Shoot em ups are amazing, but sometimes developers can find themselves wondering what more can be done with the genre. It was this line of thinking that led to the creation of In The Hunt, a submarine based shoot em up that would end up having an impact on gaming that would be felt for years to come.
In the Hunt was developed at Irem following the success of their earlier shooters series such as R-Type, but this time the game was designed to break the mold of a shooter. Instead of being set in space, In The Hunt was set underwater and now had an excellent two player mode. Where In The Hunt truly innovated though was in eliminating the auto scroll of the levels and having the player control the scrolling screen. This meant the player now had complete control of the pace of the game and could proceed as they saw fit and was something that would have an impact on gaming for years to come..
If one look sat In The Hunt and sees similarities to other games, there is a good reason for that. After developing the run ‘n gun game Gun Force II, the developers left Item to form Nazca Corporation and created what many consider to be one of the greatest run n gun series of all time, Metal Slug. In The Hunt can be seen as a direct predecessor to Metal Slug’s vehicular combat, and in fact the latter game was initially designed to be a spiritual sequel to In the Hunt and have the player solely control the titular tank.
Instead of just making a spiritual sequel though, the developers took the best ideas from In The Hunt, including the all out insane action and combined it with ideas from Gun Force II to create the experience we now know and love. Many of the ideas seen in the Metal Slug series originated here and the influence can be felt heavily in the Neo Geo Pocket Color titles Metal Slug 1st Mission and Metal Slug 2nd Mission ( which we reviewed here). While Gun Force II is also a major influence on that series, In the Hunt is the game whose influence reaches further, beyond just Metal Slug.
In the Hunt received console ports to the PlayStation and Saturn, but the ports fell somewhat short of the arcade version. The arcade version was intense and constantly upped the ante, but the console versions were hampered by additional slowdown that held it back. It is a shame that this game is not more remembered, because it is still an amazing shooter on its own, and one of the best games to come from Irem and the arcades in general.
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