coin-op

Cannon Dancer is a 2D platform/beat ’em up that has quite the enigmatic history. It was an arcade title that came out in 1996 and was the spiritual successor to Capcom’s famous Strider. Albeit without Capcom’s involvement. Kouichi “Isuke” Yotsui, the lead designer of both games, had moved onto the less […]

Cannon Dancer Osman – PS5 Review

April 19, 2023 in PS5 / Reviews tagged arcade / cannon dancer / coin-op / port / retro / strider by Richie

You have to hand it to Atari at the moment. They’re celebrating 50 years in the industry and they’re doing a really good job of it. Aside from revisiting a load of their back catalogue classics with their Recharged series, they also recently put out their Atari 50 compilation which […]

Akka Arrh – PS5 Review

February 20, 2023 in PS5 / Reviews tagged akka arrh / arcade / atari / coin-op / jeff minter / remaster / shoot em up by Richie

Sophstar is a vertically-scrolling shoot ’em up in the classic ’90s style and it was put together by Brazilian studio Banana Bytes. It’s kind of old school, as evidenced by the 2D sprites and simple backdrops but comes with a lot of options and ways to play that give it maybe […]

Sophstar – PS5 Review

October 25, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged arcade / coin-op / never 'shmup' / shoot em up / sophstar / vertically scrolling by Richie

Missile Command: Recharged is an updated remake of Atari’s classic 1980 arcade game. Essentially a shoot ’em up of sorts, Missile Command was a single screen blaster where you defended your city from incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles using missiles of your own. It was a brilliant game, probably Atari’s best in […]

Missile Command: Recharged (2022) – PS5 Review

October 22, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged arcade / atari / coin-op / missile command / recharged / shoot em up / single screen by Richie

Avenging Spirit was a 1991 action/platformer arcade title that was originally known as Phantasm to Japanese coin-op players. Little known in the West at the time, we became aware of it thanks to MAME, the famous arcade emulator. It was one of those hidden gems that looked great, had really interesting gameplay […]

Avenging Spirit – PS5 Review

August 2, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 2D Platformer / arcade / avenging spirit / coin-op / port by Richie

Andro Dunos II is a horizontally-scrolling shoot ’em up from Picorinne Soft and it really highlights what an usual time this is for the indie games market. You see, the original Andro Dunos, itself also a shoot ’em up, came out in 1992 as a Neo Geo game. It’s not particularly well-known and […]

Andro Dunos II – PS4 Review

March 30, 2022 in PS4 / Reviews tagged andro dunos 2 / andros townsend though / arcade / coin-op / horizontally-scrolling / shoot em up by Richie

Okinawa Rush is a 2D beat ’em up from London-based Sokaikan Limited. Released on Steam back in May 2021, it garnered decent reviews before reaching a wider audience thanks to a Switch release in October the same year. But now it’s here on PS4 and we have to say, we […]

Okinawa Rush – PS4 Review

February 7, 2022 in PS4 / Reviews tagged arcade / Beat em up / coin-op / fighting / karate / okinawa rush / shinobi / street fighter 2 by Richie

Crisis Wing is an old-school, arcade-style vertically-scrolling shoot ’em up from one man coding crew Pieslice Productions and is published by Eastasiasoft who have been prolific in recent years when it comes to providing us with this type of shooter. Inspired by the likes of Toaplan, a now defunct Japanese coin-op […]

Crisis Wing – PS5 Review

September 27, 2021 in PS5 / Reviews tagged arcade / coin-op / crisis wing / retro / vertically-scrolling shoot em up by Richie

Back in 2015, we reviewed Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviours, which was the latest entry in the famed Darius series of horizontally-scrolling shoot ’em ups from Taito that dates back to 1987. That game earned a solid 7 from us with our take away being that it was decently polished shoot ’em up but one […]

Dariusburst: Another Chronicle EX+ – PS4 Review

July 29, 2021 in PS4 / Reviews tagged arcade / coin-op / dariusburst / horizontally-scrolling / shoot em up by Richie

Much like Namco, Capcom have never been afraid to dip into their rich arcade history for a cheeky compilation. They’ve put out coin-op ports and collections on every console generation and now it’s the turn for the previous generation to get theirs (or current if you’re still struggling to source […]

Capcom Arcade Stadium – PS4 Review

May 28, 2021 in PS4 / Reviews tagged arcade / capcom / capcom arcade stadium / coin-op / retro by Richie

We’ve been quite excited about R-Type Final 2 ever since it was announced a couple of years ago (as a Kickstarter project) and it’s finally arrived. If you don’t know, R-Type is shoot ’em up royalty. A series that goes back to the golden age of the arcades with the first game hitting […]

R-Type Final 2 – PS4 Review

May 3, 2021 in PS4 / Reviews tagged arcade / coin-op / difficult difficult lemon difficult / horizontally-scrolling / r-type / r-type final 2 / shoot em up / space by Richie

It may not carry the same weight that it did forty years ago but the name Space Invaders is still huge when it comes to gaming. It is considered to be one of the great grandfathers of gaming. Not the first arcade game by any means but the first to catch […]

Space Invaders Forever – PS4 Review

December 15, 2020 in PS4 / Reviews tagged arcade / classic gaming / coin-op / forever / intergalactic bastards / retro / space invaders by Richie