Shoot Em Up

Here we have all the games in the Shoot Em Up Section.
Switch
Shoot Em Up
M2 hears Genki’s cry for a Super Easy mode to go with the Arcade difficulty. The graphical style looks superb with the foreground vehicles lovingly realised and the Gothic style to the chacters making this ooze its STG style.
Switch
Shoot Em Up
M2 hears Genki’s cry for a Super Easy mode to go with the Arcade difficulty. The graphical style looks superb with the foreground vehicles lovingly realised and the Gothic style to the chacters making this ooze its STG style.
PS4
Shoot Em Up
M2 hears Genki’s cry for a Super Easy mode to go with the Arcade difficulty. The graphical style looks superb with the foreground vehicles lovingly realised and the Gothic style to the chacters making this ooze its STG style.
Playstation
Shoot Em Up
Vertical, arcade – style blaster complete with all powerful laser to liberally apply to frazzle all on screen. Chain attacks are also possible boosting your score multiplier and adding a new dimension to gameplay. Thankfully slightly easier than its sequel to prevent any permanent retina damage. This is the second print version, hence the change in cover.
PC Engine CD ROM
Shoot Em Up
Very solid 2D shooter in the mould of Last Resort on the Neo-Geo. Has some very tasty cut scenes and a plot involving a brain in a box.
Switch
Shoot Em Up
Claustrophobic caverns and tunnels under gigantic bosses as they skim overhead make for an intense experience. A feel of Darius’ organic amphibious bosses and superb attention to pixel perfect detail.
Switch
Shoot Em Up
Claustrophobic caverns and tunnels under gigantic bosses as they skim overhead make for an intense experience. A feel of Darius’ organic amphibious bosses and superb attention to pixel perfect detail.
Switch
Shoot Em Up
Another superb shmup release in the series with the human character used, as opposed to mechanical ship, adding much to the connection between player and intriguing character. It also seems to help create a greater sense of vertical depth. A real labour of love.
Switch
Shoot Em Up
Back once again after the delightful PS2 and 360 versions and bursting with ideas and inventiveness, enough to put the spark back into the most jaded of veteran gamers, if not a pink bullet or two. Checking out the abilities of online players may just make you want to hide away in a deep, dark mountain in Genki’s case, but the game is full of wholesome Cave loving and sunshine.
Famicom Cart
Shoot Em Up
Great innovation on the Galaxian or Space Invader theme that sees the players ship progressing forward given a sense of momentum by the 3D style scrolling landscape below. The shooting action has tight collision detection and some great, old school sound effects.
PC Engine HU Card
Shoot Em Up
Pilot the winged ship that can launch a fire phoenix attack and is also equipped with a smart bomb attack, but that loses all your power ups. Varied stages including over the surface of a planet, space ship and through a pyramid. Quite challenging too as the game engine seems to up the difficulty ante depending on how many power ups you have remaining at the end of the stage.
Famicom Cart
Shoot Em Up
Players charge along the lunar or desert landscapes with a keen trigger finger a requisite to progress. The impression of motion is very nicely done and the land based sections are spliced with horizontally scrolling shoot em up levels.
Famicom Cart
Shoot Em Up
A fine blast in the Fantasy Zone style as players pilot their vessel (looking very much like an Opa Opa) in the horizontally scrolling shooting levels. Unusually the ship has stats like in a good RPG and the levels can be boosted by handing over some hard earned currency to the friendly shopkeeper who seems more than willing to assist.
PS4
Shoot Em Up
A remix of Cruisin Mix which maintains the madcap spirits of the original Saturn version in its updated Classic and Arcade modes. The sprite style harks of a retro era, yet the mechanics are the latest gleaning model. Veterans will appreciate the chance to sharpen their claws on the Time Attack mode and can even choose their desired BGM to get the juices flowing. Players can also choose different characters, including from the well known Tatsujin.
Famicom Cart
Shoot Em Up
Incredibly fast into the screen 3D shooting action which handles some impressively sized bosses. Very impressive results from the hardware and no sign of a struggle. Clever use of colouring and backgrounds to give a varied feel to the relentless action.
Playstation
Shoot Em Up
Pixel pefect reproduction of the two player coin-op vertical shooter. The mighty power ups are needed to combat the steep difficulty curve. Incredible attention to detail with even falling debris causing a splash in the background. The squid boss is a Genki fave in a twisted way!
NEO GEO CD
Shoot Em Up
Vertically scrolling World War fighter planes feature in this smooth shooter port with little in the way of loading times. Includes a two player mode for a bit of wing side back up against the bad B52’s and squadrons that dart at the pilot’s plane in various formations. But ground based vehicles are just as lethal – best to take them out first to leave just a smouldering crater. Makes good use of the theme with nice presentation and a decent length for a Neo Geo title.
Sega Saturn
Shoot Em Up
Contains arcade perfect conversions of both the original and the sequel of the classic Gradius all on one CD making this collectable to shmup fiends everywhere. Gradius II updates the proven formula with a dash of graphical whizz and aural pizazz.
