Post by VectorX on Oct 1, 2012 20:55:34 GMT -5
Well, I did it again!
botss.wikia.com/wiki/Botss_Wiki
Ok, so there are already video game and even shooter (shmup) wikis, so maybe this is a bit redundant, but the bottom of the screen shooter is one of my favorite game genres ever. So I might as well give it its due.
This actually isn't really at the point where I wanted to announce this, but for some reason tonight I just suddenly said "aw, screw THIS!" and decided to go ahead and do it. So there's still plenty of material I plan on doing (a Phoenix page will be up sometime this week)/am working on, just in case some people look it over and go "why is this like that?", or "where is ____?"
One thing that's rather fun to do is take existing articles and changing them around to fit the nature of a particular wiki, which I did that with the Space Invaders wiki, making Y*A*S*I into the main game, while shortening details of Protector (since that isn't an Invaders game, but still deserves mention since it's on the cart). Same goes with Birds of Prey and the Vector Vaders remix, as they're on the Vecmania cart: they take lead over all the other games. Same goes with the plug and play unit of Retro Arcade Featuring Pac-Man, where Galaxian and Galaga take precedent, then the other included games have the controls and such taken out.
Y'all also might want to check out the Vectrex entry to make sure I got all the BOTSS for it, and also remember that certain games will be presented in a different manner, such as there being a Paratroopers, but no Gravitrex Plus page. I think I got them all on there, but not having every homebrew, I might've missed one or more; you can just either scroll down a bit or click on the "Bottom of the Screen Shooters for the Vectrex" tab to be taken there instantly in the index. Same goes for the Atari 2600 page; make sure all games are there. One of the changes I need to make is to include all hack descriptions: it didn't occur to me that maybe I should explain what the games are hacks of until I put up the damn list today. I did what I could recall from memory and will go back to the others later (ugh!). There's no article because it'll take a long time to "de-Wikipedify" it, as the arcade article took an hour or two to convert. Make sure all games are there too; some I can't confirm for sure, such as Golden Invaders, which I assume is a Space Invaders bootleg (down to the arcade cab art rip-off), but without a game ROM, I can't confirm that for sure on MAME or the wiki. (Did anyone see or play that game back in the day?)
NOT so fun was going through a lot of game lists, reading instructions, downloading ROMs, etc. to include them with platforms. Doing the arcade ones ALONE took weeks, since I didn't feel like doing them all at once. I saved 'S' for last, since there's a million games that start with that letter, namely for all the Street Fighter II remixes (although I just skipped those), anything starting with the word "Space" or "Star", etc. Then I had to turn around and do that for the 2600 too! Other lists will be shorter, like for the Microvision. I think that one had two BOTSS but I'm not sure; I know Star Trek: Phaser Strike was but I'm not sure about a couple of others, like Alien Raiders (although I see the buttons are for "fire" and you've got a left/right dial only, so...) but I'll be looking at a YouTube video to see if it's included. I watched one the other week but they only went over four games, which didn't help, as that one wasn't included.
One thing you might want to keep in mind are the ads, unless they don't bother you: one of the very few people that I let in on this early complained that one page had line nine ads or something. If you're just going to skim around a little, it might not be a problem. If you want to seriously look around for a while, you might want to consider getting a Wikia account, through that or any other Wikia wiki. I'm not 100% sure but I think having an account will cut down on those, or at least I know I can do that as an admin. Just check your Preferences to see if there's a way to choose the Don't display all ads function. At least the good thing is that, with a Wikia account, if you ever get into writing, you're automatically signed up for any Wikia wiki, just as long as you're logged in! (And it might cut down on ads!)
Because one thing this is REAL negligent on are recent games/packages, since I don't have a current cell phone. My mom returns to town on like the 12th or something, which she has an iPad, so hopefully there's a few that I can download for free (or at least demos) that I can do a writeup for. So if anyone wants to write stuff let me know if you need any help, as I plan on (hopefully) having infobox templates as well. However, the code for that can be copied on pretty much any article there.
Also, is Missile Command a BOTSS? I'm still in debate over this; sure, you fire from the bottom of the screen, but since you can place your shots all over it, I don't think that really counts. And that's a little ironic, considering similar games of M. A. D. and Command Raido (and soon to be Atlantis) are on there, as you are definitely limited to the bottom of the screen on those two games with your base.
I'll also have more reviews, such as when I get Zantis, which I'll just do a review on Spiders (a page is up for that), slamming that and mentioning how much better Zantis is in one fell swoop. (Yes, I actually played Spiders, the piece of crap that it is.) I need to move over my I, Cyborg review from the Vectrex wiki too, as the page was already copied, but I hadn't decided to include reviews or not for it at the time, or maybe I just didn't feel like doing it on that day
Well I've got more to say but this is long enough as it is; enjoy Oh, and the featured article will be rewritten to give more "meat" on it, as with Cosmic Monsters, I had gotten tired of rewriting the same article over and over on the S. Invaders wiki, so I didn't really go into gameplay that much, and plus I need to take out the opinion (even though it's true!) of that it didn't have much "new to offer". But I'm not going to bother until I swap out that as a feature.
botss.wikia.com/wiki/Botss_Wiki
Ok, so there are already video game and even shooter (shmup) wikis, so maybe this is a bit redundant, but the bottom of the screen shooter is one of my favorite game genres ever. So I might as well give it its due.
