Shoot Em Up
Here we have all the games in the Shoot Em Up Section.
🏆Brilliant!
Brilliant Switch
Shoot Em Up
Highly unusual graphical style with psychedelic characters and brash colours make this feel like a manga dream gone awry. Full of vibrant fun and originality from first credit to game over.
🥇Game of the Week
Game of the Week Switch
Shoot Em Up
Truly crazy psychedelic shoot ’em up – think Jet Set Radio meets Shibuya street style with some seriously colourful colour schemes thrown in for good measure as Mebius throws a full roster of projectiles at players. A real cult following since its Wii days and well worth a look for those looking for a shooting blast off the usual scale.
Preorder Switch
Shoot Em Up
Truly crazy psychedelic shoot ’em up – think Jet Set Radio meets Shibuya street style with some seriously colourful colour schemes thrown in for good measure as Mebius throws a full roster of projectiles at players. A real cult following since its Wii days and well worth a look for those looking for a shooting blast off the usual scale.
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
Image Fight, Image Fight 2 and X Multiply make up a trio of highly cherished shoot ’em ups to grace this compilation. Hardened shooters veterans may well have sampled Image Fight and its PC Engine sequel on the PC Engine, but X Multiply is well worth a look as an old school coin-op with imaginative, organic levels.
Switch
Shoot Em Up
Image Fight, Image Fight 2 and X Multiply make up a trio of highly cherished shoot ’em ups to grace this compilation. Hardened shooters veterans may well have sampled Image Fight and its PC Engine sequel on the PC Engine, but X Multiply is well worth a look as an old school coin-op with imaginative, organic levels.
Preorder 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.
Switch
Shoot Em Up
Irem does have a sublime line of arcade shoot ’em up heritage to raid and this third instalment proves there is plenty still to come with the PC Engine fave Mr Heli, coin-op exclusive Mystic Riders which utilises a broomstick for close up blast encounters and finally Dragon Breed which utilises the shield element of the dragon’s tail in its blasting escapades. Really bring the flavour of the arcade era home to savour.
Preorder Switch
Shoot Em Up
Irem does have a sublime line of arcade shoot ’em up heritage to raid and this third instalment proves there is plenty still to come with the PC Engine fave Mr Heli, coin-op exclusive Mystic Riders which utilises a broomstick for close up blast encounters and finally Dragon Breed which utilises the shield element of the dragon’s tail in its blasting escapades. Really bring the flavour of the arcade era home to savour.
🔜Pre-order
Preorder Switch
Shoot Em Up
Much-cherished Milestone shoot ’em up gets a Switch reboot and there are Hitchcock overtones for this crow related shooter. Utilises power ups for the shot, sword and shield giving it a strategic element. Known as also ‘Crows’ and ‘Karous’.
🔜Pre-order
Preorder Switch
Shoot Em Up
Much-cherished Milestone shoot ’em up gets a Switch reboot and there are Hitchcock overtones for this crow related shooter. Utilises power ups for the shot, sword and shield giving it a strategic element. Known as also ‘Crows’ and ‘Karous’.
Preorder PS4
Shoot Em Up
Battle Garegga, Feveron, Kingdom Granprix plus Ketsui with the M2 gadget feature gives even the most grizzled shoot em up veterans plenty to get their teeth into, providing they remove the grenade pin in there already. The PS4 seems to have taken on the Xbox 360s mantle of master of shooters.
Nintendo 3DS
Shoot Em Up
Cave seems to have replicated one of its arcade escapades on the 3DS and it looks and plays like a treat. Taking a tank based approach to shooting mayhem, the polygon count could only have been dreamed of on home based, yet alone handheld system, only a generation ago. Power up cards change weaponry and add an extra element to the involvement in a very polished title. Not surprising with input from the creator of Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga.
PC Engine CD ROM
Shoot Em Up
Two player option and spooky speech adds to the atmosphere of this side scrolling shmup from the crack unit of Telenet Japan.
🥇Game of the Week
Brilliant PS4
Shoot Em Up
Horizontal and vertically scrolling shooting action besides a bit of free style 360 blasting courtesy of the mecha suit levels. Looking just as lush as you would expect from one of the biggest licenses in gaming, the attention to graphical detail and avatar input is astounding and squeezes so much out of the system and Macross license.
