The original Defender on the Atari 2600 is rubbish, but Defender II is the shizzle.
Tag Archives: Bullet Hell
Smash TV, Super Nintendo
I was thinking to myself: “What’s the best out-and-out blaster on the Super Nintendo?” and a couple of names came to mind. Axelay I’ve already featured on here. Smash TV, I’ve featured the arcade parent, but not the 1991 SNES version.
Granada, Megadrive/Genesis
Granada is an obscure-but-brilliant overhead tank shooter on the Sega Megadrive/Genesis that was developed by Wolf Team Japan and published by Renovation in North America in 1990. Granada was never given an official European release.
Rendering Ranger: R2, Super Nintendo
Rendering Ranger: R2 is a rare run-and-gun game from the end of the life of the Super Nintendo. It was published by Virgin Interactive in Japan only in 1995. Which is strange for a German game…
Nemesis/Gradius, Arcade
Known as Gradius in Japan – but Nemesis everywhere else – Konami‘s classic 1985 shoot ’em up is one of the earliest progressive weapons blasters, with distinct levels and boss battles.
The game is somewhat reminiscent of the classic side-scrolling Scramble (also by Konami), but in Nemesis you fly a ship called the “Vic Viper”, and which has a variety of different weapons which can be powered-up by collecting capsules left by destroyed enemies.
ESP Ra.De., Arcade
Japanese developer Cave made a name for itself in the mid 1990s with a series of manic vertically scrolling shooters, including ESP Ra.De. from 1998.
Axelay, Super Nintendo
Konami‘s Axelay is considered a cult classic among shoot ’em up fans.
First released on the Super Nintendo in 1992, Axelay cleverly mixes side-scrolling and vertically-scrolling blasting action, and also makes excellent use of the Super Nintendo‘s infamous ‘Mode 7’ scaling technique, to create a weird ‘cylindrical’ rolling effect on some of the levels.
Total Carnage, Arcade
The spiritual successor to Smash TV (in the same way that Smash TV was the spiritual predecessor to Robotron 2084), and a brilliant overhead shooter with 360 degree blasting action.
Commando, Arcade
Commando is a classic vertically-scrolling run-and-gun game, first released by Capcom into arcades in 1985.
Smash TV, Arcade
Williams‘ brilliant 1990 arcade hit, Smash TV, is an insane overhead shooter with a wicked sense of humour.
You play a contestant in a futuristic game show – one in which you must kill to survive. And you have to kill a lot of people, robots, monsters, and snakes, to make it to the end.
The King of Grabs 