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Rail shooter, also known as on-rails shooter, is a subgenre of shoot 'em up video game. Beginning with arcade games such as the 1985 Space Harrier, the gameplay locks the player character into a set path, only allowing for limited or no divergence from it, in a similar manner to a theme park dark ride, which are typically on train tracks. While moving on this path, players must aim and shoot enemies while dodging projectiles and avoiding damage.

Many rail shooters feature a flying protagonist or ship. Some take place while walking, running or driving. While rail shooters saw a resurgence on the Wii due to its Wii Remote control scheme, new games in the genre are considered a rarity in the modern day, although many games of other genres contain rail shooter segments.

History

The rail shooter genre stemmed from arcade games, with seminal games being Space Harrier (1985) and After Burner (1987), both developed by Sega. The original Star Fox (1993) further popularized rail shooters, adding 3D graphics. By the mid-1990s, first-person rail shooters became popular in arcades, notably light gun shooters such as Time Crisis (1995) and The House of the Dead (1996). Panzer Dragoon (1995) and Panzer Dragoon II Zwei (1996) were two well-regarded rail shooters released around this time.

Star Fox 64 was released in 1997 and gained wide renown for its graphics, level design and non-linearity. It was the last primarily rail shooter Star Fox game, with Nintendo switching to a fully 3D range of movement going forwards. Bucking the trend of combat-oriented games, Pokémon Snap (1999) was one of the first nonviolent rail shooters, and popularized the photography game genre.

Starting in the late 1990s, the genre started to become unpopular, with on-rails gameplay becoming a "dark mark" due to a stigma of being overly shallow. While games such as Rez (2001) and Panzer Dragoon Orta (2002) were still released during this time, the lull lasted until the advent of motion control on home consoles, leading to a "rebirth" of the genre with major third-party releases in order to capitalize on the light gun-style gameplay. These included The House of the Dead: Overkill (2009), a grindhouse-style prequel to the original, and Dead Space: Extraction (2009), a spin-off of the survival horror Dead Space franchise. The developers, facing controversy over its differences from the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, used the term "guided experience" to describe its gameplay. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (2009) featured shakycam movement. Sin & Punishment: Star Successor (2009) was praised for its impressive graphics. The Kinect saw its own games, such as Child of Eden (2011), although other developers avoided making their games rail shooters, fearing negative reception.

Following this motion control "boom", the genre dried up yet again, with releases like Crimson Dragon (2013) being sporadic and low-quality. While many modern games limit the player to linear levels, they still allow for free movement within those levels. In the modern day, the genre has become largely relegated to indie games, such as Ex-Zodiac, a retro-styled game heavily inspired by the now-defunct Star Fox series.

See also

• First-person shooter
• Third-person shooter
• Light gun shooter

References

1. ^ Handley, Zoey (2019-05-18). "It's time for the rail shooter to take flight again". Destructoid. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
2. "Incoming". Wireframe Magazine (43): 24. 2020-10-01 – via Internet Archive.
3. ^ Donato, Joe (2012-05-04). "What's So Bad About Rail Shooters?". GameZone. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
4. ^ Hernandez, Pedro (2009-11-01). "The Rebirth of the On-Rails Shooter - Feature". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
5. Kalata, Kurt (2017-08-01). "Sin and Punishment: Star Successor". Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
6. Cunningham, James (2022-07-21). "Saving the Solar System in the Rail Shooter of Ex-Zodiac". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved 2023-04-06.

v t e Video game genres
List of video game genres
Action	Platformer Endless runner Platform fighter Shooter Arena First-person Hero Light gun Shoot 'em up Bullet hell Rail Twin-stick Tactical Third-person Survival Battle royale Survival horror Other Beat 'em up Hack and slash Fighting Platform fighter Maze Pac-Man clone Snake Stealth
Action-adventure	Grand Theft Auto clone Metroidvania
Adventure	Escape room Graphic adventure Interactive fiction Interactive film Visual novel Walking sim
Digital tabletop	Deck-building Roguelike deck-building Digital collectible card
Puzzle	Hidden object Sokoban Tile-matching
Role-playing	Action role-playing Looter shooter Soulslike Dungeon crawl MMORPG Monster-taming Roguelike Roguelike deck-building Tactical role-playing
Simulation	Life Dating Farming God Social Virtual pet CMS Business City-building Government Sports Fishing Racing Kart racing Sim racing Vehicle Flight simulation Combat Lunar Lander Space Submarine simulator Train simulator Vehicular combat Other Falling-sand Immersive sim
Strategy	4X Auto battler MOBA Real-time strategy Time management Real-time tactics Tactical role-playing Tower defense Turn-based strategy Turn-based tactics Artillery Wargame Grand strategy
Other genres	Cozy Fitness Horror Survival horror Incremental Music Rhythm Non-game Party Photography Programming Typing
Related concepts	Themes Advergame Bishōjo Christian Comedy Educational Girls Licensed Otome Sexual Eroge Nonviolent Personalized Sci-fi Serious Art Climate change News Player modes Multiplayer Co-op MMO PVP Single-player Production AAA Indie Doujin soft Fan game Design Casual Hypercasual Emergent gameplay FMV Gacha Kaizo Masocore Nonlinear gameplay Open world Sandbox Side-scrolling Twitch gameplay Vertically scrolling Other Minigame Toys-to-life Video game clone Video game modding Video game remake

• Rail shooters
• Video game genres