Chronological List of Amiga Shoot 'em ups
Posted for quick reference purposes, this is a chronological list of Amiga shoot 'em ups that have so far been covered in my History of Shoot 'em ups.
This list thus far contains 83 original infographics that can be mouse-wheeled through in order to get an idea of the Amiga shoot 'em up catalogue with no non-Amiga admixture. You can also right-click the images and open them in a new tab at full resolution (2k-5k px).
I am far from done with this list, so check back every now and again.
This document was last updated on the 15th of May, 2024.
1987
Starglider Amiga 1987
Developed by Jez San of Argonaut Software for Amiga, Starglider and Starglider 2 are vector-based shooters notable for their fast and smooth rendering engines. Starglider of 1987 employs flicker-free wireframe graphics whereas Starglider 2 of 1988 solidly flat-shades its geometry.
Plutos Amiga 1987: Space War Arcade Simulation
Coded by Derek Johnston in 1987 Plutos features smooth scrolling at 50 FPS and 2-player coop mode. However, in order to achieve that framerate the playfield is not full-screen but metal-bordered. Terrain in Plutos is height-mapped; that is, your spaceship can collide with buildings. In Plutos one must also access fuel dumps that are dotted about the terrain in order to maintain control of the craft.
Amiga original.
Typhoon Amiga 1987
Coded by C. Sing and R. Wagner, Kingsoft's Typhoon of 1987 features smooth vertical scrolling, very fast sprite-shifting, digitized sound effects and 50 screens to blast through.
Amiga original.
1988
Virus Amiga 1988
David Braben coded Zarch for the Acorn Archimedes in 1987. Renamed to Virus the Amiga, ST and MS-DOS versions are masterpieces as well. Zeewolf was heavily influenced by Virus. Indeed, the influence of Zarch / Virus on computer and video gaming has been incalculable.
The Pursuit to Earth Amiga 1988
The Pursuit to Earth aka Gyrex is a 1988 clone of Konami's Gyruss (1983) developed by PowerHouse Software Ltd. for ST/Amiga. You can see from the infographic that PtE shifts around many sprites layered over a swirling starfield. Note also the power-ups that can be collected and activated. For 1988, PtE is technically ambitious.
Amiga original.
Flying Shark Amiga 1988
Flying Shark on the Amiga and Atari ST (1988) are better than Sky Shark MS-DOS, but still pale in comparison to Toaplan's 1987 arcade original. Put it this way: you'd rather be playing 1942 or 1943 on the C64, shown just above.
The Amiga version was ported by Bob Hylands and Rob Brooks from the ST port coded by Henry Clark and Karl Jeffery.
.
StarRay Amiga 1988
Coded by Erik von Hesse & Logotron in 1988, StarRay was the first good Defender-like on the Amiga.
Amiga original.
Eliminator Amiga 1988
Linel Switzerland's Eliminator on ST/Amiga was technically impressive for 1988. The player controls a vehicle from 3rd person perspective on 13 winding roadways with bends, crests, tunnels, jump-ramps and water canals. There are also barriers and alien-waves to blast through.
Eliminator employs vector graphics for its roadways, but its objects and aliens are sprite-scaled. Unlike the ports of railshooters such as Space Harrier (1989), Eliminator is playable and its framerate is smooth.
Eliminator weapons system: single, dual, side, double and triple cannons as well as bouncing bombs.
Operation Wolf & Thunderbolt Amiga 1988-89: Green Berets
Taito's Operation Wolf light-gun coinop of 1987 was ported to ST and Amiga by Ocean France in 1988. Its 1988 sequel Operation Thunderbolt was subsequently ported to ST/Amiga by Ocean Software Ltd. in 1989. Both ports of the sprite-scaling scrollers are mouse or joystick controlled but only Thunderbolt allows for 2-player simultaneous action.
Sidewinder Amiga 1988-89
Sidewinder of 1988 was developed by Synergistic; Sidewinder 2 of 1989 by PAL. And since they were coded by different developers these are very different shoot 'em ups in terms of controls and graphics.
Sidewinder is especially difficult on Expert mode. Be prepared to get shot down on a regular basis. Sidewinder 2 is also no cakewalk due to its emphasis on destructible obstructions.
Amiga original.
Thunder Blade Amiga 1988
Sega's Thunder Blade coinop of 1987 was ported to ST/Amiga in 1988 by Tiertex. As with most of Tiertex's ports the 16 bit Thunder Blade ports are absolute garbage.
Xenon Amiga 1988
Xenon (1988) on Amiga made the EGA MS-DOS version look like a joke. Truth be told 16-color EGA Xenon looks like 4-color CGA, but it plays really well.
The ST version was just as good as the Amiga version.
Xenon graphics by Mike Montgomery; audio by David Whittaker.
Note that Xenon does not even begin to tap the Amiga's chipset. It is basically an ST game. Still, there wasn't much to choose from in 1988.
Hybris Amiga 1988
Hybris of 1988 was coded by Martin Pederson. As the First REAL Amiga game Hybris runs at 50 FPS and features super-smooth scrolling and sprite-shifting.
Hybris action is staged on a proper arcade-style playfield with overlaid score panel.
