The Classic Arcade and Console Era (1972-1989) - Enjoying the Shoot 'em Up Genre Today - The Essential Standards
Need more 1970s and 80s shoot 'em ups to try out? Boy, have I got a list for you!
I could easily write a book that just covered shoot ‘em ups from the 1970s and 80s – there are so many that I’m not even going to try to be exhaustive! If you can’t find something to love in this genre, you’re just not trying that hard, because there’s a little bit of something for everyone. I am personally a fan of more offbeat shooters like Fantasy Zone, Twin Eagle: Revenge Joe’s Brother and Dragon Breed, but I always also have a blast with standards like R-Type, River Raid, U.N. Squadron and Defender because they’re all extremely well-made games.
The key is to find a set of mechanics that work for you and to start with the games that popularized them before venturing into their sequels, spin-offs and imitators. I would suggest starting with Galaga, Xevious, Defender, Gradius and R-Type and getting a feel for each of those styles. If you enjoy one more than the others, chase down other games like it. If you don’t like any of them, try something really different like Bosconian, Centipede, Fantasy Zone or Zaxxon. Once you isolate the type of shoot ‘em up that clicks with you, you’ll find plenty of others in the same vein.
The games we’re not going to cover in this section (because they have been so extensively covered by gaming media) are the following notable or essential titles:
Space Invaders (1978) – Taito’s great grandfather of the genre doesn’t scroll, but you sure do a lot of shooting as you race around the bottom of the screen, shooting up at a descending alien army while you hide under rapidly-depleting shields. It’s considered one of the greatest and most important games of all time for a reason, and it’s still fun to play today.
Asteroids (1979) – Atari’s vector-based arcade shooter was a revelation for its time, tasking players with destroying space rocks (and the occasional flying saucer) while avoiding debris and utilizing thrust and momentum to zip around the screen. Many home versions were raster-based and not quite as fluid, but they still managed to be fun.
Star Castle (1980) – A vector-based arcade shooter from Cinematronics where you attempt to destroy a powerful and aggressive spaceship surrounded by layers of shields. You have to poke holes in each layer and expose vulnerabilities to the center while dodging attacks, but if you destroy a shield entirely, it and another layer around it will regenerate, setting you back. It’s a fast-moving an interesting game.
Scramble and Super Cobra (1981) – Konami’s often credited for creating the first true sidescrolling shoot ‘em up in Scramble, providing a solid template for many other games to follow. After you master flying a plane in that game, try their follow-up from the same year, Super Cobra, where you instead pilot a helicopter.
Galaxian and Galaga (1979 and 1981) – Namco’s take on Space Invaders improved upon the formula by removing the shields and pitting you against an army of space bugs who fly down towards you on bombing runs. Galaga added a scrolling background and the ability to reclaim one of your stolen lives to add a second ship to your arsenal. While there are many great ports that are worth playing, I recommend trying Galaga ’88 in the arcades or Galaga ’90 on the TurboGrafx-16 for a fun variation.
Defender and Stargate (a.k.a. Defender II) (1980 and 1981) – Two classic and fast-moving side-scrolling shoot’em ups that take place on a donut-shaped playfield that endlessly scrolls in either direction. Both involve rescuing humans who can be abducted by alien invaders, and Stargate adds in a cloaking device and a rectangular stargate warp that teleports you to troubled spots on the map.
Missile Command (1980) – Atari’s stationary shooter about shooting down intercontinental ballistic missiles is a heck of a game, particularly when it’s played with a trackball in the original arcade cabinet. But it was also a staple for the Atari 2600, in no small part due to its amazing cover art and strong conversion.
Moon Cresta and Terra Cresta (1980 and 1985) – Nichibutsu’s golden oldies of the shooter genre were each groundbreaking for their time. Moon Cresta plays a lot like Galaga, but with more sophisticated enemies and a cool docking mechanic to add pieces to your ship. Terra Cresta is like Xevious on steroids (minus the annoying bombing mechanic) and allows you to pick up several numbered ship pieces that can then be transformed into an armada around you once your collection is complete, arrangeable in four different formations.
Astro Blaster (1981) – While it’s not much to look at today, Sega/Gremlin’s Astro Blaster was a treat for the ears in early 1980s arcades thanks to its speech synthesis chip. After blasting seven waves of increasingly difficult enemies, the game restarts and you play until you’re dead.
