Zybex

When the first wave of enemies explodes on screen and your little character races through a landscape full of lasers, it is clear that Zybex takes no prisoners. This hellishly fast shooter for the Atari 8-bit is among the most demanding things to appear on the eight-bit platform, and to this day it keeps its reputation as a game that spares neither the player's reflexes nor their patience.

The foundation is classic horizontally scrolling action, but with unexpected depth. You collect weapon icons, and depending on which one you pick up, your arsenal changes — from basic shots through homing missiles to deadly beams. The charm and the curse at once lie in the fact that the choice of weapon is often a gamble: the icons rotate and you have to press the trigger at exactly the right moment. The game also supports two players simultaneously, which makes it an ideal title for evenings together at a single monitor.

Visually, Zybex pushed the Atari hardware to the limits of its capabilities. The background scrolls by at a brisk pace, enemies fly in in dense formations and the whole thing holds a smooth framerate that was not a given on eight-bit. It was precisely the technical execution that was often praised as proof that even a cheap budget title could look and play first-rate.

The game came out at the end of the eighties in an era when British budget labels churned out cheap cassettes for the masses of players. Zybex became one of those titles that sold for a few pounds but offered an experience comparable to more expensive competition. For many Atari 8-bit owners, it became a symbol that a cheap game need not mean a cheap experience.

The difficulty is steep and at times almost merciless, which put some players off, while others found in it exactly the challenge they were looking for. Today Zybex is among the favorite tips of enthusiasts who want to show what the eight-bit Atari could do in the hands of capable programmers.

Why play: A brisk, technically polished shooter that will test your reflexes and entertains even more with two players.