The Top 30 Vertical Shooters for the Atari 2600 #14

Wabbit
Apollo

What?  Wabbit?  Better than Galaxian? You are telling me that a third tier Apollo game about throwing eggs at rabbits is better than one of the most iconic vertical shooters of all time? 

Yes.  That is what I am telling you.  Stay with me.

Wabbit is an extremely challenging game with tons of replay value, a twitch factor and minimal frustration.  Sure, it is a non-traditional game where you are pitted against a rampaging horde of rabbits looking to make off with your entire carrot crop.  And while the only way to fend them off might be to lob rotten eggs at them, that doesn't take away from the fact that Wabbit is very challenging all the while being very fun.

It's all about balance.  Wabbit is tough right out of the gate, but you always feel like you are in the game.  Since you don't game over until the rabbits take 100 carrots, there is no instant kill.  You are given a fighting chance every time.  That being said, don't expect Wabbit to be a push-over.  Those rabbits are quick and only get quicker.  You'll need quick reflexes and a keen eye to keep your root crops safe.  Wabbit is a twitch game where eventually you have to turn things over to your eyes and hands and take your brain out of the equation.

But the great thing about Wabbit is that the challenge never gets really frustrating.  There is tremendous replay value because you are always left feeling like you could do just a little bit better the next time around.  Because your score is based on hitting the rabbits and protecting the carrots, there are is a lot of risk/reward.  You score more points for hitting rabbits that are on the way back to their hole after taking a carrot, so the the temptation is to wait and let them take the carrot, then hit them.  However, this greatly increases the likelihood of them succeeding in stealing the carrot and putting you one root closer to your doom.  Risk/reward.  There is an opportunity for point scumming, but that too comes at a price.  If you can leave a single carrot on a lower row at the far side of the field, the rabbit will always come from the opposing side and you can reliably hit him before he can get away with the carrot.  Ideally you could sit there all day and just rack up the points.  But the rabbits get faster and you will miss.  And when you do, you pay for it because by then you will have advanced the difficulty so far that when the next round starts, little white streaks will clear your field in about 15 seconds. Risk/reward.

Wabbit features well-drawn, bright and colorful graphics.  The backdrop is on par with Activision-level work; just look at that sun!

Wabbit provides a tremendous amount of challenge balanced with great action and fun.  Those who are not afraid to venture off the beaten path a bit will find this game to be an instant favorite.

My Top Wabbit Score: 740

The Top 30 Vertical Shooters for the Atari 2600 #20

Guardian
Apollo

Guardian is one of the first games on the list that takes the standard vertical shooter and adds a new element that makes the game play more than just scroll and shoot.  Guardian puts you in defense of three planets and their defense grid against a hostile alien spaceship that is trying to bomb its way through and destroy the planets!  Wicked, bad aliens!  They always have a beef!

The alien spaceship scans the top of the screen dropping bombs indiscriminately.  As the bombs hit the defense shield, the punch holes in it clearing the path for future bombs to eliminate the planets below.  Your job is to blast the bombs before they can make impact and keep the planets safe.

Guardian is a paddle game and thus the action is tailored to fast movements and quick reflexes.  The early levels are pretty easy and you'll have no trouble keeping everyone un-exploded.  And then, somewhere around 20K, the game loses its mind.  The spaceship starts dropping bombs in patterns similar to the bomb dropping in Kaboom! or the egg dropping in Eggomania.  Your game play needs to adjust accordingly and scroll along blasting the spray of bombs.  Experts of the two games listed above will find themselves right at home here.  Goons like me will get swamped pretty quickly.  But I can certainly appreciate the skill required to stay alive.

Graphically, Guardian is unspectacular, but solid.  The little planets are the coolest feature.  Fortunately, the action is so fast paced that you'll not have much time to gawk at the spectacle.

I really appreciate the added twist of planet protection that Guardian adds to the classic vertical shooter formula.  If you ship is hit, you are only stunned for a second, not eliminated.  You only lose if the planets are destroyed.  If you score 10K, the shield is replenished and at 50K you get an extra planet (in reserve).  There is plenty of challenge and replayability and the frustration factor is low, even if you suck at games like this as I do.

My Top Guardian Score: 45,250

The Top 30 Vertical Shooters for the Atari 2600: #29 Spacechase

Spacechase
Apollo

That's right, Spacechase, all one word.  Is it a typo?  Who can say.  Is it a great game?  No.  Spacechase feels like a demo game that was created to show off someone's really neat scrolling planet playfield.  And honestly that is one really cool looking scrolling planet playfield.  It's what goes on against that playfield that is not so cool.

Thank you gamesdbase.com.  Used without permission (I'm the worst kind of pirate)

Spacechase is one of the most basic and fundamental vertical shooters there could ever possibly be.  You control a space ship, you move horizontally (and limited vertically) and shoot vertically at enemy space ships.  That's the game.  The enemy space ships fire back, you have to dodge.  The only thing that might be of any interest is that the difficult increases when you reach 10K and then 40K points.  The enemy ships get smaller, move faster, and shoot faster.  When I say the difficulty increases, I mean this in the most academic possible way.  Does the game get tougher?   Yes.  Is it enough to make it worth trying to stay awake through the first 10K points to get there?  Only slightly.  Of course, you can also start at the higher levels by selecting a different game variation, but if you do that, there is no where to go and the game just becomes an endurance test or a cure for insomnia.

I almost get the feeling that this game would be perfect for the modern gamer who is a graphics-whore.  Spacechase is all flash and very little substance.  The aforementioned scrolling planet looks really cool and is probably the only thing that might cause you to lose a ship as you get distracted watching the landscape roll by.  There are also game variations that change the color palette so that you can play a "night" battle.  We'll not argue the astrophysics that make this pretty much impossible and irrelevant from an atmospheric vantage point.  Let's just say the planet is rotating pretty quickly and leave it at that.

If you want to show off some of the graphic capabilities of the Atari 2600, Spacechase can do that.  If you want to sit down a play a great vertical shooter, I've got 28 better games on this list for you to choose from.  Now, I will admit, I will play Spacechase occasionally as a guilty pleasure because it is a pure and simply shooter and I do like to watch that scrolling planet.  But I'm not going to spend an entire Saturday with it.  My tolerance for bad video games is high, but not that high... 

My best Spacechase score: 16375 (game called due to boredom, not lack of skill)