12.2. Area Shooter

Area Shooters provide free range of movement in a set area, where the player is tasked with eliminating waves of enemies.

Asteroids (Atari, 1979)

Super-Subgenres

Area Shooters generally fall into one of two categories, as seen below. The first approach is top-down while the second is horizontally-scrolling, though both retain free movement regardless of perspective.

Open-Area Shooters

Bosconian (Namco, 1981); Time Pilot (Konami, 1982)

Scrolling-Area Shooters

Defender (Williams Electronics, 1981); Fantasy Zone (Sega, 1986)