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Twin-stick shooter is asubgenre ofshoot 'em upvideo games. It defines amultidirectional shooter in which theplayer character is controlled using twojoysticks: one for movement on a flat plane and another to shoot in the direction the joystick is pushed. Usually shots are fired as soon as the second joystick is moved, but in some games there is an additional button which must be held.[1]Keyboard and mouse ortouch input may supplant one or both joysticks.[2] A few games, such as 1981'sVanguard, don't have a second joystick for shooting, but provide four buttons to fire in the cardinal directions.
The twin-stick control scheme was used inarcade video games starting withGun Fight in 1975, but came into prominence with the high-actionRobotron: 2084 in 1982. The ubiquity ofgamepads with two thumb-controlled sticks overcame the difficulty of playing twin-stick shooters at home and eventually led to a resurgence of the genre following the release ofGeometry Wars: Retro Evolved in 2005.
The 1975 arcade video gameGun Fight (released asWestern Gun in Japan) uses one joystick for movement and a second for firing. Each joystick is of different design. Unlike most later twin-stick games, the right stick moves the player's avatar. The 1977 sequel,Boot Hill, uses the same control scheme.Mars, a scrolling shooter released in 1981, is also controlled via two 8-way joysticks.[3] The 1981SNK gameVanguard uses a joystick for movement and four separate buttons arranged in a diamond for firing.[4]
Robotron: 2084, released in 1982 during thegolden age of arcade video games, became the seminal example of the control scheme using two 8-way joysticks. As gamepads with dual thumbsticks did not exist on 8-bit or 16-bit home computers and consoles, home ports ofRobotron: 2084 were often awkward to play or used modified control methods. The version forAtari 8-bit computers came with a plastic tray to hold twoAtari CX40 joysticks, in an attempt to make twin-sticks viable.[5]
The twin-joystick arcade gamesSpace Dungeon,Rescue, andBlack Widow followed soon afterRobotron. Twin-stick controls remained uncommon for arcade games, but were later used inSmash TV (1990) andTotal Carnage (1992).Smash TV designerEugene Jarvis previously co-designedRobotron withLarry DeMar.
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, an early hit for theXbox 360, caused a resurgence in 2005.[1] By 2008, the popularity of the genre waned, following a glut of twin-stick shooters with abstract graphics fromindependent developers who found the simplicity of the genre appealing.[6][7] Twin-stick shooterspin-offs of existing video game franchises have since been made, includingHalo: Spartan Assault.[1]
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