Astrosmash (1981) – Combine Space Invaders with Asteroids and you get this Intellivision classic, which was ported to the Atari 2600 in 1982. It’s a nostalgia trip for those who remember it fondly, but fairly dated by today’s standards.
Bosconian (1981) – Namco’s multidirectional outer space shooter wasn’t nearly as popular as Galaga in the early 1980s, but it offered some neat innovations, like 8-way controls and digitized voices. It’s since earned a fan base and even got two sequels – 1989’s Blast Off and 1990’s Final Blaster, both of which are also worthwhile.
Centipede and Millipede (1981 and 1982) – Atari’s creative takes on Space Invaders are well-remembered today for their novel concept and amazingly fast and hectic gameplay. In both, a multi-segmented insect is running through a mushroom forest, descending by a horizontal line every time it hits an obstacle. If you manage to hit a segment, you destroy it, but that may create two smaller creatures you have to go after. What’s more, other creatures attack you as well.
Gorf (1981) – Midway’s answer to Space Invaders and Galaxian is not nearly as storied as its inspirations, but still quite a lot of fun. Every level has a different scenario and style of play, including a behind-the-ship space warp and a battle with a capital ship. The arcade version is the best to play.
Vanguard and Vanguard II (1981 and 1984) – The original Vanguard, developed by TOSE and published by SNK, is a sidescrolling Scramble clone that was widely ported and which was briefly popular before fading away into obscurity. The sequel, developed by SNK itself, was a less popular, but far more interesting overhead multidirectional shooter that’s often compared to Time Pilot if it were crossed with Xevious.
Yars’ Revenge (1981) – One of the most popular Atari 2600 games is also one of the hardest to describe. It’s sort of a single-screener shooter like Galaga, sort of a base destruction game like Star Castle, and sort of an offbeat whittling away of a defensive perimeter like Communist Mutants From Space. It also has a great comic book that details its bonkers story.
Gravitar (1982) – An extremely tricky multidirectional shooter where you utilize gravity and thrust to travel over landscapes, destroy enemies and retrieve fuel tanks as you hunt down red bunkers. The game’s missions include 12 planets, but you can enter alternate universes where the rules work differently by reversing gravity or making your ship invisible. The arcade original features vector graphics and is the one to play, but the Atari 2600 version gets some points for successfully converting the game to a very blocky execution.
Moon Patrol (1982) – Irem’s rolling shooter fuses Space Invader-style action with the jumps of a platform game. Once you master the difficulty curve and make your way around the moon, you’ll be treated to some beautifully surreal outer space imagery and excellent action all around.
River Raid (1982) – Did you know this amazing vertical airplane shoot ‘em up was created by female game developer Carol Shaw? It’s one of the best and most playable games on the Atari 2600, and its perfect balance between navigating the game map and destroying as much as possible makes it endlessly addictive. You know you’re a pro when you master refueling and blowing up your tanker before you take back to the skies.
Sinistar (1982) – So you need a reason for destroying asteroids? How about to prevent the end of the universe as we know it? Williams’s famous multidirectional shooter has you dodging drones and mining asteroids to try to acquire enough materials to build bombs needed to blow up an apocalyptic threat known before the skull-like Sinistar announces “Beware! I live!” and chases you around the screen. It’s a tough, intense game best played in the original arcade form.
Time Pilot (1982) –Yoshiki Okamoto’s time traveling multidirectional shooter is one of the true classics of the coin-op golden era, allowing players to jump into a futuristic aircraft and travel between 1910, 1940, 1970, 1982 and the far-future 2001 to battle different varieties of aircraft.
Xevious (1982) – Namco’s monster hit defined the top down shoot ‘em up subgenre for so long that its influence is still being felt. As you fly over landscapes inspired by the Nazca line geoglyphs of Peru, you have two options: shoot at what’s ahead in the skies or bomb what’s on the ground with a targeting cursor. It’s a gorgeous and still highly playable game.
