The Top 30 Vertical Shooters for the Atari 2600 After Party

The Big Wrap-Up!

Thank you to everyone for reading along this month as we have counted down (or up) the very best vertical shooting games for the Atari 2600.  The VCS is an incredible gaming console that gets pigeon-holed by its age and perceived limitations, but if this list shows us anything it is that pigeon-holing this system is extremely unjustified.  The games on this list demonstrate the versatility of the 2600 and its ability to showcase a variety of games within a well loved genre.  From simple games like Space Invaders and Galaxian to games as complex as Solaris, the VCS has the power to create an amazing arcade-worthy experience.  One of the greatest things about these kinds of projects is that it allows me to explore libraries of video games and discover incredible games I had never played or heard of before.  During this project, I discovered Glacier Patrol, Espial, and Guardian.  Three games I now need to add to my collection.  These projects also give me a chance to dust off a few games I haven't played in a while and give them another go.  Over the course of this project I have set six new personal best scores, many on games I don't play as much as I maybe should.  Creating this list has been a lot of fun for me, the Atari 2600 being one of my favorite video game console from childhood, and I hope that you have discovered some new games or maybe rediscovered some old favorites along the way.  Thank you to everyone for reading along.

For those of you late to the game, below is the complete list of The Top 30 Vertical Shooters for the Atari 2600.  Rather than link them all here, you can find a handy-dandy listing on the right side of the blog.  You know, over there ----->
1. Beamrider (Activision)
2. Solaris (Atari)
3. Millipede (Atari)
4. Plaque Attack (Activision)
5. Fantastic Voyage (20th Century Fox)
6. Demon Attack (Imagic)
7. Astroblast (M-Network)
8. River Raid II (Activision)
9. Spy Hunter (SEGA)
10. Espial (Tigervision)
11. River Raid (Activision)
12. Megamania (Activision)
13. Phoenix (Atari)
14. Wabbit (Apollo)
15. Galaxian (Atari)
16. Centipede (Atari)
17. Shootin' Gallery (Imagic)
18. Deadly Duck (20th Century Fox)
19. Glacier Patrol (Telegames)
20. Guardian (Apollo)
21. Communist Mutants from Space (Starpath)
22. Space Invaders (Atari)
23. Buck Rogers and the Planet of Zoom (SEGA)
24. Zaxxon (Coleco)
25. Crackpots (Activision)
26. Carnival (Coleco)
27. Name this Game (US Games)
28. Threshold (Tigervision)
29. Spacechase (Apollo)
30. GORF (CBS Electronics)

And finally, because I am a bit of a dullard, I present you with the game that I forgot:

Worm War I
20th Century Fox

I cannot believe I forgot this guy.  He's not the greatest shooter out there, but he is most definitely a vertical shooter for the Atari 2600, the most basic criteria for this project!

In Worm War I, you wage war against giant worms in a tank as you traverse an endless field of colored blocks.  Yeah, that's about all the story the instruction manual gives you; don't accuse me of summarizing.  The playfield scrolls vertically as you march toward your Lumbricus terrestris foes and the blocks that make up your world.  Your tank is invulnerable except for its need for fuel.  Run out of it and you are dead in the water, game over.  As long as you can blast worms and blocks out of your way, you can virtually play forever.  Contacting worms or blocks severely drains your fuel so you must be careful.  Every so often a refueling pagoda (straight from the instructions) will show up.  If you shoot it you will lose the chance to refuel and everything on the screen, except you, you will be destroyed.  Bad idea, though, because you are going to need the fuel.  The worms come at you in increasing waves until you have faced six on-screen at the same time, then the game resets with deadlier worms and more blocks.  You can speed up your attack on the worms by pressing forward or slow down by pulling back on the controller.

Worm War I presents a decent challenge, but the only real difficulty comes in not shooting your fuel pagodas and not scrolling too quickly so that worms and blocks are on you before you can blast them.  I've not been playing the game terribly long, but I can already see that the difficulty maxes rather early in the game.  There is a variation where the worms are only visible for a brief time, and while that adds some definite challenge, that is not the main game they give you.

Had I been more attentive, I blame the late placement in the alphabet and the fairly bland name, I probably would have ranked this game somewhere in the low twenties or late teens.  The concept is interesting and the challenge is there, if a bit minimized.  The game looks ok, the worm effect is nice, but the sounds are dreadfully reminiscent of Pac-man (shudder).  My main issue is with the lack of vision.  The base game is good, but it lacks any kind of depth and the difficulty maxes too quickly to have much replayability.

Worm War I is a decent game, but ultimately pretty unspectacular.

The Top 30 Vertical Shooters for the Atari 2600 #5

Fantastic Voyage
20th Century Fox

You want a vertical shooter that has it all, this is your game.  A lot of people probably have no idea what this game is or even that it exists, but it sits there quietly being one of the best vertical shooters for the VCS.

