My personal top 15 shooter games

Shooter games are something that is very fun to play. Playing these games is an efficient method to kill time. This is one of the oldest genres (possibly the oldest one, since I think Space Invaders was the first game). In my gaming life, I came across many shooting games. I loved some, hated others. Below is the list of top 15 shooter games that I played. You may notice that some popular games are omitted like the popular Gradius series, since I did not play the series. I am listing those that I played and had most fun with. Enjoy!

 

15. Tiger Heli

 

 

This is my first shooter game in NES. This game was slow and you mission is to destroy everything in your way. There is no storyline so I don’t know maybe you are a terrorist trying to destroy everything in your path. There are only 4 levels and no bosses. The game repeats itself after the four levels. The game is endless. You just have 3 lives to sphere and the game is very easy to play. You also can get mini choppers to assist you in the game and some bombs at your disposal.

 

14. River Raid

 

 

I used to love owning my brother-like neighbor with this game. Released in Atari 2600, this game was fast and also simple. You need to shoot down everything for points and also in the meantime pass through Fuel tankers to replenish your fuel to fly. You can also otherwise destroy those tankers for additional points.

 

13. Asteroids

 

 

First released in Atari and in the arcades and many versions have been released as time went. The multi directional shooter has simple game play: break down the asteroids in the screen and so score as many points as you can. The asteroids break into smaller rocks which makes them harder to shoot.  

 

12. Galaga

 

 

You only play Galaga for one simple reason: points. The game is simple and you just need to shoot the enemies and pass levels. It is simple but also very fun to play. It was released in NES and arcades and many different versions of games released based on the game.

 

11. Choplifter III

 

 

The game is good but only for one time. Choplifter III is a chopper game released in SNES where you have to rescue hostages in each level. There are four levels with sub levels and mini bosses spread throughout the game. You have limit to how many hostages you can carry so you have to go back and forth to rescue and land the chopper.  There are different secondary power-ups that are limited in numbers. It is pretty much moderately easy game.

 

10. 1942

 

 

This game is although slow but fun. It was released in arcades and in NES. This game is the base of the even more popular 1943: The Battle of Midway. It has around 99 levels and there are no interesting power-ups and no bombs. There are many enemies that spawn randomly. Most gamers play just for points and try to get to level 99 with 3 lives to spare. I could not do that myself. The game however gets boring at one point where you have to kill and you just have to listen to one pattern of music loop.

 

09. Twin Eagle

 

 

The second chopper based shooter game I played in my life after Tiger Heli. It was slow paced with moderate difficulty and it was more or less and ok game. I hated the ending though. There are no bosses and at the end of each level your speed increases, every time there is warning sign. That means the choppers fly faster than the jet planes (oh wow!!) and you have to shoot them as many as you can. Finally the fastest aircraft on planet (in real too with speed of over Mach 3), the Blackbird, catches them and refuels them. I didn’t know choppers can refuel on air.

 

08. Xevious

 

 

The game is very old and was released in Arcades and in several other ports. I played the NES one. It was revolutionary then with improved graphics. You have to shoot the enemy and also shoot ground targets with your bombs. You just have 3 lives to spare. This was one of the first hard games that I played since I was a kid. This game is meant to play for points for fun.

 

07. Life Force

 

 

I was playing this game when I started writing this article. Released in NES, this game never gets old. This game is possibly the one from which the Gradius series has been introduced. It had 6 levels, with 3 side-scrolling and 3 overhead shooting levels. Once you get all the power-ups, there is no stopping you. The power-ups ranges from different firepower, speed, missile that acts like tornadoes and passes along the walls, force to make you temporally invincible and options to assist you in firing. The main enemies of the game that you should worry are the obstacles that you need to cross. There are hell lots of them but if you know the level, the obstacles are piece of cake. Bosses are not that epic and easy to defeat. Best part comes at the end of the final level where you have to escape at high speed while lots of barriers spawn as obstacles. Music here is awesome and one of the music inspired me to make an orchestral remix of it.

 

06. Aero Fighter

 

 

I enjoyed this game more in the arcades, than in the console version (Genesis). This is one of the few games in the arcades that I spent a lot of coins to play. I was young and was not skillful enough to finish the game and it frustrated me as I would die a lot. The game is moderately hard but it was very fun to play. There are four types of planes to choose and you gain power-ups to increase your firepower. There are bombs too at your disposal.

 

05. Raiden II

 

 

The game is simple but insane. Japanese shooters are always designed in a way that they don’t allow the players to take rest in the middle of each level. The game is hard and also very fun to play. I played the PC version. Enemies are spawned in a pattern, so it’s pretty easy to learn and master the level and in the same time enjoy the game too. The game is similar to Aero Fighter but better in terms of number of enemies spawned which is messy and the difficulty of the game. The soundtrack is also good. The game has three different types of firepower and two different types of bombs each have advantages and disadvantages in terms of area of damage and damage power. I still play this game for a simple goal to finish this game with one life on hard.