Switch
Shoot Em Up
Horizontal and vertically scrolling shooting action besides a bit of free style 360 blasting courtesy of the mecha suit levels. Looking just as lush as you would expect from one of the biggest licenses in gaming, the attention to graphical detail and avatar input is astounding and squeezes so much out of the system and Macross license.
🔜Pre-order
Preorder Switch
Shoot Em Up
Mamoru Kun has a dedicated following from its Xbox 360 days and its easy to see why with appealing artwork, colourful characters and pick up and play shooting gameplay that hides devilish edge. Well worthy of reviving for the Switch – a haven for shoot ’em up fans.
🔜Pre-order
Preorder Switch
Shoot Em Up
Mamoru Kun has a dedicated following from its Xbox 360 days and its easy to see why with appealing artwork, colourful characters and pick up and play shooting gameplay that hides devilish edge. Well worthy of reviving for the Switch – a haven for shoot ’em up fans.
Dreamcast
Shoot Em Up
Developed by Takumi who produced Gigawing, Mars Matrix encourages you to build up piles of cash to upgrade to new weapons. Collecting in succession has a multiplier effect encouraging paint scorching near-misses. Only grizzled shmup veterans need apply, but the shield option does provide some respite – especially when it fires back enemy projectiles or even doubles as a smart bomb; not without a price of course. And its due to this recharge period that the shield must be tactically used. Lovely Battle Garegga proportion attention to detail with molten shrapnel wizzing past.
PS2
Shoot Em Up
Part of the ‘Ore Tachi Gamesen Zoku’ series (We are the game centre gang – sounds tougher in Japanese!)
PC Engine HU Card
Shoot Em Up
A great little cartoony shooter that allows free movement in the helicopter complete with under carriage feet.
🏆Brilliant!
Brilliant Switch
Shoot Em Up
Mushihimesama was developed by the hardcore’s most coveted Cave and welcomed to the Switch with open arms. Yet the love of the developer by it hardened crew is rarely reciprocated as cruel patterns of projectiles spray across the screen – a hard love that’s for sure. The title translates as Insect Princess and a genetically enhanced horde of creepy crawlies await the pretty princess. As you’d expect multiplier mayhem awaits those prepared to go easy on the smart bombs with the seasoned vet soon clocking up massive scores.
Mega Drive
Shoot Em Up
There’s a certain magic to a plane based shoot ’em up – maybe its the giant enemy planes that must be taken down or the ginormous warships that scale across the screen? But what a Mach speed flight of fancy this treat is being a canned Jaleco 90’s shooter from back in the hey days of the 16Bit wars.
Super Famicom
Shoot Em Up
Very desirable and highly colourful, saccharine sweet vertical scroller from the ripe old vintage year of 1993. Nice to be reminded of the sunny side of gaming with the release of so many gangster games.
Super Famicom
Shoot Em Up
Very desirable and highly colourful, saccharine sweet vertical scroller from the ripe old vintage year of 1993. Nice to be reminded of the sunny side of gaming with the release of so many gangster games.
Switch
Shoot Em Up
Strikers 1945, Strikers 1945 II, Strikers 1999, Zero Gunner 2, Sol Divide and Dragon Blaze will have shooter veterans in raptures. Strikers 1999 and Dragon Blaze are certainly worth further investigation from fans of the old school blaster.
PS4
Shoot Em Up
Strikers 1945, Strikers 1945 II, Strikers 1999, Zero Gunner 2, Sol Divide and Dragon Blaze will have shooter veterans in raptures. Strikers 1999 and Dragon Blaze are certainly worth further investigation from fans of the old school blaster.
Switch
Shoot Em Up
Gunbird, Gunbird 2, Gunbarich, Sengoku Ace, Sengoku Cannon and Sengoku Blade on show like a yakuza’s tattoos as Psikyo whips its shirt off and flexes its back-catalogue muscles. Genki loves the Sengoku series varied locales and ships that combine the future and past of Japan in one crazy melee.