Fantastic Voyage is loosely based on the film of the same name wherein a team of sailors are shrunk to microscopic size and injected into a human patient to relieve a blood clot in the patient's brain.  By the same token in this game you take command of the microscopic submarine in the bloodstream fighting your way to the blood clot(s) and ultimately saving the patient.  You'll have to navigate the bloodstream, blasting dangerous elements like bacteria, avoiding helpful agents like blood cells, and trying to keep the patient alive long enough to blast the blood clot.

What's great about Fantastic Voyage is the variety of challenges you face in the course of the game.  First you have to navigate the blood stream successfully.  Touching the walls or anything else in the bloodstream will cause the patient distress and increase the heart rate which is essentially your HP meter.  If the patient's heart rate gets too high the patient will flat line and die and your mission will be over.  As long as you can keep the patient's heart rate low, you will keep playing, no matter how many hits you take to your submarine (obviously you cannot take too many or it is game over anyway).  So you have to be extremely careful just moving around.

You'll be pressed into action pretty quickly as bloodstream elements appear ahead of you.  The diversity of elements in the bloodstream is impressive.  You'll have to shoot out deadly bacteria (which take three hits to kill), defense cells that launch from the walls, and anti-bodies which are sent out to destroy you if you touch the walls.  You must shoot these things for if they pass you by, the patient's heart rate will spike.  Not all targets must be shot, however.  A couple must be avoided entirely.  Blood Cells can be shot, but they are helpful to the patient, so taking them out will mean a quick end to your game.  Blood Clotlets will start appearing as you near the clot itself and are indestructible.  You'll need to avoid them entirely.  This is extra difficult because the artery narrows as you approach the clot.  The Clot itself takes 15 hits to destroy.  With the clot gone, the patient is saved and you can move on to other patients with the exact same problem.  Along the way you can restore the patient's stamina by shooting enzymes that appear.

That's quite a challenge you've got there and once you get pretty good at that, the game gets faster and the patient's tolerance for trauma is greatly diminished.

Fantastic Voyage features minimalist graphics, but the various sprites are well rendered and the game is full of color.  None of that will matter when you are zooming down an artery shooting bacteria while dodging blood cells and praying for enzymes as the walls close in on you.

This is a truly great vertical shooting game.  It has fast-paced action, numerous game play elements that increase the level of challenge, and an interesting concept that elevates it above the basic vertical shooter format.  If you have not played Fantastic Voyage, I highly recommend it, but be ready for a challenge.  I always look forward to taking another trip into the bloodstream.

My Top Fantastic Voyage Score: 253,342

The Top 30 Vertical Shooters for the Atari 2600 #18

Deadly Duck
20th Century Fox

Fast-paced, duck-themed action where crabs throw bricks and dragonflies seek sweet revenge.  Deadly Duck has it all!  Well, maybe not all, but it certainly has a lot to like!

Deadly Duck is a fairly standard vertical shooter with some very interesting game play elements that make it extremely challenging.  You are a duck pitted against some meddlesome crabs who are trying to sink you with bricks they grab from the edges of the screen.  If they miss, the bricks miraculously float on the surface of the pond before sinking.  This can be hazardous since the bricks impede your ability to swim around.  Eventually the do sink, but if you are not careful you can block yourself into a sinking situation.  Luckily you can blast the bricks before they strike if you are quick enough.  The instruction manual even suggests it as a starting strategy!  If the crabs weren't trouble enough, their friends the dragonflies will show up and take umbrage to your presence.  They will leave you alone unless you shoot them.  It is then that they take offense and fire back.  The more dragonflies that show up, the more shots they will take if you shoot them.  These insects act as a barrier that bounces horizontally across the screen making you assault on the crabs all the more challenging.

Deadly Duck is a fairly simple game, but there are sufficient elements to make it extremely difficult even to skilled gamers.  The dragonflies fly low near the surface of the water and bounce your shots back at you rapidly and in increasing numbers.  The crabs are relatively small targets that move erratically and drop bricks in great numbers.  There is a lot to keep up with and if the pond becomes littered with bricks, you will be sunk quickly, no matter how good you are.

The graphics are simple, but well drawn.  Deadly Duck focuses on the game play more than spectacle, but that is most definitely to its credit.  Personally, I was shocked at how much fun this game is and how addictive it can be.  Since the difficulty is high pretty early out of the gate, there is a tremendous amount of "one more game" replayability.  Frustration is relatively low however because the game play inspires a variety of strategies for success.

It doesn't present itself as a top notch shooter, but Deadly Duck is a dark horse favorite on this list!

My Top Deadly Duck Score: 2540