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A game that uses a mixture of 2D & 3D techniques. Commonly used to describe the use of either 3D graphics restricted to a 2D perceptive, or 2D graphics used to fake the appearance of a 3D perceptive.
Sure, these days have almost every game sporting the newfangled 3D, but way back when, everyone had to live with plain old 2D. 2D, or two dimensions, limit the game to scrolling backgrounds, but some games even now make use of this basic concept.
Anaglyph 3D is a form of stereoscopic 3D that uses filters (usually opposing colors) to display images to each eye separately.
Levels that progress forward by themselves at a fixed rate.
A marketing term coined by Sega in 1992 to advertise the Genesis console's faster performance compared to the rival SNES. Sega originally coined the term to refer to the high-speed bandwidth and fillrate of the Genesis VDP graphics processor's DMA unit. The term is also often used to refer to Sega's advertising campaign for the Genesis in the '90s.
Bonus levels, rounds, or stages give players a chance to gain extra points, powerups, or lives. Occasionally bonus stages will play completely different than the rest of the game, like as a slot machine or pinball minigame.
When players must fight all of the bosses of the game at once. This can either be an optional mode, or a required sequence. Boss Rush can also mean a game where the player only fights bosses.
A concept in games with multiple characters, a screen with pictures of all playable characters with the possibility of stat listings.
Chiptunes are musical compositions that are synthesized by a computer or console sound chip.
A visual effect where color channels are deliberately misaligned.
The concept of purchasing media and having it delivered over the internet. No physical representation of this content is given, and although the content resides on the user's hard drive they are typically granted a license to the product, rather than ownership of it.
Dragons were originally messengers from heaven, according to early Buddhist texts. In games, they can be among the most fearsome of adversaries, but there are some exceptions.
Electronic music is one of the broadest classifications of music, and has been a staple of video game soundtracks since the 90s. The genre's main trait is the use of electronic instruments.
Eurogamer's digital distribution service.
In many games there is a ranking system, the players with the highest point value are listed in a "high score" table.
Games released coinciding with new hardware.
Lock On is a game mechanic that allows the player to automatically center the character's aim on a target, usually done with a toggle or a press of a button.
An on-rails game behaves much like a train: while sometimes the player can choose which path is taken, they cannot deviate from it. Sometimes on-rails games even go so far as to decide when the player moves.
OnLive was a cloud gaming service offering video game streaming through a user's computer, smartphone, or TV.
Games that have had an Original Soundtrack album released.
A shooter in which the player movement is restricted so they can only follow a linear, predetermined path. This style of game is considered very "arcadey" and is usually accompanied by a lightgun.
A widely popular music style, originating from a fusion of blues, R&B, country, and jazz. Includes sub-genres such as punk, heavy metal, synth rock, and pop rock, among others.
Classic form of numbering that gives things a more regal feel.
A creature which is made up of mostly identical segments and has an elongated shape.
A shadow is an area where direct light from a light source cannot reach due to obstruction by an object.
A two-dimensional image or animation overlaid into a scene. The foundation of early 2D games, making up everything from props to the player-controlled character.
Whether it's Super Scaler or Mode 7, growing and shrinking sprites/textures is a concept often used in sprite-based games. It was a popular technique used to create three-dimensional games with sprites, mostly during the 16-bit to early 32-bit eras. Sprite-scaling was an early form of 3D texture-mapping.
A digital distribution service owned by Valve Corporation. Originally created to distribute Valve's own games, Steam has since become the de facto standard for digital distribution of PC games.
3D Stereoscopy is the use of two images generated from slightly different angles in order to create a 3D effect. This usually requires the use of 3D glasses to separate the left/right image for each eye.
What lies ahead, and is distant from the present.
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