Shooter
A shooter is a blanket genre of video game where the player controls a character that can shoot projectiles. Because this definition is so broad, the genre is typically divided into several sub-genres like:
Sub-genre | Description | Examples |
---|---|---|
Bullet hell | A shooter with a ridiculously large number of projectiles to deal with. | Batsugun, Touhou Youyoumu ~ Perfect Cherry Blossom |
Cute 'em up | Shooters which uses cute imagery. | Fantasy Zone, Parodius |
First-person shooter | The game is seen through the eyes of the character who shoots at opponents. | Doom, Half-Life |
Fixed shooter | The character is confined to a limited area, usually on a single screen. | Space Invaders, Centipede |
Hero shooter | Shooters which focus on character personalities. | Team Fortress 2, Overwatch |
Platform shooter | The character runs along platforms while shooting. | Ghosts 'N Goblins, Contra |
Rail shooter | The player shoots at targets while moving along a pre-set course. | Star Wars (1983), Space Harrier |
Scrolling shooter | The character moves across a large area as the background scrolls behind them. | Defender, Xevious |
Shooting gallery | The player shoots at targets which move across the scene, often by moving a targeting reticle. | Cabal, Operation Wolf |
Tactical shooter | A hybrid of shooter and real-time tactics where strategy plays an important role. | SEAL Team, Rainbow Six |
Tube shooter | Shooters which have the player spinning around a tube and shooting down it. | Tempest, Gyruss |
Although light gun video games involve shooting, they don't fall into this definition of a shooter because the player's character doesn't fire a projectile. Instead, it uses something called a hitscan.