Retro Video Games

Air Buster is a 1990 horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game developed by Kaneko. It was published by Namco in Japan and Sharp Image Electronics in North America (licensed from Namco). Two players control the "Blaster Fighter" star ships in their efforts to destroy a mysterious mechanical fortress orbiting Earth, with plans to take control of the planet. The Blaster Fighters can equip one of seven available weapons, which will change the ship's firepower and abilities, such as diagonal shots, homing missiles and small drones that follow the player's ship. Air Buster received a favorable reception for its visuals, sound effects and gameplay, although complaints were directed at the difficulty, which was deemed "too easy" by numerous publications. Ports of the game were released for both the TurboGrafx-16 and Sega Genesis, the former being renamed to Aero Blasters for international releases. The Sega Genesis release was ported over to the "Project EGG" digital storefront in 2014, which remained exclusive to Japan. A version for the X68000 was in development but never released. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Buster

After Burner is an arcade vehicular combat game developed and released by Sega in 1987. The player assumes control of an American F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, and must clear each of the game's eighteen unique stages by destroying incoming enemies, using both a machine gun and a limited supply of heat-seeking missiles. It uses a third-person perspective, previously utilized by Sega's earlier games Space Harrier (1985) and Out Run (1986), and runs on the Sega X Board arcade system, which is capable of surface and sprite rotation. It is the fourth Sega game to use a hydraulic "taikan" motion simulator arcade cabinet, one that is more elaborate than their earlier "taikan" simulator games. The cabinet simulates an aircraft cockpit, with flight stick controls, a chair with seatbelt, and hydraulic motion technology that moves, tilts, rolls and rotates the cockpit in sync with the on-screen action. Designed by Sega veteran Yu Suzuki and the Sega AM2 division, After Burner was intended as being Sega's first "true blockbuster" video game. Development began in December 1986, shortly after the completion of Out Run, and was kept as a closely guarded secret within the company. Suzuki was inspired by the 1986 films Top Gun and Laputa: Castle in the Sky; he originally planned for the game to have a steampunk aesthetic similar to Laputa, but instead went with a Top Gun look to make the game approachable for worldwide audiences. It was designed outside the company in a building named "Studio 128", due to Sega adopting a flextime schedule to allow for games to be worked outside company headquarters. An updated version with the addition of throttle controls, After Burner II, was released later the same year. After Burner was a worldwide commercial success, becoming Japan's second highest-grossing large arcade game of 1987 and overall arcade game of 1988 as well as among America's top five highest-grossing dedicated arcade games of 1988. It was acclaimed by critics for its impressive visuals, gameplay and overall presentation, and is seen as being important and influential. It was followed by a series of sequels and ports for many platforms, including the Sega Master System, ZX Spectrum and Nintendo Entertainment System. Sega also produced several successors to the game to capitalize on its success, such as G-LOC: Air Battle. After Burner has also been referenced in many other Sega video games, such as Fighters Megamix, Shenmue and Bayonetta. A port of After Burner to the 32X was done by Rutubo Games, and was known as After Burner Complete in Japan and Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_Burner

Gley Lancer is a 1992 scrolling shooter video game originally developed by NCS Corporation, published in Japan by Masaya and in South Korea by Samsung for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. It was re-released in 2019 by Japanese publisher Columbus Circle. A port was also released in 2021 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. It follows Lucia Cabrock, daughter of Earth Federation Navy admiral Ken, who disappeared while fighting in a war between humans and an unknown alien race that possess the ability to teleport, joined by her friend Teim on a journey to save her father by stealing a starfighter. Controlling the titular fighter ship, the player must fight waves of enemies and bosses, while avoiding collision with their projectiles and other obstacles. The Gley Lancer ship is equipped with two satellites options, whose positions and formations are determined by the player. Gley Lancer was produced by Toshiro Tsuchida, who left Masaya in 1993 to found G-Craft, a company known for creating the Front Mission and Arc the Lad franchises. Noriyuki Iwadare, best known for his work on the Langrisser, Lunar, and Grandia franchises, was involved in the soundtrack as one of four composers under the music production company Cube. The game garnered mixed reception from critics upon release, most of which reviewed it as an import title. The original Mega Drive version was re-released through download services for other platforms. The Nintendo Switch port received generally favorable response from reviewers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gley_Lancer

The Genesis version, developed by Clockwork Tortoise and published by Sega, is a run 'n' gun where both Batman and Robin must stop Mr. Freeze, who plans to freeze Gotham City. In order to keep the duo busy, he also frees the Joker, Two-Face and the Mad Hatter, each one with their own agenda. The Joker celebrates his birthday wreaking havoc in Gotham and stealing diamonds, Two-Face tries to take over the city from above, and Mad Hatter is creating a robot army in his surreal lair. The game can be played by two players simultaneously; one player with Batman, and the other with Robin. Both characters are identical in terms of playability, and both use batarangs, bolas, or shuriken in long-range attacks, while using melee attacks at short range. There are four levels consisting of several stages, mostly of a straight left-to-right traverse to the end where the boss awaits. In some levels the game switches to a side-scrolling shooter, in which the players must control the Batwings. The Genesis version of the game was released on August 2, 1995. The game features a dark electronica-styled soundtrack by Jesper Kyd. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Batman_%26_Robin_(video_game)