If you are a fan of electronic music, then you should try and access all the electronic music festivals in your area. For Detroit residents, one of the most important events in this regard is definitely the Detroit Movement Festival, which not only has managed to acquire a lot of attention in the past few years, but which has managed to bring in a wide range of new, impressive music from all…
If you are a fan of electronic music, then you should try and access all the electronic music festivals in your area. For Detroit residents, one of the most important events in this regard is definitely the Detroit Movement Festival, which not only has managed to acquire a lot of attention in the past few years, but which has managed to bring in a wide range of new, impressive music from all over the country.
The interesting thing is that since 2000, the Detroit Movement Festival has grown so much that it has required a larger and larger venue. This year, according to the estimates, more than 120000 people came to see their electronic music idols, and I for one I am certain that more and more will come in the next years as well.
What did we find at the Detroit Movement Festival which just ended? More than 100 different, amazing electronic music performers, as well as a large number of electronic masters from all over the world, which have managed to create quite the experience.
I for one I was impressed by the high variety of internationals that came here, with Shigeto, Ryan Elliot, Matrixxman as well as many others highlighting the festival’s schedule which was really cool.
The music was with an even higher quality this time and the venue was amazing because it did bring more space than last time. We now had the opportunity to listen music instead of just battling to get a better location.
Moreover, I also enjoyed the high variety of music, which at least for me was a lot better than last year. But this is not all, I feel that all the service has increased with numerous amenities being available for everyone.
The ticket per day scheme worked nicely, but there was so much to listen to that even if you sat there all day you couldn’t listen to them all since there were shows which took place at the same time. Having so much music to listen to and a ton of variety is all that the Detroit Movement Festival is about, and I must say that it definitely managed to exceed all my expectations. It was an astounding experience and one that I regard as being one of the best concerts out there.
Everyone was there, from legends to newcomers, and most of them were live, so what can be better than this?
Overall, Detroit Movement Festival has managed to, once again, surpass the expectation and this year’s event was amazing. We can look backward with pride but, at the same time, I have to say that I am curious how they will surpass this years’ experience. We just have to wait around 360 more days for the next one.
Playing shooters nowadays can be a lot of fun, especially since they are very competitive and all, but the reality is that the real shooters aren’t these colorful, yet complex games. No, the real shooters are stuck in the past and that’s where we can find the whole set of diamonds, because those are the games that have started it all. Most of these real shooters are now timeless classics and even…
Playing shooters nowadays can be a lot of fun, especially since they are very competitive and all, but the reality is that the real shooters aren’t these colorful, yet complex games. No, the real shooters are stuck in the past and that’s where we can find the whole set of diamonds, because those are the games that have started it all. Most of these real shooters are now timeless classics and even though it can be hard to play them, since you need an emulation tool, the reality is that they have remained within our blood as one of the pivotal steps in the beginning of gaming as a whole.
Back in the day, these real shooters were the main reason you would play something, in fact they were the major thing that drew countless kids, like you and I, to the arcade stores where the arcade machines allowed us to control our tiny ships through a constant battle against the unknown forces of the universe.
But which are the games that have made so much of an impact on how gamers see the real shooters now? Let’s find out!
Space Invaders 
This is one of the oldest games in existence, but also one of the first that were implemented on an arcade machine. Space Invaders was launched in 1978 and it was manufactured by Taito and Bali. The scope of the whole game was to control a pixelated cannon located in the bottom of the screen, in such a way so that you could shoot the aliens above you that were coming in lines. The fact that you could use a laser made this game one of the most exciting and quite unique things you could have ever experienced in any game, something that we can rarely experience now. Sure, it was a simple monitor with a few pixels for the non-gamers, but for us Space Invaders was the beginning of something bigger, it was a way to fully immerse ourselves into a virtual world.
For many, Space Invaders was and still is the pioneer of the shooter genre. Of course, since then this type of games and gaming in general has evolved a lot, but the reality is that the real games, real shooters are stuck in the past and they will remain that way, showing that while evolution is necessary, the timeless classics will always remain unchanged.
