Shoot 'em ups

Gauntlet-style shooters have their own page.

Thexder							NEC PC-88	85
Astrotit								87		Jon Wesener
R-Type							Coin-Op
Hawkeye								88		The Boys Without Brains
Turbo Girl							MSX
Xenon							Coin-op			Bitmap Brothers
Xenon 2: Megablast							Genesis	89		Bitmap Brothers
Turrican							Genesis	90
Mystical										Jocelyn Valais
Violator

Agony					92
Escape							Fire-Soft
Xerix
Balldour					93		Rune Mork
Earth Invasion
Raptor: Call of the Shadows					94
Xatax
Assault Dragon					95		SKC Soft
Baryon
Invaders95							Masayuki Nanzawa
Killer Bees							Ron Paludan
Mikan
Kolibri	Sega 32X						Ed Annunziata
GUB					96		Toni Räsänen
Nebula Fighter					97		Fabrizio Farenga, Alfredo Siragusa
Vanguard Ace
AXIA					98		Dungeon Dwellers Design
T-zer0					99
Moorhuhnjagd
Apano Sin					00
Cash Invaders					02		Bas de Reuver
Force Majeure					07
Galshell 2							Hareo Sakaba

Arcade Machines

Fixed

Starting with Taito's legendary Space Invaders, this is the oldest form of shoot 'em up.

• Galaxian (Namco, 1979)
• Battle Cruiser M-12 (Sigma, 1983)
• Gaplus (Namco, 1984)
• Galaga '88 (Namco, 1987)
• CosmoGang the Video (Namco, 1991)
• Space Invaders '95 (Taito, 1995)

Vertical

These were ported to home computer systems or consoles less often, since they really should have a portrait screen. Ironically, some of the later arcade machines had landscape screens too.

Space Shooters

• Regulus (Sega, 1983)
• Zodiack (Orca, 1983)
• B-Wings (Data East, 1984)
• Vulgus (Capcom, 1984)
• '99 The Last War (Proma, 1985)
• ASO: Armored Scrum Object (SNK, 1985)
• Exed Exes (Capcom, 1985)
• Heavy Metal (Sega, 1985)
• Repulse (Sega, 1985)
• Son of Phoenix (Associated Overseas, 1985)
• Super Real Darwin (Data East, 1987)
• Omega Fighter (UPL, 1989)
• Vimana (Toaplan, 1991)
• Galmedes (Visco, 1992)

Between WWII and Near Future

• Xevious (Namco, 1982)
• Argus (Jaleco, 1986)
• UFO Robo Dangar (Nichibutsu, 1986)
• Twin Cobra (Toaplan/Taito, 1987)
• Asuka & Asuka (Taito, 1988)
• Fighting Hawk (Taito, 1988)
• Image Fight (Irem, 1988)
• Twin Eagle (Seta, 1988)
• Master of Weapon (Taito, 1989)
• 1941: Counter Attack (Capcom, 1990)
• Air Duel (Irem, 1990)
• Ashura Blaster (Taito, 1990)
• Aurail (Sega/Westone, 1990)
• Raiden (Seibu Kaihatsu, 1990)
• The Last Day (Dooyong, 1990)
• Strike Gunner S.T.G (Athena, 1991)
• Gulf War II (Comad, 1991)
• S.S. Mission (Comad, 1992)
• Aero Fighters (Video System, 1992)
• Sky Alert (Metro, 1992)
• Varth: Operation Thunderstorm (Capcom, 1992)
• Zing Zing Zip (Allumer, 1992)
• Batsugun (Toaplan, 1993)
• Blue Hawk (Dooyong, 1993)
• Daioh (Athena, 1993)
• Fire Barrel (Irem, 1993)
• Gunlock (Taito, 1993)
• Gunnail (NMK, 1993)
• Mad Shark (Allumer, 1993)
• Nostradamus (Face, 1993)
• Thunder Dragon 2 (NMK, 1993)
• U.N. Defense Force Earth Joker (Visco, 1993)
• Aero Fighters 2 (Video System, 1994)
• Donpachi (Cave, 1995)
• Strikers 1945 (Psikyo, 1995)
• 19XX: The War Against Destiny (Capcom, 1996)
• Battle Garegga (Eighting, 1996)
• Dodonpachi (Cave, 1997)
• Sengeki Striker (Kaneko/Warashi, 1997)
• Armed Police BatRider (Eighting, 1998)
• Battle Bakraid (Eighting, 1999)
• Giga Wing (Capcom, 1999)
• Strikers 1945 III (Psikyo, 1999)
• 1944: The Loop Master (Capcom, 2000)
• Wyvern Wings (Semicom, 2001)
• G-Stream G2020 (Oriental Soft, 2002)

