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History of Shoot 'em Ups on Western Home Computer Game Machines

[Header image: Agony Amiga 1992 Art and Magic.]

This history of shoot 'em ups spans 1976-2000, but it is mostly concerned with mid-80s to mid-90s shoot 'em ups that were coded for Western home computer game machines.

However, where applicable I cover ports of foreign shooters to the IBM PC & Western-manufactured 8-, 16- and 32-bit microcomputers.

Since their shoot 'em ups dominated on Western home computers, I am mostly concerned with British, German and North American shoot 'em ups.

From History of Computer Games:

The Shoot 'em up is The Grandfather of Computer-game Genre and the God of Gameplay. On microcomputers the shoot 'em up was the first genre to consistently feature good gameplay and push the limits of hardware (1976-82). Early card games, Yea or Nay cRPGs and block-breakers did not push hardware as much as shoot 'em ups did because shoot 'em ups feature more simultaneous on-screen objects and the highest frequency of man-machine interaction. In addition, most shoot 'em ups were written in fast and robust machine code language, not slow and breakable Basic.

This article is divided into four main sections:

Shoot 'em up Criteria of Assessment & Language [0.0]
IBM PC Shoot 'em Ups [1.0]
Amiga Shoot 'em ups [2.0]
Shoot 'em up Rankings [3.0]

Both [1.0] and [2.0] coverages are interspersed with 8 bit Commodore 64 shoot 'em ups (C64 or C=64). I did this to honor the C64 and show how the C64 shooter competed with shooters coded for more powerful systems. By interspersing C64 shoot 'em ups in what is largely a "16 bit" history, a stronger light is shone upon the C64 than would be via C64-only history.

This article references over 200 shoot 'em ups that appeared on one dozen different computer-game machines. But since some readers prefer reading commentary on shoot 'em ups with little in the way of cross-platform admixture, I have published a few single-platform articles; namely:

You can also limit your reading to shooters that spawned genre, subgenre or styles of gameplay and game mechanics:

This document was last updated on March 20, 2025.

Target Sol-20 1976

The first home computer shoot 'em up was Steven Dompier's Target aka TARG of 1976/77 on the Sol-20 of 1976. Processor Technology Corporation's Target predates Atari's Missile Command by at least three years.

Running in 4K of RAM and 1K of vRAM, Target features 5-step missile launcher rotation, rapid-fire missile-launching and waves of invading spaceships that move horizontally on the playfield in both directions. When hit by missiles the spaceships explode and plummet to the ground. The spaceships are represented by cycling ASCII characters that look more realistic in motion, especially when we consider the "clarity" of mid-1970s screens. :)

Shoot 'em up Criteria of Assessment [0.0]

Under this article's criteria of assessment it was the Germans that consistently coded king-tier 2D shoot 'em ups. The Germans also excelled as composers and graphicians. If I was a publisher wanting to bankroll king-tier shoot 'em ups for 8 or 16 bit microcomputers from 1987-99, I would be thinking "Germany".

If I was looking to make an array of 3D shoot 'em ups, I'd be thinking "Britain", but 3D shoot 'em ups did not take off because the Archimedes did not take off as a computer-game machine.

Anyway, what I look for in shoot 'em ups is responsive controls, fair difficulty, good collision detection, wave variety, good weapons systems and smooth sprite-shifting and smooth screen-scrolling. In short, good gameplay and good coding that facilitates good gameplay.

Since the subject is vitally important to the vast majority of shoot 'em ups, I recommend reading the above-linked screen-scrolling article if you haven't already. I also recommend that, for historical context, you read the above-linked 1976-2024 Computer-game History as well as 1990s Computer Game History. Even if you are a veteran computer-gamer such articles may be of interest to you.

In shoot 'em ups thumping soundtracks and meaty weapon and explosion sound effects are also desirable. On the other hand, I am not big on unit customization and other feature-bloat: I prefer that shoot 'em ups focus on the basics, which facilitates good gameplay and replayability.

While infographics and a few words suffices for a walk down memory lane to computer-game veterans, this article stands as a thorough history of shoot 'em ups on Western home computers.

This 20,000-word history of shoot 'em ups contains over 200 original infographics that readers can browse through via mouse-wheeling up and down. And that is all most people want: a concise visual overview.

Verily I say unto thee, nowhere on the internet can you seamlessly browse through over 200 shoot 'em up infographics.

To see the infographics in scaled resolution (2k-5k px), right-click and open in a new tab. Each infographic has been 100% pixel-perfect centered with exact pixel-perfect spacing betweeen images.

The Language of Shoot 'em ups: Definition of Terms

I don't like the term SHMUP because it sounds stupid and cheap. Instead, I employ the term shoot-'em-up. I consider shoot-'em-up (hyphenated or not) to be the authentic term to employ in computer game journalism.

