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Post by windfisch on Mar 20, 2021 19:24:09 GMT -5
What are the earliest examples of shoot 'em ups featuring cute/cartoony graphics like Twin Bee or Parodius?
One could argue that Space Invaders belongs in that category. Though I'd say it's closer to pictograms than actual cartoons. What I'm looking for is something that is unmistakably aiming for a cartoon-aesthetic.
So far I've got a few potential candidates. The first is King & Balloon (Arcade, Namco, 1980):
While it is still rather simple and abstract, the style used for the king-sprite doesn't seem to be soley owed to hardware limitations: His body shape is clearly exaggerated, even though more realistic proportions would've been technically possible. What really sells it for me is seeing and hearing it in motion, most notably the digitzed speech that is used for comedic effect ("Bye bye!").
Then there is Funky Bee (Arcade, Orca Corporation, 1982):
It's somewhat more detailled and colourful than K & B and thus arguably more vivid, maybe even somewhat reminiscent of a children's picture book. Though it is a little unlclear, whether it just goes for mere abstraction (in part necessitated by the hardware) rather than an actual cartoon-style. Since it's mostly insects depicted here, the intention is not as obvious as it is with the humanoid king in K & B. Though, the music does have a cartoon-like flavour to it. So I'd argue in its favour.
Finally we've got Donkey Kong 3 (Arcade, Nintendo, 1983):
Now this looks like a cartoon even in stills! Graphically it's notably more sophisticated compared to King & Balloon, allowing for a look that much more resembles something you'd see drawn on paper or celluloid. While it features some minor platforming, it is enough of a shoot'em up that it still counts in my book.
So what would you agree on the most: King & Balloon, Funky Bee or Donkey Kong 3? Are there other examples that come to mind - maybe ones you think are better suited for the term "cute 'em up" (because maybe you think the first two lack graphically or that DK3 doesn't belong, since it's not a pure shmup)? I'm also curious about lesser known games in that category up until the mid-90s. Give me your thoughts.
[Edit] BONUS QUESTION:
Since Pooyan has been mentioned, what other shoot 'em ups do you know that utilize a fixed/single screen (no scrolling) and are horizontally oriented at the same time (meaning you mainly move on the y-axis and your shots go from left to right or vice versa)? To my knowledge there aren't that many.
Here are some examples:
Outback (C64/Vic-20, Paramount Software, 1984)
Pigs in Space (C64, Mastertronic, 1984):
Both of these seem to be Pooyan-clones and are conveniently also cuties.
Final Reverse (Game Boy, Toei Animation, 1991):
Another rare subgenre: the 2d versus shooter (see also: Volleyfire, GB, 1990). Not cute and also a hybrid (you can select between horizontal or vertical orientation and enable optional scrolling).
Super Kong (Supervision, Sachen, 1992): It's essentially Donkey Kong 3 tilted by 90 degrees (so it's cartoony, yay!), combined with Pooyan- and versus shooter-elements. Unlike the other vs shooters mentioned, it's asymmetrical, meaning the player's abilities differ from the CPU-controlled opponent's.
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Post by ommadawnyawn2 on Mar 20, 2021 20:19:23 GMT -5
I guess DK3 counts technically, that's the best out of those examples. But Twinbee and Fantasy Zone are the first that come to mind as early examples.
Is Front Line from 1982 cute? Not like Twinbee but it is a cartoony run 'n gun game. There's also Bega's Battle from 1983, which isn't that cute either but is cartoony. Jetpac (ZX Spectrum) is also in this vein sort of, a thrust-based shooter. Duck Hunt from 1984 also goes here I think, probably the cutest thus far.
SonSon from 1984 is also worth considering, as an auto-scrolling run 'n gun/action platformer of sorts with chibi sprites.
From 1985 there's Ninja Princess/Sega Ninja, a run 'n gun that's fairly cutesy.
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Post by lurker on Mar 20, 2021 22:19:19 GMT -5
Does Pooyan count?
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Post by Bumpyroad on Mar 21, 2021 7:27:10 GMT -5
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Post by windfisch on Mar 21, 2021 9:31:59 GMT -5
You brought up some very interesting games. I agree, TwinBee and Fantasy Zone are the kind of games I think of immediately when it comes to, uhm, "cooters".
Front Line is indeed cartoony, a bit macabre even, especially when it comes to the silly walking- and death-animations. Even though I consider run & guns a subgenre of their own, their close relation to shmups in general makes them worth looking at in this context. And Son Son and Ninja Princess are even better matches in terms of visual style. Being more familiar with The Master System Ninja, I tend to forget that it used to be much cuddlier in its original form.
Bega's Battle made me realize how early Laserdisc games were already a thing (instinctively I would have put them more towards the late 80s). I can't imagine how spectacular and advanced these must have looked next to their purely pixel-based bretheren. Even today it feels a little unreal to me. It is very Anime for sure (though there is a very notably discrepancy between fore- and background visuals), but not the kind of cartoony I was looking for - it's too dark and violent for that.