 

04. Ikaruga

 

 

This is by far the hardest game I have played among the list. The picture says it all. You have split seconds to dodge the flurry of bullets. Precision timing and movement is necessary. A great deal of practice is necessary to even survive the levels. You have to know the levels to play this game so a great deal of time is needed to focus on this game. The game does not have power-ups but have charged attack. An interesting mechanism is introduced in this game which is dealing with color bullets or should I say positive or negative bullets. It’s a polarity system. The player change polarity and can absorb bullets of same polarity in order to charge up the laser weapon but gets damaged when the player gets hit by bullet with opposite polarity. Shooting an enemy with opposite polarity bullets will deal double damage. The game also introduces a chain system where you get chain points based on the consecutive number of enemies of the same polarity the player has killed thus giving you points or even extra life. The game can also be passed without killing and absorbing bullets. It’s a mechanism called “dot-eater.” The game was released in Dreamcast and Gamecube and is available through Xbox Live.

 

03. Raptor: Call of the Shadows

 

 

This game is a proof that PC games was a lot superior when it comes to graphics and sound during the early 90s. Released back in 1994, this overhead shooter had a maniac game play. There are lots of things to destroy in the level, thus earning you cash to buy a lot of power-ups and health energy refills and shields. This is one game that I felt I want to destroy more and more. The difficulty of this game increases at exponential rate, especially when you reach outer world. Bosses are huge and in this game you have to focus on hitting the weak points since most of the bosses are bases or fortress. In the weapons store you have access to different weapons each with own advantages and disadvantages but most players would definitely want to save and go for the ultimate most expensive weapon, the Twin Laser, which clears out anything in its path and makes yourself feel like an Overlord.

 

02. 1943: The Battle of Midway

 

 

The game starts easy and ends up frustratingly hard but it still gives us a serious driving factor of finishing this game and playing the game again. Released in NES, this game is a fast paced overhead shooter which was pretty rare in most NES games. Most of the NES shooters were considered slow. In 1943, the enemies spawned here and there randomly and come at high pace. In this game you can hardly rest at one point in the later levels. To make things even more challenging, the power-ups are temporary and so you need to keep on focusing on you weapon counter and try to find more power-ups to increase the counter. The payer has one life but can take many hits. There is a energy counter which also decreases timely. As you take a bullet hit, the counter decreases even more. So as you progress through each level, not only you have to keep an eye at your weapon counter but also the energy counter, which is challenging. A sort of warning music comes when the energy counter decreases down to 20 giving the player a tensed feeling. The boss battles are epic. There are several power-ups to choose each with own advantages and disadvantages. The player can also charge up and shoot for extra damage, which is pretty handy in boss battles. The game also has a surprising twist at level 16 where most of the players, even my dad, who is a diehard fan of this game, thought they have finished the game. However things starts to get more interesting as there are 8 more levels to pass before you ever reach the final boss. In the final level there are actually 4 bosses to kill before you ever face the final boss. Oh yes! Through this game, I learnt that planes can also control lightning and weather to its advantage.

 

01. U.N. Squadron

 

 

This game is uber awesome. This game has everything right: the power-ups, the difficulties, and the choice of aircrafts, level design and big bosses. When you start playing this game, you cannot stop playing unless you finally finished the game. Although it’s a side scrolling shooter, which I hate a lot, it provided perfect balance of enemy distribution in both air and ground. In the navigation map in the level selection screen, the instruction says what kind of enemy forces is present. So in that case, you are left to decide what kind plane you should choose, an air superiority, ground attack or multi-role. A wrong decision can make your life hell because UN Squadron is a very difficult game. Also all the power-ups are important and depend where you are going to use them in the levels. Like Life Force and Choplifter, you have to cross obstacles which In UN Squadron, it’s pretty hard. There are bonus stages that earn you valuable money for power-ups. This money should be spent wisely, unlike Raptor where you spent money on single permanent power-ups, since the money is depleted very easily. Also you gain experience when you progress through levels and gain you power-up in your primary fire every level you gain. No worries there are continues too. Released in SNES, the graphics and sound are also good at that time. Bosses are epic and you will surely feel you just finished a hefty good job. Oh no!! There are also other levels too. In navigation screen, you decide on where you plan for you next attack. It’s a sort of logistics issue since you have to advance towards enemy bases while in the same time repel incoming attacks.

 

Here you go. This is my list. If you guys have something to recommend please tell. I love shooting games and I grew up with this type of games. I should take a rest. I wrote a lot. Let me think of other articles too.