Space Invaders and its simple gameplay have managed to become a pop culture myth, and now you can find the title in numerous TV shows, other games, in fact you can see it references in some books too.
Being able to have a few places to retreat when attacking gave Space Invaders a sense of urgency, as you had a limited time until the aliens caught you. It was very demanding to continually push the buttons in order to make the tank move and defend our planet, but the outcome was always all so satisfying. Space Invaders was and still is the perfect shooter for many, because it just manages to combine all the elements of a satisfying game into a cohesive package that has just managed to create countless fans all over the globe.
Galaga 
Galaga is a fixed shooter that was released in 1981, and it had a gameplay similar to Space Invaders. The difference is that when you started the game, the whole area was empty yet in time aliens started to accumulate in the region and arrive in formation. Galaga has a very distinct gameplay which does include great animations and at the same time it comes with numerous levels that allow you to progress through stages without that much hassle.
As an arcade game, Galaga was the bomb because it managed to bring a streamlined gameplay and hundreds of levels in a very appealing fashion. Thanks to its success, the game received ports for a multitude of consoles, and it even managed to receive quite a lot of sequels, which is really nice. The main focus in Galaga was to reach the boss that was beneath the whole thing. Unlike Space Invaders, the graphics in this one were colorful and much more diverse, which meant a ton more fun and realism.
If you played Galaga back in the day, then you know that the game had a bug that was quite easy to exploit since the attackers simply didn’t fire any bullets. Not only that, but there also was an exploitable bug which caused the attackers to stop firing bullets, everything being caused by a coding error. Still, it’s errors like this one that made our childhood memorable and fun. How much skill did we manage to acquire from continually shifting the direction of our fighter in Galaga.. sweet old memories.
Zaxxon
Shortly after Galaga, we had Zaxxon. This one was a little different because of the isometric view that made the gameplay feel even more immersive and interesting. Here we had the opportunity to fly the fighter craft within a fortress that was very large and menacing, since there were tons of enemies out there.
The objective was to kill enemies without being shot at all, and if you ran out of fuel, you just had to blow up fuel drums, a paradoxical thing if you think about it.
What made Zaxxon special for all gamers was the fact that this title managed to include the axonometric projection which made the 3D simulation from a 3rd person standpoint feel immersive and very accurate at the same time. Zaxxon was a delight for gamers, because both the perspective and gameplay were something very innovative and just unseen before that time. Sega nailed it with the release and the fact that they also included support for up to 2 players just shows the large amount of dedication that game developers had at that particular time.
Zaxxon was so popular that numerous clones and sequels were released, but the appealing graphics and exciting action portrayed in the game was unlike nothing you saw before. Zaxxon appeared in music videos, in horror films as well as numerous podcasts, so it did acquire its own magic place in the popular culture in time. Of course, the game nailed it from an award standpoint as well, since it managed to gain numerous awards throughout the years.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was one of the first side scrolling shooters and it was a damn fun one too. In this one, we had the opportunity to control Luke Skywalker which was in a snowspeeder which had to battle enemies against imperial walkers and a variety of other enemies. The gameplay was really cool because it offered you the ability to really get inside a speedster and feel the Star Wars experience in a manner that was as realistic as possible.
What made Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back fun was the uniqueness of the whole experience, and the numerous abilities that the speeder had. It’s safe to say that since Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back no other game managed to be so much fun like it. This is why even up to this date the Star Wars fans are continually playing this game as a way to enrich their memories and have fun while looking at the old days.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was challenging because of its increasing difficulty, as the walkers managed to move faster and faster, and this did ramp up the difficulty quite a lot. It’s that difficulty what actually attracted us towards playing the game on our Atari over and over, and the fact that we could hook up another gamepad to play with our friends was just the cream of the crop.
Gyruss
No list with real shooters would be complete without Gyruss. This is one of the few games that literally managed to garnish admiration from everyone not only because of the vibrant graphics that were used at that time, but also for the neat gameplay that was quite similar to Galaga, yet this time we could see everything from a faux 3D perspective, which was really cool and exciting.
