Rail shooter

Rail shooters are video games that feature basic crosshair shooting mechanics and limit the players ability to move by using "on-rail" movement that automatically takes a player along a specified route. In simple rail shooters the player may move around the screen to dodge attacks, but they cannot control their ultimate destination. The genre also often crosses over into light gun shooters where the player has no control of movement whatsoever and is only able to aim the crosshair to shoot enemies.

Popular traditional rail shooters include Panzer Dragoon, Rez and Star Fox 64, while light gun rail shooters include House of the Dead, Time Crisis and Virtua Cop. One game that is known for breaking the traditional mold of the rail shooter, though, is Pokémon Snap, which uses the same mechanics as regular rail shooters, but uses "camera shooting" versus "weapon shooting".