Racketboy has covered the shmup libraries of numerous consoles, such as Turbografx-16/PCE, Genesis/Megadrive and Playstation. A personal computer with console-like properties, the Commodore Amiga is the focus of this guide. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Amiga was largely unheard of in North America and Japan, but it was a popular gaming format in many European countries.
Related: Roguecraft a Cool Indie Amiga Game by Badgerpunch Games
If you’re a shmup fan and don’t have any prior experience with the Amiga, this guide is geared specifically towards you. Amiga‘s shmup library (or action games in general) is not particularly well known (but it does have some excellent shmups). As the title suggests, this guide focuses on the best Amiga shoot-em-ups: those that can hold their own against their 16-bit counterparts.
Related: “Rick Dangerous” Redux is a Cool Amiga Platformer by Indie Game Dev Z-team
Additionally, it discusses honorable mentions: shmups with excellent visuals and/or music, but lacking something in the gameplay department that prevents them from achieving greatness. Williams’ 1981 arcade classic Defender is included in a separate section, which features a gameplay style rarely found on consoles. Finally, this guide discusses Amiga shmups that were hyped at the time of release, but were not as great in retrospect.