Zanac1986

Basic Sega shoot-em-up in which you must guide your ship through three zones while avoiding hazards. Your only weapon are bullets as your only defense, but if you shoot the flashing red pieces on the terrain, chances are that a green ship will approach you, and if you collect this ship, your weapons will be upgraded so that you shoot a laser beam instead. Keep collecting ships and you can shoot up to three laser beams at once. At the end of each zone, you will come across a boss that takes multiple hits to kill. If you manage to conquer all three zones, you are back to where you started. The whole point of this game is to earn as many points you can without losing all of your lives.

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.

Batsugun is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up video game created by the now-defunct Japanese game developer Toaplan. The title translates to "exceptional" or "extraordinary". It was the final game created before Toaplan's dissolution, and has been regarded as a key title in the development of the modern manic shooter, with elements of the game such as the size of the player's hitbox, the scale of their firepower, and the complexity of enemy bullet patterns all having an influence on future titles in the sub-genre. Members of the development team also went on to work on other successful manic shooters, most notably lead artist Junya Inoue.

Juno First is a shoot 'em up originally developed and published by Konami Corporation for Arcades. The game was later published by Mylstar Electronics (US arcades), Datasoft Inc. (Atari 8-bit, PC Booter, and Commodore 64), and Sony Computer Entertainment Japan (MSX). Juno First is a top down, vertical scrolling shooter in which there is a limited amount of time to defeat the enemies in each wave. The players spaceship starts out with a laser that has a longer reach than the enemy weapons. The enemies start out firing a few bullets at the ship but the amount enemy fire rapidly increases as players progress through to the next waves. Certain enemies fire tracking missile-like projectiles that can shoot additional bullets.

Vulcan Venture (also known as Gradius II: Gofer no Yabo) is a side-scrolling shoot ’em up developed by Konami and released in arcades in 1988. Players control the Vic Viper spacecraft as it battles the Bacterion Empire, now led by Gofer. The game builds on the original Gradius by retaining the power-up bar system while introducing selectable weapon configurations and expanded abilities such as different missiles, double, and laser options. It also incorporates elements from Salamander (Life Force) and introduces a stage focused entirely on consecutive boss encounters.

Stinger is a shoot-em-up developed by Konami. It is the North American version of the sequel to Twinbee.

Alpha Mission is a vertical scrolling shooter that has similarities to Xevious, with the use of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons.

Gyruss is a shoot 'em up video arcade game developed by Konami, and released in 1983. It was designed by Yoshiki Okamoto, who had earlier created Time Pilot for Konami. Gyruss was licensed to Centuri in the United States, and was ported to numerous games consoles and home computers. It follows in the tradition of space war games such as Space Invaders and Galaga. Gyruss was the second and last game Yoshiki Okamoto designed for Konami, after Time Pilot. Due to pay disputes, he was fired after the release of this game, and soon joined Capcom, where he would write 1942 and the first Street Fighter game. The game's background music is an electronic, fast-paced arrangement of J. S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565; this particular arrangement is similar in sound to "Toccata", a rock arrangement by the UK-based instrumentalist group Sky. Gyruss is notable for using stereo sound, which according to the bonus material for Konami Arcade Classics, was achieved by utilizing discrete audio circuits. The game used three microprocessors: two Z80 microprocessors and one 6809, as well as an 8039 microcontroller. For the sound, five AY-3-8910 PSG sound chips and a DAC. Gyruss was released in both upright and cocktail cabinets. R.Hirst "KOO", M.Jones, "BOX" and the Elliott Brother's are arguably considered some of the best Gyruss players of the 1990's.