro games, and WiiWare games have appeared in North America as of May 12, 2008. These original games are made available through

11125-452: The player against multiple enemies descending from the top of the screen at a constantly increasing speed. Nishikado conceived the game by combining elements of Breakout (1976) with those of earlier target shooting games, and simple alien creatures inspired by H. G. Wells ' The War of the Worlds . The hardware was unable to render the movement of aircraft, so the game was set in space, with

11250-401: The player and enemies to a single screen, and the player primarily moves along a single axis, such as back and forth along the bottom of the screen. Examples include Space Invaders (1978), Galaxian (1979), Phoenix (1980), and Galaga (1981). In Pooyan (1982), the fixed axis of movement is vertical, along the right side of the screen. In Centipede (1980) and Gorf (1981),

11375-574: The player has to memorise their patterns to survive. These games belong to one of the fastest-paced video game genres . Large numbers of enemy characters programmed to behave in an easily predictable manner are typically featured. These enemies may behave in a certain way dependent on their type, or attack in formations that the player can learn to predict. The basic gameplay tends to be straightforward with many varieties of weapons. Shoot 'em ups rarely have realistic physics. Characters can instantly change direction with no inertia , and projectiles move in

11500-491: The player in a trance-like state. In trance shooters, enemy patterns usually have randomized elements, forcing the player to rely on reflexes rather than pattern memorization. Games of this type usually feature colorful, abstract visuals, and electronic music (often techno music ). Jeff Minter is commonly credited with originating the style with Tempest 2000 (1994) and subsequent games including Space Giraffe , Gridrunner++ , and Polybius (2017). Other examples include

11625-480: The player primarily moves left and right along the bottom, but several inches of vertical motion are also allowed within an invisible box. Multidirectional shooters allow 360-degree movement where the protagonist may rotate and move in any direction such as Asteroids (1979) and Mad Planets (1983). Multidirectional shooters with one joystick for movement and one joystick for firing in any direction independent of movement are called twin-stick shooters . One of

11750-418: The player to rescue. Some of these ports also include items. Among the items included in the NES version are a more powerful machine gun upgrade, an unlimited grenade upgrade, and "glasses" to let the player view all the hidden bunkers. The player will lose these upgrades after losing a life. Extra lives are given at 10,000 points, and per 50,000 scored up to 960,000; thereafter, no more lives. Play continues to

11875-415: The player's flying vehicle moving forward, at a fixed rate, through an environment. Examples are Scramble (1981), Xevious (1982), Gradius (1986), Darius (1987), R-Type (1987), Einhänder (1997). In contrast, Defender (1981) allows the player to move left or right at will. Run and gun games have protagonists that move through the world on foot and shoot attackers. Examples include

12000-549: The player. It also introduced the idea of giving the player multiple lives and popularized the concept of achieving a high score . With these elements, Space Invaders set the general template for the shoot 'em up genre. It became one of the most widely cloned shooting games, spawning more than 100 imitators with only the most minor differences (if any) from the original. Most shooting games released since then have followed its "multiple life, progressively difficult level " paradigm, according to Eugene Jarvis . Following

12125-548: The principle of bullet hells. A bullet heaven or reverse bullet hell is a subgenre characterized by the player character collecting or unlocking abilities and attacks whose visuals overlap and clutter the game screen as the game progresses. They also share a feature of many enemy characters, commonly called "hordes", walking toward the player from off-screen. This genre is generally attributed to Vampire Survivors , released in 2022. A small subgenre of shooter games that emphasizes chaotic, reflex-based gameplay designed to put

12250-416: The release of Konami's Gradius , which gave the player greater control over the choice of weaponry, thus introducing another element of strategy. The game also introduced the need for the player to memorise levels in order to achieve any measure of success. Gradius , with its iconic protagonist, defined the side-scrolling shoot 'em up and spawned a series spanning several sequels. The following year saw

12375-508: The respective buttons on the controllers, however, in certain circumstances, users can use X and Y instead of A and B, if the original controller does not have X and Y buttons (for example the NES). In certain titles, such as Nintendo 64 games, there may be specific controls tailored to the Classic Controller or GameCube Controller. Nintendo 64 titles that originally provided force feedback via

12500-470: The rights to these games, the reason for their removal remained unknown, however, they have since been released on the Wii U eShop and were also added back to the Wii Shop Channel around the same time as well. Sonic the Hedgehog and its sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 2 were both removed in Japan in 2012. While the games returned to the Wii Shop Channel in 2013, they were removed yet again on October 30, 2015, on

12625-520: The same time. Both games sold well for Capcom upon release. A home version of the game developed by Capcom was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System . Activision released a port of the game for the Atari 2600 and INTV released a port for the Intellivision , also an Atari 7800 version by Sculptured Software was released in 1989. Elite released versions for many home computers. They released

