Xexex
Graphics:
I was very impressed the first time I saw this (in MAME, not the arcade), and continue to be. It does not contain that much scaling, but instead features extremely detailed sprites with beautiful translucent effects. At the time of it's release (1991), it really set the standard for simple beauty. If you can, try and get to the (fourth?) level which features bizarre waterfalls in the sky, very good example of transparency.
Sound:
Very catchy, punchy aurals as usual for Konami.
Play:
I always get them mixed up, but I think the Japanese version is much more difficult than world, so try and stay away unless you want a real challenge. Your ship has an almost organic like "cannon" that you can either keep on the nose for charge beams, or let loose to home in on the enemies.
Darius Gaiden - Silver Hawk
Graphics:
Well this game is made by Taito, what does that tell us? Expect some serious hardware trickery, mainly in the ever so fun sprite scaling department. See that fish up above? Is it polygons.. or sprites? Polygons.. or Sprites?!? It is of course sprites, but the transitional zooming effects are so well done you would barely believe it (have a look!). The marine theme is very well maintained throughout the game, with most enemies (and all bosses) being some of robotic marine life. At one point in the game there is a massive squid inside a nosecone that takes up over 5 screens in it's enormity.
Sound:
Interesting this one, the first level kicks off with some rarely heard (in electronic form) female vocals, and generally a fairly high level of sound quality throughout.
Play:
Longevity certainly plays a factor here, as the player gets to choose from a gradually expanding grid their next destination. This of course means that there are dozens of ways to get to over 6 different final zones! The weapon powerups could do with being a tad more powerful at times though, as the on-screen action does get very fierce at times (although, the bomb is very effective sucking all enemies and ballistics into a central void before blasting them).
R-Type Leo
Graphics:
At last, R-Type has grown up! Very nice large, chunky, and colourful sprites here; includes some nice parallax scrolling as well.
Sound:
Urm, not too bad... but not too great either. I am not sure if this is even properly emulated yet?
Play:
To start off I am going to admit a terrible truth, I was never a fan of the original series! Yes I know it is one of the most famous shooters in the world and all that, but those terrible restart points were just killers! Don;t make it to a certain point, get killed, and start off at the beginning again! Well anyway, thankfully Irem have overcome that limitation in this game; and now I can finally find out how playable the formula is... very. Unfortunately I really do need to play this game more to make any further commentation
.Ok, that should start the lot off nicely; now if you can think of any HORIZONTAL shooters you think deserve a mention, please include an 800X600 pic (or 600x480 if your monitor is tiny), and just say a few words about them
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