A difficult shoot 'em up with tight controls, Hybris is one of best blasters on the Amiga. Unusually, the armor-like power-ups get bolted onto the shuttle when collected, changing not only its appearance but also its movement rate, rate of fire and weapon-type.
Amiga original.
Menace Amiga 1988: Destroy Planet Draconia
Developed by DMA Design in 1988, Menace (along with Xenon) was one of the first shoot 'em ups to clearly distinguish ST/Amiga graphics from C64 graphics. But just like Xenon Menace did not push the Amiga's chipset much at all.
Menace programmed by Dave Jones; audio by David Whittaker.
Menace Weapons Systems: Cannon, Laser, Outrider Droid (max 2), Speed Up, Force Field, Shield Recovery.
1989
Blood Money Amiga 1989: A Maelstrom of Sheer Destruction
Also developed by DMA Design, Bloody Money disappointed me in 1989 because it looked and played like an ST game. Still, it was better than the EGA MS-DOS version.
Follow-up to Menace, Blood Money was programmed by Dave Jones; audio by David Whittaker (includes 250 kbytes of sound-sampling).
Darius Amiga 1989
Softek's 1989 Amiga port of Taito's Darius coinop of 1987 is a joke: poor scrolling, poor sprite-shifting, poor collision detection and poor audio. It's called Darius+ but should be called Darius-1000.
R-Type Amiga 1989: R-9 Fighter vs. Bydo Empire
Factor 5 did a good job of converting Irem's R-Type coinop of 1987 to the Amiga in 1989 (25 FPS).
The R-Type soundtrack was converted by Chris Hülsbeck; R-Type coded by Holger Schmidt.
R-Type Weapons System:
- Beam-wave cannon (charges up)
- Reflection Laser, Anti-aircraft Laser, Ground Laser, Homing Missiles
- Extra Speed, Shield Orbs
Shoot 'Em Up Construction Kit Amiga 1989
Sensible Software's C64 Shoot 'Em Up Construction Kit of 1987 was ported to ST/Amiga in 1989 by Richard Leinfellner for IDS. Via a series of menus and icons, the SEUCK utility allows users to design and test their own vertically-scrolling shoot 'em ups.
Goldrunner 2 Amiga 1989
Microdeal's Goldrunner of 1987 on the Atari ST never appeared on the Amiga. However, its sequel Goldrunner 2 did. Amusingly, Goldrunner 2 has a Top-99 High Score table.
Cabal Amiga 1989: Commandos
TAD Corporation's Cabal coinop of 1988 was ported to ST/Amiga by Ocean Software Ltd. in 1989. Offering 2-player simulatenous action Cabal is basically a third-person Operation Wolf. And just like Operation Wolf and Thunderbolt, Cabal is nowhere near as fun to play as the coinop.
Cabal and the Op. Wolf ports were overrated back in the day. Put it this way: even if you bought all three you would still go to the arcades to play the real deal.
Space Harrier Amiga 1989
Elite's Amiga port of Sega's 1987 super-scaling railshooter coinop, Space Harrier, was fairly playable in 1989, but Eliminator of 1988 was far superior.
Battle Squadron Amiga 1989
Coded by an 18 year old Pedersen in 8 months Battle Squadron of 1989 thoroughly taps the Amiga chipset via sprite "predator cloaking", viewport tints and other uncommon graphics coding routines.
Hybris and Battle Squadron's graphics were drawn and animated by Torben Larsen.
Battle Squadron's non-standard 256 vertical-pixels display simultaneously shifts over one dozen projectiles, air units and ground units, for a sum-total of almost 50 on-screen objects. In addition, the objects are sizeable. And that is why Battle Squadron runs at 25 not 50 FPS. However, its display nevertheless smoothly updates.
The sound effects are loud, raw and gritty. Best of all, its controls are pretty much perfect. Thus, it is eminently playable and replayable. An amazing shoot 'em up across the board, just like Hybris.
Battle Squadron Weapons System (Pick-ups & Power-ups): Nova Smart Bombs (AoE), Magnetic Torps (Red), Anti-matter Particle Beam (Blue), Magma Wave (Orange), Emerald Laser (Green)
Amiga original.
Smash T.V. Amiga 1989
The 1989 ST/Amiga ports by Probe of the Smash T.V. coinop are passable. Indeed, playable. Especially with a friend in 2-player coop mode.
Commando Amiga 1989
Capcom's Commando coinop of 1985 was ported to 8 and 16 bit micros from 1985 to 1989 by Elite. This is the 1989 Amiga version whose graphics are bland, washed-out and lack the basic details of the original coinop. The Amiga is capable of so much more than this:
The Arnold Schwarzenegger Commando movie came out in 1985.
Forgotten Worlds Amiga 1989
The 1989 MS-DOS, ST and Amiga versions of Capcom's Forgotten Worlds coinop should be forgotten; they are terrible ports by Arc Developments. Imagine wasting your pocket money on this garbage back in the day.
Some computer game journalism said this Forgotten Worlds port was one of the best, if not the best shoot 'em up when it came out. Laughable.
After Burner Amiga 1989
The Sega AM2 coinop versions of After Burner and After Burner 2 were released in 1987. After Burner 2 is just an updated After Burner, not a sequel per se. Two years later the Amiga received two ports of After Burner 2, one developed by Argonaut for Activision, the other by Weebee for Sega Enterprises Ltd.
