Alien Rampage is an old-school run-and-gun shooter from 1996 with all the ingredients required to make an entertaining game. Smooth scrolling; cool explosions; lots of different weapons; plenty of different monsters; gory gibs; an agile central character.
Tag Archives: explosions
Defender, Intellivision
Intellivision Defender is a very good conversion of the timeless Williams arcade game. It was developed by Atari and released for the Intellivision in 1983.
Vindicators, Arcade
Vindicators is a one or two-player futuristic tank combat game released into arcades by Atari Games in 1988.
The simultaneous two-player co-op mode is arguably the most fun you can have with Vindicators, although the single-player game is also challenging.
Raiden, Arcade
A 1990 release into arcades by Tecmo of Japan, Raiden is an action-packed shoot ’em up with a vertical screen and impressive 2D graphics.
Sidewinder, Amiga
Sidewinder – by Arcadia – is a well-respected, and quite exciting, vertically-scrolling shooter on the Amiga, first released in 1988 by Mastertronic.
What makes it exciting are the excellent graphics – in particular the explosions, which are beautifully animated – and the rapid fire Bullet Hell action, which is extremely challenging.
Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri, PC
Looking Glass Technologies are probably best known for their Ultima Underworld series of games, but this 1996 tactical shooter from them is also a retro-gaming classic.
Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri is a first-person, futuristic ‘combat suit’ type action game with an interesting mix of styles.
Shinrei Jusatsushi Tarōmaru, Sega Saturn
Never officially released in English-speaking territories (but translated by fans as “Psychic Killer Taromaru“) this side-scrolling action game is one of the rarest Sega Saturn titles in existence.
Rare because publisher Time Warner Interactive only produced a very limited number of copies of the game in 1997, before pulling out of the games market altogether. So actual copies of Shinrei Jusatsushi Tarōmaru have changed hands for silly money over the decades.
Caliber .50, Arcade
Caliber .50 is an obscure arcade shooter from SETA Corporation, first released in 1989.
It can be played single or simultaneous two-player and is arguably better than the legendary Ikari Warriors. Caliber .50 is like Commando on steroids…
Deathsmiles, Arcade
Deathsmiles is an infamous (and much-loved) 2007 shooter from Cave – a Japanese company known for its relatively innovative and leftfield output. Cave shooters are ‘Bullet Hell’ in overdrive…
Cybernoid, NES
This console conversion of Raffaele Cecco‘s Cybernoid was released by Acclaim Entertainment in 1989.
It is just as difficult and frustrating as the original, if not more so.