I loathe PixelJunk SideScroller

[kazekirifx]

I can't believe I even bothered to play the demo of PixelJunk SideScroller on the PS3. This game is just wrong. It feels like developers who didn't know anything about shmups tried to make a shmup. I'm sure they're those types whose only shmup growing up was Life Force on the NES. Typical. And it's a shame that this game seems to be better known than the far superior Sóldner-X games.

Blegh.This PixelJunk series is a joke. The title itself claims it is about enjoyment of old school pixel art, and yet the games don't exhibit the kind of old school pixel art I would ever want to look at. Q-Games is on my shitlist.

[esteban]

But Life Force was a great game for NES!

I don't like the title of this game, but I can't judge a book by its cover...

[SuperDeadite]

I can't believe I even bothered to play the demo of PixelJunk SideScroller on the PS3. This game is just wrong. It feels like developers who didn't know anything about shmups tried to make a shmup. I'm sure they're those types whose only shmup growing up was Life Force on the NES. Typical. And it's a shame that this game seems to be better known than the far superior Sóldner-X games.

Blegh.This PixelJunk series is a joke. The title itself claims it is about enjoyment of old school pixel art, and yet the games don't exhibit the kind of old school pixel art I would ever want to look at. Q-Games is on my shitlist.

Sounds like you should be playing the "world's greatest retro shooter" instead.   XD
f*ck the amiga, seriously.

[Nando]

Play this instead

http://www.locomalito.com/hydorah.php

[Ji-L87]

Play this instead

http://www.locomalito.com/hydorah.php

I too can vouch for Hydorah, it's pretty sweet and the soundtrack's good as well.

[RegalSin]

f*ck the amiga, seriously.

Hey the Amiga series was a great computer. It is just that everybody had stress from their rivals, and H-simulators were not even admired, ( along with the rest of artful world in computers ). It did everything before the Apple and DOS computers did.

[kazekirifx]

Wow! Great-looking recommendations. I'm especially impressed that such a game exists for iOS and Android. I generally loathe cell phone games, but that one looks like it might be worth checking out. Not really looking forward to playing with a touch screen though.

To be clear, I never said Life Force wasn't a great game. Of course it is. That's not the point. It's just that there seem to be a lot of American gamers who grew up in the NES generation who consistently can only think of Life Force when asked to name a classic shmup. For instance, the Angry Video Game Nerd pretty much always mentions Life Force when reviewing a shmup. These are people who clearly haven't played many shmups, and abandoned the genre after Life Force. I love AVGN too, of course, but he's really not a huge shmup player as anyone can see from his videos.

[Joe Redifer]

Most of the Pixeljunk games pretty much suck.  Monsters was good but it wasn't worth buying.  I think the best thing about Pixeljunk PS3 games is that they remote play on the PSP quite well if you have that set up.

[Nando]

I also like SkyFyre, a browser based chooter
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/513016

and this one is a fun take on the missile command formula
http://armorgames.com/play/3917/vector-boom

[esteban]

To be clear, I never said Life Force wasn't a great game. Of course it is. That's not the point. It's just that there seem to be a lot of American gamers who grew up in the NES generation who consistently can only think of Life Force when asked to name a classic shmup.

I hear ya.

[Black Tiger]

Life Force was the first NES game I bought.

[esteban]

Life Force was the first NES game I bought.

Tiger Heli was my first NES game. Soon followed by Gradius.

Life Force kicked so much ass, back in the day. I loved that game. It was tough as balls, too. More challenging than Gradius (I destroyed Gradius).

[Arkhan]

Hey the Amiga series was a great computer. It is just that everybody had stress from their rivals, and H-simulators were not even admired, ( along with the rest of artful world in computers ). It did everything before the Apple and DOS computers did.

No it didn't.