2. Gyromite (NES)
3. Lucy -The Eternity She Wished For- (Steam)
4. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (Famicom)
5. Radical Dreamers (SNES)
6. Video Games 1 (TI-99/4A)
7. Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken (Famicom)
8. Exile (TurboGrafx CD)
9. Exile: Wicked Phenomenon (TurboGrafx CD)
10. Xak (PC Engine CD, Xak I・II)
11. Xak II (PC Engine CD, Xak I・II)
12. Neutopia (TurboGrafx-16)
13. Captain Silver (Sega Master System)
14. Märchen Veil (Famicom Disk System)
15. Vanguard (Atari 2600)
Vanguard is an old SNK arcade game that was ported to the Atari 2600 and 5200 shortly after its release. I believe there's also an Atari 8-bit prototype out there, though I'm sure you're all aware that Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit games are virtually identical minus their respective control schemes.
What we have here is a really solid shmup with alternating horizontal and vertical stages. Your ship can fire in four directions, dependent on what direction its flying. There's a fuel gauge, similar to the one in Konami's Scramble, but here the fuel is refilled simply by defeating enemies. This is great mechanic; I never liked dipping to the ground to grab fuel tanks. Vanguard does offer up the occasional "E tank" (they look like the ones in Mega Man) though these are used to grant temporary invincibility.
Vanguard is not a rote one-stage looper, but a "lengthy" quest that culminates with a final boss battle. There's even a map screen that appears between stages to indicate progress. These elements alone make it exponentially more complex than the standard Atari game, and arguably more enjoyable. I can even see the "1985 and up" crowd getting behind this one.
The controls are solid and I didn't even feel tempted to swap out my Atari stick with a Genesis controller. Graphics are impressive and the game features that "rainbow" checkerboard style commonly seen in old Atari games. There's no music of course, but the staticky explosions are as satisfying as ever.
I strongly recommend sticking around after the first loop, as the challenge increases incrementally and fairly. Also, there's an unexpected continue feature included, which makes this a great choice for shmup novices as well.
This is one of the best shmups of its era, besting legends like Defender, River Raid, Scramble, Super Cobra, and others. I own a boxed copy of the 5200 port as well, though I have yet to play it.
There's also a Vanguard II, which didn't receive a port until the PSP release of SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 0. I tried it once and don't recall being particularly impressed.
Moar Atari games to come.
