Exerizer

Exerizer © 1987 Jaleco Company, Limited.

The gameplay of Exerizer is that of a vertical shooter in the style of Galaxian, but with eight-way movement across the screen and parallax scrolling for the stars backgrounds. The game can be played by up to two players in alternating turns.

At the player's disposal to fight the approaching enemies, some of them made in pseudo-depth 2.5D graphics with scaled sprites, is a small space fighter capable of firing two types of projectiles: the unlimited but slow rockets and the fast laser shots that are limited by draining the ship's power. The power can be refilled and the ship itself upgraded by collecting the power ups that appear after destroying certain enemies.

Similar to Gorf, the game features several different types of waves. The player progresses through most of them by either destroying all the enemies or alternatively just surviving their attacks for long enough time. For instance, one stage has a Galaga-style gameplay against rows of monsters led by four witches who are vulnerable only when they open their cloaks, while another features enemy warriors saddle perched on either serpent-like Chinese dragons or Western-style winged dragons. The dragons must to be hit repeatedly in the weak point of their heads to be killed, after which the riders themselves can be shot for a bonus.