Wraparound arcade action
This week, Hamster fly back into the mid-’80s to bring you an early entry in the vertically-scrolling shmup genre, Jaleco’s Argus, available now on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
Launching in arcades in 1986, just as arcade gaming began to revive from its initial crash, Argus featured fast, bullet blasting action and an interesting wraparound gimmick, where flying persistently left or right would merely scroll the screen back to your original location.
Players must guide their dinky ship against a flurry of attacks from land, sea and air, while also avoiding structures and scenery. As is often the case in the genre, power-ups can be collected to improve your abilities, affording you shields and better weponry. In a unique touch, players must land their ship correctly and steadily at the end of each level.
In many ways today, Argus is a little dated, and looks like just any other shmup. But it’s a fun little game, and worth a shot for classic shmup fans. Argus is available today on PS4 in Japan and Nintendo Switch worldwide.
