Thunder Blade is a single-player helicopter combat game that debuted in arcades in 1987, courtesy of Sega. It combines overhead shooting sections with third-person, ‘over-the-shoulder’ shooting sections and it features lots of impressive graphical scaling effects on the buildings and enemies.
Tag Archives: vertical scrolling
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.
Salamander 2, Arcade
Released ten years after the original Salamander, Konami‘s 1996 sequel – Salamander 2 – is more of the same horizontal/vertical scrolling blasting action, but with a different style of graphics, bigger, better weapons, and more spectacular events.
Psycho-Nics Oscar, Arcade
This obscure 1987 arcade game from Data East was a big influence on many games that came after it, in particular Manfred Trenz‘s Turrican series. It is obviously itself influenced by Nintendo‘s 1986 game, Metroid.
It also displays some similarities to Karnov, another Data East arcade game released the same year.
And, while you may have never heard of this game, it’s safe to say that it’s a bit of a ‘hidden gem’ in terms of old arcade games still worth playing today.
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.
Retrograde, Commodore 64
Developed by Apex Computer Productions, in association with Transmission Software, and published by Thalamus in 1989, Retrograde is a side-scrolling, progressive weapons shooter written by the same guys who made Creatures.
Retrograde came before Creatures, though.
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…
Aleste Gaiden, MSX
Developed by Compile and released in Japan only in 1989, Aleste Gaiden is the third Aleste game to come out for MSX home computers – specifically: for the MSX2.
River Raid, Atari 2600
Written by Carol Shaw for Activision and published initially for the Atari 2600 in 1982, River Raid is an early vertically-scrolling shoot ’em up with simple graphics, challenging gameplay, and its own unique set of rules.
The Pinball of the Dead, Game Boy Advance
Based on the infamous horror/gun arcade game series from Sega, The Pinball of the Dead is a [wait for it…] pinball game with three different, horror-themes tables. They being: Wondering, Movement, and Cemetery – all based on locations from the first two House of the Dead games.
The King of Grabs 