Top 10 Commodore 64 Shoot 'Em Ups

Here's my favorite 10 C64 Horizontal & Vertical scrolling shmups , not the best of all time just simply the ones I enjoy the most.
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[@menhirmike]

Katakis not only belongs in #1 because of how great it is as a game - but also because it gave us an excellent R-Type port, so it deserves credit for TWO excellent games.

[@BastichB64K]

Yeah thats totally true , its a double win

[@Reactivate100]

💯

[@rob4222]

Wow, Phobia looks fantastic. Never hears of that one. I played Katakis and Salamander a lot, but my most favorite Shump is Enforcer.

[@BastichB64K]

Yeah phobia went under the radar i feel , good game

[@Dookie69uk]

Just wanted to give you a high five for giving me something to watch and enjoy while I'm in hospital for a week. It really helps kill the hours and I love the old bread bin.

[@BastichB64K]

Nice , hope you feel better soon .. the channel has a million C64 vids so enjoy 😎👍

[@delpierro0815]

Great list! I played Katakis hundreds of times for the music alone, simply amazing. Nemesis made me fall in love with the genre since it was one of the early ones. I couldn’t believe how many sprites Armalyte had at the same time while not slowing down at all. I was even stealing the game from the wardrobe of my parents since I couldn‘t wait until my birthday to play it, replacing it with Hawkeye - but I was caught :D.

[@BastichB64K]

🤣👍 cool story 🤣🤣🤣

[@dennyhaynes3]

Absolute beast of a shump list on the C64, so glad there's an honorary mention for Nemesis even if it's not the best conversion. Remember Nemesis was one load and there's a huge amount of variety in the graphics. Armalyte for me was more of a glorified demo of what the 64 could do but lacked any real change per level. I'd agree with your number one choice though there are so many that could have took the top spot. Fantastic video, as a shump enthusiast that's just what I want to see 👍

[@BastichB64K]

Cheers thx , yeah i wish someone would do a c64 update of Nemesis ... I feel with more time and detail it could be top notch

[@dennyhaynes3]

@@BastichB64K 💯 agree on that. I used to enjoy longplaying that back then 👍

[@reinhard3209]

Armalyte is my No. 1. 😍 Got to check out Phobia of which i got the original disk version but never really played it. 🙈 Thanks for this fantastic video, Brendan!! 🙏👍 Cheers from Germany. 😉

[@BastichB64K]

No probs , enjoy Phobia ✅

[@Fremen1430]

Great job BastichB. I have found some jewels that I didn't know. As always, actually, possibly you are the best youtuber of the Commodore scene. Applauses from Spain!!!

[@BastichB64K]

Cheers thank you , glad you found some new old games

[@SynthLover-hw8ik]

I love shoot em ups, these games have such a cool feel, and I often would rather play these than the newer ones I have on Steam. I keep returning to this great video!! Thanks!!!

[@BastichB64K]

Thanks for watching 👍👍

[@skywalkerranch]

Awesome stuff, man. Delta was my favourite back in the day. I've not heard of a lot of these titles excellent, BastichB.

[@BastichB64K]

Cool , then you got plenty of new stuff to try 👍

[@Waterboyofsuperman]

Great video. Well done (as per usual)! And I have to say I’m impressed that you take the time to personally respond to each commenter. Pretty remarkable imho. You truly have one of the best retro gaming KZbin channels imho.

[@BastichB64K]

Cheers dude i appreciate that , its the least i can do since you watched the vid . Thx for the comment 😀👍

[@RetroHenni]

Thanks BastichB. Many nice shooters which I used to play with my brother back in the days.

[@BastichB64K]

Cheers , glad it jogged some good memories

[@paatuc6457]

Very good content once again, thank you

[@BastichB64K]

Cheers thx for watching 🕹️🕹️👍

[@RetroGamerNation]

Love it Brendan. Katakis is my number 1 as well for the classic era. Phobia is one I had totally forgotten about but you triggered memories of me enjoying it very much. One game that I have never been able to enjoy is Armalyte, for some weird reason as I don't appreciate the metallic graphic style. And I love the 'you're gonna bust that bastard up' line, so unexpected but gave me a great chuckle.

