Gley Lancer- Videogames As Art

I have a huge amount of love for shoot 'em ups or *shmups* as they are now commonly called. This genre has always held a special place in my heart as once the enemy patterns are learnt and memorised you can look like a boss completing a game. I have a clear memory of playing R-type at Heathrow airport and getting to level 3, that huge base ship. I bought the game on the Amstrad CPC 464 and felt like a bad-ass as my little ship took down a warship that was bigger than a screen, in fact it was a whole level in and of itself.

Over the years, I bought R-Type again on the Master System and then progressed to the Megadrive where I continued my love of shoot 'em ups. The Thunderforce series was excellent and I felt 3 and 4 were a high benchmark.
After that, bullet hell games became derigeur and traditional shoot' em ups became less popular, especially here in the West. So when I heard that a rare and classic of the genre was coming out on the Switch I bought a digital copy. I had never played Gley Lancer before but had heard it highly praised.

Playing it I was blown away and the sense of nostalgia flooded me-not because of experience with the game but it took me back to the early 90s when the Megadrive hair rock chiptunes were banging, the weapon upgrades were awesome and the speech was crispy and crunchy and left you guessing as to what had been said. The game cutscenes are beautiful and the story anime AF but that's not a knock, it is a product of its time and I'm here for it.

Technosoft Aqcuired by Sega

It is with great excitement that I bring the news that Technosoft games licenses have been bought by Sega. This may not seem particularly exciting but anyone in the know will be aware of the fact that Technosoft is most famed for its wonderful Thunder Force series which were highly praised and well-received shoot 'em ups on the Megadrive (Genesis) back when 16-bit consoles rules the world.
Thunderforce 3 and 4 were two of my favourite games on the Megadrive but I never got to play the later games in the series as it moved onto the Playstation and were rare or never released in England.

Technosoft had been acquired by Pachinko manufacturer Twenty One Company in the early noughts but the company didn't do much with the license at all so it's great news that Sega now has the license and may move the series forward. In Japan Sega will be releasing a compilation collection called Sega 3D Classics Collection 3: Final Stage on the 3DS, it will feature such heavyweight titles including Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Streets of Rage 2, Gunstar Heroes and Turbo Outrun.
Whilst this is a step in the right direction I would love to see Sega proactively use the license and resurrect this amazing series by creating some new games and getting the amazing composers back on the series. A new Thunderforce with retro style graphics and new Technosoft soundtrack... Yes please!

Bullet Heaven- Shoot 'em Up Games

I picked up the latest issue of Retro Gamer and was excited to see that as well as featuring awesome art by Oliver Fray (who I have really like)  it had an article on shoot 'em ups. Whilst reading the article and munching on old skool treats I got to thinking about the genre. My first experience at the arcade was when I was 6 and it was at my local video store, there was Pacman and Space Invaders. I suppose that was my first intro to shoot 'em up games, that little sit down cocktail cabinet.

Retro Gamer and retro sweets, a winning combination.

They've always held a special place in my heart as once the enemy patterns are learnt and memorised you can look like a boss completing a game. I have a vivid memory of playing Rtype at Heathrow airport and getting to level 3, that huge base ship. I bought the game on the Amstrad CPC 464 and felt like a bad-ass as my little ship  took down a warship that was bigger than a screen, in fact it was a whole level in and of itself. Over the years I bought RType again on the Master System and then progressed to the Megadrive where I continued my love of shoot 'em ups.
Unfortunately over the last few years bullet hell games have taken over, I like them as I feel Zen when I play them but they are not the same as shoot 'em ups. Bullet hell games, especially the ones that have made their way West in the last few years on console including Deathsmile and Akai Katana have a place but they do feel stagnant compared to Dodonpachi and Ikaruga, the true exciting innovators of bullet hell. But generally bullet hell games have a different feel and mechanics.

So here these are some of my favourite shoot 'em ups, there are no SNES shoot 'em ups as I only had a Master System and Megadrive growing up and only got a SNES later in life. I'm playing some of the SNES shoot 'em ups now so this list will be updated later.

RType

Fantasy Zone

Ranger X

Thunderforce III

Thunderforce IV

Zero Wing