Fantasy Shooters

• Dragon Spirit (Namco, 1987)
• Dragon Saber (Namco, 1990)
• Phelios (Namco, 1992)
• Gunbird (Psikyo, 1994)
• ESP Ra.De. (Cave, 1998)
• Guwange (Cave, 1999)
• Vasara (Visco, 2000)
• Vasara 2 (Visco, 2001)

Horizontal

• SF-X (Nichibutsu, 1983)
• Baraduke (Namco, 1985)
• Section Z (Capcom, 1985)
• Darius (Taito, 1986)
• Airwolf (Kyugo, 1987)
• R-Type (Irem, 1987)
• Chuka Taisen (Taito, 1988)
• P-47: The Freedom Fighter (Jaleco, 1988)
• Vulcan Venture (Konami, 1988)
• Atomic Robo-Kid (UPL, 1989)
• Darius II (Taito, 1989)
• Megablast (Taito, 1989)
• R-Type II (Irem, 1989)
• Hellfire (Toaplan, 1990)
• Parodius Da! (Konami, 1990)
• USAAF Mustang (UPL, 1990)
• Rezon (Allumer, 1991)
• Xexex (Konami, 1991)
• Andro Dunos (Visco, 1992)
• Boogie Wings (Data East, 1992)
• Koutetsu Yousai Strahl (UPL, 1992)
• R-Type Leo (Irem, 1992)
• Gokujyou Parodius (Konami, 1994)
• Twin Action (Afega, 1995)
• Sengoku Blade (Psikyo, 1996)

Other

The games in this category often combine shooting with melee combat.

Top-Down (Gauntlet-style)

• Gauntlet (Atari, 1985)
• Gauntlet II (Atari, 1986)
• Alien Syndrome (Sega, 1987)
• Asylum (Leland, 1991)

Platform

• Karnov (Data East, 1987)
• Psycho-Nics Oscar (Data East, 1987)
• Act-Fancer (Data East, 1989)
• Toki (Tad Corporation, 1989)
• Cyber-Lip (SNK, 1990)
• Rolling Thunder 2 (Namco, 1990)
• Caveman Ninja (Data East, 1991)
• Gunforce (Irem, 1991)
• Gunforce II (Irem, 1994)
• Metal Slug (SNK, 1996, with several sequels)

Other

• Bosconian (Namco, 1981)
• Vanguard (SNK, 1981)
• Nova 2001 (UPL, 1983)
• Grobda (Namco, 1984)
• Vanguard II (SNK, 1984)
• Cosmo Police Galivan (Nichibutsu, 1985)
• Shoot out (Data East, 1985)
• Ikari Warriors (SNK, 1986)
• Ark Area (UPL, 1987)
• Contra (Konami, 1987)
• Super Contra (Konami, 1988)
• Cabal (Tad Corporation, 1988)
• Dead Angle (Seibu Kaihatsu, 1988)
• Enforce (Taito, 1988)
• Victory Road (SNK, 1986)
• Blood Bros. (Tad Corporation, 1990)
• Sunset Riders (Konami, 1991)
• Tank Force (Namco, 1991)
• Hard Times (Playmark, 1994)
• Area 51 (Atari, 1995)

Links

• SHMUPS! is a website dedicated to shoot-em-up games, mostly of the 2D scrolling variety.