Chelnov: Atomic Runner / 1988 / Data East / Data East MC68000 Hardware
a killer, largely forgotten arcade title with an absolutely incredible Genesis port / upgrade that will cost you next to nothing. pick this one up! Data East will forever be the king of “B movie” equivalent video games. they aren’t going to technically blow your mind, but you’re gonna love the cheese and fun factor.
DoDonPachi II: Bee Storm / 2001 / IGS / IGS PGM Hardware
the black sheep of CAVE’s DoDonPachi series, Bee Storm is developed by IGS as a test of the hardware for the possibility of future licensing of it from CAVE. reusing assets from DoDonPachi and having super simplified gameplay mechanics, this title gets the cold shoulder a lot. it’s actually a ton of fun! while it’s far from perfect, it’s got a strange modern-meets-classic shmup appeal to it and is very enjoyable.
this game isn’t emulated in MAME yet due to the protection used on the ROMs.
Sol Divide / 1996 / Psikyo / Arcade (and much more)
Sol Divide is Psikyo’s “odd man out” of their shmups. adventure and RPG elements along with melee combat all stuffed together in a fairly ugly shmup. it’s far from perfect, but also perfectly charming. give it a go, as the PlayStation ports are pretty much dirt cheap. somehow, i remain a fan of this little gem.