This actually isn't really at the point where I wanted to announce this, but for some reason tonight I just suddenly said "aw, screw THIS!" and decided to go ahead and do it. So there's still plenty of material I plan on doing (a Phoenix page will be up sometime this week)/am working on, just in case some people look it over and go "why is this like that?", or "where is ____?"
One thing that's rather fun to do is take existing articles and changing them around to fit the nature of a particular wiki, which I did that with the Space Invaders wiki, making Y*A*S*I into the main game, while shortening details of Protector (since that isn't an Invaders game, but still deserves mention since it's on the cart). Same goes with Birds of Prey and the Vector Vaders remix, as they're on the Vecmania cart: they take lead over all the other games. Same goes with the plug and play unit of Retro Arcade Featuring Pac-Man, where Galaxian and Galaga take precedent, then the other included games have the controls and such taken out.
Y'all also might want to check out the Vectrex entry to make sure I got all the BOTSS for it, and also remember that certain games will be presented in a different manner, such as there being a Paratroopers, but no Gravitrex Plus page. I think I got them all on there, but not having every homebrew, I might've missed one or more; you can just either scroll down a bit or click on the "Bottom of the Screen Shooters for the Vectrex" tab to be taken there instantly in the index. Same goes for the Atari 2600 page; make sure all games are there. One of the changes I need to make is to include all hack descriptions: it didn't occur to me that maybe I should explain what the games are hacks of until I put up the damn list today. I did what I could recall from memory and will go back to the others later (ugh!). There's no article because it'll take a long time to "de-Wikipedify" it, as the arcade article took an hour or two to convert. Make sure all games are there too; some I can't confirm for sure, such as Golden Invaders, which I assume is a Space Invaders bootleg (down to the arcade cab art rip-off), but without a game ROM, I can't confirm that for sure on MAME or the wiki. (Did anyone see or play that game back in the day?)
NOT so fun was going through a lot of game lists, reading instructions, downloading ROMs, etc. to include them with platforms. Doing the arcade ones ALONE took weeks, since I didn't feel like doing them all at once. I saved 'S' for last, since there's a million games that start with that letter, namely for all the Street Fighter II remixes (although I just skipped those), anything starting with the word "Space" or "Star", etc. Then I had to turn around and do that for the 2600 too! Other lists will be shorter, like for the Microvision. I think that one had two BOTSS but I'm not sure; I know Star Trek: Phaser Strike was but I'm not sure about a couple of others, like Alien Raiders (although I see the buttons are for "fire" and you've got a left/right dial only, so...) but I'll be looking at a YouTube video to see if it's included. I watched one the other week but they only went over four games, which didn't help, as that one wasn't included.
One thing you might want to keep in mind are the ads, unless they don't bother you: one of the very few people that I let in on this early complained that one page had line nine ads or something. If you're just going to skim around a little, it might not be a problem. If you want to seriously look around for a while, you might want to consider getting a Wikia account, through that or any other Wikia wiki. I'm not 100% sure but I think having an account will cut down on those, or at least I know I can do that as an admin. Just check your Preferences to see if there's a way to choose the Don't display all ads function. At least the good thing is that, with a Wikia account, if you ever get into writing, you're automatically signed up for any Wikia wiki, just as long as you're logged in! (And it might cut down on ads!)
Because one thing this is REAL negligent on are recent games/packages, since I don't have a current cell phone. My mom returns to town on like the 12th or something, which she has an iPad, so hopefully there's a few that I can download for free (or at least demos) that I can do a writeup for. So if anyone wants to write stuff let me know if you need any help, as I plan on (hopefully) having infobox templates as well. However, the code for that can be copied on pretty much any article there.
Also, is Missile Command a BOTSS? I'm still in debate over this; sure, you fire from the bottom of the screen, but since you can place your shots all over it, I don't think that really counts. And that's a little ironic, considering similar games of M. A. D. and Command Raido (and soon to be Atlantis) are on there, as you are definitely limited to the bottom of the screen on those two games with your base.
I'll also have more reviews, such as when I get Zantis, which I'll just do a review on Spiders (a page is up for that), slamming that and mentioning how much better Zantis is in one fell swoop. (Yes, I actually played Spiders, the piece of crap that it is.) I need to move over my I, Cyborg review from the Vectrex wiki too, as the page was already copied, but I hadn't decided to include reviews or not for it at the time, or maybe I just didn't feel like doing it on that day
Well I've got more to say but this is long enough as it is; enjoy Oh, and the featured article will be rewritten to give more "meat" on it, as with Cosmic Monsters, I had gotten tired of rewriting the same article over and over on the S. Invaders wiki, so I didn't really go into gameplay that much, and plus I need to take out the opinion (even though it's true!) of that it didn't have much "new to offer". But I'm not going to bother until I swap out that as a feature.