12750-406: The same year include Who Dares Wins and Rambo . The most successful Commando imitator was SNK 's arcade hit Ikari Warriors (1986), which spawned two sequels. The run-and-gun shooter format of Commando was also adapted into a side-scrolling format by Konami 's Green Beret ( Rush'n Attack ) later the same year. Commando was followed by a sequel titled Mercs in 1989 , which

12875-423: The scope to include games featuring such protagonists as robots or humans on foot, as well as including games featuring "on-rails" (or "into the screen") and "run and gun" movement. Mark Wolf restricts the definition to games featuring multiple antagonists ("'em" being short for "them"), calling games featuring one-on-one shooting "combat games". Formerly, critics described any game where the primary design element

13000-499: The screen stops, and the player must fight several soldiers streaming from a gate or fortress. They are ordered out by a cowardly officer, who immediately runs away, although shooting him in the back awards the player bonus points. Along the way, one can attempt to free prisoners of war as they are transported across the screen by the enemy. Some home console ports of the game contain hidden underground shelters that can only be accessed with grenades. Inside these shelters are prisoners for

13125-416: The serial number or console e-mail name can be provided). Also, if a Wii owner transfers all data on their console to a Wii U , the ability to download those titles from the Wii Shop Channel, along with all save data currently on the Wii, is transferred. Game saving is functional and intact on the Virtual Console for all games which originally had a save feature on their cartridge. Saved games are saved to

13250-446: The service on February 23, 2009, and its first Virtual Console Arcade games on March 25, 2009. There were 398 titles for the Wii, 172 title for the 3DS (184 including those available for Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors and Donkey Kong: Original Edition) and 267 titles for the Wii U available. Though the Virtual Console lineup initially only covered games that had been released in North America, George Harrison indicated in an interview that there

13375-421: The sprites themselves, allowing the player to fit between the narrow gaps in enemy fire. Bullet hell games were first popularized in Japanese arcades during a time when 3D games and fighting games were eclipsing other games. The flashy firing patterns were intended to grab players attention. Toaplan 's Batsugun (1993) is often considered a pivotal point in the development of this subgenre. After

13500-612: The subgenre, along with Parodius , Cotton , and Harmful Park being additional key games. Some cute 'em ups may employ overtly sexual characters and innuendo. Vertically scrolling shooters present the action from above and scroll up (or occasionally down) the screen. Horizontally scrolling shooters usually present a side-on view and scroll left to right (or less often, right to left). Isometrically scrolling shooters or isometric shooters , such as Sega 's Zaxxon (1982), use an isometric point of view . A popular implementation style of scrolling shooters has

13625-550: The success of Space Invaders , shoot 'em ups became the dominant genre for much of the golden age of arcade video games , from the late 1970s up until the early 1980s, particularly the "space shooter" subgenre. In 1979, Namco 's Galaxian —"the granddaddy of all top-down shooters", according to IGN—was released. Its use of colour graphics and individualised antagonists were considered "strong evolutionary concepts" among space ship games. In 1981 Gorf brought joystick control and (limited) vertical as well as horizontal movement to

13750-454: The system, rarity, and/or demand. On Wii and Wii U, the Virtual Console's library of past games consisted of titles originating from the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Game Boy , Game Boy Color , Nintendo 64 , Game Boy Advance , and Nintendo DS , as well as Sega 's Master System , Genesis/Mega Drive and Game Gear , NEC 's TurboGrafx-16 , and SNK 's Neo Geo AES . The service for

13875-673: The ten official GBA releases, but can be used by games unofficially "injected" into a GBA VC title. On February 1, 2012, Punch-Out!! the first non-ambassador NES game was released on the Virtual Console service. Since then, other NES games that were not part of the ambassador program were released including third party games by Capcom, Konami, and Tecmo such as; Mega Man , Castlevania , and Ninja Gaiden . Furthermore, two NES import titles were added in North American and Europe; Summer Carnival '92 Recca and The Mysterious Murasame Castle in both 2013 and 2014, respectively. Game Boy Advance games were never released to non-Ambassadors on

14000-442: The traditional green screen or viewing them in an emulated border. A separate, but related set of games are 3D Classics , which are remakes of classic titles that make use of the Nintendo 3DS's stereoscopic 3D capabilities. When asked if Virtual Boy games were going to be available for download on the Virtual Console for the Nintendo 3DS , Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé told Kotaku that he couldn't answer, as he

14125-472: The vertically scrolling, overhead view games Front Line (1982), Commando (1985), and Ikari Warriors (1986). Side-scrolling run and gun games often combine elements from platform games , such as the ability to jump: Contra (1987), Metal Slug (1996) and Cuphead (2017). Run and gun games may also use isometric viewpoints and may have multidirectional movement. Bullet hell ( 弾幕 , danmaku , literally "barrage" or "bullet curtain")

