Blazing Lazers

Blazing Lazers is a 1989 vertical shoot-em-up from Hudson Soft for the PC Engine, sold in the West as the TurboGrafx-16. Japanese players know it as Gunhed, and it still ranks among the finest shooters of the console's early years.

The foundation is genre classic: a lone fighter climbs the screen while an enemy armada scrolls beneath, and everything that moves can be shot down. The magic sits in the power-up system — collected modules switch between several main weapons, and each can be stacked into ever more destructive forms. Managing your arsenal matters as much as dodging.

The PC Engine practically lived on shoot-em-ups. The genre was the console's shop window and the internal competition was merciless, yet Blazing Lazers held its ground through brisk pacing, readable action and the generous feeling of power once the weapons bloom to full strength.

Hudson Soft was one of the platform's pillars, and its shooters carried a reputation for dependable craftsmanship. This is a single-player affair, the standard arrangement for vertical shooters of the day, built around chasing high scores one credit at a time.

Best of all, this classic is playable here and now — open its page on OldGame.cz and the fighter lifts off right in your browser.