Or simply "shooter" or "blaster" for short.

One would say:

Fixed-screen Shoot 'em up or shooter
Vertically-scrolling shoot 'em up or shooter (top-down)
Horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em up or shooter (side-elevation)
Multi-directionally-scrolling Shoot 'em up or shooter
Run and gun games (Run n Gun: Rambo, Robocop, Commando etc.)
Isometric shoot 'em up or shooter
3D or vector-based shoot 'em up or shooter
Lightgun shooter (first-person polygonal or sprite super-scaler)
Third-person shooter
Railshooter (sprite super-scaler)

This is how most computer-gamers, journalists and arcade champions referred to the different types of shoot 'em ups in the 80s and 90s.

Naturally, I am mostly concerned with fixed-screen and vertically- and horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em ups. Because those are the best type of shoot 'em up overall. As a rule, sprite-scalers and vector-based shooters lack the timelessness of slick 2D shooters, which do not age.

First-person shooters (FPS) such as Doom, Quake and Half-Life are not shoot 'em ups, but this is their origin.

Screen-scrolling in Shoot 'em ups

The scrolling is silky, the screen scrolls silkily, the scrolling is silky-smooth, the silkiest screen-scrolling possible.

Konami's Scramble of 1981 was the first auto-horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em up
Namco's Xevious of 1982 was the first auto-vertically-scrolling shoot 'em up
Williams' Defender of 1981 was the first bi-directional push-scroller & super-scroller

Vertically- and horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em ups almost always auto-scroll. And in some shoot 'em ups the rate at which a screen scrolls is governed by player input (.e.g., "pushing" the screen upwards, downwards or sideways). Reversing is also sometimes possible (Xenon 2).

I call shoot 'em ups that feature smooth, fast and/or variable-rate scrolling super-scrollers.

Shoot 'em ups that scroll should do so smoothly. Shoot 'em ups should tap hardware to a level such that smoothness is maintained when on-screen action scales; that is, the framerate of shoot 'em ups should never drop but rather remain consistent whether there are two on-screen sprites or twenty on-screen sprites -- colliding.

Shoot 'em ups that slow down to slideshows aka enter into a bullet-time mode when the action escalates should get crucified.

Movement in Shoot 'em ups

8-way movement connotes the vertical, horizontal and diagonal movement potential of the player-controlled unit (e.g., a spaceship). Most shoot 'em ups feature 8-way movement, but some are 4-way and some are only 2-way.

As long as movement is responsive and accurate the number of directions does not matter: 2-way can easily outclass 8-way.

Levels in Shoot 'em ups

A level is a static or scrolling playfield in which hostiles must be destroyed or avoided. Levels often consist of waves, projectiles, pick-ups, turrets, fortifications, obstructions, destructibles and terrain.

Consisting usually of 20+ screens of graphics, a scrolling playfield is of fixed length and height. And if the level auto-scrolls at a non-variable rate, then such a level is completed in a fixed time-interval as well. The only exceptions to this rule are end-level boss fights and specific set-pieces.

Pick-ups & Power-ups in Shoot 'em ups

Pick-ups are static or moving objects that when moved over or otherwise collected confer bonuses or penalties. Pick-ups are recognized via color, shape or symbol. Power-ups are pick-ups that usually only confer benefits. Not all shoot 'em ups include pick-ups.

Some shoot 'em ups allow players to shoot the pick-up to change its effect; this may even incrementally knock back the pick-up. Some power-ups are tiered: the more power-ups of a type collected, the stronger the weapon becomes until its cap is reached. A weapon that reaches its cap has been crowned.

Shoot 'em up Weapons Systems

A weapons system is an array of weapons and upgrades available in a shoot 'em up. Weapons are collected and powered-up via pick-ups or separate weapons screens. Some shoot 'em ups feature purchaseable weapons; the wealth accumulated by currency pick-ups.

Basic weapons include:

Single-shot and double- and triple-shot
Rear-shot, side-shot and spread-shot
Bombs and homing missiles
Cannons, laser beams and rockets

Spreads are weapons that emanate outward in cone-like fashion. Spreads make a lot of shoot 'em ups easier to play for those lacking in reflexes, but focused firepower more efficiently dispatches tankier hostiles, naturally. In some shoot 'em ups players can adjust the position of orbiting weapons pods in order to seamlessly shift between focused and unfocused firepower, as in Salamander-likes.

Charged beam-weapons are common: the player holds down a button, watches as the weapon charges up, and then releases the button to unleash a devastating bolt of firepower capable of taking out rows or columns of hostiles in one shot. During the charging phase, however, players are denied use of their conventional weapons system.

