The Top 5 Posthumously Released Shmups for the Dreamcast
In the world of shoot-em-ups, you’re either a sinker or a floater. Either way, you’re shit in the eyes of the mainstream gaming scene. Somewhat trendy shit, but shit nonetheless. The avid shmupper is simply not catered to in the same way that RPG or FPS gamers are. The hottest new shooter might NEVER be coming to a console near you, so the enthusiast is usually forced to import his fix from Japan. And we scramble madly for whatever crumbs they drop, gladly paying large sums of money for rel
Zero Gunner 2 is a 2D side-scrolling shooter developed by Psikyo as a sequel to Zero Gunner, the original arcade game. It was released for the Dreamcast in Japan in 2001.
One or two players can take their pick of three helicopters, each with their own firing pattern and battle oncoming waves of enemies through 7 different stages, each with a boss at the end. Each boss has a different form at the beginning, such as a train, boat, airplane, or submarine, but after the players have inflicted enough damage, it turns into a giant robot. After the players destroy the robot, the stage ends and they progress on to the new stage. There are 9 modes of difficulty, ranging from "Child", where enemies fire little to none when fired upon to "Very Hard", where enemies fire at almost any given moment.
The game is particularly innovative by including a way to rotate the helicopter in 360 degrees, allowing the player to fire in any direction. Most of the time this is required to survive, as enemies not only come from the top of the screen, but the left, right, and bottom as well. Like other scrolling shooters, the game makes use of power-ups to improve a helicopter's firepower. Each player also has a "Special" Bar, which slowly rises whenever players collect the little "E" icons from destroyed enemies. Every time the bar fills, the player has an opportunity to unleash their helicopter's special attack which often is capable of destroying every enemy on the screen.
This game is very rare and sought after on auction sites after only being released on Sega Dreamcast and Naomi.
