Shoot 'em up

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.

Most popular shoot 'em up games

Spacewar

Tyrian 2000

Xenon 2: Megablast

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007: License to Kill

DOS1989 Quixel

Before James Bond was saving the world with cinematic flair, he was crashing pixelated helicopters in 007: License to Kill. This top-down action game takes the movie and crams it into six bite-sized missions of explosions, awkward flying, and questionable hit detection. You’ll drive, swim, fly, and die - a lot. The controls are about as smoot...

18th Airborne

DOS1993

18th Airborne is what happens when a military recruitment pamphlet and a tactical shooter have a baby. You’re thrown into the boots of a paratrooper with a mission, a gun, and maybe a vague idea of what’s going on. The graphics are vintage DOS, which means everything looks like it was drawn with crayons under enemy fire. Missions involv...

Ack-Ack Attack!

DOS1995remake PLBM Games

In Ack-Ack Attack! (1995, DOS), you operate an anti-aircraft gun and do your best to shoot down waves of enemy planes with what appears to be a potato cannon. The game is loud, frantic, and wonderfully simple — a throwback to the days when “arcade-style” meant “your wrist will hurt after 15 minutes.” It’s not com...

Airborne Ranger

DOS1988 MicroProse Software

Strap in and crawl through the mud - Airborne Ranger (1988) is here to chew bubblegum and infiltrate enemy lines. And it's all out of bubblegum. This tactical action game lets you drop behind enemy territory, blow things up, and look extremely cool doing it (in blocky, 8-bit fashion). It's part stealth, part shootout, and somehow still manages to b...

Ajax

DOS1989 Konami

Ajax (1989) is like an arcade fever dream: vertical shooter, transforming vehicles, lasers everywhere, and a soundtrack that yells “blast stuff!” every few seconds. One minute you’re flying a helicopter, the next you’re a tank on a hoverboard - don’t ask how, just shoot. It’s pure ’80s adrenaline: fast, lou...

Aquaphobia

DOS1992freeware

Despite the name, Aquaphobia (1992) doesn’t help you overcome your fear of water. In fact, it might just make it worse. This is an action-platformer where you try not to drown while battling mutated sea creatures and unintuitive controls. You’ll wonder if your true enemy is the terrifying undersea monsters or the game’s refusal to...

Armor Alley

DOSMac OS1991

In Armor Alley, you command a helicopter in a warzone that looks like a side-scrolling office meeting gone wrong. It’s strategy meets action: you must manage resources, deploy units, and not crash into the ground every five seconds. It’s chaotic, a little clunky, and far too fun. The game shines in its mix of arcade shooting and light t...

Astro Dodge

DOS1982 Digital Marketing Corporation

Astro Dodge (1982) is basically Frogger — in space. You control a tiny spacecraft tasked with dodging endless waves of meteors, space debris, and possibly your own questionable life choices. There’s no shooting, no exploration, just pure, panicked evasion. The graphics are charmingly primitive, like a screensaver decided to become senti...

Astro Fire

DOS1994freewareremake ORT Software

Astro Fire (1994) is the illegitimate love child of Asteroids and a particularly angry fireworks show. You pilot a tiny ship with a death wish through an endless barrage of asteroids, enemies, and power-ups that may or may not be worth the risk. The pace is fast, the soundtrack is intense, and the explosions are satisfying enough to make Michael Ba...

Astrotit

DOS1987NSFW Rudeware

Yes, Astrotit (1987) is really the name, and no, it’s not what you think — though it does feel like it was named by a bored teenager. This side-scrolling shooter puts you in command of a spaceship shaped suspiciously like a flying insect, blasting your way through bizarre alien landscapes that look like they were designed during a fever...

Attack of the Mutant Camels

DOS2001freewareremake

If you've ever stared at a camel and thought, "What if it shot lasers and had a personal grudge against humanity?", Attack of the Mutant Camels is the fever dream you've been waiting for. Released in 2001 for DOS — yes, someone made a DOS game in the 21st century — it pits you against a herd of surly dromedaries with serious attitude pr...

Autobots

DOS1989

Before Michael Bay got his hands on the franchise, Autobots (1989, DOS) offered a more... subtle approach to transforming robot mayhem. Well, not subtle exactly — more like confusing. You drive around a blocky city, fight vaguely car-shaped enemies, and wonder if you're the hero or just traffic. There’s a story in here somewhere, probab...

Batalia

DOS1986 The Right Brothers

Batalia (1986) is what happens when war games and spreadsheet programs fall in love. This early DOS strategy title throws you into tactical battles with graphics that would struggle to impress a calculator. But don’t be fooled—it’s deeper than it looks. Planning, resource management, and an iron will are essential. It's not pretty...

Blasteroids

DOS1989 Atari

Blasteroids is a video game developed and released by Atari, Inc. in 1987. It's a sequel to the classic arcade game Asteroids, which was released in 1979. In Blasteroids, players control a spaceship tasked with destroying asteroids and enemy ships while avoiding collisions and enemy fire. The game features updated graphics and gameplay mechanics co...

Blood Money

DOS1990 DMA Design

Blood Money (1990) answers the question: what if every level in a shoot-'em-up was a different kind of sci-fi fever dream? You fly through alien-infested caverns, collect cash, and try not to get obliterated by things that look like angry underwater Christmas decorations. The game has that classic early-90s Euro-vibe: tough as nails, oddly beautifu...

Blort!

DOS1987 Hennsoft

With a name like Blort!, you'd expect a fart joke or a kids’ cartoon gone wrong, but no—it’s a 1987 arcade-style blaster for DOS. You play as a cosmic defender shooting weird blob-like aliens while dodging pixelated chaos. The controls are twitchy, the sounds are charmingly obnoxious, and the score system encourages reckless brave...