The further I go with this series of shoot ’em up countdowns, the harder it becomes to pigeonhole the games I want to include! The horizontally- and vertically-scrolling ones were easy, even though things didn’t always go in the same direction, but when we got onto the fixed or single-screen countdown, along came the caveats and concessions… For example, “fixed” implies on a single horizontal or vertical axis – think Space Invaders – while “single-screen” implies no scrolling – also think Space Invaders! What about Centipede though, which allows for mostly horizontal movement but a very limited bit of up and down too? Or Moon Cresta, and that shimmering starfield moving down the screen behind all its brutal action? To cut a long story short, I decided to go with “in spirit” where necessary for stuff like this, which worked out fine, and while it wasn’t really a factor when we got into isometric shoot ‘em ups last time out, as we continue with this series here, I’m sure it will be again, and likewise, when we get to the 3D sub-genre next time out… Actually, things get really subjective there, to the point I’ve decided to reinstate my original plan to continue the series with rail-shooters, just to make sure I catch everything by any definition, and to that end, those will be separated into third-person and crosshair types. Lucky I love putting these things together! Anyway, that’s all to come, but for now we’re concentrating on multidirectional shoot ‘em ups, and I’m including games where you can be shooting stuff in different directions on a single-screen, or where you’re doing so by scrolling across multiple screens in different directions, from one directional controller, so not twin-stick shooters, which are something else to come back to another time! Honestly, I’m also using this one as a bit of a catch-all too for anything that didn’t quite fit into the single-screen countdown from before, but hopefully it will make sense as we go from ten to one, then have a few honourable mentions for things that just missed out or still didn’t fit, so let’s get on with it!

10. Cosmic Ark (Atari 2600)

It’s been interesting to see how these different sub-genres can be favoured (or vice versa) by different time periods, and I’ve a feeling this one might be the same… Case in point, Cosmic Ark from Imagic in 1982! It follows on from their previous 2600 game Atlantis, with you taking control of the ship you see flying off with its survivors at the end of that, and now you’re crossing the galaxy picking up the remaining locals from other doomed planets. This takes place over two separate screens, the first of which – the shooting bit – has you fending off meteors coming at you from all directions, then the second involves sending a tiny shuttle with a tractor-beam down to the planet surface to grab a couple of specimens while avoiding its deadly screen-spanning laser-beam defences. You need to do that before the meteors reappear and start pummelling your energy reserves, which are topped-up when you shoot one or grab the two life forms in time. Then it’s off to the next planet for as long as those reserves allow. As simple as it is, another interesting thing to note about this sub-genre specifically is there’s often something else to do, find or collect on top of shooting stuff, as we’ll see, and for 1982 that was a pretty big deal! As was being in control of such a huge ship in the middle of the screen, on top of a shimmering, dancing star-field, originating from a hardware glitch that soon became a closely guarded secret! Gameplay starts fast-paced and heavy on the reflexes, then it’s a tense and precise game of cat and mouse as you hit the planet’s surface, which looks great too, by the way, and I also love the shrill sci-fi sounds! Almost as primitive as gaming gets but that’s entirely to its benefit!

9. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi – Death Star Battle (Atari 2600)

I’ve a feeling we’re going to be seeing some of the best of the Atari 2600 by the time we’re done with this countdown but even as I’m writing, I’m still not sure if this is the version I want to include here! The Atari 8-bit home computer version narrowly edges it on presentation, and the gameplay is really close, but I think I’ve got to favour the slightly more balanced and fluid gameplay on the 2600. Decision made! This is a fantastic use of the license whichever way you go though, released in 1983, and taking place during the movie’s climax as Lando and the Millenium Falcon are waiting for the shields to go down so they can take out the second Death Star. Once again, there’s two phases to this, with the first taking place in the bottom half of the screen, beneath the shield and your still distant (and authentically still under construction) target. You need to survive a moderate but increasingly difficult enemy fighter attack, kind of Asteroids-style, until a hole briefly appears in the shield, at which point you can hopefully get to it and through it, or you’ll be doing it all again waiting for the next one. The second phase takes place right beneath the Death Star, and is where the home computer version shines because it’s really not looking its best here, with you once again moving in all directions but shooting upwards at it while avoiding its laser fire and more fighters, trying to punch a hole all the way to the reactor in the middle, a bit like the boss in Phoenix. This bit’s not easy from the outset and gets really tough on subsequent loops but you’re rewarded with a cool explosion for your efforts before you start again, assuming you then avoid any rogue fireballs! Some nice 3D flight effects between phases too, recognisable ships and good sound effects throughout, and overall a very well-considered and well-captured moment in Star Wars that translates very well here!