In terms of controls, sprite-scaling and audio, both ports are poor renditions of the arcade machine that I did not enjoy at all, even back in the day when Tom Cruise's Top Gun was all the rage (1986).
Silkworm Amiga 1989: Better than the Arcade Version
Silkworm scrolls horizontally and SWIV scrolls vertically, but both shoot 'em ups are raw and gritty, and both run at full frames (50 FPS).
Coded by Random Access in 1989, Silkworm on the Amiga is better than the Tecmo arcade version of 1988. Much better. What an awesome shooter.
Amiga original (in that it's not a direct arcade port).
Datastorm Amiga 1989: Blow 'em to Bits!
Shifting around 128 simultaneous objects while maintaining super-smooth scrolling, Datastorm is a king-tier Defender clone that came out on the Amiga in 1989. Datastorm is really well presented: it tells you everything you need to know about the game -- in-game.
Datastorm programmed by Søren Grønbech.
Amiga original.
Xenon 2: Megablast Amiga 1989
Coded by the Assembly Line Xenon 2: Megablast (1989) does not run at full frames due to the number of sprites it shifts around its five-layer parallax playfield. Xenon 2 is one of the few shoot 'em ups in which players have (limited) reverse-scrolling control by pulling back on the joystick.
However, collision detection is off and some waves cheaply flank. You can also get stuck on walls (jittering); thus, the auto-scrolling can kill you.
Mark Coleman's Xenon 2 pixel art is stunning on ST, Amiga and MS-DOS. Xenon 2's levels range from pre-historic to metallic space-age themes.
Xenon 2 was advertised as having "coinop-quality action," but it only looks like a coinop in static screencaps. When you actually play Xenon 2, when you see it moving, you will realize that it does not play like a coinop because it lacks smooth scrolling and sprite-shifting. In fact, dating back to 1986 there are C64 shooters that play more like coinops than Xenon 2 does.
All the Assembly Line had to do was tone down the sprite-count and get rid of the parallax to put Xenon 2 on a whole other level. I'd sacrifice in-game music in pursuit of full-frames action as well.
Xenon 2 audio by David Whittaker.
Xenon 2 Weapons System for Megablaster ("Capsule" pick-ups):
- Front Shot, Side Shot, Rear Shot, Cannons, Lasers
- Super Nashwan Power, Electroball, Mines
- Dive, Zapper, Speed-up, Power-up, Heart
The MS-DOS version lacks the digitized aka sampled Bomb the Bass soundtrack whereas the ST version has its own rendition.
Xenon 1 is better than Xenon 2 because you can switch between Fighter Jet and Tank. I defeated both Xenon games when they came out and without an auto-fire joystick (you can buy an auto-fire upgrade in Xenon 2).
Super Gridrunner Amiga 1989
Jeff Minter of Llamasoft coded Super Gridrunner for ST/Amiga in 1989. Super Gridrunner is a fixed-viewport shoot 'em up that allows players to position their ship anywhere on-screen via mouse control. This is the 1989 16 bit version of the original VIC-20 / C64 version of Gridrunner from 1982.
1990
Turrican Games Amiga 1990-93
In terms of taking advantage of the Amiga's custom chipset, Factor 5's Turrican run and gun games are first-class. The Turrican games were designed by Manfred Trenz, coded by Holger Schmidt and composed by Chris Hülsbeck.
Turrican and Turrican 2 also came out on the Atari ST. And while weaker than the Amiga versions in terms of audio-visuals, they were still great.
- Turrican (1990, Manfred Trenz, Holger Schmidt): Ported from the C64 original by Factor 5.
- Turrican 2 (1991, Holger Schmidt, Factor 5): An Amiga-first & an Amiga-best.
- Turrican 3 (1993, Peter Thierolf, Factor 5): Ported from the Sega Genesis original by Kaiko.
Trenz also coded Katakis / Enforcer for the C64 and ported the R-Type arcade to the C64. Search article for strings: R-Type, Katakis, Enforcer.
Playing Turrican 2 in 1990 on an Amiga was like playing an arcade game: fast and smooth multi-directional parallax hardware scrolling at 50 FPS; big 360° rotating gun; epic arsenal; horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em up segments; better music than most coinops.
Turrican 3 was good when it came out three years later, but it did not have anywhere near the impact on Amigans that Turrican and its sequel had. In fact, I can safely say that Tarzan-Turrican was a downgrade.
The original Turrican had a big impact on C64 owners. In fact, C64 versions of Turrican and T2 are king-tier run n gun games as well.
Amiga original (Turrican 2 only).
Katakis Amiga 1990
Katakis / Denaris by Factor 5 is a solid R-Type clone converted in 1990 to Amiga from the C64 original of 1988. This is the kind of shoot 'em up where you wipe out hard-as-hell waves, yet get no power-up. And that is not a criticism. Just don't expect power-ups to get thrown about like confetti.
Katakis programmed by Holger Schmidt; audio by Chris Hülsbeck.
The Killing Game Show Amiga 1990
Coded by Martyn Chudley of Raising Hell Software in 1990, The Killing Game Show is a slick multi-directional run and gun shooter that features climbing, jumping and rising water levels. The rising water even reflects the action. The Killing Game Show has good controls, presentation and audio-visuals on both ST and Amiga platforms. The Killing Game Show was drawn on the ST and coded on DevPac 68k assembler on the ST.
