Tag Archives: shoot em up

Commando, Commodore 64

Programmed by Chris Butler, with graphics by Rory Green and Chris Harvey, and music by Rob Hubbard, the Commodore 64 conversion of Capcom‘s arcade game Commando is considered to be a classic 8-bit game, even though it was put together very quickly (ie. rushed-out) by publisher Elite Systems.

After acquiring the official license they wanted it out in time for Christmas 1985, which gave the coders around four months to make the game. As a result Commando on home computer systems was a cut-down version of the arcade game, with fewer levels than the original and somewhat bare-bones graphics.

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Astroclone, ZX Spectrum

This 1985 release from Hewson Consultants is basically a futuristic variation of the classic Avalon/Dragontorc games by Steve Turner. It uses similar presentation and game mechanics to those games, with a central character moving around pseudo 3D rooms, exploring and solving puzzles.

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Nemesis 3: The Eve of Destruction, MSX

The second Gradius/Nemesis sequel developed and released exclusively for the MSX by Konami, Nemesis 3: The Eve of Destruction is another great ‘bullet hell’ progressive weapons shooter that really shows what the MSX is capable of.

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Gradius 2, MSX

Gradius 2 (aka Nemesis 2) is a sequel to the classic Gradius/Nemesis and was published for the MSX in 1987. This game is, however, unrelated to the actual arcade game sequel, Gradius II, and is a separate game in its own right in the Gradius/Nemesis series.

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Gradius, MSX

Gradius – also known as Nemesis in some regions – was one of the first progressive weapons shooters to come out in arcades, and it was a big hit in 1985 when it was first released.

This led to the game being converted to many home computer systems, including the MSX, which was programmed by Konami themselves. So the game is unsurprisingly very good; very authentic, and with graphics and gameplay that push the MSX quite hard (I wouldn’t say “to its limits”, because I’m not a marketing a-hole, but it does push first-generation MSXes a fair degree).

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Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair, Arcade

There were two Wonder Boy sequels released in 1988 – both prefixed with the title “Wonder Boy III“. There was this game – Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair – released into arcades, and also Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap for the Sega Master System. Both were developed by Westone and published by Sega.

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Arnie 2, Commodore 64

The sequel to Zeppelin Games1992 budget hit, Arnie, Arnie 2 is more of the same isometric scrolling shoot ’em up action – starring everyone’s not-so-favourite, non-licensed Arnold Schwarzenegger parody.

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Arnie, Commodore 64

Written by Chris Butler and published by Zeppelin Games in 1992, Arnie is an isometric scrolling shoot ’em up featuring a one-man army (unsurprisingly called Arnie), on a mission to infiltrate an enemy base and assassinate a General.

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Nonterraqueous, ZX Spectrum

A game with a strange name – actually the name of the planet you’re on: Nonterraqueous.

You control a robot ‘seeker drone’ on a mission to destroy the master computer that is threatening destruction of the entire planet.

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