DF Retro: Gunbuster vs Wolfenstein 3D - How 1992 Revolutionised The FPS
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- Опубліковано 6 тра 2023
- Haven't heard of Gunbuster, or Operation Gunbuster? We're not surprised. It's an arcade shooter from 1992 released mere months after Wolfenstein 3D re-architected the first-person shooter on PC. The thing is... there's a lot of commonality here in terms of presentation, movement and control with the key difference coming down to technology. Gunbuster's entire presentation is based on sprites, a dead-end technology for the FPS revolution to come but in 1992? It was the Wild West and anything was possible.
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Good to get a glimpse of a game I’d known nothing about. Thanks for the episode! These smaller ones are a good idea.
It's great to have you back John. These DF Retro are something else and your work in general is definitely what I prefer about Digital Foundry. Thank you!
I always enjoy the retro looks. I had never heard of this game, but I really enjoy hearing about game history. Thanks, John and DF team.
I think John hit the nail on the head in comparing the graphics technique used in this game with how the Saturn handled quads. I don’t think there was anywhere else to go with sprite based tech than to start warping textures using quads / triangles. It saved artists too much time and effort to warp their artwork in realtime rather than spend so much more time and memory to store precalculated versions taken at different angles.
Gunbuster is an evolution of Taitos first-person shooter 'Space Gun', released two years earlier in 1990. The backpedal on the cabinet was an interesting touch in which you could reverse the set and automated forward and side scrolling momentum, to slightly extend your reaction time from the oncoming alien onslaught. The cabinets mounted guns also had a pump action mechanic which were used to launch screen clearing grenades. Check it out if you are able to, one of my favourite arcade games. Simple yet very fun.
I remember Space Gun fondly but I never got to see Gunbuster in action in an Arcade.
I remember playing Gunbuster alot at the arcade when I was a kid. This plus Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Time Crisis, and Gunblade NY were my favourite go-to arcade games.
1992 was a hell of a year for first person games. When are you folks going to cover Ultima Underworld?
This. UW was so far ahead of the curve, released before Wolf3D with real 3D environments more akin to Quake. Granted it didn't run as fast even with the small viewport, but still perfectly playable on a 33 MHz 486 with no FPU.
Love the episode and the format! Keen to have these sorts of curios documented and explored like this.
It's so interesting to see these old games in action and what made them so special. The peeks behind the scenes explaining a games history, comparison videos of other classics at that time, and even covering the in-game music is just top-notch. Keep the retro videos coming. Excellent video John! Cheers! 🍻
Outstanding episode! Everything you do for DF, John, is simply stellar. Love your worki!
Loved this smaller video, I also never would've known about this game without it. Looking forward to the Road Rash epic too.
Great video, John!
Even though it’s a smaller one, I don’t feel short-changed at all! It still has your trademark care and attention. (Not to mention the top-quality, un-stretched capture!)
I’d never heard of this game either until now, so I’m off to try it out.
Keep up the awesome work, mate!
I had to triple check the video title and thought to my “Why is DF retro comparing an 80s anime Gunbuster with wolfenstein? but sure, why not, I’ll check out the video “. Lol. I’ve never heard of this game.
Phenomenal work as always, love the smaller focused format in between bigger projects, just the right amount of info and entertainment. Nobody does it better
I played this at Galloping Ghost and was amazed at how advanced it was for 1992!
This is such a gift. We don't deserve this, John!!! Another masterclass video from ya. I especially loved the Zuntata music montage. Thank you
Great video and thanks for making me discover arcade games I’ve never heard of before! I love this short format so don’t hesitate to talk about more games in this way
Great episode, loved the music focus as well. Short episodes are great, and a relaxed, well-rested John Linneman is even greater!
Thanks John for this. I grew up in the 80s and 90s arcades. There’s so many games that I want to play back then as a kid but lack the quarters for them. I’ll definitely check out all the Taito games mentioned in this video. Keep up the great work.
This was like the best idea. You guys of had a long time. Thank you for this.
Thx for the video as always, John. Love your DF Retro series!
Great video Jon. Loved the montage, never heard of that in-house band!
Quality of this video is unbelievable! I could not skip ahead 10 seconds in the whole video, everything here was perfect. Thanks John!!!
I loved this bite size DF Retro. Great work as always, John!
Short videos, long videos, multi-episode series. All are welcomed in this house, John! Whatever you can produce and fits you schedule, we appreciate it! I'm honestly really hyped about the Road Rash video(s) I may finally see Road Rash 64 and Road Redemption (if you talk about modern successors) getting some time in the spotlight!
You just took me back. Road rash was my absolute favorite game series as a kid. I just loved the fact you could kick riders off their bikes 😂
DF Retro is a gem, John. Short form or long form, I'm starved for more. Thanks for your continuous contributions to this great idea.
Great video and this short form has its benefits, just the "snack" I needed.
Every single game shown in this video looks absolutely amazing and I'm baffled I had never even heard about most of them.
