Steer by what it is tap once for more of it, twice for none of it
280 games like Thexder · 1981 – 2026
Nintendo console exclusive
Switch, Windows
Drainus is a side-scrolling shooting game in which players take control of the "Drainus", the Kharlal Empire's most cutting-edge fighter with the ability to absorb energy bullets, and take down the enemy ships zipping through space.
80 rating1 list2.5 h main storyOften paired
PlayStation exclusive
Granzella · PS5
R-Type Final 3 Evolved serves simultaneously as a sequel to R-Type Final 2, offering a whole new 7-stage campaign made in the engine of Final 2, whilst also serving as a compilation of most of content released for R-Type Final 2. Additiona
72 rating2 listsOften paired
JoyMasher · Switch, PS4, Windows +1
Blazing Chrome is a classic co-op run 'n gun with an original arcade feel. Players can choose between Mavra, the badass human resistance, soldier or Doyle, the groovy rebel robot, to kick some metal ass.
78 rating4 lists2 h main storyOften paired
Infinite Dreams · Android, Linux, Switch +5
There are many scrolling shooters but none of them is like "Sky Force". This stunning shoot ‘em up game combines the classic arcade elements with the new possibilities offered by current technology. The new installment in the series just ca
75 rating4 lists16 h main storyOften paired
Atari console exclusive
Imagic · Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit, Commodore VIC-20 +4
The lost city of Atlantis is under attack! Wave after wave of Gorgon vessels are approaching, each armed with weapons capable of destroying a part of the city. You are in charge of the command posts at the edges of the city and need to defe
79 rating4 listsOften paired
Meta Quest, Oculus VR, Windows
Use creative combat tactics and skill shots to earn high scores as you teleport through city streets and rooftops in an awe-inspiring ballet of bullets. Tear apart your robot foes and use them to fend off the enemy onslaught. Unlock, custom
89 rating1 listOften paired
Capcom · Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, Windows +1
Pragmata is a sci-fi action-adventure game set in the near future. The story follows Hugh and his android companion Diana as they navigate a Lunar research station. Gameplay incorporates action elements alongside mechanics involving interac
87 rating7 lists10 h main storyOften paired
Vertex Pop · Switch, PS4, Windows
"Skillfully pilot the advanced Graceful Explosion Machine (GEM) fighter while blasting swarms of crystalline enemies with your ludicrously overpowered quad-weapon array! Lost in deep space, you'll shoot, dash and combo your way through jew
77 rating2 lists4.5 h main story
NEC exclusiveTurboGrafx-16
A horizontal shoot 'em up with a surreal edge. A group of evil eyes have stolen parts of the Sunheart, and the player needs to recover them. Bouken Danshaku Don: The Lost Sunheart ("Adventures of Don Baron: The Lost Sunheart", roughly) is
1 list
Konami · Arcade, Atari 2600, Atari 5200 +7
You're a helicopter gunship pilot on a daring and dangerous mission: air surveillance of enemy territory. Success depends on how far you can penetrate enemy airspace. Can you handle the pressure? Because the further you go, the more difficu
60 rating9 lists
Nintendo console exclusive
Nichibutsu · Arcade, Switch
A shooter from the same company who brought you Terra Cresta.
1 list
Namco · Arcade, Switch, PS4 +2
Baraduke is an action game released by Namco (Bandai Namco Entertainment) in 1985. The peaceful, friendly world of Paccet has been attacked by the evil Octy! Make your way through Baraduke, the underground Octy citadel beneath Paccet, and u
49 rating4 lists
Switch, PS4, Windows +2
Speed Limit is a non-stop genre-warping arcade experience that never slows down. No cuts, no lapses in the chaos, Speed Limit is an old-school action extravaganza boiled down to its core elements: Hard. Fast. Addictive. As soon as you thin
70 rating1 list1.5 h main story
NEO XYX · Dreamcast, Neo Geo, Nintendo 3DS +1
After the space pilot Vanessa Gaiden defeated the Evil Empire in the events of the game Last Hope, she got missing on her way back and wasn't heard of anymore. Vanessa's husband, Gordian Gaiden, sets out to search for her. Meanwhile, a new
80 rating3 lists
Apple II, Atari 8-bit, TRS-80 +1
A horizontal scrolling shoot'em up written by John Anderson and published by Adventure International for various 8-bit platforms.
