Developed and published by Zeppelin in 1990, Santa’s Christmas Caper is a rarity: it is a Christmas-themed “Bullet Hell” shooter that is actually not too bad.
Tag Archives: Bullet Hell
H.A.T.E., ZX Spectrum
Costa Panayi‘s final game on the ZX Spectrum was published by Gremlin Graphics in 1989. It is an isometric shoot ’em up in the mould of Zaxxon, and it is technically very impressive.
Millipede, Arcade
Millipede is a direct sequel to Atari‘s Centipede and was first distributed into video game arcades in 1982.
It’s basically the same trackball-controlled gameplay as before, but with a few changes and enhancements.
Xenon 2: Megablast, Amiga
This 1989 shooter was designed by The Bitmap Brothers but programmed by The Assembly Line – a collaboration that resulted in one of the best-remembered Bitmap Brothers‘ games.
Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy, Atari Jaguar
Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy was released for the Atari Jaguar in 1993. It is a side-scrolling, ‘bullet hell’ shooter, and it is awful.
Continue reading Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy, Atari Jaguar
Rotox, Atari ST
Rotox was published by U.S. Gold in 1990. It is an obscure-but-interesting overhead robot shooter, with flat, polygonal platforms suspended over an infinite drop. Which you must of course avoid falling into.
Steel Alcimus, PC
Another excellent Hijong Park retro tribute game – this one possibly his best so far – Steel Alcimus is an overhead helicopter shooter with either twin-stick joypad, or keyboard and mouse controls. I played it with mouse and keys and found the control system to be really quite ingenious.
Frantic Dimension, PC
Frantic Dimension is another great, free game, made by talented Korean Hijong Park and released on Steam in 2018.
The opening animatic in Frantic Dimension is quite funny – made even funnier by the slightly off-kilter use of English (it’s not a criticism – I like it). 🙂
Rolling Bird, PC
Rolling Bird is a modern tribute to the classic arcade game Rolling Thunder.
Graphically it looks a bit like an NES game, or an old arcade game. The colours are bold and the animation simple, but still excellent.
Syd Mead’s Terraforming, PC Engine
Released on CD-ROM only for the PC Engine Duo (in Japan), and the TurboDuo (in North America), Syd Mead’s Terraforming is a side-scrolling, bullet hell shooter with graphics designed by the great futurist/industrial artist, Syd Mead.
The King of Grabs 