

Formation Armed F is a vertically scrolling shooter. The basic gameplay principle offers no surprises: shooting a lot of aliens without getting hit by their attacks. Additionally there are environmental obstacles like poisonous gas or walls. Of course the player can collect power ups to upgrade the ship, e.g. speed-ups or a large variation of weaponry. Each of the seven levels has its own set of weaponry which suits the enemies. The big exception are smaller ships which stay near to the main ship. By pressing a second fire button, the formation can be changed. There are no continues.

Shooter / Arcade / Action / Science fiction
Alzadick is a vertical shooter released for the Summer Carnival '92 competition hosted by Naxat Soft. While it was made available for commercial release it was originally programmed as a time attack challenge for 'athletes' to earn as many points as they could in the few minutes of competittion. While the game is not long, it features stunning visuals, processing effects and a rather impressive soundtrack.

Shooter / Arcade / Action / Science fiction
Released specifically for Naxat Soft's Summer Carnival of 1993, Nexzr Special is a collection of short stages and modes that share their basic gameplay system and visuals with Nexzr. The regular mode introduces familiar regular enemies and a few new bosses. The "Carnival Mode" contains Score Attack and Time Attack modes, both requiring the player to focus on attaining the high score rather than just surviving. For that reason the difficulty in these modes is more forgiving; they allow more continues and have more generously placed power-ups. These modes also offer more destructible objects on the screen, as these specifically serve to increase the score.

Shooter / Adventure / Arcade / Action / Science fiction
Conceived as an entry for a game development competition, this game would later be published by Naxat Soft in 1992. This frenetic shoot-'em-up taxes the Famicom system and the player's reflexes with huge quantities of enemies while maintaining smooth, fast gameplay! In addition to a single player campaign, there are also score attack and time attack modes available.

Shooter / Puzzle / Indie / Action / Science fiction
In this vertical scrolling spaceship shooter, you control a ship that can change its polarity at will. As blue/white, the ship can easily destroy red/black enemies, and vice versa. Bullets of your polarity can be collected to fuel your energy gauge, but those opposite will kill you. Destroying an enemy ship causes them to fire revenge bullets which can be absorbed and fired back by the player. Different difficulties exist to change exactly how you interact with polarized points, or how they appear. It is the spiritual successor to Radiant Silvergun, featuring similar level and boss design, as well as it's buddhism inspired themes and aesthetics. Both are directed by Hiroshi Iuchi, who also composed Ikaruga's soundtrack.

Shooter / Arcade / Action / Science fiction
The past is being altered. An android, known as Next EXY, has traveled one thousand years back in time. Your task is to stop NEXY and the other Elemental Daughters who were built in the image of the Elemental Dolls who once protected humanity. What is NEXY’s intent? Should you attack what you shouldn’t understand? Orders are orders, and Col. Godwin Longhener is not to be ignored. The legendary bullet-hell shoot-’em-up series has come to Steam with DoDonPachi Resurrection from CAVE Co., Ltd., the powerhouse behind revered bullet-hell shooters such as Mushihimesama and Deathsmiles.

Shooter / Arcade / Action / Science fiction
DonPachi is a 1995 vertical manic shoot-'em-up originally in arcades and was the first game from the developer Cave. Settings are mainly woodland and enemies are military vehicles and robots, culminating in the final boss, a huge robotic bee. One of three weapon configurations is chosen at start and then leveled up through dropped power-ups. DonPachi was ported to the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation in 1996.

Shooter / Arcade / Action / Science fiction
Raiden consists of eight vertical scrolling missions where the player maneuvers the Raiden craft dodging and destroying enemy robots, buildings, ground targets, and aircraft. There are bombs and missile powerups as well as collectable medals which add to the score. When player dies, the fighter's fragments become projectiles that damage enemies. After defeating the Stage 8 boss, the mission is completed, and player receives 1 million points for each completed loop. Afterwards, it will start back to Stage 1. This time around, enemies shoot faster and at a more rapid rate.

Shooter / Arcade / Action / Fantasy
Batsugun is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up video game created by the now-defunct Japanese game developer Toaplan. The title translates to "exceptional" or "extraordinary". It was the final game created before Toaplan's dissolution, and has been regarded as a key title in the development of the modern manic shooter, with elements of the game such as the size of the player's hitbox, the scale of their firepower, and the complexity of enemy bullet patterns all having an influence on future titles in the sub-genre. Members of the development team also went on to work on other successful manic shooters, most notably lead artist Junya Inoue.