[@BastichB64K]

Awesome thanks dude that means a lot 😀👍 I think most people have forgotten Phobia which is a shame , cool game . The weapons in Armalyte are very satisfying especially the lasers when you got them and just mow down the enemies it feels epic , love it .

[@CreationBrosZone-km5be]

Cool stuff; great video.

[@BastichB64K]

Cheers thx

[@kloakovalimonada]

Never heard of Phobia, will play tomorrow. Thanks for the video!

[@BastichB64K]

No probs , enjoy 🕹️✅

[@hoagieimpact9189]

Great list. Quick shoutout to one of my favourites: 1942 by Capcom.

[@BastichB64K]

Yeah i wish they did a better job with the conversion , feel it was rushed

[@C64_and_Amiga_Memories]

Nice compilation. I actually bought Zynaps legitimately when i purchased a 10 pack of blank disks. One of the disks had the game free of charge from the pack. First time i saw a pack like that in Australia. I loved Salamander, i always thought that looked very close to the arcade, even though it didnt really. A game you didnt put on the list is "IO" by Firebird and it rarely rates a mention. Armalyte was definitely my favourite from the day.

[@BastichB64K]

IO is in the video ? In the honorable mentions

[@upstairsroomsoftware4143]

Great video.... Made me realize I never really played many SHMUPS, and didn't own that many.

[@BastichB64K]

Cool genre , easy to play hard to master

[@wettingfeld]

It's hard to argue with Katakis and Armalyte at the top spots. Personally, I'd put Delta in there and even higher than Armalyte. My reason being that Delta had a certain kind of atmosphere, which Armalyte lacked. Delta is hard, but with practice you can get very far before it really becomes tricky. And all that in a single load, fast and no glitches! As Bastich mentions, Armalyte and Delta are "related", but so is Sanxion and again, this game also feels totally unrelated to the others. Sanxion had the novel split screen view, which didn't add much to the game play. I completed Katakis a number of times as a teen, finding it too easy (apart from 2 tricky bits). Strangely enough, I now find it too hard!

[@BastichB64K]

Music in Delta is awesome, game is ok .. im just been honest , i dont hate it just find it monotonous

[@wettingfeld]

@@BastichB64K Like I said, for me it has a certain atmosphere. I suspect 99.9% of the world population would prefer your top 10 and they'd be right too (for once!).

[@skywalkerranch]

​​@@wettingfeldI loved Delta too awesome game with great music.

[@tdome3000]

I completely forgot about Katakis. I liked it more #backinthedays because it was a little easier than R-Type, and I finished it first. Marvellous game.

[@BastichB64K]

I love it , still my fav shooter on the C64

[@commodorechronicles]

A solid list, though I would have moved Salamander up the list further. There's a couple titles in here that I've never played and will add them to my list of "must plays". Thanks for the great work as always!

[@BastichB64K]

Awesome, glad you found some new old games to try 🕹️👍

[@johnebbs]

good video as always

[@BastichB64K]

😎👍

[@nonax3662]

Nice list, learned a title or two! For me I would have added Terra Cresta and Slap Fight!

[@BastichB64K]

Yeah those are great ... I was saving them for an expanded arcade conversions video

[@dennyhaynes3]

​@@BastichB64K You really do spoil us 😁👍

[@MS-ho9wq]

I think we can all agree that Manfred Trenz is an absolute f___ing genius

[@BastichB64K]

😎👍

[@janerjaner2455]

great Ranking. and i have 2 things to say .. 1.i love your MADMAX 2 Poster. and 2. the Armalyte tunes are one of my absolute favs. Walker in top form

[@BastichB64K]

Cheers , first person to mention Japanese Max 🤣👍

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

Great List!

[@BastichB64K]

Cheers thx

[@duhmez]

Have you heard about this new awesome project where someone, or someones, are converting tap and disc images and multiload games, like jjumpman etc, into CRT image files and easyflash fles! Works in emulator, no more swapping disks or waiting for load or typing load comand etc etc. If u got real hardware then get real easyflash device to take advantage but on vice emulator at least it works too. 2000+ games are already converted. I just found one easyflash image with Jumpman and Space Taxi all in one double pack! My 2 fav c64 games and now no more oad hassle. Bloody awesome.