Some shoot 'em ups employ non-weapon abilities such as shields, cloaks, movement-rate enhancers, inertia-reducers and temporary invulnerabilties. Many shoot 'em ups employ limited-use bombs, nukes or zappers to wipe singular screens clear of hostiles and projectiles, thereby granting breathing space and saving a life. Bombs are often saved up for bosses.

Energy bars and shield bars are quite common in casual shoot 'em ups or bullet-hell shoot 'em ups that want to unleash massive waves and firepower. In some shoot 'em ups banking into hostile firepower is safe.

Shoot 'em up Waves

A wave is a formation or pattern of static or moving hostile objects, such as aliens. While waves do not have to move, they usually move slowly, quickly or at variable rates as they arc around the screen, flank or come straight-on. Waves can follow preset paths or break away and home-in on the player sprite.

Some waves fire projectiles and even homing projectiles; others are indestructible or simply cannot be dealt with in time before they move off-screen. In some of the best shoot 'em ups players learn to "leave well alone" certain waves. However, some waves remain on-screen until utterly vanquished.

In some shoot 'em ups the units of waves combine into a single object or blob that hogs screenspace, thereby limiting player sprite mobility. Wave units can also leave behind lethal organic traces and explosive obstructions that clutter playing fields.

Shoot 'em up Bosses

[Image: Andor Genesis Boss in Xevious of 1982.]

A boss is an end-of-level guardian that must be defeated in order to progress to the next level. Some bosses fit on one screen whereas others span several screens in size. Bosses are usually extremely tanky and sport fearsome firepower and capacities that far exceed the armor and arsenal to which players have access. Some bosses exhibit progressive destructibility that indicates their ailing status; some boss fights span multiple phases; some bosses transform.

That said, shoot 'em ups need not feature bosses to be king-tier.

Sub-bosses usually rear their heads at midway points.

Shoot 'em up Sprites

A sprite or bob (blitter object) is the graphical representation of an object that exists independently of the background (e.g., an alien, a projectile, a pick-up). I refer to coding routines that move sprites as sprite-shifting. Thus I commonly write variants of shoot 'em up X features super-smooth screen-scrolling and sprite-shifting.

Sprites can be designed to color-cycle, rotate, scale, distort, transform, combine, camouflage, invisibilize and progressively destruct.

Other Shoot 'em up Concepts

An obstruction is a static or moving object or graphic that hinders movement or firepower either partially or wholly. Obstructions commonly take the form of terrain, barriers or shields. Some shoot 'em ups focus on obstructions more than waves. Object-based obstructions are usually destructible.

A 1-up is a free life. Shoot 'em ups usually employ a fixed number of "lives" for players. When the lives run out it is "Game over, man! Game over!" -- though sometimes shoot 'em ups offer "Continues." 1-ups are usually granted upon reaching certain scores, which increase by destroying hostiles.

Most shoot 'em ups reset all weapon systems back to zero on loss of life. And in some states of play rebuilding a weapons system is not possible. Thus does the loss of one life constitute Game Over.

Akin to Halls of Fame, High-score Tables are ranked namelists or initials attached to player-scores. A top score is of first-rank, numero uno. Some shoot 'em ups feature saveable High-score tables (as early as the late-70s), but most do not.

Shoot 'em up Origins

The origins of the shoot 'em up probably lie in Space War of 1962 on the PDP-1 mainframe (cf. Space War of 1962), but there could have been analog shooters before that displayed on oscilloscopes.

Sol-20 Target of 1976 originated the artillery shooter; it predates Atari's Missile Command by three years.
Taito's Space Invaders of 1978 is generally considered to be the genre-defining shoot 'em up; it drew from Atari's Breakout of 1976 and Taito's Gun Fight of 1975.
Gun Fight employed multi-directional dual-stick firing in 1975 which Vid Kidz's Robotron 2084 of 1982 expanded upon.
From Space Invaders comes Namco's Galaxian of 1979 and Galaga of 1981, which led to Xevious of 1982 and the vertical-scoller in general.
In 1979 Atari released Asteroids which spawned the likes of Thrust, Oids and Zarch on the micros via Atari's Gravitar of 1982.
Stern's Berzerk of 1980 led to the run and gun genre as well as Castle Wolfenstein on Apple 2, which eventually led to the Doom FPS.
Konami's Scramble of 1981 and Williams' Defender of 1981 originated the horizontal-scroller, which led to Konami's Gradius of 1985 and Irem's R-Type of 1987.
Defender led to the super-scroller as well.

In the Shadow of the Almighty Arcade Machine, aka Coinop

Note that sometimes I compare the home-computer shoot 'em up to the arcade-machine aka coin-operated original. That might sound unfair: afterall, if even the much more powerful arcade hardware could not execute a new game's code efficiently, the engineers just added more chips to the board (eg., to "up" the framerate).

