

M.U.S.H.A. is a Sega Genesis vertical-scrolling shooter from Compile and Seismic originally released in 1990 and later re-released on the Nintendo Virtual Console in 2009. The game is known for its rarity and its ability to fetch high prices on auction sites.
In the 91st century, mankind built space colonies and moved its residence to space. However, the environmental control system of the colony group "Little Japan" located on the other side of the moon LaGrange 2 suddenly shut down, and its core "Dire 51" started attacking humanity. Dire 51 attacked other colony groups violently, collecting materials and debris and strengthening and expanding its own colonies. The huge and strange appearance of the enemies eyes became a sign of hatred and fear among people. Though the cause of Dire 51's malfunction was hurriedly investigated by many research teams, no conclusion could be found about the cause. Meanwhile, Dire 51 develops a powerful armor and begins its attack against Earth. The battle on Earth intensifies, and the situation gets into a staggering state. In order to defeat the attacking forces, Earth finally places its last bet on the MUSHA unit.

Shooter / Action / Science fiction
Advanced Busterhawk Gley Lancer, commonly known as Gleylancer (グレイランサー), is a 1992 Sega Mega Drive shoot-'em-up by NCS released exclusively in Japan (despite having some of its text, such as in the Mover configuration screen described below, in near-perfect English). It was released internationally on the Wii Virtual Console in 2008. Despite the English configuration screen, translation group M.I.J.E.T. released a patch which translated the story text in 2006-2007. Lucia is the 16-year-old daughter of a fighter pilot who disappears while fighting a war between humans and aliens in 2025. He was captured by aliens whom he had captured earlier who had the ability to teleport. Lucia hijacks the prototype fighter CSH-01-XA "Gley Lancer" to save him.

Shooter / Arcade / Action / Science fiction
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!

Shooter / Arcade / Action / Science fiction
Exerion is a vertical shoot 'em up released by Jaleco in 1983 and licensed to Taito for distribution in the United States. Screenshot from arcade version Exerion is a shoot 'em up game featuring parallax effects and inertia simulation, something notable for 1983. The player travels around strange scenarios shooting aliens. The player has two types of guns: fast single shot (limited) or slow double shot (unlimited). In 1984, along with the MSX1 port of the original, a sequel was released titled Exerion II: Zorni for the MSX1, with similar gameplay to the original. There were plans for an NES release of this game. In 1987, the game was followed by the semi-sequel titled Exerizer, also known as Sky Fox.

Shooter / Arcade / Action / Science fiction
It's a nightmare, but it's true! Research shows that we are the actual aliens on Earth, and the ruthless Xevions are the original inhabitants. Now the Xevions want Earth back -- minus humans! Their invasion forces are fierce -- the land is crawling with deadly Domogram Rovers; the sky is black with Toroid Patrol Fleets and Zoshi Death Squads. Our puny weapons offer no defense. Earth's only hope is our powerful new Solvalou Fighter Plane. Its pilot will have a single mission: Penetrate the enemy ranks and destroy the Xevious Mother Ship. The mission is dangerous. We can't guarantee success. But at this point, it's do or die! One small problem. We still need a pilot. Any volunteers?

Shooter / Arcade / Action / Science fiction
In the game, the player pilots a starship called the Final Star, while shooting various enemies and destroying enemy structures for points. Unlike later vertical scrolling shooters, like Toaplan's Twin Cobra, the Final Star had only two levels of weapon power, and no secondary weapons like missiles and/or bombs. Each stage in the game was named after a letter of the Greek alphabet. In certain versions of the game, there is an additional level called "Infinity" (represented by the infinity symbol) which occurs after Omega, after which the game repeats indefinitely.

Shooter / Adventure / Arcade / Action / Science fiction
Star Soldier is a 1986 vertically scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Hudson Soft for the Nintendo Entertainment System and MSX. It is the first game in the Star Soldier series. The player pilots the starship "Caesar", traveling through space stations occupied by powerful supercomputers known as "Starbrains" who threaten the galactic empire. Star Soldier greatly resembles the earlier arcade game Star Force. The MSX version of the game was brought to the SG-1000 in Taiwan.

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 / Action / Science fiction
The update to the 16-bit Super NES title continues the original's on-rails 3D shooting action on the Nintendo 64. Starring Fox McCloud, Peppy Hare, Falco Lombardi, and Slippy Toad, this new 64-bit version contains 15 plus levels, easy, medium, and difficult paths, forward-scrolling levels as well as full 3D realms, and a three-part multiplayer mode using a four-player split screen. In addition to plenty of Arwing action, the game introduces a new hover tank and even features a submarine level. The 8-megabyte cartridge also boasts voice samples from 23 different characters instead of the original's animal noises. Star Fox 64 was the first game to feature Rumble Pak support. A Rumble Pak bundle and standalone version of the game were sold. Released in Europe under the name Lylat Wars.