Amiga original.
X-Out Amiga 1990
Rainbow Arts' X-Out (1990) is a port of the Commodore 64 original of 1989 by Arc Developments. X-Out features customizable armadas and ships. It also runs at 50 FPS while shifting 50 objects and displaying 48 on-screen colors over 160 screens of graphics.
Project Deep Star: The Ultimate Underwater War-Machine:
The ST/Amiga versions of X-Out were coded by Heiko Schröder; audio by Chris Hülsbeck.
X-Out Weapons System:
- Three types of Missile & Jumpbomb
- Electric Claw, Claw-arm, Flame-thrower
- Drone, Drone-collector, Teuton Laser, Shield
- Up to three Satellites (moving or stationary)
Z-Out Amiga 1990: Destroy Alpha Centauri
Z-Out (1990) is an ST/Amiga-only sequel to X-Out. Z-Out only runs at 25 FPS but its vertical and horizontal parallax scrolling is still smooth. Supports 2-player coop and features 12 bosses.
Z-Out coded by Tobias Binsack and Uwe Bauer; audio by Chris Hülsbeck.
Z-Out Weapons System:
- Beam Shot, Drones, Satellites
- Bouncing Flames, Double-shot, Triple-shot
- Fusion Bomb / Centrifugal Supercharger
- Flame-thrower, Streaker
- Blue-Scythe Satellite Rotation, Creep Bomb
Amiga original.
Paradroid 90 Amiga 1990
Andrew Braybrook's Paradroid of 1985 was finally remade on the Amiga and Atari ST in 1990 by Graftgold. Thus was it renamed to Paradroid 90. Consult the C64 entry for more info on this strategy-shooter.
Blasteroids Amiga 1990
The 1990 ST/Amiga Teque Software Development ports of the 1987 Tengen Blasteroids coinop are king-tier across the board. You can transform between three different spacehips on the fly (Speeder, Fighter and Warrior).
As in Atari's Asteroids coinop of 1979, control in Blasteroids consists of rotate, thrust and fire (at asteroids and enemies). As one can glean from the below infographic Blasteroids is a full-featured and well-presented shoot 'em up.
Blasteroids Equipment: Shield, Blaster, Extra Shot Power, Ripstar, Extra Fuel Capacity, Booster, Crystal Magnet, Cloak.
Ziriax Amiga 1990
An Amiga-exclusive developed by The Whiz Kids in 1990, the Gradius-like Ziriax runs at 50 FPS. Ziriax features extremely fast-moving sprites and sprite-cloaking. Only veterans with good reflexes need apply because Ziriax is the second-hardest shoot 'em up in this history's treatment range.
Ziriax bosses:
Ziriax coded by Peter Verswyvelen.
Amiga original.
Anarchy Amiga 1990: Fast, Frantic & Furious
Coded by Wayne Smithson in 1990 for ST/Amiga, Anarchy is a slick Defender clone with four-layer parallax scrolling, 80 on-screen objects, 48 on-screen colors and 450 separate screens of graphics.
Refresh rate can be toggled in-game between 50 and 60 Hz. On Amigas 60 Hz results in approximately 20% faster gameplay than 50 Hz ( = more difficult).
Note that Anarchy's Top-50 High-score table is saveable.
Anarchy Weapons System:
- Blue L: Laser: Double laser-fire, Gold B: Boost: Automatic fire-power
- Green C: Cannon, Gold S: Streaker, Blue D: Devastator
- Gold T: Top-up Energy Shield, Green F: Force-field. Blue N: Nuke 'em Power
U.N. Squadron Amiga 1990
Tiertex's 1990 port of Capcom's U.N. Squadron coinop shows that you can faithfully translate original arcade assets and presentation to ST/Amiga, but then fail to faithfully replicate the arcade's controls, collision detection, scrolling and sprite-shifting, which are much more important.
Wings of Death Amiga 1990: Five Different Weapons Systems
Coded by Marc Rosocha of Eclipse, Wings of Death of 1990 brings a high-fantasy theme to ST/Amiga shoot 'em ups. Its palette peaking at 512 on-screen colors, Wings of Death moves about up to 90 on-screen objects at 50 FPS.
Wings of Death audio by Jochen Hippel includes speech synthesis, digitized sound effects and digital music effects totalling one megabyte as well as support for external Centronics D/A converters on the ST/STE.
Saveable High-score table.
Wings of Death Weapons System (transformation):
- The Insect: Spread-fire
- The Bat: Circleblast
- The Eagle: Powerbeam
- The Dragon: Dragonfire
- The Gryphon: Thunderballs
Amiga original.
Saint Dragon Amiga 1990
Saint Dragon of 1990 runs at 25 FPS, but plays smoothly. Ported from the Jaleco coinop of 1989 by Random Access / Sales Curve Ltd., this is one of the easier shoot 'em ups to play.
Part-dragon, Part-machine Cyborg Dragon:
Saint Dragon coded by John Croudy.
Dragon Breed Amiga 1990: King of Agamen vs. King of Darkness
Another easy "DragonLance"-type shoot 'em up, Irem's Dragon Breed coinop of 1989 was ported to ST/Amiga in 1990 by Arc Developments.