8. Asteroids (Atari 2600)

I promise we’ll get onto some other systems after this one but at least my paranoia about that tells you this top ten is from the heart! Right, Asteroids, and what am I playing at not going with the legendary 1979 original?!?! Well, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to get my hands on that, and ever since we’ve had home versions of it – even ones on consoles with more buttons than the cabinet had – it just hasn’t felt right, while home ports have always been built for purpose, and this one from 1981 is the one that always stuck! By the way, sorry for the crappy phone pic of my TV screen here – the genius faster than the eye can see flicker technique used here to give the impression of way more going on at once than the machine was technically capable of means a regular screenshot (of Atari 50 on Nintendo Switch in this case) only shows half the action! Anyway, this port went for full-colour, solid asteroids to shoot and break apart then shoot again, alongside the occasional UFO, rather than the arcade game’s iconic vector graphics, but otherwise your ship’s trademark inertia is all present and correct as you rotate and thrust your way around the screen, which also overlaps on each side. Fantastic sounds too, with authentic fire, thrust and explosion, and such an ominious, Jaws-like pulse in the background. The box art boasts “66 video games” which means a ton of different game modes and variations too, as was often the case on the 2600, and you do need to play with them a bit to find the original’s frantic gameplay because if you just fire it up and press start, it’s going to take a while to get there! I like mode 8 with UFOs on, which are also missing as standard, but your risky emergency hyperspace jump, which can easily dump you in front of a lump of space rock, is on by default here, and altogether it just feels like I remember Asteroids feeling, which is all you can ever ask of a home port, even if not a home version!

7. Cybernoid: The Fighting Machine (Commodore 64)

Yet another dilemma about which version to go for here, and I know it was a ZX Spectrum game first but that music on the Commodore 64 is some of the best on there… If only you didn’t have to make a choice between that or some really great sound effects instead! This is a multidirectional flip-screen shooter from 1988 with a hint of the platformer about it, as well as a load of different weapons to experiment with to get you through the diverse hazards you’ll come across, as you try to recover stolen booty from space pirates over three subterranean (I think!) levels you’ll never see the majority of… It’s proper old-school brutal! Some screens are straight-up fights against regular enemy ships you just need to get past to reach the exit, while others will have guns emplacements and homing missiles to find a safe route past, or there’ll be more alien defences to worry about, or tunnels to negotiate and moving hazards to precisely time your way through. Your choice of weapon, from regular missiles to bouncing bombs and heat-seekers, as well as a shield, is critical to each, and these sit on five number keys, and there’s also various power-ups, such as a rear-firing gun, to collect on top of all the jewels and stolen goodies, which you also need to collect enough of in the time allowed to successfully complete each level. Probably uniquely here, this is a very methodical game, requiring exploration of each screen, experimentation with weapons and positioning, and a far more puzzle-like approach than reflexes alone, although you’ll need those too. As well as those pixel-perfect movement skills you hopefully picked up from stuff like Manic Miner! Which I guess makes it not for everyone, but that sublime soundtrack certainly is, and it’s a real looker too, with a nice mix of boldly coloured, finely textured organic and mechanical scenery, brought to life by loads of those classic chunky Hewson particle effects. Worth the investment!

