/vr/ - Retro Games

>>1209184
He didn't say that he wasn't right.
People understand just fine that the term rail shooter doesn't really work for something like Star Fox.

It's an issue of practicality.
You aren't going to introduce some new term that catches on and replaces "rail shooter" in the discussion of games like Panzer Dragoon or Star Fox this late in the game, partly because everyone already uses the term rail shooter and has done so for about two decades without any real issue, and partly because 'rail shooters' are all but dead at this point so the issue is not a pressing one.

Compare with something like the term "roguelike".
Most people have not been using the term for more than a few years.
Many games with disparate elements claim to be roguelikes, so there is serious issue with use of the term. The meaning is unclear. Is it just procedural generation and permadeath? Does it have to be overhead, turn-based, and tile-based? Does it have to be an RPG? Good luck getting most people to agree on any of that shit.
Most of these games claiming to be roguelikes are new, or being made right now, so the issue is very relevant right now.

None of those things are true of the term "rail shooter" in regards to games like Star Fox.

And of course, most people would much rather discuss a Star Fox fangame in the works than have some shitty argument about semantics.