The most popular shoot 'em up games

Shoot 'em ups were extremely popular in the '80s and '90s. In a classic shoot 'em up, the player controls a vehicle, a spaceship or an aircraft with the only goal of destroying the largest number of enemies as possible while dodging bullets and staying alive. Through the years, shoot 'em ups evolved to include features like end level bosses, multiple weapons and power-ups. Some of the most popular DOS shoot 'em ups were: Raptor, Tyrian 2000, Xenon 2.

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Wings of Fury

DOS19894.1/5 Broderbund

Soviet

DOS19904.1/5 Opera Soft

Star Control 3

DOS1996protected4/5 Legend Entertainment

Xenon

DOS19883.9/5 Bitmap Brothers

Xenon, released in 1988, was a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up video game developed by The Bitmap Brothers. Xenon was initially released for the Commodore 64, and later, it was ported to other platforms, including DOS, the ZX Spectrum and Amiga.In Xenon, players control a futuristic tank-like craft and navigate through levels filled with enemy ve...

Taito's Super Space Invaders

DOS19914.2/5 Taito

Space Commanders

DOS1983remake3.8/5 Columbia Data Products

Flying Tigers

DOS19944.1/5 Ticsoft

Flying Tigers is an abandoned vertical-scrolling sci-fi themed shoot 'em up game developed and released by Ticsoft in 1994 for MS-DOS only. Flying Tigers is the first chapter of the two parts Flying Tigers video game series.

Silpheed

DOS19884/5 Game Arts

Menace

DOS19882.8/5 DMA Design

Menace is a classic shoot 'em up video game that was developed by DMA Design, a company later known as Rockstar North, and initially released in 1988. The game was originally released for the Amiga and Atari ST home computer systems and for DOS. The player's objective is to navigate their spacecraft through various levels filled with enemy ships, o...

Revenge of Defender

DOS19893.5/5 Epyx

Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom

DOS19843.5/5 Sega

Xenon 2000: Project PCF

Windows XP/98/952000remake4.1/5 Bitmap Brothers

Xenon 2000: Project PCF is a vertical-scrolling shoot 'em up video game and originally released in 2000. It is a sequel to the earlier game "Xenon 2: Megablast," which was developed by The Bitmap Brothers and released in 1989.In Xenon 2000, players control a spaceship and engage in fast-paced shooting action as they face off against waves of enemy ...

CHAMP Asteroids

DOS1997remake3.9/5 ChamProgramming corp.

Project-X

DOS19943.8/5 Team 17

Invasion of the Mutant Space Bats of Doom

DOS19953.8/5 Pop Software

Knightmare

DOS19863.6/5 Konami

Shooting Gallery

DOS19903.7/5 Arcanum Computing

Flying Tigers 2

DOS19943.3/5

Crossfire

DOS19823.7/5 Sierra On-Line

Stargate

DOS19833.6/5 Williams Entertainment

LineWars

DOS19904/5 Safari Software

Space Federation

DOS19944.2/5 Interplay Productions

Airborne Ranger

DOS19884.2/5 MicroProse Software

Paratrooper

DOS19824/5 Orion Software

LineWars 2

DOS19944/5 Safari Software

Blood Money

DOS19903.9/5 DMA Design

Blood Money is an abandoned classic sci-fi themed side-scrolling shoot'em up. Blood Money was designed by David Jones, developed by DMA Design and released by Psygnosis in 1990 for DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, C64. Blood Money features different vehicles for different levels, power ups and an energy bar that depletes when colliding with enemies or the env...