

In the year 2098 mankind had been critically attacked by a military force from Zeograd, a hostile planet in a far off galaxy. Commander Parker Deehan of Special Interception Airforce (SIA) decided to deploy and pilot the F98 Star Soldier fighter craft into the front line of battle against Zeograd. Losing the battle meant the extinction of mankind and the total annihilation of Earth!

Shooter / Action / Science fiction
RayForce (released in western Arcades as "Gunlock") is a top-down shooter. There are seven levels to play, ranging from battles in the atmosphere of planets to battling over mountain ranges, each with their own standard huge bosses at the end of these levels. The player takes control of a starfighter called the RVA-818 X-LAY, out to destroy any opposing forces.

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
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 / Action / Science fiction
When enemy forces wipe out the jets of the Aero Fighters, they must scramble using heavily-modified World War II warplanes in the third installment of the comical Aero Fighters series.

Shooter / Arcade / Action / Science fiction
19XX: The War Against Destiny is a vertical scrolling shooter arcade game made by Capcom in 1995 (copyrighted in 1996). The game is the 4th of a series of World War II vertical shooters made by Capcom. The story takes place before a fictional war (Hence, the 19XX) as a lone pilot tries to defeat an entire army/evil organization from starting another World War, which soon escalates to a nuclear apocalypse.

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 / Action / Science fiction
Cyber-core is a vertically scrolling shooter in which the player fights insects. The basic idea is traditional: shooting everything before they can shoot/touch the player: after three hits the chitin armor breaks and a life is lost. Besides flying enemies which are disposed of with the standard gun, the player also has to deal with enemies on the ground which need to be hit with one of the unlimited bomb. The player has the choice between four insect forms which are changed by collecting the associated extra symbols. Collecting more of the same symbol upgrades the insect, but this also rises the difficulty level. Other extras include smart bombs, extra lives, armor refreshments or a protection shield. The game features the possibility to turn on rapid fire or to slow down the speed as well as big boss enemies at the end and within the levels.

Shooter / Action / Science fiction
Simple 1500 Series vol. 75: The Double Shooting - Raystorm & Raycrisis is a compilation of 2 Taito arcade game shooters. 1 - RAYSTORM: The year is 2219 and the Secilia Federation has initiated a plan to destroy Earth. So far, the evil federation has been highly successful in destroying much of the planet's defensive forces and resources. With world destruction at hand, the fate of mankind is looking for a savior. 2 - RAYCRISIS: The sequel to RayStorm, RayCrisis: Series Termination takes place in a time when the future of mankind hangs in the balance. Determined to create the ultimate neural interface between man and machine, a rogue scientist named Leslie McGuire cloned herself and hardwired the clone's mind into directly into Con-Human, a powerful, worldwide computer network. Con-Human's AI quickly took over the clone's consciousness and was driven insane. Unable to comprehend the complexities of sentience and the human psyche, the Network went on a killing spree that wiped out most of Earth's 13 billion citizens.