[@BastichB64K]

Yeah they been doing this for decades now , most games are now available in crt format and I use those versions all the time ... No disc swapping 🕹️yay!!!

[@ldxvierzig9432]

Thanks for the video! Katakis as #1 would have been my choice as well.

[@BastichB64K]

Awesome , love that game 👍👍

[@konasavage]

Great genre to make a video about!

[@BastichB64K]

Thanks for watching

[@colinthomson7518]

great list of games I need to play some of these games again with the cheat mode on LOL.

[@BastichB64K]

🤣👍

[@craigwise6374]

Great games ever single one of them. I was playing St Dragon this morning lol

[@BastichB64K]

Thats an awesome one too 🕹️👍

[@maxmirni2768]

loved mr heli and phobia so much fun

[@BastichB64K]

Mr Heli is great , it gets zero respect

[@ralang999]

Levy's shooter philosophy is truly wisdom for the ages!☺

[@BastichB64K]

Yeah its on point 👍

[@SamTaylors]

Awesome top 10, and it just has to be Katakis as #1. Some other gems in this list plus a few I haven’t played. Or should I say haven’t played *yet*! I can see the 64 getting some attention this weekend 😂

[@BastichB64K]

Awesome, enjoy the games 👍

[@braillynn4903]

Ahh, a list of games I can suck at. I love it!

[@BastichB64K]

🤣👍👍👍

[@Reactivate100]

Denaris was my favourite game on the c64. My brother and myself completed the game on two player mode. Monty on the run and Wizball was also amazing.

[@BastichB64K]

Yeah me and a friend completed it multiple times in 2 player

[@Reactivate100]

@@BastichB64K 🙂

[@RetroDavePlunder]

Nice video! Dragon Breed is also an amazing conversion. My absolute #1 is Enforcer, Katakis has not aged well graphically and ship’s too big

[@BastichB64K]

Dragon Breed is good as well 👍

[@merman1974]

Great list. I am a fan of Phobia and X-Out too. For me, I would rather play Enforcer than Katakis/Denaris but that's personal choice.

[@BastichB64K]

Yeah i totally get that and respect it 😎🕹️👍

[@adamwhite4215]

Great video! What game is the song from that is playing at 18:40? Sounds very familiar and it’s bugging the heck out of me. Thanks!!

[@BastichB64K]

Im currently at work so I cant turn up the volume but the end credits has a list of all the music .. I Made this video months ago so I cant remember what music I used when lol there's so much in there 😂

[@OperationPhantom]

A bit late to the party... but a very good list and nice to see IO at least get an honourable mention. Yes, it's probably too hard but addictive nonetheless and a real looker. The inertia in Zynaps is perhaps a bit "controversial" as the Spectrum game didn't have it and some find that makes it more playable... always liked it on the C64 myself, visually and aurally almost perfect but HARD. Hades Nebula is another flawed but intriguing vertical shooter (imo) with a great Ben Daglish soundtrack.

[@BastichB64K]

I actually forgot about Hades , wouldn't have made the 10 but it was pretty good though a bit too slow for me 😂. IO was great just too hard even in my heyday 😂 and I never got the big deal over the inertia in Zynaps , felt good to me 👍😎

[@MindWipe]

good picks :)

[@BastichB64K]

Thx 👍👍

[@Spoticus]

I've been trying to get into the C64 after buying the Maxi a few months back. The controller is really tough with games like pigs quest or katakis. Do you have any recommendations for a USB controller to place c64 games on?

[@BastichB64K]

Simply use a PS4 controller on a maxi it works pretty well

[@richardslotboom9250]

​@@BastichB64K ps3 controller also works very well😊

[@bitoxic]

Hades Nebula is a good one! 👍

[@BastichB64K]

Yeah that was decent, played it back in the 80s

[@BossMachineAmiga]

Great list! Delta pretty hard but also extremely long. Bit sad it didn’t make your top 10.

[@BastichB64K]

Yeah its good but not a fav , i dont like the memorization mechanic to survive its just like playing the jet bike stage in battletoads but with way cooler music

[@oldy27]

Can't wait! 😍

[@gavindownes2213]

X-Out was called CrossOut.. you can hear it being said at the very beginning. I guess they just went with it :)

[@BastichB64K]

That speech sample does not in any way sound like cross out ... At least to me 🤣

[@PurpleKnightmare]

My favorite kind of games!

