Threshold1981

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.

After the space pilot Vanessa Gaiden defeated the Evil Empire in the events of the game Last Hope, she got missing on her way back and wasn't heard of anymore. Vanessa's husband, Gordian Gaiden, sets out to search for her. Meanwhile, a new evil has appeared in the galaxy: a planet lord called "The Master", who can create and control evil beings made of steel, and uses his power to terrorize the galaxy. On his search, Gordian comes across the evil presence of The Master and sets out in his Gunlord suit for the planet Kairos II.

Xenon is a 1988 vertical scrolling shooter computer game, developed by The Bitmap Brothers and published by Melbourne House which was then owned by Mastertronic. Xenon was followed in 1989 by Xenon 2: Megablast. The player assumes the role of Darrian, a future space pilot called into action by a mayday report from his superior on a nebula space station. As of late, the colonies of mankind have been under attack by mysterious and violent aliens called the Xenites and it is finally time for Darrian to engage them. Unlike most scrolling shooters, the player can move in any direction instead of straight up. The player craft has two modes, a flying plane and a ground tank. The transition between crafts can be initiated at almost any time during play (except during the mid- and end-of-level boss sections, as well as certain levels where a certain mode is forced), and the mode chosen depends on the nature of the threat the player faces. Destroying some enemies released power-ups the player could catch to enhance their ship.

No-one likes a and loser. And no-one comes more universally despised than Xenites. For a thousand years they have been plotting revenge for their humiliating defeat in the last Galactic Conflict. Now the very fabric of time is in danger. The Xenites have planted five Time Bombs through history. Only you can save the day - not to mention the Universe. The last time you met it was a playground scrap. This time it is war.

A horizontal scrolling shooter, players control the title hover ship in an attempt to completely construct the ship into a giant robot and to destroy any enemies attempting to stop it. The three-headed mechanical dragon found as a boss character in the game, known as Babylon, strongly resembles Mecha-King Ghidorah from the Godzilla franchise.

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!

Vertically scrolling shooter arcade game developed by Takumi Corporation and published by Capcom on their CPS-2 arcade system board and ported later that year to the Dreamcast console.

The game begins by asking the player(s) to choose a difficulty level, not only making the enemies more difficult and the players weaker, but higher difficulties start the players in a later set of levels (called "galaxies") and with some powerups. The easiest difficulty level starts the player(s) in the first level with no bonuses. The player controls a tank with constantly draining fuel, and must navigate through multiple levels (14 stations in the arcade version) from bottom to top, encountering obstacles and enemies. Along the way, a player may find powerups including tank fuel, stars (currency), shields, and two types of sub-weapons: smart shots (homing missiles) and bombs (powerful rockets). Each level has a key that will open a door at the top of the level, which will either take the player to the next level or to a special hub with multiple powerups that must be escaped in 10 seconds or less. If the player is unable to escape, the tank will lose half its fuel. After escaping the hub, the player(s) then proceeds to the next station. Occasionally, the player(s) will face a boss that must be defeated to advance. Normal shots are ineffective however, and the player must decide/guess the appropriate time to buy sub-weapons to greatly raise the chance of victory. After destroying a boss, the player(s) can continue to the end of the level. Between levels, the player is taken to a shop where items and upgrades to tank speed, power, etc. may be purchased with stars. Any damage caused to the player's tank will decrease the shield level. Purchasing a shield drastically reduces damage down to a mere pixel worth of the fuel gauge per hit. When the fuel depletes, the speed of the tank is reduced to a crawl and a countdown begins from 10. If no fuel is gained before the timer reaches zero, or if the player is shot during the countdown, the tank explodes and a life is lost. The arcade version, in addition to having special two-joystick controls for each player, contained three special contest levels, with one contest star in each. With three contest stars and nine normal stars, the player(s) could compete in a special time-limited contest level in which the player could win a T-shirt. A later version of the game was released which eliminated the contest levels and stars.