Best Vertical Scrolling
Touhou Youyoumu ~ Perfect Cherry Blossom is a Japanese RPG developed in 2003 by Team Shanghai Alice. The game presents players with intense bullet hell gameplay featuring iconic characters Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame, and Sakuya Izayoi. Set within the fantastical world of Gensokyo, it challenges...
Space Harrier is a 1985 Sega arcade rail shooter where players control a jet-propelled character through fantastical environments. Initially designed as a military flight simulation, technical limitations led to a fantasy adaptation. The game utilizes an analog flight stick and a motion simulator ca...
Tyrian is a vertically scrolling shooter created for MS-DOS, initially released in 1995 by Epic MegaGames. Developed by Jason Emery with artwork from Daniel Cook and music by Alexander Brandon and Andras Molnar, the game features enhanced content in its 1999 release. It was subsequently made availab...
Raptor: Call of the Shadows is a vertically scrolling shooter created by Cygnus Studios and released in 1994 for MS-DOS systems. Initially distributed with the “Bravo Sector” episode as shareware, the full game comprised three episodes available for commercial purchase. The project began under the w...
1943: The Battle of Midway is a video game recreating the pivotal naval battle of June 1942. Players control American aircraft battling against a Japanese fleet in a vertically scrolling shooter format. Released in 1987 by Capcom, it’s notable for its representation of this significant event within...
Gyruss is a 1983 arcade shooter developed by Konami and later ported to various home systems including Atari 2600, ColecoVision, and Commodore 64. Initial releases were through licensing agreements before Konami’s direct distribution expanded to include Famicom Disk System and Nintendo Entertainment...
Aero Fighters is a 1992 arcade shooter developed by Video System, later ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993. Serving as the inaugural title of the Aero Fighters series, it followed the design principles established in the preceding Turbo Force game. The game features a vertical...
Battle City is a strategy video game developed by Namco in 1985. It’s notable for its vertical-scrolling shoot-em-up gameplay and tank simulation elements. Players control a single tank aiming to destroy all enemy tanks appearing on screen. Originally designed for the Japanese Family Computer, it re...
Elevator Action is a 1983 Japanese arcade platformer developed by Taito. Players control a lone agent within a skyscraper, utilizing elevators and stairs to progress through increasingly challenging levels. The game’s notable difficulty stems from its relentless enemy encounters and the need to stra...
Zero Wing is a horizontally scrolling arcade shooter released in 1989 by Toaplan. The game places players within the cockpit of the ZIG fighter, tasked with confronting the CATS alien pirates led by the ruthless Commander Cypher. Notable for its innovative use of a pod-based perspective and branchin...
Ice Climber is a challenging 1980s platform game where two characters, Popo and Nana, must navigate treacherous ice mountains. The twin-character gameplay offers unique strategic opportunities as players chase a condor to recover stolen vegetables. Originally released for arcade systems and the Fami...
