Introduction Star Fox was developed by Nintendo in collaboration with the British studio Argonaut Software, released on the SNES in Japan in February 1993 as one of the first console games built around real-time 3D polygonal graphics, made possible by the custom Super FX chip embedded directly in the game cartridge. Players pilot Fox McCloud’s…
Introduction DoDonPachi II: Bee Storm was developed by International Games System and published by Capcom, released in arcades in 2001 as a sequel to Cave’s original DoDonPachi, notably the only entry in the DonPachi series not developed by Cave itself. The game kept the series’ core vertically scrolling bullet-hell shooting intact, tasking players with weaving…
Introduction Galaga was developed and published by Namco for arcades in 1981, led by longtime company veteran Shigeru Yokoyama, and released in North America by Midway. It exists as a direct sequel to 1979’s Galaxian, Namco’s first genuine arcade hit, and came about somewhat by necessity: as Galaxian cabinet sales began slowing by the early…
Introduction RoboCop for the NES was developed by Japanese studio SAS Sakata and published by Data East in 1989, following on from Data East’s own 1988 arcade version but built as a distinct, console-tailored adaptation of the Paul Verhoeven film rather than a straight port, with Ocean bringing it to Europe in 1991. Players control…
Introduction Gun-Nac was developed by Compile, a studio best known for shooters like Zanac and the Aleste series, and released in Japan by Tonkin House in October 1990 before ASCII Corporation brought it to North America the following September. It turned out to be the last game Compile ever made for the NES, closing out…
Introduction Duck Hunt was developed by Nintendo R&D1, the mostly hardware-focused team also behind the NES Zapper light gun itself, with Shigeru Miyamoto directing, Gunpei Yokoi producing, and Hiroji Kiyotake handling the game’s graphics and character designs. It first appeared in Japan in April 1984 for the Famicom and as an arcade cabinet, before becoming…
Introduction The Steel Empire is a horizontally scrolling shoot ’em up developed by Hot-B and released for the Sega Genesis in 1992, originally launched in Japan under the title Koutetsu Teikoku (literally ‘Empire of Steel’), then brought to North America by Acclaim’s Flying Edge label as The Steel Empire and to Europe under the more…
Introduction Whip Rush 2222 A.D. is a horizontally and vertically scrolling shooter developed by Vic Tokai for the Sega Genesis, published by Sega in Japan on May 26, 1990 and by Renovation Products in North America that October. Set in the 22nd century after humanity has exhausted the Solar System’s resources, the story follows three…
Introduction Insector X began life as an arcade shooter developed by Hot-B under contract for Taito, released to arcades in 1989 with a deliberately comical tone that Taito had requested. After buying the rights back from Taito the following year, Hot-B built its own Mega Drive version, published in Japan under its own name and…
Introduction Sub-Terrania is a multidirectional shooter developed by the Danish studio Zyrinx and published by Sega for the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1994, notable as the debut project of a team formed from members of two Amiga demoscene groups, The Crionics and The Silents. Set at a future deep-space mining colony overrun by an unknown alien…
Introduction Zero Tolerance is a first-person shooter developed by Technopop, the first independent studio to develop for the Sega Genesis, and published by Accolade exclusively for the console in 1994. It runs on a pseudo-3D, sprite-scaling ray-casting engine built entirely on stock Genesis hardware, letting players control Captain S. Ishii or fellow soldier Cyber-Cop, two…
Introduction Galaxy Force II is a sprite-scaling rail shooter developed by Sega R&D1, an expanded update of 1988’s arcade original Galaxy Force built on Sega’s sprite-scaling Y Board hardware, adding two new levels and other refinements shortly after that first release. The Mega Drive/Genesis version arrived in 1990 as part of a wide multi-platform rollout…