6. Hunter’s Moon Remastered (Commodore 64)

Looks like the C64 has taken the reins now, although intriguingly, this one is an official 2018 remaster, update and general overhaul of the original 1987 strategic, multi-directional shoot ‘em up by Thalamus that would have been here regardless! Quite the pioneer that was in its own right back then too, showcasing one of the earliest uses of procedural generation in a video game, not to mention a real stunner of a loading screen! And once that’s out of the way, you’re playing a space pilot who’s flown too close to a black hole and ended up lost on the other side of the galaxy, and now you need to shoot your way into the sprawling, hive-like space cities that make up each level to get at their mysterious alien Starcells containing the navigational data you need to collect to plot your course home. While I’d generally go retro-pure with stuff like this, you can’t ignore this modern version upping the level count to one hundred and eighty, spread across twenty-one star systems, and also introducing new level types and new game modes, with training for novices and a random one for veterans, as well as a level editor. There’s also some wonderfully ominous new music, a cool new parallax starfield effect, and intro and outro cutscenes that feature some of the most stunning imagery I’ve ever seen in a C64 game! The fundamental gameplay is the same though, and like the last game, is as brutal as can be! It’s also addictive as hell though, and it’s so intuitive to puzzle and shoot and dodge your way through the myriad of increasingly complex city structures. It’s a beautiful game too, with simple, thoughtfully shaded shapes, full of movement and life, and the most gorgeous, shimmering graphical effects that even a glitching Atari 2600 could only dream of. This one is just outstanding!

5. Glass (Arcade)

That last one is available on the pretty wonderful Thalamus Collection 1 for Evercade, which is also where I first discovered this 1993 arcade game, on the Gaelco Arcade 1 cartridge. Not that it’s inclusion on there in such a censored state doesn’t bother me, but had it not been, I’d never have found the original, and it plays the same regardless so who cares! Well, I still do but at least they kept the most bizarre, breathlessly “sexy” speech you’ll ever hear in a game, introducing each world you’re about to try and rid of invading aliens and restore to its former glory! And to do that, you’ll be travelling to each one and carefully flying your spaceship over single-screen levels covered in tiles, which removing will reveal the exotic landscape beneath, before then revealing a bit of the “reward” you’ll get once you’ve beaten each world’s three levels and the very unique boss fights that follow. This is where the censorship comes in – remember the Big D peanut cardboard displays you’d get behind the bar in pubs, where each bag bought revealed a bit more of the scantily-clad model beneath? It’s exactly that! Except on Evercade you get a sketch of a cat instead. Spoilsports! What’s left is superb though, with so much attention to detail behind superficially simple (but pretty) presentation, with this incredibly varied lineup of brilliantly animated aliens to shoot at, bonkers bosses (including a sloshing, giant chalice full of blood), and those very odd, bikini space-women, with all their unforgettably husky (to the point of sounding like they’re being suffocated) sampled speech! The gameplay is so addictive too, playing like a very methodical, multidirectional shooter built on top of an age-old arcade concept that gets fiendish fast! And whether censored or not, that’s what it’s really all about! By the way, I did a deep-dive on this one here.

4. Yars’ Revenge (Atari 2600)

Not only back on the Atari 2600 again, but excitingly, as I write, I recently picked this up on a proper cartridge too! Anyway, this one is interesting because I originally had it in my fixed or single-screen shoot ‘em up countdown because that’s kind of where it seemed to fit in spirit, despite unusually being side-on, but then you can move anywhere and shoot from any direction, so it ended up here, where I then started wondering if it’s a shoot ‘em up at all… It’s certainly unique enough to question that but I reckon at the very least it’s one of those in spirit as well, so here we finally are! Unique plot too, involving aliens called Yars, descended from houseflies, in battle with the Qotile, who vaporised one of their planets, leaving a colourful, glitchy mess in the middle of the screen that now acts as a neutral zone, where you can’t shoot but can’t be hit by their slow-moving but infuriatingly persistent homing missiles either. Apart from when they sporadically turn into a space-cannonball, most of the time the Qotiles themselves are safely behind an energy shield, moving up and down the right of the screen, which it’s your job to shoot apart, cell by cell, from any direction you like, until you can get within touching distance of them. This then triggers your Zorlon cannot on the left, which then uses you for aiming, so you need to line up its shot then get out of there! Hit the Qotile and you move to the next level to do it again, after being rewarded by another fancy graphical mess to enjoy in-between! It’s all totally bonkers and totally unfathomable until you work out how simple it actually is, and from there it’s brilliant, challenging, and impossible not to have one more go at to beat your last score! Plenty of game modes, and all kinds of tactics to discover for the different shield variations too, as well as for avoiding attacks, including getting the most out of the wraparound screen top and bottom, if you can keep up with using it! The handful of different blocky sprites are elevated by that mesmerising neutral zone in the middle, and the sound is excellent, taking the ominous vibe from Asteroids earlier to a whole new level. Never be put off by anything about this game because all it takes is seconds to reveal its true, totally wild colours!

