Nowadays, “shooter” typically refers to the third or first-person genre, you running around with a gun blasting away at aliens and explosive red barrels.

But listen up kids–back in the day, a “shooter” was a game where you directed a tiny spacecraft around a  horizontally or vertically scrolling screen and shot glowy balls and weirdo aliens.

Journey back in time with us now–what are some of your favorites?

Dave: Thunderforce III is, in my mind, the greatest side-scrolling, 2D shooter ever made.  This bad boy game out for the Genesis early on in the console’s life cycle and featured lots of colorful, dynamic sprites, a genuinely memorable score and fantastic power-ups.

Favorite stage: the trippy lava level (surprise!  A lava level!)  Favorite weapon: the heat-seeking “hunter.”

Close second, by the way, is MUSHA, which I retro-reviewed here.

Is it hot in here or is it just me?

Steve: I was into the shoot-em-ups like everyone else, but my real love lay in the space simulation genre. The first one that hooked me body and soul was Wing Commander on the SNES. There were about 8 dozen sleepless nights spent trying to take the top spot on that damn killboard in the pilot’s lounge. Damn Kilrathi!

Why do i keep humming the classic Battlestar Galactica theme?

Then there was Colony Wars on the original Playstation, a game i bought solely because it was one of only two “perfect 10′s” on PSXpower.com (which would become the Playstation section of IGN in the following years). Was it awesome? Hell yes it was. A branching plot that changed up based on how well you performed in your missions, and some intense line readings from a cool as hell James Earl Jones sound alike.

And later came Starlancer for the Sega Dreamcast. Hot war in space? US vs. RUSSKIES!? Hell yes! Sure it was a bit of a beast to control with that DC control pad, but it still holds up graphically today, and the gameplay was pretty awesome.