THE UNCONVERTED
Arcade games that never made it home
TENKOMORISHOOTING
DEVELOPER: NAMCO YEAR: 1998 GENRE: SHOOT-’EM-UP
■ Fans of lightgun games will often cite Point Blank as a great example of the genre, and it’s easy to see why – it’s packed with variety and humour, and will thoroughly test the marksmanship of any gamer. But did you know that Namco had applied the same gameplay template to traditional vertical shoot-’em-ups? It’s true, and it’s a bit of a forgotten classic too.
Tenkomori Shooting is a rather obscure game in which you need to get a monkey to the top of a tower – four, six or nine stories high depending on the difficulty you choose – by completing shooting minigames. On each floor, you get to choose from a few different games. One might task you with destroying a certain number of enemies, another might require you to shoot targets in a certain order, or maybe give you a limited number of shots with which to hit your target. Succeed, and you’ll advance to the next floor. Fail, and you lose a life.