I feel like arcade gaming is largely unrecognized when it comes to gaming, there's an entire universe of absolutely amazing stuff that's just obscure nowdays, thousands of hidden gems most peopl don't know, and this game is absolutely one of those gems.
that was an incredible time to be a gaming maniac : D
It's the kind of game that only those over 16 frequenting the arcades would stumble upon and play... and even then only a few arcades would feature a cabinet such as Gunbuster
Antstream will help with your arcade gaming education. 👍
Ah such great timing on this one- been spending the weekend revisiting early 90's FPS games 🙂
Thanks as always for sharing your insight into retro experiences here! Great way to start the day ☕
This was excellent; I’d be thrilled to get more videos like this.
Thanks for making this video, John!
Great work as always and a lot of fun to watch. Thanks John! I'd love to see more of those shorter, so to say retro DF Retro videos like the ones you made in the beginning. Nice game choice also, would never have known about it otherwise!
I loved that you included that Night Boat clip, classic Simpsons is such a gem
Great video John! I actually do like the idea bite sized episodes covering particular games for any platform :D
Fantastic video, thanks John. Also, scanlines make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside
Great video. More like this, por favor. You rock at this format and relating these wonderful stories.
Absolutely loved this. Superb work.
Thanks for the video. It's always nice to discover gems I had never heard about. And I always liked the Darius OSTs but didn't know about Zuntata. I now have a new massive playlist to listen to, lol.
Witnessing the technological and design methods to implement concepts we take for granted today is always a fascinating time - even more so when you guys do it!
Also, I may need to go to a Taito music deep dive soon...
Great video as usual... Thanks a lot for bringing such games to light and I am looking forward to your next DF Retro videos... PS: if you could make a video on Battle Arena Tohshinden that would be awesome :)
Wow just wow. This episode blew me away. The content and delivery was spot on. I never saw or knew of this gem. Considering I have a Taito F3 PCB, I appreciate their sound delivery and style of graphics.
Great stuff as always John.
I hope you guys also cover some some more famous/infamous e3 press conferences from the yesteryear.
The nostalgia is strong, John! What gorgeous visuals, and a great video
Awesome episode, John! 👏👏👏 I'd love to see more like it.
I love DF Retro! It's very apparent that you (John) have a real passion for what you cover. Even with that medley of songs that you thought we had to "survive", we can tell that you love some things so much that you feel you need to share them (which I'm all for!). I was around when Gunbuster came out, but it's a new game to me. Thanks for shedding light on all of this fascinating info!
DF Retrooo!
Man those CRT captures look great.
LOOOOOVE this video to death ❤️
I myself have recently gotten really into the history of gaming and started playing some of the best retro games in chronological order, so this kind of a video is right up my alley atm 😁 Love how you set the historical stage and all the detail you went into on the game itself! Never heard of it before (my research has been purposefully constrained to the home gaming experiences) but now I really want to try this arcade jam out!
Always preferred the look of sprite scaling in 3D over the polygons of this era. Way more variety, smoother performance, and better visuals in my opinion
Never heard of this, it looks incredible!
Great video and continually great professional content!
IT's really cool seeing an episode dedicated to a single game which many may not have heard about but is still fascinating. And it doesn't have to a super long episode covering an entire series of multiple versions of the same game! Hope to see more!
Enjoyed the montage at the end. The Psychic Force music is awesome
I have played a lot of Taito arcade games, but I am less familiar with the content you covered in this video. Very interesting stuff, I took some notes on games I will try out. Thanks for the upload.
Great episode, John. Watching this one gave me a bit of an idea. How about a few episodes that cover arcade games? Most gamers these days don't know what arcade games were like, back in the day, and won't have a clue what it was like for us back in the 70s, 80s and 90s. I'll never forget moments like when I played Pong and Space Invaders back in the 70s, or the likes of Outrun, Gauntlet and After burner in the 80s. It would be fascinating seeing a video that covered these games and times. It's just a though, buddy.
Cool episode. Loved the music montage.
The sprite scaling tech Taito used in Gunbuster looks fantastic! Never heard of this game either, thanks for sharing this beautiful work of 90's arcade action with us all!
Another treat from DF Retro. Always above and beyond the usual narrative. More of this!!!
Great video!! I'm super impressed with this game! I'd have loved to play it back in 92. Please keep the videos coming!
quality as always, love these videos!
another great video from John!
I love this shorter format, really nice way to spot light these forgotten gems.
ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT 🔥
Brings me back to the first Quake/Duke episodes of DF Retro.
An absolute potent, dense & action packed episode long enough to finish out my lunch break after eating.
Still positively ADORE the formats throughout, 100% unique with differentiators making each addition to the wide pallette of "DF RETRO DELIVERY"* flavor!
Nice! Another awesome DF Retro episode. 👍
Love these retro videos, especially in bite size like these.
Gotta see if i can get this game working on my steamdeck.
Never played any other taito games from the 90's aside from ThunderFox on Sega Genesis (port to home console) and darius 1, and 2 on Super nes (Port to home console.) The music for these games were fackin incredible, glad to see you highlighted these aspects like no one ever does.