14250-545: The vertically-oriented fixed-shooter genre, while Space Invaders and Galaxian have only horizontal movement controlled by a pair of buttons. Atari 's Asteroids (1979) was a hit multi-directional shooter, taking from Spacewar! the ability for the player's ship to roam the entire screen and to rotate, move and shoot in any direction. The Space Invaders format evolved into the vertical scrolling shooter sub-genre. SNK 's debut shoot 'em up Ozma Wars (1979) featured vertical scrolling backgrounds and enemies, and it

14375-591: The world's top arcade game at the time. Commando sold more than 15,000 arcade PCB units by June 1985. Commando ended the year as the highest-grossing arcade game of 1985 in the United Kingdom, while also outperforming Track & Field , the UK's highest-grossing arcade game of 1984 . In the United States, it was one of the top three highest-grossing arcade video games of 1985, along with fellow Data East releases Karate Champ and Kung-Fu Master . Mike Roberts of Computer Gamer called it "a very exciting game" and said "the quality of animation and graphics

14500-484: Was a possibility that Nintendo or other Virtual Console providers would localize Japanese games that have never been released in English. This later came to reality, and former Japan-only games have appeared on the North American Virtual Console. The first game to be added with such localization was Sin and Punishment for the Nintendo 64. While other previous Japan-only titles had been released through

14625-681: Was added on March 28, 2008, for Europe's Virtual Console. and MSX support was added on May 27, 2008, for Japan's Virtual Console. On February 23, 2009, the first three Commodore 64 titles ( International Karate , The Last Ninja and Pitstop II ) were added to the North America Virtual Console for the first time. On March 25, 2009, simultaneously with Nintendo's Keynote Speech at Game Developers Conference, Nintendo launched 'Virtual Console Arcade', launching with four titles, Mappy , The Tower of Druaga , Star Force and Gaplus . On February 4, 2011, Sega announced that

14750-465: Was again acclaimed as one of the best games in the genre. Both Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga were later released on Xbox Live Arcade . The Touhou Project series spans 26 years and 30 games as of 2022 and was listed in the Guinness World Records in October 2010 for being the "most prolific fan-made shooter series". The genre has undergone something of a resurgence with the release of

14875-421: Was an influential game in the multi-directional shooter subgenre. Some games experimented with pseudo-3D perspectives at the time. Nintendo 's attempt at the genre, Radar Scope (1980), borrowed heavily from Space Invaders and Galaxian , but added a three-dimensional third-person perspective; the game was a commercial failure, however. Atari's Tempest (1981) was one of the earliest tube shooters and

15000-496: Was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1961, for the developers' amusement, and presents a space battle between two craft. It was remade four times as an arcade video game in the 1970s. Space Invaders (1978) is most frequently cited as the "first" or "original" in the genre. A seminal game created by Tomohiro Nishikado of Japan's Taito , it led to proliferation of shooter games. It pitted

15125-472: Was known as Senjō no Ōkami II in Japan. However, it was not as successful as Commando or Ikari Warriors . Tokuro Fujiwara was disappointed that he did not develop a Commando sequel sooner, as the arcade market already had numerous Commando imitators by the time Mercs released. A second sequel, Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 was released as a downloadable title for the Xbox Live Arcade and

15250-404: Was shooting as a "shoot 'em up", but later shoot 'em ups became a specific, inward-looking genre based on design conventions established in those shooting games of the 1980s. Shoot 'em ups are a subgenre of action game . These games are usually viewed from a top-down or side-view perspective , and players must use ranged weapons to take action at a distance. The player's avatar is typically

15375-546: Was the first action game to feature a supply of energy, similar to hit points . Namco's Xevious , released in 1982, was one of the first and most influential vertical scrolling shooters. Xevious is also the first to convincingly portray dithered/shaded organic landscapes as opposed to blocks-in-space or wireframe obstacles. Side-scrolling shoot 'em ups emerged in the early 1980s. Defender , introduced by Williams Electronics in late 1980 and entering production in early 1981, allowed side-scrolling in both directions in

15500-582: Was unfamiliar with the platform. "As a consumer, I have experience with every Nintendo platform and, I think every accessory, including the Superscope, with the exception of the Virtual Boy... so it's difficult for me to articulate a point of view back to our parent company [in Japan] why we absolutely have to have a Virtual Boy store" The author of the piece, Kotaku 's Stephen Totilo, called upon readers to "argue for

15625-428: Was voted best arcade-style game of the year at the 1986 Golden Joystick Awards , and won the award for best shoot 'em up game of the year according to readers of Crash magazine. In 1996, GamesMaster rated the game 57th on their "Top 100 Games of All Time." Commando was a highly influential game, popularizing the run-and-gun shooter genre along with military shooter themes. It led to run-and-gun games becoming

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