Zaxxon, Super Zaxxon and Zaxxon 3-D (1982 and 1987) – Sega’s pseudo-3D shoot ‘em up shifted the perspective to an isometric diagonal angle and used the extra screen space to construct massive bases to infiltrate and an altitude system to master. Zaxxon looks a lot cooler than it actually plays due to its steep learning curve, but it was so iconic for its time that it inspired an equally cool-looking (but also disappointing) board game. An improved sequel followed in 1982, and the Sega Master System received a Death Star trench run-style shooter that worked with the system’s 3D glasses.
Gyruss (1983) – A fast-moving tubular space shooter from Konami by Yoshiki Okamoto with a faux-3D perspective where you rotate your ship around a cylindrical boundary and shoot towards the center of the screen where enemy forces are assembling, sort of like a mix between Tempest and Galaga. The NES version is actually superior in some ways to the arcade original, adding a memorable soundtrack and boss battles.
Spy Hunter (1983) – Fusing the driving mechanics of games like Bump’n’Jump with the shooting mechanics of Xevious, Bally Midway’s cool spy car auto combat game is one of the greats that debuted in a time when it was believed arcades were done for. Home ports helped this game remain popular, and it became so iconic it eventually (almost) inspired a feature film starring Dwayne Johnson, which was instead made into a game. While the original is amazing, I do not recommend the 1987 sequel, Spy Hunter II, a pseudo-3D racer that’s just not fun. The 1991 NES game Super Spy Hunter, however, is excellent despite being made by a completely different company.
1942, 1943: The Battle of Midway and 1943 Kai (1984, 1987, 1988) – Capcom’s World War II Pacific Theater vertical shooter series was also created by Yoshiki Okamoto and established a series of shooters where gamers could play as an American pilot taking down the Japanese forces and trying to reach Tokyo. (Think about that for a minute and you may realize what a strange choice that was for a Japanese developer!). One brilliant addition to the game was a roll button allowing players to temporarily dodge enemy fire. The arcade original is great, but the NES port was a definitive hit as well.
Alpha Mission (a.k.a. ASO: Armored Scrum Object) (1985) – SNK’s vertical shooter has you taking down gigantic invading alien battle fortresses as you upgrade your ship, the “Syd,” to enhance your air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities.
Gradius (a.k.a. Nemesis) and Life Force (a.k.a. Salamander) (1985 and 1986) – Konami’s sidescrolling shoot ‘em up series featuring the Vic Viper starship added in a customizable upgrade system allowing players to turn in collected power-ups for extra weapons, including the orb-like drone known as the option. The original featured surreal cosmic battles while the spin-off took the battle into the literal insides of a space monster.
Tiger-Heli (1985) – Toaplan had a heck of a debut with this overhead helicopter shooter which started life as an arcade game but became an early hit for the NES with its home port. The arcade version is superior, but the NES version is more nostalgic for those who grew up in the 80s.
TwinBee (1985) – A vertical shooter from Konami often credited (along with Sega’s Fantasy Zone) for being the start of the “cute ‘em up” subgenre due to its cartoonish graphics and whimsical sound effects. It has six levels that look great, but which repeat endlessly. Its 1986 NES sequel, Moero! TwinBee: Cinnamon Hakase o Sukue is also known as Stinger in North America.
Fantasy Zone (1986) – Sega’s omnidirectional sidescrolling Fantasy Zone is an amazingly cute game that stars the living spaceship Opa-Opa as its protagonist. On the surface, it seems like a friendly game that’s made for children, but as we’ll explore when we discuss its 1987 sequel, there’s some real darkness underneath this cute ‘em up.
Darius and Darius II (a.k.a. Sagaia or Super Darius II) (1987 and 1989) – Believe it or not, the arcade versions of Taito’s strange fish-themed shoot ‘em ups each had three screens, creating an ultra-wide shoot ‘em up experience unlike any other. Beyond that, the games feature branching paths and reversals in direction. They’re surreal graphically, but fun foundations for a much larger series.
R-Type and R-Type II (1987 and 1989) – Irem’s stunning sidescrolling shooter not only reinvented the sidescrolling shooter with its powerful R-9 starship and durable battle pod, but also with great graphics, a killer soundtrack and an amazing level of accessibility. It’s widely imitated for a reason, but it’s rarely been equaled. After the excellent R-Type II, many sequels followed in the 1990s. Even 2003’s supposed conclusion to the series, R-Type Final, wasn’t enough of a high note to end things on; 2021 saw the release of R-Type Final 2, and it’s still going strong.
