タグ: shmup

Cute little witches ride around on brooms and shoot the every loving shit out of balls of fluff and other witches. The video will do a better job of describing it than I ever could. It’s on a demo, and it’s pretty short, but fuck-me-runnin’ if it ain’t fun. Click here to go to download page… Read the rest

Ahead Striker is a top-down freeware shooter with good enough production values and gameplay innovation to make it a cut above the rest of the countess number of freeware Japanese shooters. The game looks very nice and plays exceptionally smoothly, and even has a pumping soundtrack, but what really impressed me was the shooting itself. The player craft can shoot in three different directions; forward, backwards or from (both) sides. While it is a little fiddly to begin with, it made for an interesting and quite intense gaming session. There is a bomb attack available which is a little overpowered, but hey, sometimes it is nice to have the tables turned in your favor.… Read the rest

Mouse Shooting is a super-simple space shooter in which the player space craft is controlled by the mouse. Movement is unrestricted by artificial lag or slow down, so you can dart about the player screen with the same speed you could move the cursor on your desktop to close that porn site when your wife walks into the room. The creator actually already uploaded a gameplay video, so I will link that here as it does a better job of showcasing the gameplay than my dictionary-through-a-blender approach to writing ever could. Click here go to download page… Read the rest

What a mouthful. The title translates roughly to something like “Legend of the Intergalactic Police Women Sapphire”. I really don’t know what that ‘sapphire’ is doing there, but who really gives a shit? I don’t and neither should you. The game was produced by Hudson and released for the PC Engine in 1995. It is a top-down 2d vertical shooter featuring four playable characters who, like the name of the game would suggest, are police women. Despite them all looking about 14 years old, they have no problem kicking some serious ass in their space crafts. The game has you traveling through time and each level takes place in a different point in history (and the future, of course).… Read the rest

Download (scroll down to the bottom of the page) Kaikan is a freeware vertical shmup from Zakichi, the same mad mind behind Contlade. I would say, in my own humble, alcoholic opinion, that Kaikan is the superior of the two, even if Contlade is a lot of fun in its own right. While Contlade closely resembled an early console shooter, Kaikan closely resembles an arcade shooter. It’s fast, it’s hectic, it’s got shit flying everywhere and power-ups galore. It’s awesome. You start the game choosing a craft to pilot. Each craft has a different main attack and appearance. The appearance of the ship is completely arbitrary, but the main attack alters the gameplay significantly.… Read the rest

Download (Click on the first link) This game has to be the ugliest thing I have ever seen. It looks like someone threw MS paint into a blender and poured the result onto a computer monitor. But, as it turns out, there is a very valid reason for the games gag-inducing color scheme. The background is made up of 3 colors, and enemy fire is also made up of those same colors. This means that if an enemy is firing red projectiles, you will not be able to see them when the fly over any red patches of background. Couple that with the fact that the background moves with the player, this title can make for a very intense gaming experience.… Read the rest

Download Hitotsu is a freeware vertical shooter from the mad mind of Ryusui. The game was originally created for a contest in which participants create a game from scratch in under 48 hours. Knowing Ryusui, he probably finished the game in ten minutes and spent the rest of the time ripping out a guitar solo while pulling a wheelie on a motorcycle and simultaneously snorting coke of the back of a Japanese schoolgirl because fuck you he’s Ryusui and that’s how he rolls. He is also a prominent member of the ROM hacking and translation scene, and some of his handy work can be seen here.… Read the rest

Download Contlade is a freeware new-retro vertical shmup from indie game developer Zakichi. It has been made with Shooting Game Builder, a common Japanese tool set used to make shmups such as this one. Now, just because a tool set was used to create a game doesn’t mean that it can’t be awesome. Contlade isn’t breaking any new ground in the “shootin’ shit outta the sky” genre, but it does a playable job all the same. The game looks really retro and plays just as well. The bright yet basic colors along with the angular graphics instantly made me think of the almost endless stream of DOS shooters from the heyday of shareware gaming, back in the late 90s.… Read the rest

Download (project homepage) Tyrian is a top-down shooter which was wildly popular back in the mid 90s. The game packs as much fun as is physically possible to fit on a single CD. The game was released as shareware first, with a purchase being required to unlock the full game. Shareware was a great concept. Nowadays a lot of games have demos, trailers and what-not, but there is something about getting your hands on a shareware CD that was really special. Tyrian is currently being offered for free as part of the Open Tyrian Project and is available across a number of platforms.… Read the rest

Download Magical Broom Extreme is completely insane, balls to the walls, seizure inducing, mind numbing fun for the whole family. This game is like that kid at school who had ADHD, only this is a computer game and not a small child. It’s a side scrolling shooter on crystal meth. It’s awesome. I really enjoyed this game, despite not really knowing what the hell was going on. First of all it’s snowing in the game, and you control a little witch riding a broom stick (hence the name) who fires magic bullets (or something) out of the end of her broom (I think).… Read the rest