Jeff Grubb and friends make a meal out of today's top stories in video games.
842: The Harada Line
Giant Bombcast
Unprofessional Fridays
#241 - Is Kurt Quitting Gaming Forever?
GameSpot After Dark
The Community Spotlight 2024.05.25
GB@Nite LIVE! Tickets & Details
The Not-E3 2024 Time Zone Chart
The Community Spotlight 2024.05.18
The Community Spotlight 2024.05.11
Location »
1981 DECO Cassette System arcade action game, where DECO Kid flies and punches enemies in side-scrolling environments. Ahead of its time, it set precedents for mechanics such as multi-directional scrolling, bosses, energy bars, debris, invincibility, and score combos.
In this Galaxian-inspired shooter for the Bally Astrocade, the player controls a cannon that scrolls left and right across the bottom of the screen and shoots at descending enemies.
Bosconian is an arcade multi-directional shooter where players must clear levels of enemy space stations.
Vanguard is a scrolling shooter that allows players to shoot in multiple directions in space. The player spends their time avoiding obstacles and shooting enemies in order to replenish their quickly dissipating fuel supply.
Tempest is a rotation-based shooter with vector graphics, first appearing in arcades in 1981. It popularized the subgenre of “tube shooters” and also pioneered the use of vectors in game graphics.
Black Hole is a 1981 Gottlieb table notable for having the first embedded interior playfield, and for charging a default price of 50 cents per play.
A space-based shooting game from Taito.
Galaga is a vertical shooter arcade game released in 1981. Developed by Namco and published by Namco and Midway.
Space Cruiser was one of many space shoot-'em-ups from Taito.
Warp between two worlds and modes of play in this 1981 arcade title by Namco
Released by Sega in 1981, Space Fury was the first video game to feature colour vector graphics. It also featured ship power-ups.
A restructured version of Galaxian for the Vic-20, due to Commodore only having the rights to the game in Japan. Programmed by Satoru Iwata.
The sequel to the hit arcade game, Asteroids, it was released in 1980 by Atari. Just as in its predecessor, players are tasked with destroying the dangerous space rocks in an asteroid field without crashing into any or being shot down by malevolent UFOs.
An early 2D shoot 'em up featuring both side-scrolling and vertical scrolling segments.
Players pilot a flying saucer, destroying anti-spacecraft guns. Every time players lose a ship, the new ship flies down from the extra-life display. The game was featured in a high-score contest where the prize was a free t-shirt.
Players must destroy waves of UFOs while saving abductees in this classic shoot 'em up
Gorf is a multi-mission fixed shooter featuring five screens. Each of these five missions has its own distinct enemies and rules of play.
Scramble is a side-scrolling shooter. The player controls a spaceship across a scrolling terrain, battling obstacles along the way. Scramble is credited with setting the template for most of the side-scrolling shooters that followed its release.
Star Castle is a multi-directional arcade shooter, first released during the golden age of video arcades. The object of the game is to destroy an armed enemy cannon located in the center of the screen and protected by three rotating rings.
Space Firebird is a 1980 arcade game published by Gremlin Industries, Inc. It is a "slide and shoot" shooter, similar to titles such as Galaga.
A cocktail-style, US-only Space Invaders sequel (not to be confused with Space Invaders Part II, aka Deluxe Space Invaders in the states)
One of the earliest Space Invaders inspired shooters developed for the Apple II.
Xenon was the first talking pinball machine produced by Bally.
Arcade first-person space shooter released by Sega in 1980. It featured early 3-D effects, such as sprite scaling and a motion cabinet where the screen mobilizes as the player aims a centred crosshair and lasers shoot into the screen. Five bases need to be defended and can be commanded to fire shots, and an energy shield is available for protection.
A four-stage space shoot-em-up where the player faces off against four different types of enemies. Certain enemies drop "space soldiers" down to the bottom of the screen, where they can attack the player's ship from behind. After completing a stage, the game warps the player's ship to the next stage.
A game often considered the first platformer, predating Donkey Kong.
Space Cyclone is a 1980 shoot-'em-up from Taito.
A vertical-scrolling shoot em up, released in 1980.
A 2D vertical shooter released by Sun Electronics and Taito in 1980. It was notable for being the first video game to use voice synthesis.
This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:
Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.
Use your keyboard!
Log in to comment
Log in to comment