Dragon Breed coded by Tim Round.
Sonic Boom Amiga 1990: The World's Strongest Jetfighter
Sonic Boom was converted to the Amiga by Activision in 1990 from Sega's arcade-original. The Amiga version suffers from non-smooth scrolling, non-smooth sprite-shifting, poor collision detection and annoying music.
Atomic Robo-Kid Amiga 1990
Software Studios ported UPL's Atomic Robo-Kid coinop of 1988 to ST/Amiga in 1990. Atomic Robo-Kid shifts around a lot of big and colorful sprites, but its multi-directional scrolling is sluggish and its framerate is inconsistent.
Pang 1990 Amiga
Pierre Adane of Ocean France converted Mitchell Corporation's Buster Bros. coinop of 1989 to the Amiga in 1990. Renamed Pang on microcomputers, the Amiga version is superior to the arcade original.
Midnight Resistance Amiga 1990
Special FX Ltd. ported Data East's Midnight Resistance run and gun coinop of 1989 to ST/Amiga in 1990. Midnight Resistance turned out to be one of the few decent ports of shooter coinops to 16 bit micros. However, the ST version was much brighter and clearer than the dimmed Amiga version. But the ST version employed awful "catch-up" scrolling and lacked in-game music. Here is the Amiga version with the WHDLoad brightness fix:
While the (fixed) Amiga version is a solid port of the original, Midnight Resistance on the Amiga could have been much, much better. And the WHDLoad fix basically saves the port's legacy because no one is going to play a 34 year-old dimly-lit computer game in 2024.
1991
Mercs Amiga 1991
Then, in 1990-91, Tiertex ported Capcom's sequel to Commando, Mercs, to 8 and 16 bit micros. Again, here is the 1991 Amiga version which lacks the smooth scrolling and responsive controls of the original coinop, as well as many of its details:
Both Commando and Mercs are top-down run and gun games that failed to impress me back in the day, let alone in 2024.
SWIV Amiga 1991: Arcade-quality Amiga shoot 'em up
Sequel to Silkworm, SWIV is one of my fave shoot 'em ups. And when I replayed SWIV in 2024 it still amazed me. SWIV was coded for the Amiga by Random Access in 1991, but it was also ported to the C64, Atari ST and Acorn Archimedes. And while the ST port is no slouch the original Amiga version and Archimedes version are superior.
Silkworm and SWIV programmed by Ronald Pieket Weeserik and John Croudy of Random Access / The Sales Curve Ltd.
Amiga original.
R-Type 2 Amiga 1991
Arc Developments faithfully ported Irem's R-Type 2 of 1989 to the Amiga in 1991.
R-Type 2 Weapons System:
- Beam-wave cannon (charges up)
- Air-to-ground Laser, Air-to-air Laser, Reflective Laser, Search Laser, Shot-gun Laser
- Heat-seeking Missile, Air-to-ground Missile
War Zone Amiga 1991
Better than Commando and Mercs, War Zone is a fairly good ST/Amiga run and gun game developed by Core Design in 1991.
Alien Breed Amiga 1991: Warning! Destruction imminent.
Inspired by the Alien film franchise of 1979-1992, Alien Breed is a top-down run and gun game developed by Team 17 for the Amiga in 1991.
Alien Breed is notable for its accurate controls, 2-player coop, responsive menu systems, 1½ megs of well-drawn graphics and difficult gameplay. Alien Breed also features digitized speech and dozens of sampled sounds (210 kbytes in total) as well as one of the best soundtracks on the Amiga (composed by Allister Brimble).
Coded by Andreas Tadic and Peter Tuleby in ASM-One assembler on an Amiga 3000, Alien Breed runs at 50 FPS in 32-color full PAL display mode.
Alien Breed is without a doubt the best top-down run and gun game on the Amiga. The IBM PC MS-DOS port of 1993 is inferior to the Amiga original.
Offering more of the same, Team 17 would later develop Alien Breed Special Edition (1992) and Alien Breed 2: The Horror Continues (1993).
Team 17's Alien Breed could have been influenced by Andrew Challis of Pandora's Into the Eagle's Nest of 1986-87.
Amiga original.
Armalyte Amiga 1991: The Final Run (Delta 2)
A remake of the awesome C64 Armalyte, 1991's Armalyte: The Final Run by Arc Developments is notable for its extreme trial-and-error difficulty. You will be doing well to survive the first horizontal wave let alone the first vertical wave. In addition, collision detection is off. The music is good but the sound effects are awful. Overall, this is a 5/10 shooter at best.
Armalyte coded by Derrick Owens.
Lethal Xcess Amiga 1991: Sequel to Wings of Death
Developed by Eclipse in 1991 Lethal Xcess Wings of Death II was not available on MS-DOS: only ST/Amiga. This is a proper 16 bit micro shoot 'em up.
Lethal Xcess coded by Claus Frein and Heinz Rudolf; audio by Jochen Hippel.
Amiga original.
Apidya Amiga 1991
Developed by Kaiko / A.U.D.I.O.S. Apidya of 1991 is one of the best horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em ups on the Amiga. Perfect controls, the music is absolutely awesome and the graphics aren't too shabby either.
Apidya music composed by Chris Hülsbeck.
