Tyrian 2000

I was looking for an arcade space shooting game and this one is terrific. It is so much better than some of the other paid alternatives. The steps by 'alejandronova' made it run much smoother as well.

A great vertical scroller. Its got some RPG elements like story and the ability to get stronger over time. Its fun to keep upgrading your ship and finding out which combination of weapons work out best. Its got some unique elements that takes some trial-and-error to work out, like how the energy bar relates to the shield and armor, or how the money system and weapon power levels work. On the other hand, the graphics are very choppy and disappointing especially for its time when it came out in 1999 (even for its time, there were much better looking 2D games). The controls are a bit floatly, where it seems like there's a bit of a delay after pressing a key for the ship to stop moving in that direction. These things are easily overlooked since the game is just fun and fast-paced, and not require any big time commitments.

The game is very good..Wonderful if you want an "old style" experience..with tons of enemies to shoot and destroy with your ship in this amazing shoot'em up..and you can upgrade and modify your battleship with tons of weapons and equipments..Now for the smaller flaws I have to talk about.. I really like the replay value of this game..but when you try to re-play it in a harder difficulty..c'mon guys!..I had to try 1 million times to pass the first level..and even on normal some levels are just unfair, with enemies that can kill you in less than a second with a single shot... If you can get this game for less than 3 $ I think it is a good deal for some hours of fun and enjoyment.

Best vertical scroller! And it's free!

Played this first on a 486 many years ago, on modern hardware it is a bit nippy but still solid gold gameplay