I somehow didn't consider Lightgun games when making this thread, but yeah, Duck Hunt is an excellent example. It's the very definition of a playable cartoon - an Elmer Fudd simulator, if you will.
Oh yes, Pooyan definitely counts! It's one of those games that I tend to forget about, even though it deserves better. Featuring clearly defined cartoon-like designs and animations, it beats DK3 by being earlier.
Gun-Nac is certainly a good example - one of the best of its kind.
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Mar 21, 2021 10:59:17 GMT -5
Nintendo's Sky Skipper from 1981 is the earliest one I can think of. Surely with the amount of Space Invaders rip-offs in the years following 1978 there could be a cute Space Invaders clone predating even King & Balloon... Namco's Sky Kid is a later example (1985). Still early, and definitely cute.
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Post by ommadawnyawn2 on Mar 21, 2021 11:16:50 GMT -5
windfisch Cheers. Yeah audiovisually the LD games were like a couple of generations ahead during this first wave of them, though gameplay tends to be rather simplistic and memorization heavy and obviously in this example the actual sprites don't match in terms of resolution and color depth at all. There are some funny examples of that in the racing and rail shooter genres with photorealistic FMV footage for the levels and these 8-bit style sprites for the player sprite and a few other elements. I agree with Sky Skipper actually. Funky Bee is a decent candidate but not exactly cute to me.
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Post by toei on Mar 21, 2021 12:57:11 GMT -5
For me Funky Bee is the most convincing of those. It's a true, pure shmup, for one, instantly recognizable as belonging to the same genre as the games the term "shmup" bring to mind. It even has scrolling. There is a clear intention to be cute/childish, as evidenced in the choice of characters (insects are often considered cute in Japan rather than gross, and bees especially were common in cartoons for very young children in the '80s), the colorful look, and especially the title, which implies a cute/funny tone. Finally, Orca is where most of the core Toaplan staff began, many of whom would later continue at Cave, Raizing, etc. It's an important company in the history of the genre.
King & Balloon might be (very) vaguely cartoony, but it isn't "cute".
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Post by windfisch on Mar 22, 2021 6:10:54 GMT -5
Sky Skipper is a good one! It may not be the most conventional of shmups, but it is surprisingly sophisticated visually (especially when comparing it to Sky Kid, which didn't add *that* much) and looks highly cartoony. It beats Funky Bee and Pooyan, as far as I'm concerned.
I wasn't aware of the Toaplan-connection regarding Funky Bee. Truxton isn't exactly the first thing that comes to mind when looking at it.
I'm really on the fence about King & Balloon. To me that king is pretty adorable: His cries for help and him happily thanking you for saving him always put a smile on my face (ed.: he's even happy when being captured!). And the whole concept of balloons carrying a man away and using a parachute (edit: I ment umbrella) to glide down is the definition of cartoon-physics. But at the same time it looks much more crude and abstract than Sky Skipper. At the very least K&B can be considered a precursor to this supposed subgenre.
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Post by dsparil on Mar 22, 2021 6:39:11 GMT -5
Surely with the amount of Space Invaders rip-offs in the years following 1978 there could be a cute Space Invaders clone predating even King & Balloon… This seems likely to me too. Considering how obscure Funky Bee seems to be, there must be some even lesser known game that's poorly preserved. I took a look at what MAME supports pre-1982, and nothing really jumped out at me.
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Post by windfisch on Mar 22, 2021 8:07:06 GMT -5
The thing with these clones is that most of them seem to be content merely mimicking Space Invaders in every aspect, including its visual style.
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Post by dsparil on Mar 22, 2021 8:24:22 GMT -5
It just feels like something that has to exist on a certain level even if it's unlicensed. In the early 80s someone took the time to hack Pac-man and turn all the pellets into hearts for example. Arcade hardware that old still had to survive close to 20 years before serious efforts to emulate them even existed. Nintendo had the only remaining Sky Skipper cabinet since it never made it past location testing.
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Post by windfisch on Mar 22, 2021 9:27:14 GMT -5
I get what you mean. And I'm definitely curious to find out - that's what this thread is all about.
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Post by toei on Mar 23, 2021 17:24:15 GMT -5
In any case, sometimes early examples are to be classified as precursors more than the real "start" of a genre, either because they had no particular influence , or because all the ingredients weren't there yet. No one considered "cute-'em-ups" to be a thing in the early '80s, or these games to be part of a distinct subgenre of shooters. I might just be stating the obvious, but the two games that really influenced developers to start making more cute, colorful and playful shooters, and got people thinking of them as their own "type" of shooters, were Konami's TwinBee in 1985 and Sega's Fantasy Zone in 1986. Shmuplations just posted a newly-translated interview related to the latter, btw. Very interesting stuff.
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Post by neomerge on May 21, 2021 21:28:30 GMT -5
I've never played funky bee but it looks cool.
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