It is important to remember that arcade hardware was often custom-built for a specific type of game or even a specific game, whereas home-computer hardware was not. Thus, ports that replicate arcade originals are often more technically impressive than the arcade original itself. Indeed, in rare cases some ports are objectively superior to the arcade original.

It is ignorance at best and elitism at worst to look down one's nose at a good port just because an exceedingly expensive piece of dedicated hardware hosted the superior original.

It was often possible (though improbable) to replicate coinops accurately or even perfectly on IBM PCs and 8, 16 and 32 bit micros. One could say that I always "believed in" the capacity of home-computer hardware to host 1:1 arcade-perfect ports in many cases. Proud home-computer owners wanted to Believe.

Or at the least they would expect faithful replicas that reproduced the look, feel and gameplay of the coinop in question -- but this comes down to the will and means of the respective publisher, coder, composer and graphician.

What this article demonstrates is that, in the vast majority of cases, the best Western computer-game shoot 'em ups were not arcade conversions at all, but rather custom-coded home-computer exclusives heavily influenced by American and Japanese arcade tradition. And a few of these custom-coded exclusives contended with and even superseded some coinop shoot 'em ups.

Best of all, you could blast away at home without having to line up and cough up coins at "The Arcades".

It was every young Amigan's dream to have what equates to an arcade game in their bedroom. And our dreams came true. We lived the computer-gaming dream from the late 80s to the early 90s. We played shoot 'em ups with our best friends sitting next to us, taking turns or playing coop for hours on cutting-edge yet affordable home-computer hardware. It was such a special time to be a computer-gamer; one that lasted only a few precious years. No one understands this except us. We miss our old friends and long for those times, but those days are gone forever.

Long gone.

Only fond memories remain.

[1] This section's enumeration has been moved to:

IBM PC Shoot 'em Ups Listed in Chronological Order.

The main problem with MS-DOS IBM PC shoot 'em ups was lack of flair, lack of smooth scrolling and lack of micro-switch joystick pedigree. The PC Booter and MS-DOS shoot 'em up reached its peaks in the very early 80s and the mid-90s. Otherwise, the C64 and Amiga ruled the roost.

Video Graphics Array (VGA by IBM, 1987)

It is no revelation that most MS-DOS computer-game developers could not code VGA very well. It is understandable, too: pre-VESA, coding 50 different kinds of VGA chipsets for optimum output is practically a rocket science: one reads a 2000-page textbook just to get a basic overview. And plumbing the undocumented depths of VGA takes more than reading textbooks (trade secrets).

And yet it is a simple matter for expert computer-gamers to detect inadequacies even when they themselves cannot code VGA: all one needs is eyes that can see and a brain that can register the likes of:

Aspect ratio consistency by coder and graphician
Smoothness of sprite-shifting, rotation and scaling (hardware or software sprites)
Sprite-size, complexity and no. of animation frames
Screen-scrolling smoothness (hardware or software scrolling, parallax scrolling)
Color-depth exploitation (e.g., 4, 16, 32 or 256 colors and beyond)
Resolution (VGA 320x 200 or square-pixel VGA 320x240
Amiga-only: copper effects (plasmas)

Note that VGA does not just mean 256 on-screen colors drawn from palette of 256 thousand colors. There is much more to VGA than color-depth and resolution. Thus, a computer game can employ 2 colors and still technically be tapping VGA in terms of screen-draws.

CGA (Color Graphics Adapter) of 1981 and EGA (Enhanced Graphics Adapter) of 1984 are IBM's older, pre-VGA adapters with which VGA is backwards-compatible in the vast majority of cases. Most CGA computer games of the early 80s to mid 90s ran in CGA 4-color 320x200, EGA 16-color 320x200 or VGA 256-color 320x200. In rare cases, coders employed non-standard square pixel VGA 320x240 in the early and mid 90s (as well as other odd resolutions). Some of the most technically-impressive 2D MS-DOS games employed non-standard resolutions; in fact, the same goes for the Amiga.

The problem with EGA is not that it is limited to display 16 on-screen colors, it is that it can only draw from a palette of 64 colors. Whereas the Atari ST can display 16 from 512, the Amiga can display 32 from 4096 (as standard), the Archimedes can display 256 from 4096 and VGA can display 256 from 256K.

Cases existed in which developers chose inferior color schemes for Amiga-originals based on the fact that the original was to be subsequently ported to EGA PCs.

While there are certainly diminishing returns that vary with graphician skill levels and other factors (such as screen-res), with increased palette range generally comes superior color-selections and smoother color gradients. Even some of the best EGA graphics look stark and stippled in comparison to ST graphics let alone Amiga graphics. On the other hand, in computer-gaming there is no need whatsoever for Hi-color or True-color at resolutions below 800x600.