[@BastichB64K]

😀🕹️👍👍

[@rhyshovey-RPH]

Ha ha, io and delta are truely impossible! When i was in high school, we had to keep "egg children" in psychology, i named mine Zaxxon synthaticus moog.

[@BastichB64K]

They are ridiculous, even as a kid at my peak gaming skills they were super hard 🤣🤣

[@vaderbase]

Armalyte is number one hands down.

[@davidclark8260]

It was surprising that IO was included on the c64 mini, the difficulty is infuriating to say the least, a casual player would be thinking WTF after a few tries. Katakis and Armalyte worthy top spots 👌

[@BastichB64K]

Yeah its a shame the difficulty really ruins a well made game , i managed to get far as a kid but it was wayyyyy to difficult

[@davidclark8260]

@@BastichB64K very true, it's not a shoddy game by any stretch. I had TMNT and Double Dragon 3 on the NES as a kid and completed both, so may have done better with IO rather than as an aging gamer now! By the way are you a fan of Panther? One of my favourite shooters, although it is isometric so wouldn't fit in this list. I had it on Atari XE in childhood, and play it on the c64 mini now.

[@BastichB64K]

@@davidclark8260 yeah Panther is good , never played it all that much but I did like it

[@TheRetroManRandySavage]

Love the aliens games, even though they were a disappointment after playing aliens on the arcade.😂

[@BastichB64K]

Aliens arcade is legend ... Nothing else Aliens comes close to that coolness 😎👍

[@TheRetroManRandySavage]

@@BastichB64K I put much of my allowance into that arcade game as a kid, lol. Did you ever hear about the other way to kill the queen at the end? Instead of going in the loader and pushing her out of the airlock, you just keep firing at her for 7-10 minutes and the queen will eventually explode on screen. 👍

[@BastichB64K]

@@TheRetroManRandySavage no never knew that , that sounds a bit tedious... 7-8 minutes is a lifetime in arcade styled games

[@TheRetroManRandySavage]

@@BastichB64K very tedious, lol. I thought it was just an urban legend of sorts, so I had to try it and see if it was true. Gotta admit though, after nearly 10 minutes of trying I thought, "this better not be a wind up" lol.

[@BastichB64K]

@@TheRetroManRandySavage 🤣🤣👍

[@rinazzle]

Looks like Forgotten Worlds was forgotten 😁

[@BastichB64K]

😂 not really , its good but not Top 10 good for me anyway

[@spacefractal]

There was a nasty annoying bug in Katatis, a least in my version im did have: A bug in a arae im not remember, if you die, then you cant avoid the enemies behind you on the respawn point (not rememeber which area its was). Lol. Sad as its was ineeded a excellent shooter. The big ship wasent a issue either. But that game did have a fast disk loader, that only took a second to read a level. hence im returned to that game quite often, dispite that bug. So great game anyway.

[@BastichB64K]

Yeah my ship would sometimes just explode in Katakis for no reason and X-Out had some collision detection issues but they were still great regardless

[@turbinegraphics16]

Its surprising that amiga doesn't really have that many good shmups, these ones are much better.

[@BastichB64K]

Yeah even the C64 conversions to the Amiga are horrible ... Play the Amiga version of Armalyte and prepare to cry 🤣

[@DjKorppi]

All of these were too new for me to remember. I had already moved to Amiga before these came out.

[@BastichB64K]

You must have moved on fairly early then , still good stuff to check out

[@gamingtonight1526]

Weren't games like Rescue on Fractulus shooters too? Yet it will never appear in a video like this, so what genre would it appear in? There were so many genres on the C64, you will always miss many games!

[@BastichB64K]

Well since i specifically titled the video horizontal and vertical shooters no fractalus would not be here 🤣 . I dont know what you'd put it under , its a bit of a hybrid . I did a video on it also in my Retro Remakes. series

[@nanorider426]

I played Phobia and it was too hard. Unfortunately I never completed the game but I agree with you, it was something entirely different from the norm.

