1986 · NMK · Arcade · Shooter

Argus

A vertical scrolling shoot 'em up. Fire guns and drop bombs on the enemies in this deep space battle. Pickup assorted power-ups. The screen also scrolls left and right if your ship nears the edges of the screen.

Released: 1 January 1986
Platforms: Arcade NES Nintendo Switch PlayStation 4
Genres: Arcade Shooter Vertically scrolling shooter
Developers: NMK NMK Co. Ltd.
Publishers: Jaleco
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Third person Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Science fiction
Country: Japan
Age ratings: ESRB E
Languages: Japanese

About

Argus is a 1986 vertically scrolling shooter video game developed by NMK and published by Jaleco for arcades. A port to the Famicom was released the same year. An emulated version of the original arcade game is included as part of their Arcade Archives series by Hamster Corporation for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on August 30, 2018, as the game's first release outside Japan.

Keywords

shoot 'em up
spaceship
war
vertical scrolling

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

In Argus, up to two players take control of a fighter jet Wol-Arg, whose goal is to shoot airborne enemies and on ground-based enemies, collect power-ups scattered throughout the levels, and defeat every boss to advance to the next level. The controls consist of two buttons; one to shoot missiles and the other to shoot a laser at enemies and power-ups on the ground.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Argus as the 13th most successful table arcade unit of February 1986.

Legacy

Argus is one of the video games that was adapted into a manga titled Susume!! Seigaku Dennou Kenkyuubu (進め！！静学電脳研究部, Shiawase no katachi), published in the Gamest Comics collection in April 1999, illustrated by Kouta Hirano.