Published by CRL Group in 1985, Tau Ceti was programmer Pete Cooke‘s breakthrough game. ‘Breakthrough’ in that it was just completely brilliant and ahead of its time, and ultimately: influential.
Tag Archives: shooter
Golden Hornet, PC
Golden Hornet, by Hijong Park, is an excellent ‘modern retro’-style, ‘twin stick’, helicopter-based shoot ’em up, set in a variety of different scrolling levels.
Choplifter, Apple II
Dan Gorlin‘s classic 2D action game, Choplifter, originated on the Apple II in 1982, courtesy of Brøderbund.
Ai Senshi Nicol, Famicom Disk System
Translating into English as “Love Warrior Nicol“, Ai Senshi Nicol is an obscure Konami shoot ’em up, released for the Famicom Disk System in 1987. It has, to date, never been released outside of Japan.
Otocky, Famicom Disk System
Otocky is a cute and colourful side-scrolling shooter with a unique and interesting take on the subject. It was developed by SEDIC for ASCII Corporation and first published in 1987.
You see, rather than firing bullets, you throw balls at enemies to destroy them. And you can throw the balls in eight directions, so in effect you can shoot at enemies behind you (and above and below you) too.
TwinBee, Arcade
Released into arcades in 1985, TwinBee is a cute, vertically-scrolling shooter that is much more challenging than it looks.
Cotton 2: Magical Night Dreams, Sega Saturn
The second game in the infamous Cotton series, developed by Success and released into arcades first, then converted to the Sega Saturn in 1997.
Continue reading Cotton 2: Magical Night Dreams, Sega Saturn
Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams, Arcade
Sega‘s 1991 arcade release, Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams, is a strange-but-cute side-scrolling shoot ’em up featuring a young witch on a broomstick, called Cotton.
Doomsday Castle, ZX Spectrum
Doomsday Castle is the 1983 sequel to The Pyramid.
It again features ‘Ziggy’ – the guy in the floating gun turret – and again features simple, single-screen shooting action.
The Pyramid, ZX Spectrum
Fantasy Software released two games in 1983 featuring a character called ‘Ziggy’, and this game – The Pyramid – was the first of them.
The Pyramid is a simple, single-screen shooter, with you playing as Ziggy – inside a floating gun pod – who must escape from a gigantic pyramid.
The King of Grabs 