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.
Tag Archives: multi-directional shooter
Robotron: 2084, Atari 5200
The Atari 5200 version of Williams Electronics‘ classic arcade shooter, Robotron: 2084, was published by Atari, Inc. in 1983.
Pocky & Rocky 2, Super Nintendo
The sequel to Pocky & Rocky (known as Kiki Kaikai in Japan) was developed by Natsume and published by Ocean Software in Europe (by Natsume themselves in Japan and North America). Pocky & Rocky 2 was first released in 1994 and is a similar scrolling shooter to its predecessor, but with multiple companions, instead of just one.
Kiki Kaikai, Arcade
Kiki Kaikai (the literal translation being “Strange and Mysterious World“) is a shoot ’em up developed and distributed into Japanese arcades by Taito in 1986. Set in Feudal Japan, the player assumes the role of a Shinto shrine maiden, called Sayo-chan, who must use her ‘O-Fuda’ scrolls and ‘Gohei’ wand to defeat renegade spirits and monsters from Japanese mythology. Sayo’s ultimate aim is to free The Gods of Fortune who have been imprisoned by evil spirits.
Forgotten Worlds, Arcade
Forgotten Worlds is a classic Capcom arcade shooter from 1988, with simultaneous two-player coop, a rotational aiming system, and intense bullet hell action set across a landscape of the desolate Earth in the 29th Century.
Total Carnage, Atari Jaguar
A conversion of the 1992 arcade shooter from Midway, the Atari Jaguar port of Total Carnage was developed by Hand Made Software and first published by Midway Manufacturing in 1995.
Colt Canyon, PC
Colt Canyon is a single-player Wild West-based pixel art ‘twin stick’-style shooter developed by German company Retrific and published by Headup in 2020. You play a cowboy who must save his kidnapped partner from ruthless bandits. In fact: you can play as a variety of different characters – if you unlock them first.
Postal, PC
Postal is an infamous, tongue-in-cheek, highly controversial shooter that satirises the process of “going postal” – a phenomenon whereby an individual ‘breaks’ and goes on a killing spree (called thus because “going postal” was once, in America, often associated with postal workers). It was developed by Running With Scissors and first published by Ripcord Games in 1997. The game – like every entry in the Postal series – is mindless, in poor taste, and designed to cause outrage, because outrageous things draw attention to themselves. In Postal‘s case it drew the attention of politicians who tried to ban it.
Robotron: 2084, Atari Lynx
The Atari Lynx conversion of Williams‘ classic arcade game, Robotron: 2084, was developed by Shadowsoft, Inc. and first released in 1991. And it is a decent port of the twin-stick shooter.
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). 🙂
The King of Grabs 