Gradius V was made by the infamous Treasure software company and showed you how to make a great shoot em up

Raiden Fighters was different to the first three.  It was created by Psiyko and was considerably faster and to some extent harder.

Raiden 3 was another great game that Treasure made and I have it for the PS2.  You may think that I work for Treasure and Psyko but I don't.

Ikaruga is (what a surprise) another great Treasure game. :-)

Tecnosoft made a brilliant series of 2d shoot em up and I played most of the.

Thunderforce 3 ( Megadrive / Genesis )

Thunderforce 4 ( Megadrive / Genesis )

Thunderforce V ( Sega Saturn).  Known to be so hard that you had to squint to play it properly.

Nichibutsu Arcade Shooter Terre Cresta.  I Was at school when this game was released and it might look like ass now but in 1986, it was one of the best games I ever played.

Area 88 / Un-squadron was a hard game to complete ( but then again, I was a lazy bastard at the time. )

Mars Matrix; I think it was another Psiyko game but don't quite me.

These are just a few to get you started.  I have posted link to some of the best companies that should be considered when buying old skool games.

Toaplan was big back in the late eighties and early nineties but are bankrupt now.  More

Treasure Company is by far one of the most influential 2d shoot em up companies ever.  Their a small outfit but produced a very high quality product over and over again.  More

Psiyko are another huge company that still churn out amazing games.  More

Seibu Kaihatsu made the first Raiden games and you will notice that the pace may seem mundane in comparison to there latter Raiden games made by Psiyko. More

Irem are best known for creating R-Type but did make other great shoot em ups.  More

Konami are a huge company today but made the likes of Gradius, Salamander and Parodius just to name a few franchises.

If I have missed a company, don't hesitate in emailing me.

 Davesworld