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.
Tag Archives: shooting
Impossamole, PC Engine
The 1991 PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 version of Gremlin Graphics‘ classic Monty Mole game is a rare treat: it’s a British-developed PC Engine game, and an alright one at that. And, believe it or not, but the PC Engine version of the game is the one that’s currently available on Steam and GOG.com.
Combat School, ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum conversion of Konami‘s arcade game, Combat School, was developed and published by Ocean Software in 1987.
Timecop, Super Nintendo
Developed by French company Cryo Interactive and published by JVC for the Super Nintendo in 1995, Timecop is based on the 1994 film, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and directed by Peter Hyams. The game is arguably one of the worst titles ever released for the SNES…
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.
The Grinch, Dreamcast
The Grinch on the Sega Dreamcast was developed by Artificial Mind & Movement and published by Konami in 2000 – to coincide with the film “How The Grinch Stole Christmas“, starring Jim Carrey, which was released the same year. The film is based on the Dr. Seuss book, first published in 1957, which criticises the commercialisation of Christmas.
RoboCop, ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum version of RoboCop – based on the 1987 film of the same name – was developed and published by Ocean Software in 1988, and was such a hit that it went on to become the top-selling Spectrum game of 1989, according to Gallup (the company that used to collate and publish the UK’s music and video game charts). The Spectrum version actually remained in the sales charts for over a year and half – it entered the charts in December of 1988 and was still in the top five in February of 1991, which is insane… THAT is what you call a “big hit“!
Vradark’s Revenge, ZX Spectrum Next
The sequel to Vradark’s Sphere on the ZX Spectrum, Vradark’s Revenge is another fantasy-based Roguelike from the same development team, SaNchez, only this time it has been created specifically for the ZX Spectrum Next, which is an enhanced, modern ZX Spectrum remake/variant that first came out in 2017.
Vradark’s Revenge was initially released in 2022 and an emulated version, that runs in Windows, was later released on Steam in 2023 through publisher “Drunk Fly Oy” (which is a bizarre company name if ever there was one).
Aliens: Neoplasma, ZX Spectrum
Aliens: Neoplasma is a homebrew ZX Spectrum game that was released by a Russian dev team called “SaNchez” in 2019. The game is for Spectrum 128K models only and is a run-and-gun shooter with platforming elements. It’s available in English, Russian and Spanish (each language is a separate download).
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.
The King of Grabs 