G-Stream G20202002

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.

The gameplay in Galaga '88 is built on the same premise as that of the original Galaga game, but is in many ways more complex and more difficult. The game is divided into a series of 29 Stages distributed through eight Worlds. The starship Galaga accelerates between Stages and Worlds and even to higher dimensions (go to the section on Dimensional Travel below to find out more). With the exception of the third and eighth, each World culminates in a Challenging Stage. There are six such stages to engage in any full game, and each begins with the on-screen announcement "That's Galactic Dancin'!" and has its own YM2151-generated song to which the enemy formations dance. In any given Challenging Stage, both the design of the enemies and their dancing formations shall vary according to the player's current Dimension. As in Galaga, the objective is to destroy all forty enemies before they fly away off the screen. However, refraining completely from touching any controls for the duration of a Challenging Stage awards a "secret bonus" ranging in value from 10000 to 25000 points, and equal to the "special bonus" which would have been awarded for destroying all forty enemy aliens instead. Galaga '88 introduces a variety of new enemies and behaviors. Most of these special enemies are worth varying amounts of bonus points when destroyed. Some enemies can combine into larger enemies which take multiple hits to destroy, while others arrive in eggs, explode in a shower of fireworks, grow with multiple hits, or sport armor which makes them invincible while in formation. Certain enemies drop small formations of tiny creatures that wiggle their way down the screen, and still others can act as escorts to incoming groups of enemies and then quickly dive at the player before leaving the game. Most stages also include various obstacles which appear once the enemy formation has been assembled. These can be destroyed with either one or several shots, and the first one on each stage will leave a "Warp Capsule". At the start of the game, the player can select how many Galaga starships to start with (one or two), affecting their number of remaining lives. The game ends after the final boss is defeated (or when the player's last ship is destroyed or captured) - in the latter case, the player can continue the game for an additional credit. The Game Over screen shows the player's hit-miss ratio and a visual representation of their progress. If the player reaches Stage 27, the game also shows a picture of the final boss (damaged if defeated, but silhouetted if not). If the arcade operator has set the "continue" option to "on", the player also cannot continue if he is defeated on Stages 27-29.

Aliens versus Predator offers three separate campaigns, each playable as a separate species: Alien, Predator, or human Colonial Marine. Each player character has different objectives, abilities, and weapons. The single-player campaign presents the player with a conventional series of levels to progress through that are designed around the abilities of each character. As the Colonial Marine the player uses a number of weapons to combat Aliens and Predators. The marine wears armor for protection and uses an image intensifier and flares to improve visibility in dark areas. When playing as the Predator the player uses a variety of weapons from the Predator films such as wrist blades, a throwing disc, and shoulder-mounted energy weapons. The Predator is the most durable of the three player characters and can survive falls from greater heights than the human. The player can use a cloaking device to become invisible and several different modes of vision to detect enemies, including an infrared vision mode and a mode sensitive to electrical systems. As an Alien the player can explore most of the game's environments freely, even climbing across walls and ceilings. The Alien has no weapons, however, using its claws, tail, and jaws to attack enemies. The screen is distorted into a fish eye lens effect to reflect the Alien's field of view. The player can also use a form of echolocation in dark areas and can detect pheromones to discern human or Predator enemies. The Alien can drop from any height without injury and is the fastest of the three player characters. Several bonus levels allow each player character access to portions of the missions of the other characters. To allow the marine and Predator characters to traverse through the areas of the Alien missions, the player is supplied with a jet pack for the marine and a grappling hook for the Predator.

During the first global biowar, a powerful retrovirus filled the planet Avaron with new and deadly forms of life. Only a few survivors remain in O.P. Odysseus, an orbiting platform circling Avaron. Hundreds of years after the biowar, conditions on Avaron are still hostile but livable.

Platypus is a fast, frantic and fun arcade-style shoot-em-up. The vast continent-spanning city of Collosatropolis has finally reached the limits of its expansion. Tall buildings cover every available space. The air is thick with smoke and poisonous chemicals. Parking is a nightmare. The Collosotropolan leaders have decided the simplest solution is to invade the neighbouring country of Mungola. They don't anticipate much of a struggle - Mungolans are simple, earthy types without much love for industry. In fact, Mungola's entire defence force consists of a single squadron of fighter planes - the venerable F-27 "Platypus". What possible threat could a few antique aircraft be to the mighty Collosotropolan Battle Fleet...? To the Mungolan people the venerable F-27 "Platypus" is their last best hope for freedom!

A call for help comes from deep in the universe. Fantasyland has been taken over by destructive forces. Quick on the scene is Space Harrier equipped with his laser, who must attempt to outwit and outmanoeuvre the hoards and prevent Fantasyland from being blown into oblivion!

A space shooter with vertically scrolling stages. Based on the arcade version.

Super Space Invaders '91 was produced by Taito in 1990. The gameplay adheres much to the original, making it very easy to play. The object in most cases is to simply clear the screen of invaders before they reach bottom. Every so often, however, a boss invader appears that must be hit multiple times to be destroyed.