Based on Carol Shaw‘s classic vertically-scrolling shooter, but not created by her, River Raid II is a more challenging and slightly more complex take on the River Raid concept.
Tag Archives: vertical scroller
Quarth, Arcade
Quarth is a brilliant mixture of Tetris and shoot ’em up and was first played in arcades in Japan in 1989. Outside of Japan it is known as “Block Hole“, which – let’s face it – is a stupid name, so I’m sticking with the original name, Quarth.
Ikari Warriors, ZX Spectrum
The 1987 conversion of Ikari Warriors is bit of an “auteur piece” on the ZX Spectrum. What I mean by that is: one guy made it on his own. He programmed the game; created the graphics, and did the sound. That man was David Shea, and the truth be told: he did an excellent job of it – managing to squeeze in most of the arcade game‘s features. Which is pretty impressive on a Spectrum.
Ikari Warriors, Commodore 64
This Commodore 64 conversion of SNK‘s classic arcade game, Ikari Warriors, is considered to be one of the best vertically-scrolling shooters on the system. It was programmed by John Twiddy and published by Elite Systems in 1986.
Raiden, Atari Lynx
The original Raiden, developed by Seibu Kaihatsu and published by Tecmo, came out in arcades in 1990. This handheld conversion wasn’t released until 1997 – well after Atari had discontinued the Lynx. And even then the game was only available by direct order, and through a few select retailers. It’s still available to buy now, at the time of writing.
MUSHA, Megadrive/Genesis
MUSHA is a well-liked Megadrive shooter, made by famed Japanese developer Compile. It is part of the Aleste series, but features a ‘mecha’-suited protagonist fighting against a super computer that has taken over the Earth, rather than a spaceship.
Fighting Hawk, Arcade
A relatively obscure Taito arcade game from 1989*, Fighting Hawk is a vertically-scrolling bullet hell shooter where you fly an A-10 ‘Tankbuster’ up the screen, fighting its way through waves of enemies and bosses.
Mercs, Arcade
Mercs is a classic arcade shooter from 1990. It was jointly developed by Sega and Capcom and features simultaneous three-player cooperative gameplay.
Crazy Climber 2, Arcade
The 1988 sequel to Crazy Climber, Crazy Climber 2 is much the same as before. That is: scaling up the side of large buildings; avoiding hazards as you do so.
And, like the first game, it was developed by Nihon Bussan Co. Ltd. and manufactured by Nichibutsu.
Aero Fighters 2, Neo Geo
Aero Fighters 2 (also known as Sonic Wings 2) is a superb vertically-scrolling bullet hell shooter from 1994, developed by Video System and published by SNK on the Neo Geo.
It can be played single, or simultaneous two-player, and you can choose between eight different aircraft to fly. Well, not really ‘fly’, but you know what I mean…
