Shoot em ups are amazing, but sometimes we are left 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 have 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 like R-Type, and was designed to break the mold of a shooter. Instead of being set in space, it was set underwater and now had an excellent two player mode. But there was another innovation brought by In The Hunt that would define gaming for years to come, and that was eliminating the auto scroll of the levels and having the player control the scrolling screen. Because of this, the player now had complete control of the pace of the game and could proceed as they saw fit.
One can look at In The Hunt and see similarities to other games, and that is for a good reason. 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 solely controlled by the titular tank. 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.
In the Hunt received console ports to the PlayStation and Saturn, but the ports fell far short of the arcade version. The arcade version was intense and constantly ampe 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.