Missile Command is a 1980 shoot 'em up arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. and licensed to Sega for Japanese and European releases. It was designed by Dave Theurer, who also designed Atari's vector graphics game Tempest from the same year. The game was released during the Cold War, and the player uses a trackball to defend six cities from intercontinental ballistic missiles by launching anti-ballistic missiles from three bases.
Shoot 'em ups are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character movement, while others allow a broader definition including characters on foot and a variety of perspectives.
Ice Climber is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo. It was released in 1985 for both the arcade VS. System and the Famicom / Nintendo Entertainment System console. The characters Popo and Nana, collectively known as the Ice Climbers, scale 32 vertically scrolling, ice-covered mountains to recover stolen vegetables from a giant condor. In some European countries, Ice Climber was bundled with the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Super Scope 6, known as Nintendo Scope 6 in Europe and Australia, is a shooter video game developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was bundled with the Super Scope for the Super NES. As the name suggests, the cartridge contains six games that require the Super Scope to play.
Crystal Caves is a side-scrolling platform game developed and published by Apogee Software for IBM PC compatibles. The game is divided into three episodes with the first distributed as shareware and the other two available for purchase. Designer Frank Maddin said the method "worked pretty well for the time." Crystal Caves was inspired by the 1982 Atari 8-bit family game Miner 2049er.
Claw is a 2D side-scroller platform video game published by Monolith Productions in 1997 about an anthropomorphic pirate cat who sets on a quest to find an ancient amulet while fighting enemies and solving puzzles. It is Monolith's second release after Blood, which was released that same year in May.
Pac-Man World 2 is a video game by Namco USA for the Xbox, GameCube, and PlayStation 2, released in 2002. A version of the game for Microsoft Windows was released in 2004, and an isometric sidescroller was made for the Game Boy Advance in 2005. The game is a sequel to Pac-Man World (1999). The game is a platform game, where the player controls Pac-Man in a 3D platforming environment, through six worlds. In 2005, a sequel, Pac-Man World 3, was released.
Wizards & Warriors, titled Densetsu no Kishi Elrond in Japan, is an action platform video game developed by Rare and published by Acclaim Entertainment for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in North America in December 1987, and in Europe on January 7, 1990. The player controls Kuros, "Knight Warrior of the Books of Excalibur", as he sets out in the Kingdom of Elrond to defeat the evil wizard Malkil. Malkil holds the princess of Elrond captive in Castle IronSpire, deep within the forests of Elrond. The player fights through forests, tunnels, and caves, while collecting keys, treasure, weapons, and magic items.
Zanac (ザナック) is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Compile and published in Japan by Pony Canyon and in North America by FCI. It was released for the MSX computer, the Family Computer Disk System, the Nintendo Entertainment System, and for the Virtual Console. It was reworked for the MSX2 computer as Zanac EX and for the PlayStation as Zanac X Zanac. Players fly a lone starfighter, dubbed the AFX-6502 Zanac, through twelve levels; their goal is to destroy the System—a part-organic, part-mechanical entity bent on destroying mankind.
Xargon: The Mystery of the Blue Builders is a video game trilogy produced by Epic MegaGames for DOS. The game is a side-scrolling platform game. The main character, Malvineous Havershim, must journey through strange landscapes as he seeks to destroy the evil Xargon.
The Simpsons: Bart's Nightmare is a 1992 video game developed by American company Sculptured Software based on the television show The Simpsons. The game, split into two parts, follows Bart on the street, trying to find his homework pages. The second part of the game consists of minigames. It was released on the SNES and the Sega Genesis. A sequel, Virtual Bart, was released in 1994. Production conflicts resulted in American game designer Bill Williams to leave the video game industry. The game received reviews from critics such as Entertainment Fun comedy and more!
Tail 'Gator, known in Japan as Shippo de Bun! (しっぽでブン!), is a Game Boy video game released in 1991. In the game, the player plays a small alligator known as 'Charly' who whips his tail forward to attack.
Demon Stalkers: The Raid on Doomfane is an action role-playing video game released in 1987 for the Commodore 64 and in 1989 for IBM PC compatibles. The game is a top-down dungeon crawl about killing monsters during the descent. A sequel, Fire King, was released for the same systems.
Zarch is a computer game developed by David Braben in 1987, for the release of the Acorn Archimedes computer. Zarch started off as a demo called Lander which was bundled with almost all releases of the Acorn Archimedes.
Konami Wai Wai World, "wai wai" being a Japanese onomatopoeia for a noisy, crowded area, is a 1988 Family Computer platform video game released only in Japan by Konami. The game itself stars various Konami-created characters as well as Mikey and King Kong, who appeared in two Konami-produced, film-based games.
Touhou Youyoumu ~ Perfect Cherry Blossom. is a 2003 vertical bullet hell scrolling shoot 'em up developed by Team Shanghai Alice. It is the seventh game in the Touhou Project series. Playable characters include returning protagonists Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame, with Sakuya Izayoi featuring in her first playable appearance. The story centers around the chosen heroine traveling to Gensokyo's Netherworld to stop Gensokyo from being stuck in an eternal state of Winter when Spring fails to arrive.
Toki Tori is a puzzle video game with platform elements, released by Capcom in September 2001 for the Game Boy Color. It was developed by Dutch video game development company Two Tribes and is their first published video game. The game follows a young chick, Toki Tori, and his quest to rescue his younger siblings, still in their eggs. To progress through the game, the player must pick up each egg on a level using a set number of tools, with new tools being introduced as the player progresses through the four worlds. This usually involves careful planning and creative thinking.
Cadash is an action-adventure video game which combines elements of the platform game and role-playing video game genres. The game was originally an arcade video game released by Taito in 1989, then published for the TurboGrafx-16 in 1991 and the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1992. It is included in Taito Memories Volume 2 released for the PlayStation 2 in 2005 and the Xbox and Microsoft Windows versions of Taito Legends 2 released in 2007. The 1989 arcade version was made available for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch via the Arcade Archives series in August 2023.
Croc is scrolling platform game for the Game Boy Color developed by British studio Virtucraft and published on 6 June 2000 by THQ under license from Fox Interactive and Argonaut Software. It is a 2D remake of the 1997 3D platform game Croc: Legend of the Gobbos with similar gameplay. The game follows Croc, a crocodile, on a quest to save a race of furry creatures called Gobbos from the evil Baron Dante. The game received mixed reviews from critics.
The Cat in the Hat is a 2003 2.5D platform game for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows and Game Boy Advance. The PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions were developed by Magenta Software. The Windows and Game Boy Advance versions were developed by Digital Eclipse. All versions of the game were published by Vivendi Universal Games. It is based on the 2003 film of the same name, which was released shortly after the game. A version for the GameCube was planned, but was never released. The Windows version is compatible with Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. It is not compatible with Windows 95 or earlier versions of Windows or Windows 8 and later versions of Windows.