1992 was a great year for games! You forgot to mention Streets of Rage 2, Contra III The Alien Wars, Thunder Force IV, Desert Strike, Axelay and that’s before we mention anything released in arcades and Neo-Geo! Great video and more arcade games please!
I've been looking for the game night striker for decades now and you found it for me! I had forgotten the name of it but I had a blast when I was a kid. Thanks!
John. I love your DF Retro Videos. Vielen Dank!
Ultima Underworld and Catacomb 3-D says hello. Both 1991.
"However, Doug Church has said that John Carmack saw the game's summer 1990 software convention demo, and recalled a comment from Carmack that he could write a faster texture mapper. Paul Neurath has recounted the incident similarly, with both Carmack and Romero present."
So 1990, even. Underworld is low key one of the most influential games of all time.
Welcome back, John! Great to see you well and hitting the ground running! Fantastic retro video, as always, and yes, do love the shorter vibes of this video... there's a lot of MAME to cover, so I'm sure it would be to everyone's benefit! I've been a fan of Taito and arcade games in general for many years, such a shame current access to these more obscure games are limited to emulation. ACA has, at least, been instrumental in bringing many arcade classics to console in a meaningful way; here's hoping they or any other company for that matter, start to tackle these more obscure titles and release them to the public at large! The kids of today don't know what they are missing 😁
I LOVE this video. It has such good pacing and storytelling! The music segment mixed with gameplay was downright beautiful!
Some of your best stuff ever John!
After writing this comment I'm off to try out MAME
I'm always amazed by how many arcade games from the late 80s/early 90s that I've never heard of. I was an arcade nut back then (still am), and figured I'd be getting close to knowing about every arcade game from that era. Not even close.
Thanks so much for bringing this game to my attention, John. It looks really cool.
Thanks for the reminiscences this video summoned. I was living in my 2nd decade back then: you've waken up the child in me and I'm grateful for that.
Plus, the in-depth technical explanation of it all I couldn't know of, in these old days. 👍
Great video although I was expecting more comparison points and a winner towards the end :D
Excellent video! Can’t wait for Road Rash.
Thanks for the video! Gunbuster's something I missed so far, looks pretty great. Shorter videos are fine with me and looking forward to Road Rash series, this one I know.
I'm glad you highlighted some of Zuntata's work. I feel they go overlooked and underappreciated.
Very cool episode - really enjoyed this one 👍
Love this, great choice of game, great overview of the techniques used, excellent work as always. More like this would be great.
DF Retro is probably my favorite thing on the entire platform, always a joy to see a new episode!
loved this vid, thanks for showing me this game! Excited to try it out with my Sinden light gun!
These are always fun. Thanks John!
John u do such a great job on these retrogame videos 👍
Didn't know of this one at all. Very interesting and the shorter format respects my time so.. thumbs up!
Amazing! Thank you for this slice of history!!
Another great video, thank you.
Love that quick Wii mote insert for some reason I picture John digging through a bunch of old accessories like "Yes, this will be perfect for this 5 second clip."
Great episode John! I really enjoy learning about games like this and Daytona USA, classics that punch way above their weight or are otherwise a technological anomaly among their peers.
Great vid and not short on detail
Great video!
Dude, your capture game is top-notch - besides being an awesome video, all the footage was absolutely gorgeous!
I disagree the presentation is overly zoomed in and artsy for the sake of it.
Absolutely loved this, the more DF Retro we can get the better, perfect amount for a smaller focused episode
Already looking forward to the next DF Retro !
Man Wolf 3D still holds up superbly to this day. Surprising now to look back and remember that most of us played this on keyboard using arrow keys and a strafe button!
Any drop from digital foundry makes for a good Sunday 😎
Short or long, I just want more of those excellent Retro videos!
Lovely stuff mate
Awesome video. I will be playing this with a steam controller and cannot wait to get into this soundtrack
Awesome video! I love all that Zuntata music! I think the best Zuntata song is Daddy Mulk from The Ninja Warriors.
Street Fighter 2 came out in 1991. 92 saw the SNES home release and Championship Edition in the arcades.
Yeah, I don't think we'd likely have gotten a Mortal Kombat if it wasn't for Street Fighter II, or perhaps we would have but it would've been a lot more like Pit Fighter.
Very cool, thanks for the video! I wonder how popular this game was, Taito games were a bit of a rarity at the arcades I used to frequent.
Wonderful episode, John! I'm gonna try this game asap! Thanks a ton for the instructions.
EDIT: Just played thru the whole thing... Damn, I'm impressed! I had a lot of fun. Aiming with the mouse felt similar to how aiming felt in the Wii port of Metroid Prime with keyboard & mouse in the emulator Dolphin (not the PrimeHack version), so it took me like no time to get used to turning and aiming at targets. Kick-ass game for 1992 for sure. Would love to have the actual arcade machine in my house.
Awesome work John. 👏