Apidya Weapons System:
- Primary: Light-sword (converts enemies to flowers, which upgrades weapon levels)
- Power Blast (charged light-sword)
- Upgradeable: Spread Shot (3x light-swords), Lightning Bolt, Plasma Pulse
- Speed-up, Bomb, Shield, Drone
Amiga original.
The Oath Amiga 1991
From Attic Entertainment Software Ltd., The Oath of 1991 is another stylish scrolling shooter with parallax scrolling, 32 on-screen colors and digitized speech. 2-player simultaneous.
The Oath coded by Jonathan Small.
The Oath Weapons System (Pick-ups & Power-ups): Rocket Launcher, Grenade Thrower, Sonic Beam, Laser Beam, Plasma Beam, Rear Attack, A-Mace, Power Beam, Smart Bomb, Power-up, Speed-up, Shield, Shield Increase, 1-up.
Amiga original.
Llamatron 2112 Amiga 1991
Llamatron 2112 was designed and coded by Jeff Minter of LlamaSoft in 1991 for ST/Amiga. Llamatron is a king-tier Robotron-like with psychedelic graphics. While its audio-visuals and presentation are unconventional, its gameplay is as classic as it gets.
Best played with 2x micro-switch joysticks suction-capped to the desk: mad.
Twin-joystick control aka two-joystick control aka dual-joystick control is when you use one joystick to move and another joystick to control the direction of fire. Thus, one can move in one direction while firing in another, aka strafing. Twin-joystick originated in Taito's Gun Fight coinop of 1975. It was also famously employed in Vid Kidz's Robotron 2084 coinop of 1982, of which Llamatron is a psychedelic clone.
Dual-stick is a god-tier shoot 'em up control system that could easily have been employed in more 8 and 16 bit micro shooters, but wasn't.
1992
Revenge of the Mutant Camels Amiga 1992
Agony Amiga 1992: Seeing is Believing
Developed by Art & Magic in 1992, Agony made IBM PC and Atari ST owners green with envy due to its haunting visuals and instrumentals. Agony is stamped with an Amiga seal: one could never mistake Agony for an ST or MS-DOS game. It is impossible.
Rather than just scrolling in unchanging parallax, Agony's battlefields feature backdrops of raging seas, cascading waterfalls and blazing bushfires.
Truth be told, if computer games can be said to have "a soul" this is one of them. This game is audio-visually supreme, practically artwork.
Agony features six worlds presented in full-screen 3-layer animated parallax scrolling, 3½ mbytes of graphics and up to 144 simultaneous on-screen colors. Audio-wise, Agony features 1½ mbytes of music and sound effects, and 17 different music tracks.
In addition, Agony features 50 different enemies and six end-level guardians.
However, Agony's gameplay does not match its audio-visuals. Thus, what Shadow of the Beast is to Amiga platformers Agony is to Amiga shoot 'em ups.
Amiga original.
Project X Amiga 1992: Pulsating Blaster
Team 17's Project X of 1992 was also ported to MS-DOS. This is the original Amiga version. Project X is notable for its fast sprite-shifting, no. of sprites, smooth and fast parallax scrolling, digitized speech and hard-as-nails difficulty.
Coded in ASM-One assembler, Project X runs at 50 FPS in 32-color full PAL overscan display mode, which in 1992 was awesome.
Project X also features a saveable High-score table. In addition, every single aspect of Project X was developed on Amigas.
Project X Weapons System (Pick-ups & Power-ups):
- Guns, Sideshot, Plasma, Homing Missile, Laser, Magma
- Speed Up, Build Up, Stealth
Project X Special Edition 93 is a much easier version of Project X that was released for the whining plebs.
Amiga original.
RoboCop 3
Digital Image Design's RoboCop 3 (and F-29 Retaliator) were notable for their slick presentation and early-90s, pre-Doom polygon-pushing. RoboCop 3 even featured some FPS gameplay.
Amiga original.
1993
Walker Amiga 1993
After the likes of Menace, Blood Money and Lemmings, DMA Design would develop Walker in 1993. Walker is a side-scrolling mech shooter with simple left-right keyboard-controlled movement and on-screen mouse-controlled targeting via crosshairs that can also lock-on to targets.
As in FASA's BattleTech the Walker AG-9's cannon can overheat and its shield can be depleted.
Walker is notable for its innovative kb/m controls, gritty graphics and sampled sound effects and speech. However, its scrolling is "interval-based", horizontal-only and non-parallax. In addition, its weapons system is cannon-only. Like most of DMA Design's games, Walker is overrated. The Amiga was capable of so much more.
That said, the little-man sprites in Walker would lead to DMA Design's best game, Lemmings 1991.
Amiga original.
Stardust Amiga 1993-94
Bloodhouse's Stardust and Super Stardust AGA of 1993-94 are king-tier asteroids-style games with sprite-scaling tunnel segments that update smoothly without overt pixelation. The pre-rendered, light-sourced asteroid sprites rotate as they move about the viewport, which is impressive.
Stardust Weapons System (Pick-ups & Power-ups):
- Mega Bomb, Gun Power Up, Smart Bomb
- Control Improvement, Shields, Points, Extra Life, Full Energy
Super Stardust Weapons System:
- Mega Bomb, Gun Power Up, Flame Burst, Smart Bomb
- Engine Power, Shield Energy, Points, Extra Life, Extra Energy
Amiga original.
