Game of the Day - Halley's Comet '87

 

Halley's Comet '87 (which is a clone of Halley's Comet - don't know how I wound up playing the clone) is a quasi-old-school shooter with a lot of extras.  It was made to coincide with the comet appearing in 1986... The graphics are on par for that era, but I really like the gameplay and (especially) the power-ups.  It is a vertical shooter where you are heading toward and protecting the Earth from Halley's comet.

Some of the things I like about it: The speed and action of the game is superior, the controls feel right, the enemies have a WIDE variety (you aren't stuck shooting the same kinds of things), the approach of the enemies varies (some swirl around, some dive bomb) and mostly, the power-ups are important, varied and plentiful.  Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia about the power-ups...
 

To assist you in your fight, many power ups are available. These are obtained by shooting smaller rocks which float past you. Power ups are triple front cannon, mini ships, wide spread cannon, increased speed, increased maneuverability, forward shield, and at the end of each sequence of power ups a wild card special in the form of a smart bomb, a complete power up of cannons or a full complement of mini ships.

The power ups are also multi-staged in that the first triple front cannon you pick up will give you standard size triple shots. Picking up additional triple cannons will increase the shot size.

Picking up mini-ships increases the player's fire power such that when they are picked up they fall in on the player's left and right wings and fire single shots as the player fires. By pressing the Hyperspace button, a mini-ship can be used as a screen clearing smartbomb.

Finally, there is a radar/map up the left side that shows where you are and gives you a number indicating what percent you have finished.  I'm a sucker for gratuitous data.