3 lists
QubicGames · Switch, PS4, Windows
Jump between planets, fight weird creatures, and save the galaxy alone or with a friend. Robonauts combines familiar arcade shooting gameplay with a unique possibility to switch gravity. Colorful graphics appeal to both younger and adult p
58 rating2 lists3.5 h main story
Nintendo console exclusive
Atlus · Arcade, SNES
The player is set in control of The Garland TFF-01, a sub-standard space fighter ship that is only armed with a semi-auto or rapid fire laser gun known as the Beam Vulcan and the Tranquilander. Some enemy units can be captured and used in p
60 rating1 list
SNK · Amstrad CPC, Arcade, Commodore 64 +5
You are Athena, a school girl who goes around fighting crime, along with her friend Kensu (Player 2), Athena sets out to bring peace to the world by killing all monsters. This game serves somewhat as a sequel to an earlier SNK game by the n
63 rating5 lists
Sega exclusive
Sega Enterprises, Ltd. · Master System, Sega Master System/Mark III
The enemy has built battle fortresses in the farthest reaches of space. There's only one way in... and one way out. Your Mission: To infiltrate the enemy's defenses and destroy their motherships!
3 lists
Atari Games · Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Arcade +7
Based on the arcade game, in Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters you are sent in on a rescue mission to Planet X. This planet has been taken over by robots and you must find and evacuate the remaining humans. It's a shooter simila
72 rating5 lists
Timed PlayStation exclusive
PS3, PS4, PlayStation VR +2
Hyper Void is a single-player 3rd-person space-shooter in which -unlike any previous space shooters- action takes place not just in outer-space, but right inside interstellar wormholes!
69 rating4 lists5.5 h main story
Xbox exclusive
Treasure · Xbox 360
Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury is an innovative and insanely addicting arcade shooter combined with puzzle elements that features a sensory overload of thousands of missiles and more than 100 levels! Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury allows players to u
1 list
Nintendo console exclusiveArcade, SNES
The player is set in control of The Garland TFF-01, a sub-standard space fighter ship that is only armed with a semi-auto or rapid fire laser gun known as the Beam Vulcan and the Tranquilander. Some enemy units can be captured and used in p
60 rating1 list
Timed Nintendo exclusive
Rake in Grass · Switch, PS4, PS5 +1
Side scrolling shooter with insane level of action and destruction! Assume a role of a brave space pilot and jump into an epic adventure across the universe to save it from inevitable doom! Unleash arsenal of the deadliest weapons and devic
90 rating1 list3.5 h main story
Timed PlayStation exclusive
Squashy Software · PlayStation Portable, Windows, Xbox 360
Platypus is a fast, frantic and fun arcade-style shoot-em-up. The vast continent-spanning city of Collosatropolis has finally reached the limits of its expansion. Tall buildings cover every available space. The air is thick with smoke and
66 rating2 lists
Timed PlayStation exclusivePlayStation Portable, Windows, Xbox 360 +1
Platypus is a fast, frantic and fun arcade-style shoot-em-up. The vast continent-spanning city of Collosatropolis has finally reached the limits of its expansion. Tall buildings cover every available space. The air is thick with smoke and
66 rating1 list1.5 h main story
Atari exclusive
Atari 2600
Star Fox is a video game for the Atari 2600 console, developed and published by Mythicon in 1983. Although the front cover of the game states "Game 1 in Star Fox Series," no sequels were ever made, which is most likely because it received n
1 list
PlayStation console exclusive
SNK · Arcade, PS2
Metal Slug 6 returns to the Rebel-Martian alliance featured in Metal Slugs 2, X, and 3, but on a much broader scale. Rather than repeating the previous games' events of the Martians breaking the alliance and the Rebels assisting the player
80 rating4 lists1 h main story
Nintendo exclusiveLucky Chicken Games · Game Boy Advance
A classic 2D shooter that artfully mixes side-scrolling and forced perspective gameplay. Play as a mighty fighter from the hit Robotech series as you battle to save planet Earth from total destruction. Auto cannon fire lights up the skies i
1 list
Timed Atari exclusive
Mattel Electronics · Atari 2600, Intellivision, Xbox 360
Launching from repair bay 28 of the Galatea, you guide your Blue Fighter Wing through the Launch Ring at lightspeed, entering enemy territory, sector Delta Five Niner! Your mission: Rescue the Orange Wing Center which was captured alive, be
36 rating2 lists
Sega exclusiveSega Master System/Mark III
The enemy has built battle fortresses in the farthest reaches of space. There's only one way in... and one way out. Your Mission: To infiltrate the enemy's defenses and destroy their motherships!
1 list
Timed Nintendo exclusive
Inti Creates · Nintendo 3DS, Switch, PS4 +3
A loose reboot of the original Blaster Master by Inti Creates, utilizing elements from the original game, the "Worlds of Power" novelization, and the original Japanese version.
