Taito‘s 1980 arcade hit, Phoenix, was converted to the Atari 2600 by Michael Feinstein and John Mracek and first published in February 1983 by Atari. Although it is a decent attempt at bringing the arcade version to the 2600, it still falls short of the original. I’d say that it’s still one of the better fixed-screen shooters on the VCS, though.
Tag Archives: Bullet Hell
Spider Fighter, Atari 2600
Created by Larry Miller and released by Activision in 1982, Spider Fighter sounds like it could be a really exciting game, something on a web, or a heroic character fighting off hoards of spiders with a sword maybe? No. In this case it’s a fairly bog-standard Galaxian rip-off, although it is a very well-made one.
Defender, Atari 2600
It’s no secret that the Atari 2600 port of Defender sucks. Thankfully, though, the 2600 has a saviour in form of Defender II, the much better sequel.
Legendary Wings, Arcade
Legendary Wings is an arcade game from Capcom, first released in 1986. It uses a loose interpretation of Greek mythology to style its visuals and gameplay.
Salamander, ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum port of Konami‘s classic arcade shooter, Salamander, was programmed by Andrew Glaister, with graphics by Stuart Ruecroft, and was first published by Imagine Software in 1988. While aspects of the game are very good, it is unfortunately a good example of an unfinished and cut-down game being rushed to market…
Salamander, Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 version of Konami‘s arcade hit, Salamander, was programmed by Peter Baron, with graphics by Bob Stevenson and music by Mark Cooksey. It was first published by Imagine Software in Europe in 1988, and Konami themselves in North America in 1989. It is considered by many to be the best 8-bit home computer version of Salamander, and it’s not difficult to see why…
Captain Tomaday, Neo Geo
Released by Visco Corporation as a Neo Geo-based arcade game in 1999, Captain Tomaday is a one or simultaneous two-player shoot ’em up, featuring a cartoon tomato with bionic fists.
Salamander, PC Engine
The PC Engine version of Salamander was first released by Konami in 1991, and it demonstrates why NEC‘s small-form console was so ahead of everything else at the time. It has great graphics and sound, smooth scrolling, large objects moving around the screen, very little sprite tearing, responsive controls, and a simultaneous two-player gameplay mode.
Space Invaders, Super Game Boy
The 1994 Game Boy version of Taito‘s classic Space Invaders is legendary for its Super Game Boy enhancements. It not only features a variety of well-designed borders and enhanced colour palettes, but it also includes an exclusive, separate ‘arcade’ port that is only accessible when using a Super Game Boy on a SNES.
Salamander, MSX
The MSX port of Konami‘s classic arcade shooter, Salamander, was first released in Japan – on cartridge – in 1987. And although it shares the name and certain elements from the arcade game, this is a completely new version of Salamander, with a new storyline, new characters, ships and levels. It is sometimes referred to as “Salamander: Operation X“.
The King of Grabs 