Irem, 1989

Well, we’ve reached the last entry in this series, but at least we’re going out on a high note. Irem’s XMultiply is an awesome horizontal shoot-em-up, easily standing shoulder-to-shoulder with R-Type. Sadly its gimmick probably made it hard to port to weaker hardware, so it’s nowhere near as famous as it should be. In this one, you can grab a power-up that makes two big metallic arms trail out from the back of your ship. Like Doctor Octopus’s tentacles, really. And just like those appendages, they’ll block any bullet that hits them and damage any enemy they touch. They also shoot, widening your offensive zone and allowing you to reach places you otherwise wouldn’t be able to hit. 

You can’t directly control the arms, however. They’ll move in step with how you’re moving your ship, so if you want them in front of you, for example, you’ll need to pull backwards. It’s a really cool mechanic. Combined with that great gameplay are some truly amazing level designs. They’re very much in the R-Type mold, but with a lot of cool tricks all their own. I love that the second stage has you moving around a massive organic battleship, slowly disassembling it piece by piece. I’ve seen that kind of thing in other shoot-em-ups, but it really works well here. A fantastic shoot-em-up and a wonderful game all-around, XMultiply is well-worthy of your time and effort.

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