Blastar Amiga 1993: Sheer Exhilaration & Firepower
Core Design coded the multi-directional Blastar in 1993 for the Amiga. Blastar features smooth 8-way scrolling and sprite rotation, big bosses and an upgradeable weapons system. The player's spaceship is rotatated à la Stardust (see above), but Blastar also scrolls the playfield in the direction the spaceship is heading.
Blastar coded by Tim Swann.
Amiga original.
Disposable Hero Amiga 1993
Developed by Euphoria in 1993, Disposable Hero is an Amiga-exclusive horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em up notable for its extreme difficulty. Disposable Hero will humble most shoot 'em up veterans. And back in the day 90% of players would have been shot down by the very first projectile.
Awesome shoot 'em up.
Disposable Hero programmed by Mario van Zeist and Harald Holt.
Disposable Hero Weapons System: When collected, blueprints are added to the factory. In the factory, three spaceships can be upgraded based on the equipment assembled from the blueprints.
Amiga original.
Cannon Fodder Amiga 1993
Sensible Software's Cannon Fodder is a mouse-driven point-and-click run and gun game originally coded for the Amiga. Cannon Fodder employs a modified engine of Sensible Software's English Football Computer Games.
As one the highlights of the Amiga-games catalogue Cannon Fodder features smooth scrolling, precise controls, great graphics and excellent music and sound effects.
Cannon Fodder was designed by Jonathan "Jops" Hare and coded by Jools Jameson. Its graphics were drawn by Stoo Cambridge and its audio was assembled by Richard Joseph and Allister Brimble.
Cannon Fodder was ported to ST, MS-DOS and Archimedes. Offering more of the same, Cannon Fodder 2 was released in 1994 on Amiga and MS-DOS only.
Amiga original.
Chaos Engine Amiga 1993: NODE ACTIVATED
Developed by the Bitmap Brothers in 1993 for ST/Amiga, The Chaos Engine is a top-down run and gun game that features 2-player coop and 8-way scrolling and firing. In one-player mode the AI controls the other soldier.
And while its audio-visuals are top-tier its scrolling is not silky-smooth and its collision detection is off, just like Xenon 2. And I considered TCE overrated, even back in the day. Just like Xenon 2.
I believe that such assets and "character builds" would have been better employed in a tactical turn-based game.
TCE coded by Steve Cargill. Graphician was Dan Malone. Audio by Richard Joseph.
Uridium 2 Amiga 1993
Andrew Braybrook's Uridium 2 of 1993 is one of the most technically impressive shoot 'em ups on the Amiga: Uridium 2 is the Amiga's preeminent super-scroller.
While its pixel art is not on the level of Xenon 2 or Apidya, its parallax scrolling is much faster and its gameplay is more dynamic due to the sudden changes in direction. Uridium also employs an impressive logo-plasma which no screencap can do justice.
Uridium Weapons System (Pick-ups): Shield, Bomb, Torpedo, Chaser Drone, Cyclone Spiralling Laser, Ionizer, Twin Laser Stream, Twin Plasma Stream, Scatter Laser Bolts.
Amiga original.
Overkill Amiga 1993
Vision Software Inc.'s Overkill AGA of 1993 is another Defender clone. Overkill features silky-smooth 50 FPS screen-scrolling and sprite-shifting. The way one enters the next level is also inventive (via rotating galaxy-map).
Amiga original.
1994
Banshee Amiga 1994: A1200 & Amiga CD32
Banshee is an Amiga AGA-exclusive developed by Core Design in 1994. Most people played this on an Amiga 1200 with 2 megs of chip ram. While Banshee features prerendered rotating objects (ray-traced), its controls and collision detection are somewhat off.
In fact, Banshee was one of the biggest disappointments on the ailing Amiga platform of 1994.
Banshee Weapons System (Pick-ups & Power-ups):
- Double Shot, Triple Shot, 45° Shot, Side Shot, Heavy Missile, Homing Missiles
- Bombs, Smart Bomb
- Points, Fire Power, Build Up, Speed Up, Loop, Extra Life, Extra Shield
Banshee programmed by Søren Hannibal.
Amiga original.
Tubular Worlds Amiga 1994: Battle 16 Warlords
Neither the OCS/ECS or AGA versions of Tubular Worlds on the Amiga (1994) are as good as the MS-DOS version, but they are still excellent. Oddly, TW Amiga noticeably reduces vertical pixels by 30-odd during boss battles. In fact, the AGA version reduces them on some normal levels as well.
Raiden Amiga 1994
While Raiden on the Amiga was not shaping up to be an accurate port of Seibu Kaihatsu's 1990 coinop, it was shaping up to be a decent shoot 'em up even though it employs a sidepanel that reduces the size of the playfield. In addition, the Amiga port does not feature the original arcade music. However, there was a possibility that Amiga Raiden would come complete with a level editor, which would have been cool, but the game was never released.