Sky Shark (a.k.a Flying Shark) (1987) – A highly influential shoot ‘em up from Toaplan that’s not nearly as well-known today as its cousin Raiden or its competitor 1943: The Battle of Midway. It’s a tough game that rewards skillful play but which absolutely punishes new players. The arcade version is superior to the more familiar 1989 NES port, but it was also widely ported to PC platforms.
Twin Cobra (a.k.a. Kyūkyoku Tiger) (1987) – Toaplan was on a roll in 1987, and this overhead helicopter shooter was not only a popular arcade game, but also ported widely to many consoles. The game is a spiritual sequel to Tiger-Heli, but with a stronger balance of shooting and maneuvering that provides you with four different weapons systems to pick up and upgrades to make you feel powerful.
Image Fight (1988) – A highly influential vertically scrolling arcade shooter from Irem that includes formation mechanics as well as many early versions of the ideas that are seen in later “bullet hell” shooters from the 1990s. It’s a tough game with some epic encounters with huge ships and big bosses, many of whom will kill you quickly unless you wait out their attacks in exactly the right spots.
Gunhed (a.k.a. Blazing Lazers) (1989) – Perhaps the finest overhead spaceship shoot ‘em up of the 1980s, co-developed by Compile and Hudson Soft and released exclusively for the PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16. It features tons of power-ups, lots of enemies, smooth action, great graphics and a memorable soundtrack, all moving at speeds that will make even the most seasoned shooter fan take notice.
Prehistoric Isle in 1930 (1989) – Apparently the reason for the Bermuda triangle is that dinosaurs have been destroying the planes. Who knew? SNK decided to reveal that secret with this intriguing sidescrolling shoot ‘em up where you battle loads and loads of dinosaurs.
Saint Dragon (1989) – If you enjoyed Dragon Breed but wish you could spend more time playing as just the dragon, here’s the game for you. It starts out wild and gets even trippier and more cosmic as it goes, featuring cybernetic villains like spitting robot cobras and leaping robo-panthers as well as a set piece battle with an entire city in outer space. Don’t miss this one.
Truxton (1989) – An overhead starship shooter from Toaplan that’s similar to Twin Cobra. You have three different varieties of weapons that put out some serious firepower as you upgrade them. The action’s slow-paced, but the boss encounters are excellent. The Sega Genesis port is quite faithful to the arcade original.
U.N. Squadron (a.k.a. Area 88) (1989) – Capcom’s sidescrolling airplane shooter is based on an anime series called Area 88, but the game is so good that’s actually a footnote in its legacy. Select one of three pilots and run missions over the ground or up in the skies, battling huge war machines and massive air forces with your upgradable plane. The arcade original is excellent and was widely ported to PCs, but the SNES adaptation is improved in many ways and is arguably the game’s finest moment.
If you haven’t played these games, you ought to.
We’ll continue our look at other shoot ‘em ups worth playing in the next entry!
As Our Series Continues…
It’s time to move on to console and arcade gaming in the 1970s and 80s, and we’re going to cover it all with an exploration into hundreds more games you’ve probably never played but definitely ought to check out. Come for amazingly great early 1980s games like Warlords, Super Locomotive, Shark! Shark!, Acrobatic Dog-Fight, Mysterious Stones: Dr. John’s Adventure and Intrepid and stick around for mid-to-late 1980s greats like Peter Pack-Rat, Penguin-kun Wars, Momoko 120%, UFO Robot Dangar, Wonder Momo, Raimais, Last Alert, The Legend of Valkyrie and the arcade version of Twin Eagle: Revenge Joe’s Brother, complete with a rockin’ soundtrack with wonderfully inscrutable lyrics.
If you’ve never heard of any of those games, you’re in for a treat as we explore them one by one. And If those games are all old hat to you, don’t worry; they’re just the tip of the iceberg for what we’ll be discussing!
If you missed my series on the hundreds of 1980s PC games you probably never played, you can find the entire archive at https://greatestgames.substack.com.
Anything I don’t share here will be in my upcoming book, tentatively titled The Greatest Games You (Probably) Never Played Vol. 2. Subscribe to this newsletter so you won’t miss it!