SHMUPS!

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Spectrum: I never had one of em, but Graham Goring probably did. Thank him for this large and comprehensive list of speccy shmupping, because it was him that did it. Graham says... "The Sinclair ZX Spectrum was probably the most popular 8-bit computer in the UK thanks to its ease of home-programming and huge catalogue of cheap software. And while the Speccy may not have had the hardware sprites and high-falutin' SID chip that the C64 had, it still played host to a number of excellent conversions of arcade classics (as well as a great many stinkers). There were even a good few home-grown shooters which played to its strengths to deliver solid bullet-filled thrills."

Vertical

GAME	COMPANY	INFORMATION
1942	Elite Systems Ltd	Okay remake of the arcade game, nothing special - especially not the graphics
1943	Go!	Decent remake of the even more insipid sequel with fairly plain graphics
Ano Gaia	Your Sinclair Magazine	Colourful and unforgiving
Arcadia	IMAGINE	Single-screen multi-wave shooter a la Galaxians
Bedlam	Beam Software	128K Only shooter with shades of Dragon Spirit, only somehow worse
Cyberdyne	Cyberdyne	Rock hard shooter with Gradius-style power-ups.
Dragon Spirit	Domark/Tengen	Turgid shooter
Flying Shark	Firebird	Plays better than the arcade version (surely not! malc)
Gemini Wing	Sales Curve	Insect themed shooter
Gunstar	Firebird	Okay but nothing special
Hades Nebula	Nexus Productions Ltd	Unremarkable jet-plane shooter
Harrier Attack	Durrell	Jerky scramble style game
Havoc	Players Premier	Helicopter themed shooter
I, Ball	Firebird	Great budget shooter. Colourful and packed with bonuses and voice samples
I.C.U.P.S	Odin Computer Graphics	Look nice, plays badly. Only half of it is actually a shooter as it changes into a roamaround for the second stage.
Moon Cresta	Incentive	Generic space shooter, but well regarded in its day
Last Duel	US Gold	Bad conversion of a pretty average arcade game
License To Kill	Domark	Colourful Bond-themed helicopter shooter
Lightforce	FTL	Excellent colourful shooter with nice crunchy explosions
Slap Fight	Imagine	Plays very well but loops infinitely after the second boss. Bullets are nigh-on invisible on a small telly
Star Farce -		Budget price game which is obviously based on StarForce. Very colourful and with nice crunchy chain-reaction explosions
Star Pilot	Silverbird	Painfully slow 2-player split-screen vertical shooter.
Star Swallow	TRC Software	Frenetic but basic shooter
Star Trip	Pegasus Developments	Ugly and bad, but ace 128K music!
Starburst	Minds Eye Software (Crash Magazine)	Generic shooter that adds nothing new
SWIV	Storm	Very accomplished conversion of the 16bit helicopter/jeep shooter
Terra Cresta	Imagine	Very nice conversion.
Thunderceptor	GO!	Colourful, fast, smooth graphics. Bad game
Typhoon	Imagine	Ugh! Captain Generic!
Xarax	Firebird	Decent Xevious-a-like with co-op play
Xecutor	Ace Software	Difficult but colourful and good
Xenon	Melbourne House	Great conversion of the 16-bit classic
Xevious	US Gold	Faithful conversion of the arcade game