[@BastichB64K]

It is hard for sure ! most of the classic era shmups are difficult

[@nanorider426]

@@BastichB64K Oh yeah. Most of them I couldn't finish without a trainer. But Phobia didn't have a trainer.

[@syncrow76]

@@nanorider426 Have you tried the 2-player simultaneous mode. This is the best shooter experience on the C64. You can power up the other player by firing at his ship. The he gets a slow massive shot that almost goes through everything that is in its way. The game has some weaknesses (planet selection and multibple compulsory moon enterings), but apart from that it is just fantastic.

[@hannessmulfsson1484]

Starting on the moon level first and picking up two orbs makes it a lot easier.

[@lemonsummer8484]

I am missing "Mega Apocalypse" take a look to this fantastic C64 Shooter

[@BastichB64K]

Like i said in the intro to this video its specifically about vertical and horizontal scrolling shooters not fixed screen ones . I know the game its very cool & played it a ton , love the music 👍👍

[@lemonsummer8484]

@@BastichB64K do you ever played the cross fade shooter "No Mercy" on C64. Grafics, music and the gameplay is amazing for a C64 game. Do you know this game??

[@BastichB64K]

@@lemonsummer8484 the operation wolf clone ?

[@lemonsummer8484]

@@BastichB64K Yes. In Germany it was added No Mercy in a full version to the German C64 Game Magazin "Game on" From the basics it looks for real like Operation Wulf. In my eyes is the smooth scrolling with big tanks, helis and animated soldiers (i like the river scene) and the great gameplay a masterwork on the C64. Or do you know anything else Crossfade Shooter on C64?

[@BastichB64K]

@@lemonsummer8484 that is a really good one , the real Operation WOLF conversion was also pretty good

[@markwilliams1941]

R- type was impossible to play because of the crippling multi load on tape. It made you tense and you could never get anywhere.

[@BastichB64K]

I only ever played the disc version which was no issue

[@markwilliams1941]

@@BastichB64K lucky , I wish I had a disk drive at the time.

[@hannessmulfsson1484]

I don't think IO is that hard, you just need to memorize the levels and always try to have two satellites, they will make you invulnerable for one hit each. And if you like IO also check out Hewson's Slayer. Personally I would have added Hades Nebula to the list, it's a flawed masterpiece.

[@BastichB64K]

Slayer is quite good played that a bunch and Hades which like you say is flawed but still decent👍

[@satan3959]

Run and guns also should get a video

[@BastichB64K]

All in good time , although the genre is pretty slim on the c64

[@Waterboyofsuperman]

@@BastichB64K you could have a miscellaneous shooters top ten with pseudo 3d games like operation wolf and fractious mixed in with run and gun.

[@BastichB64K]

@@Waterboyofsuperman yeah theres a lot of options , I'd personally find it hard to compare op wolf and fractalus though . I'll keep going with the big well defined genres and once those are all done I'll decide on the smaller stuff 👍👍👍

[@MrMLD1972]

❤

[@BastichB64K]

👍🕹️

[@pacbilly]

The only thing that bothers me about Katakis is that your ship is SO HUGE on screen. Doesn't seem to leave a whole lot of room for maneuvering / everything else.

[@BastichB64K]

Never really an issue for me personally , its not a bullet hell game so its very easy to dodge ... In fact its one of the easiest games on the list

[@pacbilly]

Oh man, sounds like you might've had a cold for the SWIV portion of this video.

[@BastichB64K]

I had covid 🤣so yeah

[@pacbilly]

@@BastichB64K Oh wow, well glad you came through it okay!

[@BastichB64K]

@@pacbilly yeah all good , this video was made a loooong time ago only just released it

[@kalsolarUK]

Swiv is painfully hard and limited on lives on the c64

[@BastichB64K]

Its tough but rewarding once you get far

[@thedddemon]

IO

[@skywalkerranch]

I never had an amiga but most of the videos that i see say the games were poor and often the C64 version was a lot better.

[@BastichB64K]

Amiga was a great system its simply that when it came to 8-bit conversions to the Amiga they just didnt know what to do with them which resulted in very underwhelming versions of great games .

[@thedddemon]

Nothing matches the elegance of Armalyte. Katakis looks ugly as hell and the player's ship is awkwardly large.

[@BastichB64K]

Sure