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Rail shooters or on-rails shooters are a sub-genre of shoot 'em ups. In a rail shooter the player control is limited to directing where to fire a virtual gun; the player does not have direct control over the path their avatar takes from the start to the end, though they may be able to affect the path followed depending on what they shoot. The player's viewpoint moves as dictated by the game. It is commonly viewed as the player being tied to a rail, similar to a railway or roller coaster. Although the broadest definition of rail shooter includes genres such as a scrolling shooter and light gun games such as Operation Wolf, in practice the term is used mostly to describe games that do not fall within those two genres (e.g. Star Fox).

This term generally describes games where player can control movement of their avatar on a vertical plane, but has no or little control over his movement on the horizontal plane. Notable examples of such games include Panzer Dragoon, Rez, Star Fox and Sin and Punishment. Main difference of this sub-genre from light-gun games is that in traditional rail-shooter games player has to actually dodge bullets and obstacles by moving their character around the screen (along with shooting incoming hazards). Because of that, these games have a little bit more in common with scrolling shooters than rail shooters. However, this genre does not feature as many enemies or bullets as scrolling shooters because the perspective makes dodging and aiming inherently more difficult. One of the earliest games in this genre was Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom, but the seminal game of the genre was Space Harrier. The first true 3D rail shooter was Silpheed.

Some games, like those from the Star Fox series, give player control over scrolling speed (e.g., brakes and throttle), others, like games from the Panzer Dragoon series, allow free camera rotation (while actual movement is still on-rails). These kind of differences and quirks often become distinctive features of series that introduced them.

Most light gun games fall into the rail shooter genre. In light gun games, the player's usual defense against enemy attacks in the game is to shoot the enemy first. Enemy projectile attacks such as missiles or thrown knives usually move slow enough for the player to destroy or deflect in midair with a shot. However, arcade light-gun games are increasingly using new methods for players to avoid being attacked. The Time Crisis series allows the player to hide entirely by releasing a pedal; Virtua Cop 3 lets players push a pedal to use a form of bullet-time to shoot down incoming enemy fire; The House of the Dead 4 lets players shake off enemy zombies and also allows them to avoid boss attacks by dealing a set amount of damage before the attack. Input from the player may come in the form of aiming a toy gun or moving a joystick. The toy gun versions may detect the player's aim by synchronizing to the refresh rate of the screen, or by attaching the gun to a movable base that measures rotation.

Some rail shooters move players along a generally continuous path, while others pause the player at a particular location until all enemies are defeated. Other games use a combination.

Modern arcade games are more likely to use specialized guns. Silent Scope, a sniping arcade game, features a small screen in the eyepiece of the toy rifle. The player uses the main screen to locate targets and the magnified view in the eyepiece to line up shots. The Time Crisis series of games feature a recoil on the top of the gun.

Early rail shooters include Hogan's Alley and Lethal Enforcers. Motion in these games were often simply left and right. Some rail shooters display enemy targets against prerendered video backgrounds, including games like Area 51. Others, like the Virtua Cop series, use 3D graphics.

Very early games in the style did not move the viewpoint at all and would typically be described more correctly as shooting gallery games.

Like all gameplay styles, lines are not strict. Many first person shooters feature brief rail shooter scenes in which the player's avatar mans vehicle mounted weaponry while the game controls the vehicle. Some rail shooters allow the player to control a single aspect of motion; for example, the Time Crisis series features a foot pedal that gives players the ability to hide from enemy fire and to reload the weapon.

• After Burner
• Area 51
• Burning Force
• Ghost Squad
• HyperZone
• Iridion 3D
• Omega Boost
• Panorama Cotton
• Panzer Dragoon series
• Red Alarm
• Silpheed
• Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Earth
• Solar Assault
• Star Fox series
• Tin Star
• Wild Guns
• Zoradius