78 rating9 lists6.5 h main story
Universal Entertainment · Arcade, ColecoVision
In this side scrolling shooter you have to kill as many enemies as possible to raise your high score.
50 rating1 list
Timed PlayStation exclusive
Memorable Games · Linux, Nintendo 3DS, PS4 +4
An old school shoot'em up with a modern twist. Futuridium EP offers fast paced, non stop, hard as hell action, with an original 45 minutes soundtrack and colourful, glitchy graphic.
52 rating5 lists5.5 h main story
Nintendo console exclusive
Konami · Commodore 64, MSX, Wii +1
Parodius, also known as Parodius: The Octopus Saves the Earth, is the first title in the Parodius series. The name itself is a portmanteau of "Gradius" and "Parody" and, eponymously, the game is a parody of the Gradius series of space-base
2 lists
Nintendo console exclusive
Irem · Amiga, Arcade, Atari ST/STE +1
The game is the sequel to R-Type, which was first released as an arcade game in 1987 and profoundly influenced later shooting games with its charge shots, unique weaponry, and grotesque enemies. Hudson Soft ported the later 4 levels of the
76 rating1 list
Capcom · Arcade, Famicom Disk System, NES +1
Section-Z is a side-view shoot-'em-up by Capcom originally released as a coin-operated video game in 1985. A home version was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987. The original coin-op game is included in Capcom Classics C
70 rating3 lists
Nintendo exclusive
Namco · NES
The game is based on the popular anime TV series of the same name. The player controls a transformable VF-1 Valkyrie variable fighter in an unending battle against an invading race of giant humanoid aliens known as the Zentradi.
59 rating2 lists
Xbox console exclusive
Midway Games · Arcade, Xbox 360
Tron is a coin-operated arcade video game manufactured and distributed by Bally Midway in 1982. It is based on the Walt Disney Productions motion picture Tron released in the same year. The game consists of four subgames inspired by the eve
49 rating4 lists
Stavros Fasoulas · Commodore 64, Commodore C64/128/MAX, ZX Spectrum
This horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up with 32 levels is something of a predecessor to Armalyte. It's set in the Delta region of space, in which the Hsiffan Khanate species have a powerful presence, using their technology to steal and ana
70 rating1 list
Atari console exclusive
Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit, Commodore VIC-20
A space shooter designed by Dan Thompson for the Atari 2600 that was also released under the name "Final Orbit" for the Atari 8-bit and Commodore VIC-20 homecomputers.
2 lists
Atari console exclusiveAcorn Electron, Amstrad CPC, Atari 2600 +9
The aim of this shooter game is to pilot a spacecraft which must pick up a pod using a tractor beam and fly it into space. The ship and pod are subject to gravity and inertia, and being connected by a stiff rod, they can end up spinning aro
5 lists
Windows
ZeroRanger is a vertically scrolling shoot-em-up with heavy emphasis on shooting, dodging and... mystery? A menacing alien threat, GREEN ORANGE, has begun its invasion. Only two secondary fighters remain to stand against complete annihilat
90 rating2 lists4 h main story
Ian Weatherburn · ZX Spectrum
The player controls a robot sent to an unexplored planet called Hallucinor with the job of investigating it ahead of human colonisation. When it arrives, however, it is attacked by aliens and must manoeuvre its way through the planet, avoid
1 list
NEC exclusive
TurboGrafx-16
A horizontal shoot 'em up that casts you as a baby dragon out to free a princess from the clutches of an evil....well, you get the idea. Gameplay is traditional, with power-up weapons that include multi-way shot and 'miniature' mode and a s
1 list
Nintendo console exclusive
Jaleco · Arcade, FM-7, MSX +6
The player competes in a marathon continuous scrolling horizontal shoot-em-up game across land, sea, air and outer space. You can hold down the fire button for a burst of Charged fire, which is especially essential to defeat the bosses. Th
65 rating7 lists
Sega console exclusive
Amstrad CPC, Arcade, Commodore 64 +4
A platform shoot-em-up hybrid from Sega for one to four players, selected from either Joe (yellow), Mary (red), Lee (blue) and Edgar (green). The action takes place over a number of sideways scrolling levels, the bulk of which consist of st
50 rating5 lists
Atari console exclusive
Arcade, Atari 5200, Commodore 64 +1
Satan's Hollow is a shoot 'em up arcade game released by Bally Midway in 1982, subsequently converted to the Atari 8-bit family, and in 1984 to Commodore 64.
60 rating1 list