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.
Tag Archives: Bullet Hell
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“.
Screaming Wings, Atari 8-Bit
Released in 1986 by Red Rat Software, Screaming Wings is a vertically-scrolling, ‘bullet hell’ shooter in which you pilot an aircraft similar to a Lockheed P-38 Lightning (the famous single-seat WWII fighter with the twin boom design).
Time Pilot, ColecoVision
The ColecoVision port of Konami‘s 1982 arcade game, Time Pilot, is a decent attempt to bring this simple, eight-way scrolling shooter to the home. It was first released in 1983.
Twinkle Tale, Megadrive/Genesis
Developed by ZAP Corporation and published by Wonder Amusement Studio (a subsidiary of Japanese record label Toyo Recording), Twinkle Tale is a scrolling ‘bullet hell’ shooter released exclusively for the Sega Megadrive, in Japan only, in 1992. Fan translations into English, Spanish and Korean exist, making the game accessible to a good proportion of the world outside Japan.
Commando, Intellivision
I’ve been wanting to add the Intellivision version of Commando for some time now, but every time I tried to play it, I could never get the controls to work properly. Until now…
Ordyne, Arcade
Released in Japan only, Ordyne is a cute and colourful (and very Japanese) one or simultaneous two-player ‘bullet hell’ shooter that was developed and distributed by Namco in 1988.
U.N. Squadron, Arcade
Released in Japan as “Area 88” and based on the Manga series of the same name, U.N. Squadron is a horizontally-scrolling bullet hell shooter arcade game developed and distributed by Capcom in 1989. It features three playable characters, each flying a different aircraft, and one or simultaneous two-player gameplay.
Fire Shark, Arcade
Fire Shark is a vertically-scrolling shoot ’em up developed by Toaplan and first distributed into arcades in 1989. It is the sequel to Flying Shark, which came out in 1987, and once again features biplanes that must blast their way through ten different stages of military mayhem.