3. Seaquest (Atari 2600)

I’m not making apologies anymore but interestingly, the only two games I enjoy more than this one on the 2600 are also games that, like Yars’ Revenge, are very easy to be intimidated by… And until I wasn’t anymore, Seaquest was my favourite on there for many years! Released in 1983, it’s pretty much underwater Defender on a single screen – in fact, its creator at Activision, Steve Cartwright, has even referred to it as a reskin of that. As such, it’s another game that isn’t necessarily a natural fit here but I can’t think of a better place for it, and it really deserves a place somewhere… Wonder where Defender would have gone if I liked that as much! Doesn’t matter, in this game, we’re piloting a submarine, trying to rescue divers while shooting enemy submarines and, er, enemy sharks, and keeping an eye on the all-important oxygen supply. Fill up your sub with six divers, then you need to surface, where you’ll be given bonus points for any remaining oxygen, then moved to the next level to do it again but harder, with more enemies and bigger scores. You can fill up with oxygen whenever you need it too but you’ll lose a diver if you do (or lose a life if you don’t have one onboard), and this can make for some interesting high-scoring strategies if you’ve got lives to spare. Otherwise, gameplay is fast-paced and non-stop, as you dart up and down and left and right, getting in a shot and moving before a torpedo (or a big set of teeth) comes your way, as you also try to anticipate the ridiculously nonchalant movements of oncoming divers and any fish chasing after them. It’s unquestionably a brilliantly accessible, engaging and addictive formula, but the presentation here is what’s always appealed to me first – I’m a sucker for a gaming sunset, and Activision created some lovely ones on the 2600, with this particular gradient of oranges and reds emerging perfectly from the dynamic and imaginatively effective movement of the ocean surface below, before it drifts off into the darkness. Admittedly, a lot of the rest looks like a ten-year old drew it, but the subs and the fish and the divers are all as recognisable as they are colourful, which would be one way of describing the sound effects too! Defender on a single screen… Even better than the real thing!

2. Omega Race (Commodore VIC-20)

I’ve never been much good at many games but I was really good at this one, to the point I’d make my own rules before I started, like setting myself in motion in a certain direction then just rotating and shooting along that path for the duration! Not as glamorous as a perfect score on skeet-shooting in Hyper Sports with my eyes closed but I got a lot more out of it as a result back in the early eighties all the same! This is another conversion of another arcade game, and you could say another take on Asteroids too, originally released by Midway in 1981 then ported to the C64 and VIC-20 the following year… Nice 2600 version followed on as well but we’re done with that for now! I got this a couple of years later again, on a VIC-20 cartridge this time, which I only had a couple of but were great because no loading times! Not sure why I got this one though because I doubt I’d ever heard of it before, and I’ve barely played the original version since either, but a fine choice all the same – it’s without doubt one of the system’s great conversions, fake vector graphics or not. Actually, one of its best games full-stop too! Unlike the likes of Yars’ Revenge from earlier, there’s no great galactic plot behind this game, or any real reason whatsoever for your shooting aliens around some kind of track (which I’ve literally just realised might be why it’s called Omega Race!) but as said, it’s a spin on Asteroids, with your ship controlling pretty much the same. You’ve got rotational direction, thrust and fire guiding it between the cosmic score box in the middle and rubber-banded screen edges, shooting enemy ships, drones and mines. Clear the screen and you go to the next wave, which is bigger and more aggressive, and from there it’s all about the big points, and not for the first time here, they are totally irresistible! Don’t let the simple black and white visuals fool you either – they’re full of personality and little animations, and backed by yet another ominous melody, and a nice triumphant one when you clear a level, and loads of cool shooty laser sounds! I mentioned earlier about Asteroids not always feeling right on home consoles but this nails it and then some, with your ship’s rotation so precise, and your thrust feather-light sensitive, and together they combine to incredible effect and so much control as you’re flying around the screen, over time learning to bounce off the edges and move effortlessly at full speed. I’m genuinely not sure an arcade machine’s controls have ever been translated so well!

