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Shooter

Rail shooter

The game moves the camera or your character along a fixed path and you only aim and shoot at whatever appears, without choosing where to go.

Also known as: on-rails shooter

This is a basic entry: it has the definition and the classification. Full entries add history, games and a demo.

History

  1. 1985
    Origin

    The genre was born in arcades with Space Harrier (Sega, 1985) and After Burner (1987).

    Rail shooter (Wikipedia)
  2. 1993

    Star Fox popularises the genre with 3D graphics.

    Rail shooter (Wikipedia)

Reference games

1987

Operation Wolf

Taito. arcade

The gun is shaped like a submachine gun and vibrates as you fire. The view moves by itself while you shoot soldiers and vehicles, avoid nurses and children, and refill ammo by shooting objects. Its success set the model for military-themed light-gun games on a fixed path.