Gyruss also managed to be very appreciated because of the excellent electronic music that Konami added in it. At the same time, it was one of the first games that included stereo sounds in a professional manner, and because of that the title managed to be amazing.
With tons of laser beams, asteroids, satellites and other unique stuff, Gyruss literally managed to bring us a great depiction of the outer space, in a very exciting and immersive way that’s highly appreciated up to this day.
Phoenix
Similar to Space Invaders, Phoenix appeared in 1980 and it had an outer space theme as well as a very exciting gameplay. What made Phoenix very interesting was the fact that you had a limited amount of lives yet despite that the gameplay became more and more challenging, and it culminated with the introduction of a separate challenge in the form of a boss. The boss experience was action packed, and killing all the aliens leading to it was just a sheer delight to be honest.
Each level had 5 different rounds, in the first two the player had to defeat an alien bird formation, and then the next two required you to deal with some large alien birds similar to the phoenixes. The last round required you to engage the mothership and a creature that was located at the middle of it all. This game was one of the first in which you had the opportunity to engage bosses in battle, and the gameplay was epic.
After these real shooters appeared, numerous clones emerged and they managed to create their own genre. During the course of the next two decades, they actually entered the full 3D realm with lots of effects, but due to the nostalgia factor, few thought about meddling with their gameplay. There are a few games that want to retain the feeling which came with these real shooters, and these can be seen as the true follow-ups of these amazing shooters!
Geometry Wars 
Started off as a simple mini-game in the Project Gotham Racing 2 Xbox game and since then it managed to bring its own set of innovation. The standout thing for this series is the vibrant graphics set, but the gameplay is also very alert and it remembers us about Galaga and all the other similar games from the retro times. The soundtrack is filled with electronic music and everything in this game is really exciting.
The first 2 Geometry Wars titles kept an isometric approach with the whole idea of real shooting, but Geometry Wars 3 has finally managed to bring the series to the 3D world. Geometry Wars’s main idea is to survive for as much time as you can while an increasingly large swarm of enemies are attacking you. You control a fun claw shaped shit that can be moved in any direction you want. Firing can be performed quickly and accurately, while at the same time the player also has the ability to control bombs on the battlefield as well, even though their number is limited to begin with. In Geometry Wars Evolved, you can play on a game world that’s larger than your TV screen, which means that there’s a little exploration to be made. At the same time, the grid pattern included here became a standout thing for the series. Geometry Wars can be seen as the next best thing in real shooters, and it really showcases the true power of shooters, as they manage to live on, albeit in a slightly different form.
Space Invaders Extreme 
Space Invaders Extreme is pretty much the original with new graphics. There are new elements that appear, but this 2008 game manages to include a ton of interesting stuff, while also changing the graphics and making them interesting. There are challenges to be had, and the interface is streamlined for the portable devices as well as console, something that made Space Invaders Extreme a blast to play with friends, thanks to its great multiplayer.
There are 5 stages in Space Invaders Extreme, and depending on your score after level 2, you can choose an easier or harder route, depending on your skill mode.
Overall, Space Invaders Extreme has managed to stand out thanks to its uniqueness and diversity, rest assured that the title is well worth the time investment and it can be quite rewarding as time passes, considering that the gameplay tends to get quite hard as time passes.
Galaga Legions 
Galaga was one of the best game that you could ever play if you wanted a real shooter, and Galaga Legions was designed to be an homage to the golden age shooter. However, Galaga Legions was completely different when compared to the old title, since it included lots of new game mechanics, five areas that could be traverse in two modes and a few satellites that changed the gameplay immensely.
In conclusion, while some shooters were released in the past few years, these don’t really manage to capture the uniqueness and natural feeling of those astounding games from past times. Games like Galaga and Space Invaders will always remain in our mind as being those things that introduced us to gaming and which allowed us to use our imagination, go beyond what we know and just evolve. Those real shooters changed our lives, and even decades after their release, many of us still go back to them! This is what dedication and love for the past means, and that’s why the real shooters will remain in our minds as the best thing that ever existed!
Alexandru Tanase
8BitThis.com
8BitThis 