This week in video games

As a little kid, Space Invaders and Galaga were easily my favorite arcade games.  There was something about their sci-fi theme and the nature of shoot 'em up game play that just clicked for me at that age. I was hit with a wave of nostalgia recently and snatched two sci-fi vertical scrollers of eBay.

Jaguar Bomber 

Platform: Watara SuperVision
Publisher: Watara Industries Limited
Developer: Bon Treasure
Release Date: 1992


The title is a bit of a misnomer in that there are neither jaguars nor bombs in the game. So, if you were hoping for a game that let you strafe the rainforest, boming majestic felines onto the Endangered Species list, you are out of luck. A more accurate name would be something along the lines of “Slow Moving Alien Fighter,” but that's decidedly less cool sounding than “Jaguar Bomber”. A vertical scroller, the first thing you'll notice is the sloth-like speed of your ship. Then there's the total lack of power ups. You do get an extra life every 20,000 points, but still, it's be nice to have some shields, auto-fire, a mega bomb, or something. It's a fairly challenging game, with the exception of the level bosses. Strangely, they are one of the easier elements; the first level boss doesn't move or change the direction of his shots, you just position yourself between his weapons and leisurely blast him into oblivion. Between the Watara's grayscale lcd and the game's unsophisticated graphics, there are some visibility issues, but it isn't that big of a deal. What is a major problem is the lack of a grace period when respawning; your new ship flies onto the screen and can instantly crash into an enemy or be shot down before you have a chance to move. Nothing new or revolutionary here, but still a fun little shoot 'em up, especially if you like things simple and a little unpolished..

Zarlor Mercenary

Platform: Atari Lynx

Publisher: Epyx
Developer: Epyx
Release Date: 1990

If Jaguar Bomber is on one end of the vertical shooter spectrum, Zarlor Mercenary is at the other. The game is rich with power ups, the bosses are a pain, the graphics are fantastic, and even the name makes sense; your a mercenary for Zarlor. This has the faster ship movement of the two, but the game feels far more sluggish than Jaguar Bomber. A large part of that is due to the the attack waves of 15 to 50 enemies, which reduces your mobility and forces you to repetitively blast away at one area. The slow rate of play and level of difficulty make the replay value fairly low. It's fun at first, then still kinda fun when you play with the cheat codes, but finally begins to feel like a chore to blast your way through the levels. This isn't a bad game, but it could have been so much more.