1. Jetpac (ZX Spectrum)

This pains me because two minutes ago what you’re looking at was another VIC-20 game, and where last time we had one of its great arcade conversions, this time was going to be a sheer miracle! And then I switched it back to the Spectrum version. Which is a cycle that’s been going on for days! Actually, (as backed-up by an early feature I did on it here) it’s a cycle that’s been going on since 1983, when it was first released on both platforms by Ultimate Play The Game (later Rare), and when my best friend had it on his Spectrum, while I’d get it a bit later on my VIC-20. And there’s really not a lot between them to play, but with the luxury of 16K of RAM on the Spectrum versus just 8K on the VIC (with an expansion pack!), you do get more variety of levels, and there were no compromises, such as not having an actual planet surface, which is why it’s here! You play as Jetman, though a bit like Mario’s first appearance in Donkey Kong, I don’t remember ever knowing him as Jetman until other games followed – he was just an astronaut with a jet-pack and a blaster who had crashed on a planet far, far away and had to rebuild his rocket from the bits strewn about the place, then fuel it up and start making his way home. All of this happens on a single wraparound screen, with three rocket parts that have to be dropped on top of each other in order, which you’ll find lying on the ground or on mid-air ledges, whilst fending off the planet’s fauna that randomly flies around the place impeding your quest. Once you’ve put the rocket back together, fuel starts dropping out of the sky, which you collect and drop onto your rocket until it’s full up, while also looking for falling jewels and other precious treasures for points. Then you head back into the rocket yourself, it takes off for the next planet, where you do it all over again in the fast of even crazier locals! I have to say, whichever version I was playing, these have always been a highlight – even more so than the new type of space ship you get every few screens – with so much variety, from shiny spheres to sinister geometries to bug-eyed fuzzy things that wouldn’t look out of place on The Muppets, and seeing what the next batch will be is as much a reason to want to play again as bettering your score! They’re ruthless too, but so is your laser fire, as it spreads out in huge pulses, one on top of the other, right across the screen as you alternate between walking and hovering, panicking and pointlessly trying to hide out, if only for the briefest respite while you work out the best route to where that fuel has just awkwardly dropped. Or worse still, when your rocket is all fuelled up and you’re on a platform across the screen with relentless waves of enemies between you and it! Jetman controls great though, with some inertia at play in the air, and the little flame effect from his jet-pack doesn’t hurt either! Then there’s explosions and more flames, and so much detail and colour everywhere, with the resulting colour-clash adding to the chaos rather than being an annoyance! Which is lucky when the sound effects are as shrill as these are! Jetpac is a masterclass in shooting everything everywhere, together with what’s become the inevitable bit on the side with this sub-genre, and the more the years go by, the more I reckon isn’t far off the likes of Bubble Bobble and Tetris if you’re talking perfect games!

High praise indeed but I’ll still be interested to see where it ends up when I eventually get to combining all these sub-genres into a definitive top ten… Perfect game is one thing but perfect shoot ‘em up??? We’ll see, but in the meantime, I just want to finish off here with a very brief list of honourable mentions, some of which didn’t quite make the cut, and some of which I’m not entirely sure make the sub-genre, despite how loosely I’ve been treating its definition so far! I’ll start with Syvalion, not just because it’s the game you can see pictured at the very top of this page, but also because we’ve just talked about Bubble Bobble and it’s by the same guy from Taito, Fukio Mitsuji! You’re a gorgeous big golden dragon, ideally controlled with a trackball, and you need to find your way through maze-like levels, breathing fire, collecting power-ups and taking on huge bosses, and it’s great fun! I also want to mention Zero Gunner 2 (pictured above), an absolute arcade stunner from by Psikyo in 2001, which is more vertically scrolling in spirit but you’re in a helicopter that can fire in any direction, and it’s all a bit pseudo-3D too, so it might even crop up again there when we get to those! Konami’s time-jumping, scrolling and shooting everywhere aerial dog-fighter Time Pilot from 1982 is an old mainstay of mine but just missed out. Nice Atari 2600 version too… Which is an appropriate place to finish on Suicide Mission, that would also have been here if Asteroids on there wasn’t so good – it’s a minor twist on the formula with a darkly surgical theme, and it’s fantastic! With that, I think that’s it! And although we did have to stretch a few boundaries to get there, I don’t think it turned out too bad either, and I’m certainly glad some of these found a place here even if they are kind of misfits! But I’m sure that’s not going to get any better when we get to 3D shoot ‘em ups whenever I’ve worked out what’s what’s over there, and in the meantime, if you enjoyed this just a fraction as much as I did putting it together, then my work here is done!

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