Ruff n Tumble Amiga 1994
Wunderkind's Ruff n Tumble of 1994 is a prime example of a poorly designed and coded run n gun game on the Amiga. Yes, the pixel art is excellent but who cares when the scrolling and controls are sluggish? Even the sound is poorly employed: there are no gunfire sound effects for the standard weapon and no footstep, jumping or landing sound effects. Moreover, the music is annoying. And when you disable the music the lifeless soundscape is laid bare. Overall, Ruff n Tumble would be a terrible Amiga game if it came out in 1990, let alone 1994; it shows no mastery of Amiga hardware; such a waste of good graphics.
Amiga original.
Zeewolf Amiga 1994: High-tech Gunship Action in 3D
In 1994 Binary Asylum coded Zeewolf, an Amiga-exclusive 3D shooter. Influenced by Zarch-Virus of 1987-88, Zeewolf is notable for its realistic controls (mouse or joystick) and real-time 3D rendering engine viewed from a fixed perspective.
Amiga original.
1995
Deluxe Galaga Amiga 1995
Coded by Edgar M. Vigdal in 1995, Deluxe Galaga features smooth sprite-shifting and 2-player coop. It also runs at 50 FPS.
Amiga original.
1996
Mega Typhoon Amiga 1996
Mega Typhoon was coded by Bernhard Braun of Nordlicht for ECS/OCS Amigas in 1996. Mega Typhoon is one of the most advanced Amiga shoot 'em ups in terms of 2D graphics coding; and its audio-visuals are raw and gritty.
Mega Typhoon shifts around up to one hundred 16-color objects (bobs and sprites) simultaneously while maintaining 50 FPS -- and yet it runs on an Amiga 500 with 1 meg RAM.
Mega Typoon is a super-scroller.
If Mega Typhoon came out just a few years earlier, it would have taken the Amiga gaming world by storm.
Mega Typhoon Weapons System (Pick-ups & Power-ups):
- Spread Shot (S), Sinus Laser (L), Homing Missiles (H), Power Missiles (M)
- Smart Bomb (B), Get Full Weapon (P), Extra Life
Amiga original.
1997
Tiger's Bane Amiga 1997
Coded in AMOS by Seumas McNally of Longbow Digital Arts (LDA), the shareware Tiger's Bane is a bi-directional, horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em up inspired by the likes of Gunship 2000 and Desert Strike via its combo of multi-helicopter combat and combined-arms tactics.
Controls are accurate, the parallax scrolling and sprite-shifting is smooth, and the sprites are well-drawn and -animated. Presentation-wise, the drop-shadows, fancy screenwipes and effects evoke the Amiga's multi-media programs. In addition, an extensive Help system is included, and there are even mouse-over image-based pop-ups (e.g., mousing over text that describes an enemy unit causes an image of an enemy unit to pop up over the text).
Tiger's Bane supports keyboard, joystick and even twin-joystick control. Tiger's Bane Weapons System: Chaingun, Hydra Rocket, Hellfire, SideWinder, SideArms.
The only "problem" with Tiger's Bane is that it came out in 1997, post-prime Amiga.
Amiga original.
1999
T-Zer0 Amiga 1999
T-Zer0 AGA was developed by TraumaZero Team and released by ClickBOOM / PXL Computers Inc. in 1999. T-Zer0 features 50 FPS per-pixel multi-directional screen-scrolling and sprite-shifting.
Three primary weapons and six secondary weapons are available, along with three spaceships. There are several in-game bonuses. T-Zer0 also comes with a map editor and CD-quality trance tracks.
T-Zer0 requires an A1200 030 with 2 megs of Chip RAM and 8 megs of Fast RAM, but 060 Blizzard or Cyberstorm acceleration is recommended. T-Zer0 has an install size of 250 MB, 190 MB of which is given over to FMV-based cinematization -- what a waste of time and resources: who the hell gives a damn about FMVs in shoot 'em ups? Why not just make, I don't know, an even better shoot 'em up?
T-Zer0 Weapons System:
- Primary Weapons: Laser, Front Plasma, Guns
- Secondary Weapons: Homing Missile, Side Beam, Plama, Rear Plasma, Missiles, K-Missiles
- Specials: Nuclear Blast, Stealth, Extra Life, Special Weapon, Hyperdrive, Inversion (of direction-input controls), Short Circuit
- Bonuses: Shapes, Star, Gold Star, Gems
Amiga original.
2000
Apano Sin Amiga 2000
Developed by Level One Entertainment in 2000, Apano Sin is a bi-directional vertically-scrolling shoot 'em up that runs on Amiga 500s with 1 meg of RAM. Apano Sin is another technically impressive shoot 'em up that came out post-prime Amiga.
Apano Sin programmed by Alex Piko and Alexander Eberl.
Apano Sin Weapons System: Blue Blizzard, Bomber, Green Flash, Power Cannon.
Amiga original.
cf.
- History of Shoot 'em Ups
- TRS-80 Shoot 'em ups Listed in Chronological Order
- Commodore 64 Shoot 'em ups Listed in Chronological Order
- IBM PC Shoot 'em ups Listed in Chronological Order
- Best Commodore 64 Game
- Best ZX Spectrum Game
- Best Commodore Amiga Game
- Best Acorn Archimedes Game
- Best BBC Micro Game
- The First REAL Amiga Game
- Computer Games Listed in Chronological Order
- History of 1990s Computer Games
- History of Shoot 'em Ups
- cRPG Blog (Master Index)
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