16 colors drawn from a palette of 512 or 4096 at a resolution of 320x200/240/256 can look absolutely glorious. The ST and Amiga proved this hundreds of times over their life-cycles. And often, 16, 32 or 64 colors result in clearer graphics and more easily discernable on-screen objects than 256-color variants. It is not about the number of colors, it is about performance and clarity.

On top of that, those with good taste prefer spartan or gritty color schemes, which lower color-counts facilitate. This does not mean that fewer colors is always better or that fewest is best; it means that there is an optimum color-count to be sought for by coder and graphician.

It should be pointed out that it is not just about the number of colors on offer within a palette range, but also the specific colors on offer within a palette range. A limited color range can be fine and even preferable if the palette offers interesting colors.

cf.

Shoot 'em up Joysticks: Analogue & Digital Micro-switch

Unless the shoot 'em up was designed with them in mind from the outset, analogue joysticks are simply no good; they are incredibly lame in comparison to the arcade-quality micro-switch joysticks of the Arcadian and Amigan. By the late-80s the Amiga and Atari ST had access to the best mass-produced micro-switch joysticks in existence -- and they have never been beaten. Can the reader name a king-tier brand?

[2.0] This section's enumeration has been moved to:

Amiga Shoot 'em ups Listed in Chronological Order.

Ranking Shoot 'em Ups from 1982-2000 [3.0]

Note that Mega Typhoon of 1996 on the Amiga is the most technically advanced 2D shoot 'em up in terms of graphics coding and overall arcade-quality gameplay -- relative to its hardware demands (an Amiga 1000 from 1985). The reason I did not rank Mega Typhoon in some of the rankings below is because it came out in 1996 -- not in the Amiga's heyday. But yes, Mega Typhoon is technically (in both contexts) at the forefront, so please bear that in mind when reading the rankings posted below.

Note that rankings should be considered indicators that point the way, not gospel.

Best MS-DOS Shoot 'em ups Ranked

Seek and Destroy (1996)
Tubular Worlds (1994)
Tyrian (1995)
The Last Eichhof (1993)
Stargunner (1996)
Zone 66 (1993)
Raptor: Call of the Shadows (1994)
Xenon (1988)

You can see that MS-DOS IBM PC shoot 'em ups only became strong in the mid-90s. No Oids, Hybris, Battle Squadron, Silkworm, Disposable Hero etc.

Best Amiga Shoot 'em ups Ranked (incl. Atari ST & Archimedes)

Zarch (1987, Archimedes)
Oids (1987, Atari ST)
Battle Squadron (1989, Amiga)
Hybris (1988, Amiga)
Disposable Hero (1993, Amiga)
Star Fighter 3000 (1994, Archimedes)
Lethal Xcess Wings of Death II (1991, Amiga)
Silkworm (1989, Amiga/ST)
Apidya (1991, Amiga)
SWIV (1991, Amiga/ST)
X-Out (1990, Amiga)
Llamatron (1991, Amiga/ST)
Super Stardust AGA (1994, Amiga)

Such a strong late 80s and early 90s line-up. God-tier.

Why did I lump ST/Amiga together? Because they were both Motorola 68k microcomputers that went head to head from the mid-80s to the early-90s. And their catalogue was very similar even though the "ST-AMIGA WARS" wanted to separate the one from the other.

That said, 68k aside the Amiga was a very different beast to the ST as it pertains to 2D computer games: much more powerful.

Both ST/Amiga were very big in the Britain and Germany during this time, whereas North America was more focused on IBM PC / MS-DOS.

The Amiga as a computer-game machine was not big in the States: most North American computer-gamers only discovered Amiga games with the advent of WinUAE emulation.

When it comes to 16 bit Western micro gaming, the U.K and Western Europe were the places to be, not the States.

Best Fixed-screen Shoot 'em ups

Cosmic Crusader (1982, IBM PC Booter) -- incredible for 1982
Gyruss (1984, C64)
Blasteroids (1989, ST/Amiga, MS-DOS)
Stardust / Super Stardust AGA (1993-94, Amiga, MS-DOS)
Llamatron (1991, ST/Amiga / 1992, MS-DOS)
Deluxe Galaga (1995, Amiga)
Pang (1990, ST/Amiga)
Spacewar (1985, MS-DOS)
Invasion / Return of the Mutant Space Bats of Doom (1995, MS-DOS)

I ranked Blasteroids above Stardust because Blasteroids basically is Stardust, but 3 years earlier.

Ok, let's take a look at the screen-scrollers:

Most Impressive Scrolling in a Shoot 'em up

Uridium 2 (1993, Amiga: variable-rate, extremely fast and smooth)
Disposable Hero (1993, Amiga)
Apidya (1991, Amiga)
Project X (1992, Amiga)

Most Commodore Amiga and Commodore 64 shoot 'em ups featured smooth scrolling whereas ST coders had to work harder to get it.

cf. Super-scroller computer games.

