Line #19 VideoGame/NebulaFighter


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nebula_fighter_3.png]]
2	->''"At some point during the late 20th century, the world is taken over by a power-hungry terrorist organization. Soon after, Earth is contacted by an alien race called the Venishians, who unwittingly become the target of the greedy new government. By capturing and analyzing one of the alien ships, scientists are able to construct a fleet of fighters capable of attacking the celestial visitors on their home planet. The player is responsible for breaking through the alien defenses and alerting earth to commence the attack, yada, yada, yada.... Does anyone really pay attention to the story while blasting aliens into space debris?"''
3	-->-- Part of the game's plot
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5	''Nebula Fighter'' is a HorizontalScrollingShooter written by Holodream Software and was first published for DOS [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PCs]] in 1997, with a UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows version following in 1999.
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7	In the late 20th century, the terrorists of the world began to grow in power. They eventually merged to form a massive empire and overthrew all the governments of the world, setting the stage for a new world order. In the process of world domination, the newly-formed empire realised that they could effectively rule the world through terror itself.
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9	A few decades later, in the year 2010, a space-faring race called the Venishians arrived on Earth. They brought with them some of their technology, including a number of highly sophisticated spaceships. With their visit, the empire realised that there were other civilisations in space that could be subdued and dominated like the various world governments in the past.
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11	The Venishian spaceships were captured and the scientists of Earth constructed a massive invasion force using Venishian technology. The empire's target is the Venishian homeworld, and you are the invasion force's advance scout, sent ahead to secure the asteroid belt ringing the Venishian homeworld and signal the rest of the invasion force to begin their attack once it is done. This task completed, you are instructed to wait in orbit until the rest of the attack force arrives. However, you decide to disobey the order and single-handedly subdue the Venishians on your own instead.
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13	[[ExcusePlot ...Or you can ignore the plot completely]] and just plow through 21 levels of StuffBlowingUp, which was what the game was remembered for.
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15	Once touted by the Adrenaline Vault as having the potential to re-define the ShootEmUp genre, ''Nebula Fighter'' left a lasting impression on most players back at the turn of the millennium for multiple reasons. Apart from inverting the typical ShootEmUp plot by putting the player in the role of the antagonist, the game was considered one of the more aesthetically appealing ones of its time. ''Nebula Fighter'' also had a rather unique take on {{Boss Fight}}s: each level ended with one, and most of the bosses drop their signature weapon when defeated, which could be picked up by the player for use. During levels, the player could also pick up secondary weapons such as side missiles and a rear-firing drone.
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17	The game is currently [[FreewareGames freeware]] and can be downloaded from the link at the bottom of [[https://www.myabandonware.com/game/nebula-fighter-a1e this page]].
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19	!!This game provides examples of:
20	* ContinuingIsPainful: The player loses all upgrades to their main weapon as well as all their secondary weapons when they die, excluding nukes.
21	* DepthPerplexion: The player flies through a rocky cave from Levels 7 to 14 and can take massive damage from flying into the rock walls. The problem is that the walls that ''can'' damage their ship are part of the ''background'', which ''also'' includes walls that do ''not'' damage the player. To figure out which walls damage their ship or not, the player must observe if their weapons fire explodes against or passes through the walls. To make things worse, enemy projectiles can pass ''through'' walls that will damage the player's ship.
22	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: This is downplayed as the player's starting gun is named "Gun", but the name alone does not describe the SpreadShot effect.
23	* ExcusePlot: It's a staple of the genre, and ''Nebula Fighter'' is no exception; most players enjoyed the game without reading through the backstory. Even the developers [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] this with the quote at the top of this page.
24	* {{Hitscan}}: The Shredder. Anything that flies in front of it while the barrel is spinning takes massive damage immediately.
25	* InterfaceScrew: The Anti-Nuke, when used, darkens the entire screen for about a second—enough time for the player to get blown up by an asteroid for fly into terrain.
26	* KillItWithFire: The Flamethrower. It easily destroys most ships that fly into its short range, excluding bosses.
27	* SchizophrenicDifficulty: The game was designed to keep the player on their toes by employing this trope. The most common set-up is to give the player a ridiculous amount of firepower and countless numbers of weak enemies for much of a level, then put a boss at the end that is ridiculously difficult to destroy or has enough firepower to overwhelm the player in an instant. DepthPerplexion also helps this as the player could fly into the foreground if they are not careful and get destroyed almost immediately when just a moment ago they were obliterating everything that enters the screen.
28	* ShockAndAwe: The Shockwave discharges a powerful electric beam that arcs through the nearest target, passing through any walls in its path. [[ExplosiveOverclocking Fire it for too long, however, and the player will also take damage as well.]]
29	* SpreadShot: Once powered up, the player's starting gun becomes this. The spread is greater than most of the other, more powerful weapons and the gun has a very high fire rate, making it excellent for determining which walls will harm the player.
30	* VillainProtagonist: The player works for the empire, a world government made up of all the various terrorist organisations of the planet. The only reason why the empire wants to invade the Venishian homeworld? [[WarForFunAndProfit Because they want to conquer it.]]

Context VideoGame / NebulaFighter