PS2
Shoot Em Up
The legend continues with worthy conversions of two of the most solid thoroughbred stars of the Gradius stable with no slowdown. Gradius III adds a welcomed save facility for completed stages and Gradius IV has crisp, clean high res visuals as the hardware can provide with ease.
PS2
Shoot Em Up
In a gesture to Treasure’s fine line of high art shmups, Konami handed them free reign for their ageing but massive Gradius franchise; yet the purists need not have worried: Treasure stayed true to the spirit of the series with its adjustable power ups whilst subtly imprinting its own hand on proceedings with its trademark mega bossses, and eye popping, retina ruining illumimnations. A shmup masterclass.
PC Engine HU Card
Shoot Em Up
Weighing in as one of the heavyweight Engine titles: relentless waves of enemy assaults soon induce sweaty palm syndrome on even the most hardened and grizzled gaming vet. Famed in its heyday for sampled speech.
Mega Drive
Shoot Em Up
Side scrolling shooter from old hands Masaya taking you on a journey through dense jungle and Egyptian inspired artefacts with only a very hand multi directional gun for company. The multi directional shooting capabilities are very useful on latter stages as Masaya ensures you fully appreciate its versatility and it adds much to the shmup formula. Worthy of a place in the Mega Drive shooter hall of fame.
PC Engine HU Card
Shoot Em Up
Rather bizarre titles seem to be Genki’s speciality on the Engine and the phallus shaped Honey does little to redress the balance. Well worth persevering with as the developers really get into the swing in later levels in this lesser known, vertically scrolling shooter.
PC Engine HU Card
Shoot Em Up
Rather bizarre titles seem to be Genki’s speciality on the Engine and the phallus shaped Honey does little to redress the balance. Well worth persevering with as the developers really get into the swing in later levels in this lesser known, vertically scrolling shooter.
Gamecube
Shoot Em Up
Tweaks the successful Dreamcast incarnation to add a few extras but the core play mechanics remain as pure as ever and the tate mode remains intact. As do the Arcade and Challenge modes, but the GameCube mode is most welcomed with a demo of the level section that can then be played in slow or normal speeds. The main catch to this full on blast is the selection of vessel weapon colour: be it black or white. Enemy ships are either one colour or the other and the score is doubled for taking them out with the opposite coloured projectile. Further score incentive is offered in the multiplier that increases for shooting ships of the same colour in sequence. Yet your own vessel is invincible to bullets of the same colour making for some tactical thought. In fact taking on bullets of the same colour is required to charge the only power up in the vessel’s supergun. Its quite unusual in that respect but there are no other power ups in a bold and refreshing move. Two player mode gives some welcomed respite and high scores can be clocked up with some well worked teamwork. Five chapters may not sound like many, but only the dedicated shmup fan will see the credits roll.
Famicom Cart
Shoot Em Up
Very tough conversion of the arcade vertically scrolling shooter recommended only to grizzled gaming veterans with hardened skin on their thumbs! Beautiful organic backgrounds and well atoned chip tunes to the on-screen tension which is cranked high during the imaginative boss battles.
Famicom Cart
Shoot Em Up
Very tough conversion of the arcade vertically scrolling shooter recommended only to grizzled gaming veterans with hardened skin on their thumbs! Beautiful organic backgrounds and well atoned chip tunes to the on-screen tension which is cranked high during the imaginative boss battles.
Dreamcast
Shoot Em Up
Claustrophobic 3D shooter from Scouse software house Rage Software which was one of the first Dreamcast releases. Genki gets motion sickness everytime.
Switch
Shoot Em Up
Gunforce, Geo Storm and Air Duel are the trio that launch the second instalment of Irem Collection with all guns blazing. Gunforce is a take on the mighty Contra licence, but this time with mech style power suits and massive adversaries to test the architecture to the limits. Tough like Konami’s opus with one hit kills, yet some supreme weaponry soon gets players in the necessary gung-ho spirits. A few tactically placed vehicles also help – its always a joy to tear through enemy lines in motorised, marauding machine. The two-player mode also lifts moral with a bit of teamwork. The coin-op sequel feels like it inspired Metal Slug with its further use of vehicles and some sublime parallax scrolling to boot. Arcade Air Duel looks initially like a 1942 vertical scrolling tribute, before the developer reveals their license to go off the rails with imaginative adversaries.
Switch
Shoot Em Up
Gunforce, Geo Storm and Air Duel are the trio that launch the second instalment of Irem Collection with all guns blazing. Gunforce is a take on the mighty Contra licence, but this time with mech style power suits and massive adversaries to test the architecture to the limits. Tough like Konami’s opus with one hit kills, yet some supreme weaponry soon gets players in the necessary gung-ho spirits. A few tactically placed vehicles also help – its always a joy to tear through enemy lines in motorised, marauding machine. The two-player mode also lifts moral with a bit of teamwork. The coin-op sequel feels like it inspired Metal Slug with its further use of vehicles and some sublime parallax scrolling to boot. Arcade Air Duel looks initially like a 1942 vertical scrolling tribute, before the developer reveals their license to go off the rails with imaginative adversaries.

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