Megamania1982

Asteroids is an arcade space shooter released in November 1979. The player controls a spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The objective of the game is to destroy both, asteroids and saucers. The triangular ship can rotate left and right, fire shots straight forward, and thrust forward. Once the ship begins moving in a direction, it will continue in that direction for a time without player intervention unless the player applies thrust in a different direction. The ship eventually comes to a stop when not thrusting. The player can also send the ship into hyperspace, causing it to disappear and reappear in a random location on the screen, at the risk of self-destructing or appearing on top of an asteroid.

In Astrosmash you control a laser canon at the bottom of the screen; your goal is to earn as many points as possible by destroying the various incoming meteors, bombs, and other objects. Points are earned for destroying objects, while points are lost for letting them get past you. Meteors are the most common item you need to defend yourself against. They come in various sizes and colors, and some even split into two smaller meteors when shot. Mixed in with the meteors are white spinning bombs. While letting a meteor get past you will only lower your score, you have to shoot the spinners. If one gets past, you will lose a life. On the more difficult levels, ufo's and guided missiles will also appear occasionally and attempt to destroy your canon.

Zaxxon is a 1982 isometric shooter arcade game developed and released by Sega. The game gives the player the experience of flying a fighter craft through a fortress while shooting at enemy entities (missiles, enemy gunfire, etc.) The object of the game is to hit as many targets as possible without being shot down or running out of fuel, which can be replenished paradoxically, by blowing up fuel drums.

Centipede is a vertically-oriented shoot 'em up arcade game produced by Atari, Inc. in 1980. The game was designed by Ed Logg along with Dona Bailey, one of the few female game programmers in the industry at this time. It was also the first arcade coin-operated game to have a significant female player base. The player defends against swarms of insects, completing a round after eliminating the centipede that winds down the playing field.

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?

Vanguard is a shoot 'em up game which leads the player through five different zones to the City of Mystery where the creature Gond awaits him which he has to kill. The five zones run horizontally as well as vertically and are filled with different enemies for each zone. Being hit by an enemy, a projectile or the walls results in losing a life. There are, however, collectable items which grant the player a short time of invincibility. Shooting differs somewhat from other shoot 'em ups: The player's ship is able to fire in all four directions depending on the direction the player steers his ship. However, in doing so, the ship flies in that direrction as well which may result in crashing into an obstacle. The ship is constantly running out of fuel which can be replenished by killing enemies. After defeating Gond the game starts anew on a higher difficulty level.

A bidirectional, horizontal scrolling shoot'em up similar to Defender, written by Dan Thompson and Andrew Kaluzniacki and published by Sirius Software for various 8-bit homecomputers.

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.