Best Multi-Directionally-scrolling Shoot 'em ups

Paradroid (1985, C64) -- smooth multi-directional scrolling in 1985 = numero uno
Oids (1987, Atari ST)
Thrust (1986, BBC Micro/C64)
Hunter's Moon (1987, C64)
Seek and Destroy (1996, MS-DOS)
Zone 66 (1993, MS-DOS)
Blastar (1993, Amiga)
Desert Strike (1994, MS-DOS / 1993, Amiga)

Some vertically-scrolling shoot 'em ups feature limited horizontal scrolling and vice versa (which is often an awesome feature), but this list is only concerned with pure multi-directional scrollers; that is, shoot 'em ups that scroll diagonally in four directions as an integral function of gameplay (8 ways in total).

Best Vertically-scrolling Shoot 'em ups

Battle Squadron (1989, Amiga)
Hybris (1988, Amiga)
Lightforce (1986/87, Speccy/C64)
Slap Fight (1987, C64)
Goldrunner (1987, Atari ST / Amiga)
Lethal Xcess Wings of Death II (1991, Amiga)
SWIV (1991, Amiga/ST and Archimedes)
Tyrian (1995, MS-DOS)
Raptor: Call of the Shadows (1994, MS-DOS)
Salamander (1988, C64)
Terra Cresta (1986, C64)

The top four are raw shoot 'em ups. Pure and unadulterated. Light Force is the rawest of all: no power-ups, no nothing. Just destroy as much as you can to sruvive and get points and bonuses for 1-ups. Perfect.

The Last Eichhof (1993) technically only scrolls a starfield of pixels. It doesn't scroll graphics images (terrain) with obstructions. Thus, I don't rank it here.

Best Horizontally-scrolling Shoot 'em ups

Disposable Hero (1993, Amiga)
Silkworm (1989, Amiga/ST)
Apidya (1991, Amiga)
Katakis (1988, C64)
Armalyte (1988, C64)
Retrograde (1989, C64)
Gradius (1987, C64)
Salamander (1988, C64)
Enforcer (1992, C64)
Project X (1992, Amiga)
X-Out (1990, Amiga)
Ziriax (1990, Amiga)
Stargunner (1996, MS-DOS)

Super Sprite-Shifters (& Bobs: Blitter Objects) [0.2]

Disposable Hero (1993, Amiga) -- Big, fast and smooth sprites
Armalyte (1988, C64) -- no sprite flickering despite complex sprite-chains
Battle Squadron (1989, Amiga, 50+ objects on an Amiga 1000 from 1985)
Mega Typhoon (1996, Amiga, 100+ objects "...")
Datastorm (1989, Amiga, 128 objects)
Wings of Death (1990, Amiga, 90 objects)
Project X (1992, Amiga) -- Extremely fast sprite-shifter
Tubular Worlds (1994, Amiga, MS-DOS) -- big multi-screen bosses
Anarchy (1990, Amiga, 80 objects)
Sidewinder 2 (1989, Amiga, 80 objects)
Salamander (1988, C64, 33 objects)

An "object" is a sprite or bob that moves either over or under the playfield. Super sprite-shifters are shoot 'em ups that move about many or big sprites and/or bobs smoothly. Thus, Xenon 2's Super Nashwan versus multi-screen bosses doesn't make the list.

Best 3D Shoot 'em Ups: The Polygon-pushers

Virus / Zarch (1987-88, Archimedes, ST/Amiga, MS-DOS)
Conqueror (1988, Archimedes)
Star Fighter 3000 (1994, Archimedes)
Apocalypse (1990, Archimedes)
Zeewolf (1994, Amiga)
Starglider 2 (1988, ST/Amiga)
Silpheed (1989, MS-DOS) -- vector-based
Seek and Destroy (1996, MS-DOS) -- not fully 3D (has sprite rotation for objects)
Eliminator (1988, Amiga) -- smooth roadways in 1988.

As it pertains to technical specifications the Acorn Archimedes was the undisputed King of 3D shoot 'em ups from 1987-90.

If Zeewolf is a masterpiece as some have proclaimed, what does that make Zarch which came out seven years before Zeewolf? Seven years is more than a life-time in the late 80s and early 90s!

(DeathTrack of 1989 is technically an advanced hybrid of shooter and racer. cf. Motorsport Autoracing Simulators.)

