Arcade

Scramble
Woohoo! One of the very first sideways scrolling shoot-em-ups to inspire future generations of games such as R-Type and Armalyte. This was the next step up from Space Invaders and gave us something a little more exciting. Not only do you have to shoot and avoid vertical flying rockets and horizontal flaming meteors but you have to ensure you are fully fuelled by bombing the small dumps strewn about. Yes, bombs - 2 buttons needed here, one for firing your laser gun and one for dropping upto 2 bombs at a time. A masterpiece of gaming history that defined a genre.

Amidar

Following various clones of the acid-crazy Pacman came Amidar, another maze-based gobbler. The first level starts as a Pacman-lite affair utilising a gorilla collecting dots around squares. Once all dots are eliminated from around square it is filled in. Object: fill the screen. Later levels you become a paintbrush and must paint around adjoining squares - moving too far and you run out of paint. All levels have the usual empty-headed enemies with IQ the same as your shoe size. These guys make the ghosts in Pacman seem like Carol Vordeman. Nice game, easy to play but a tad boring.

Gorf
Here was a bargain for money game. For 10p you got to play Space Invaders, Galaxians, a Galaga clone, a Tempest-maybe and another something-or-other game. Potentially. Each level cleared moved you to the next game type and when all cleared you could start again but the game play was a little harder. As Brucie would say: Good game, good game - nice Brucie bonus. The best bit though is the fact the makers couldn't think what to call it so they spelt "frog" the wrong-way round. Listen out for the great sound effect as you change levels.

Nemesis

One of the best arcade sideways shooters. This game was converted to most home computers and consoles but none of the imitations match the original. It's full of great graphics, sound effects, music and playability. In my opinion it's better than R-Type, the Daddy of Sideways Shooters. The only sideways shooter better than this is the C64 version of Armalyte. This was the very first shooter to feature upgradeable weapons.

Donkey Kong
Monkeys in video games - who would have thunk it. Kong has survived the ages and still remains one of Nintendo's key players in the comercial industry that is taking the sweets out of kids mouths. Everyone knows this game - it's one of the very first platformers and one of the first to feature everyone's favourite cowboy plumber, Mario, here known as Jumpman. Jump over barrels, climb ladders and rescue the ugly princess. Better still, run Mario into a fireball and watch as he dances around shrouded in flames. The first game to feature a storyline.

Gauntlet

The ultimate 4 player bashing-the-buttons marathon. Each takes a character (Elf, Wizard, Warrior or Sexy Valkyrie) and runs amok in dungeon after dungeon, filled with a variety of creatures, trying to locate the exit. Magic potions allow you to rid the screen of all foe in one click of the fingers and the odd tasty Sunday lunch revives your health. But beware: "Wizard is about to die and needs health badly."

Galaga
Space Invaders/Galaxians clone with knobs on. The trick here, you see, is that the aliens swoop into formation before dropping in a barrage of missiles at your puny ship. Fab sound effects make you really believe you're killing the alien bastids. One of my favourite shoot-em-ups and a game that can be just picked up and played anytime. You can't go wrong with move left, move right, fire and avoid being hit. Great for hi-score battling.