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Question it’s about "Shot em up" style game (For example: Tyrian) also known as Top-Down shooters.

These games in the past mostly exist as top down concept, it means player object can move from the left to the right and enemies start appearing from the top of the screen and moving down to the screen. This concept was probably picked due to the monitors aspect ratios in the past where was most spreaded 4:5.

Also this concept are very popular on mobile phones, because is sometimes more user friendly not using landscape mode when playing.

There was a very little titles, when the concept Top-Down are changed Right-left It means, player object is on left screen side and moving Top and Down, and the enemies moving from right to the left. Also, there is almost no titles on desktops when current aspect ratios are mostly 16:9. Even if some new “Modern” Shot em up is released, mostly pick the Top Down concept.

And my question is, is there any reason for that on Desktops target platform?

I think for the current monitor aspect ratios 16:9 “Right-Left” better fit the gameplay and user experience. Or Am I missing something?

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    \$\begingroup\$ I don't agree with the premise that there are "almost no titles on desktops" that are side-scrolling shooters. Thinking just Toronto-made games from the past few years, there's Super Time Force and Graceful Explosion Machine, and searching Steam for "side-scrolling shooter" turns up over a hundred more results. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Oct 5, 2020 at 11:47
  • \$\begingroup\$ I don't know this for certain, but wouldn't be surprised to learn that both standards evolved out of hardware optimizations. So for each, on their target platforms, it was just substantially faster to address video memory in the chosen orientation. Hardware resources were just so constrained back then that this kind of stuff mattered. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Oct 5, 2020 at 16:26
  • \$\begingroup\$ One thing that you missed is that left right shooters can have the effect of gravity. This technically can be done with top down ones too, but there isn't nearly as many options. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Oct 19, 2020 at 2:53

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