Best Shoot 'em up Weapons Systems

X-Out (1989/90, C64/Amiga)
Retrograde (1989, C64)
Seek & Destroy (1996, IBM PC)
Tyrian (1995, IBM PC)
Stargunner (1996, IBM PC)
Abuse (1996, IBM PC)
Disposable Hero (1993, Amiga)

This ranking pertains mainly to weapons systems that can be customized via separate screens or menus. The next tier "down" would be Gradius-like on-the-fly customization followed by customization via pick-ups.

Best Shoot 'em up Graphics

Xenon 2 (Amiga/ST, 1989) -- Mark Coleman
Chaos Engine (Amiga/ST, 1993) -- Dan Malone
Agony (Amiga, 1992) -- Franck Sauer
SWIV (Amiga, 1991) -- Ned Langman
IO: Into Oblivion (C64, 1988) -- Bob Stevenson
Katakis (1988, C64) -- Andreas Escher
Enforcer (C64, 1992) -- Manfred Trenz
Armalyte (C64, 1988) -- Robin Levy
Turrican 2 (Amiga, 1991) -- Manfred Trenz, Andreas Escher
Turrican (C64, 1990) -- Manfred Trenz
Apidya (Amiga, 1992) -- Frank Matzke
Disposable Hero (Amiga, 1993) -- Hein Holt & Arthur van Jole
Seek and Destroy (1996, MS-DOS) -- Rod Smith (2D), Grant Wallis (3D)
Project X (1992, Amiga) -- Rico Holmes

This ranking pertains to graphic design, pixel art, animations and color fades -- it is not concerned with technical scrolling or sprite-shifting, which comes under coding.

As it pertains to raw pixel art that is not reliant on coding tricks that enhance visuals, two of the best computer-game graphicians in the late 80s and early 90s were Mark Coleman and Dan Malone.

Silkworm, SWIV, Battle Squadron and Mega Typhoon graphics are raw and gritty. Just what I like. The silvery-metallic Katakis graphics are great as well. I like the look of most shoot 'em ups that are of R-Type lineage: god-tier graphicians.

Best Shoot 'em up Music

Turrican 2 (Amiga, 1991) -- Chris Hülsbeck
Apidya (Amiga, 1992) -- Chris Hülsbeck
Agony (Amiga, 1992) -- Jeroen Tel
Xenon 2 (Amiga, 1989) -- David Whittaker
Chaos Engine (Amiga, 1993) -- Richard Joseph
Super Stardust AGA (Amiga, 1994) -- Risto Vuori
Enforcer (1992, C64) -- Markus Siebold

This ranking pertains only to in-game soundtrack, not titlescreen-only music. Amiga Xenon 2 has the most impressive titlescreen music. While the C64's SID is highly impressive on a relative level, the Amiga's Paula destroys the audio of other Western micros.

Turrican 2 and Apidya have better soundtracks than most coinops; indeed, better than most computer & video games. Agony's soundtrack is insane as well.

Best Shoot 'em up Presentation

Paradroid (1985, C64)
Paradroid 90 / 2000 (1990, Amiga / Archimedes)
Alien Breed (1991, Amiga)
Robotron 2084 (1983, IBM PC Booter)
Seek & Destroy (1996, IBM PC MS-DOS)
Tyrian (1995, IBM PC MS-DOS)
Stargunner (1996, IBM PC MS-DOS)
Zone 66 (1993, IBM PC MS-DOS)
Raptor: Call of the Shadows (1994, IBM PC MS-DOS)
Wizball (1987, IBM PC Booter)
Datastorm (1989, Amiga)
Lethal Xcess Wings of Death II (1991, Amiga)
Blasteroids (1990 ST/Amiga)

By presentation I am referring to in-game rules info displayed by shoot 'em ups. When shoot 'em ups feature such in-game info players don't need to reference external hardcopy manuals as often, or at all.

Note that several mid-90s MS-DOS shooters were very well presented. Some even let players navigate screens via mouse-driven hardware cursors.

Some people think presentation is limited by distribution media: 5.25" floppies and 3.5" diskettes did not have much storage space. But really, how much space do scoring, power-up and enemy info-screens consume when they are merely displaying preexisting assets with appended text? If Robotron 2084 can do it in 1983, every shoot 'em up thereafter should have done it as well, but most simply didn't.

Some developers may say: "We ran out of room. We couldn't pack in info-screens or overlays." But if the shoot 'em up was coded with such in mind from the outset, they wouldn't have run out of room.

Best Shoot 'em Up Ports

R-Type (1990, ZX Spectrum) -- The greatest port of all-time
Silkworm (1989, ST/Amiga) -- it's better than the arcade original
Gradius (1987, C64)
Salamander (1988, C64)
Gyruss (1984, C64)
Slap Fight (1987, C64)
X-Out (1990, Amiga) (from C64)
R-Type (1989, Amiga)
Terra Cresta (1986, C64)
Virus (1987-88, IBM PC MS-DOS, ST/Amiga) (from Archimedes)
Xevious (1987, Atari ST)
Raiden (1994, MS-DOS)

Includes ports from coinops and 8 bit and 16 bit microcomputers.