Horizontal

GAME	COMPANY	INFORMATION
Agent X 2 (part 1)		Ridiculously easy shooter with haunting 128K sound track
Airwolf 2	Elite Systems Ltd	Bizarrely left-to-right scrolling shooter
Atomic Robokid	Activision	Very much like the arcade game. ie, crap
Biggles	Mirrorsoft	Almost as bad as the film it's based on, which is saying something
Blowout (AKA: Body Snatchers)	Design Design	Very fast and unremarkable Defender rip-off
Chronos	Mastertronic	Kinda' plain shooter with excellent 48K music
Crosswize	Firebird	Incredibly difficult memory-test shooter
Dark Fusion	Gremlin Graphics	Cracking hybrid of platform shooter and flying shooter
Darius+	The Edge Software	Colourful multiload with small levels
Defenda	Interstella Software	Copyright infringing clone
Dominator (also vertical) -		Rock hard and pretty bad but with some nice gooey graphic design
DNA Warrior	Cascade Games	Wholly unremarkable and sluggish horizontal shooter
Dragon Breed	Activision
Forgotten Worlds	US Gold	Colourful conversion of the terrible arcade game
Guardian 2	Hi-Tec	Excellent Defender clone with lots of cool enemies
Hyper Active	Special FX (Sinclair User Magazine)	Cracking Dropzone clone with different wave types
Mr Heli	Firebird	Decent conversion of the arcade version
Nemesis -		Reasonable conversion of Gradius.
P-47 Thunderbolt	Firebird	Bad conversion of "P-47 The Freedom Fighter"
Phantis	Dinamic Software	Spanish shooter with a big-breasted heroine
R-Type	EA	Cracking version of the shooter full of colour and missing nothing from the arcade
Saint Dragon	Storm	Slow-paced but technically proficient shooter with great graphics and lots of variety
Salamander (also vertical)		Excellent conversion of the arcade game
Sidewize	Firebird	Incredibly difficult memory-test shooter
Silkworm	Virgin Games Ltd	Cracking Jeep/Helicopter shoot 'em up. Better than the arcade version!
Tanium	Players Premier	Slow paced space shooter. Nothing special
Thanatos	Durrell	Well, it's kind of a shooter
Transmuter	Codemasters	Game which steals much from Nemesis with the exception of anything approaching playability
U.N. Squadron	US Gold	Passable conversion of the passable arcade game
Uridium	Hewson	Smooth version of the C64 classic
Uridium+	Hewson	All new levels
X-Out	Rainbow Arts	Monochrome underwater shooter
Zybex	Zeppelin	Monochromatic and badly constructed shooter with upgradeable weapons
Zynaps	Hewson	Beautifully colourful, but unforgiving shoot 'em up with Gradius-style power-ups.

Other

GAME	COMPANY	INFORMATION
Airwolf	Elite Systems	Rock hard flip-screen shooting game
Bosconian '87	Mastertronic	Conversion of the arcade game only missing some features and gaining others
Cybernoid	Hewson	Great flip-screen shooter brimming over with weapons
Cybernoid 2	Hewson	More of the same in the sequel, but nicer graphics
Firefly	Ocean	Mix of board-game, top-down shooter and reaction tests. Great!
Game Over 2	Dinamic	Contains a horizontal shooter section similar to Phantis
H.A.T.E (Hostile All Terrain Encounter)	Gremlin Graphics	Isometric shooter, pretty good!
Implosion	Cascade	Fairly crud top-down shooter
Intensity	Firebird	Sort of like Dropzone meets Uridium but without scrolling
Island Of Dr. Destructo	Mastertronic	Bonkers BIP-style shooter where you have to sink ships by shooting planes down onto them
Jaws	Screen 7 Ltd	Flip-screen shooter a bit like Starquake underwater
Last Mission	US Gold	Crud top-down shooter
Leviathan	English Software	Awful isometric shooter with music by ZZ Top
Mask	Gremlin Graphics	Awful top down shooter based on awful cartoon
Mega Apocalypse	Martech	Inexplicably well-regarded Crazy Comets game
Moon Strike	Mirrorsoft	Bleh shooter with crappily designed enemies
Mutants	Ocean	Bizarre top-down shooter (man I loved this!! malc)
Netherworld	Hewson	Flickery surreal 4-way shooter
Operation Hormuz		Odd-controlling and generally blah shooter
Operation Thunderbolt -		First person side-scrolling and into-the-screen light-gun shooter
Operation Wolf -		First person side-scrolling light-gun shooter
Quondam	Ocean	Weird explorey shooter
Shark	Players Premier	Cybernoid under the water with colourful graphics
Task Force	Players Premier	Cybernoid style shooter
Thrust	Firebird	Rotatey gravity game, but really good (I die for this game. malc)
Thrust II	Firebird	Rotatey gravity game, but really bad (eww how could they mess it up!)
Super Space Invaders	Domark Ltd	Well handled arcade conversion
Xybots	Domark Ltd	Third person robot shooter
Zaxxon	US Gold	Isometric shooter, not great

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