Worst Shoot 'em Up Ports

Thunder Blade (1988, ST/Amiga)
Darius+ (1989, ST/Amiga)
Forgotten Worlds (1989, ST/Amiga, MS-DOS)
Space Harrier (1989, ST/Amiga)
Dragon Spirit (1989-90 ST/Amiga)
U.N. Squadron (1990, ST/Amiga)
Sky Shark / Flying Shark (1988-89, ST/Amiga, MS-DOS)
Sonic Boom (1990, Amiga)
Project X (1994, MS-DOS)
Xenon 2 (1990, MS-DOS)
Cabal (1989, ST/Amiga)

It's one thing to dump and scale down coinop ROM graphics, quite another to make the graphics scroll and move about smoothly. And quite another again to convert controls and collision detection.

It is better to tone down sprite-counts, sprite sizes and anim frames in order to maintain framerates and responsive controls. Note, however, that many arcade-ports needed to be completed within strict time-frames; the porters did not have the luxury of spending a few years coding their dream shoot 'em ups like hobbyists do. In addition, porters were not always supplied with ROM-dumps and other info, which means they had to "go by the eye and ear".

Most Overrated Shoot 'em Ups

Overrated does not mean bad. It just means that the shoot 'em up has historically received too much parroted praise, which comes at the expense of other shoot 'em ups. This isn't the fault of the shoot 'em up: the clueless fanbases and commentators are to blame.

Tyrian and Raptor are especially overrated because most PC gamers lacked C64/Amiga pedigree. PC gamers were amazed by Tyrian and Raptor yet Amigans were playing arcade-quality shooters several years before. And while C64 owners did not have coinop-quality color palettes, they did have close to coinop-quality scrolling and gameplay as early as 1986 (Sanxion). Trust me: not even the Amiga shooter catalogue would convince C64 shoot 'em up connoisseurs to shelve their C64.

Practically every coinop conversion was and still is overrated.

Xenon 2 was overrated (in the heyday) by reason of its audio-visuals yet Xenon 2 fails in much more important aspects, such as scrolling and collision detection. No shoot 'em up looked as good as Xenon 2 for several years subsequent, but gameplay is God, not graphics. That said, I sunk many an hour into Xenon 2 back in the day. It's just that it could have been so much better.

Most Difficult Shoot 'em Ups

Disposable Hero (1993, Amiga) -- hard as hell
Ziriax (1990, Amiga) -- demoralizing
Armalyte (1991, ST/Amiga) -- cruel
Lightforce (1986/87, Speccy/C64) -- exhausting
Project X (1992, Amiga) -- just plain tough (and the inertia filters many people)
Alien Breed (1991, Amiga) -- respawns and time limits
Zarch (1987, Archimedes) -- controls will filter casuals in one millisecond
Delta (1987, C64) -- reflexes required big-time
Hades Nebula (1987, C64) -- damn hard
IO: Into Oblivion (1988, C64) -- hard
Mega-Apocalypse (1987, C64) -- hostiles home-in at great speed

This is about fair difficulty, not difficulty that stems from poor coding or bad designwork. For example, Disposable Hero and Ziriax consistently remind players that they simply aren't good enough at shoot 'em ups. :)

As a rule, Amiga shoot 'em ups are harder and run faster than IBM PC and 8-bit micro shooters. For example, if a shooter is on both the C64 and Amiga, the Amiga version is often harder and runs faster.

Thus, when it comes to shooters, it is best to start off with the C64; as a rule, they are simple, fun and beatable whereas many Amiga shoot 'em ups can only be beaten by hardcore gamers.

Katakis is one of the best C64 shooters, but it is easy. Dead easy. So are Gradius and Salamander on the C64. These are good shoot 'em ups for beginners to play.

List of Shoot 'em Ups With Mouse Control

Zarch / Virus (1987-88, Archimedes, ST, Amiga, MS-DOS)
Conqueror (1988, Archimedes, ST, Amiga, MS-DOS)
Battle Squadron (1989, Amiga)
Goldrunner (1987, ST/Amiga)
Star Fighter 3000 (1994, Archimedes)
Tubular Worlds (1994, MS-DOS)
Zeewolf (1994, Amiga)
Tyrian (1995, MS-DOS)
Raptor: Call of the Shadows (1994, MS-DOS)
Nebula Fighter (1997, MS-DOS)
Super Gridrunner (1989, ST/Amiga)
Sky Shark (1989, MS-DOS)
After Burner 2 (1989, Amiga, Argonaut version only)

VGA's hardware cursors made all the difference in MS-DOS shooters that featured mouse control.

cf.

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