Horizontal blasters have to be one of my absolute favorite genres of arcade and home games.  The first one I ever played that blew my socks off was the Atari 2600 Vanguard‚ which coincidentally got an improved Atari 5200 release and an unofficial port to the Atari computers. The games on  this list run a gamut from Scramble style classic  cave blasters‚ space shooters and even a few games that add more adventure to the mix‚ but do not disappoint with the shooting actions. After researching for a couple weeks‚ I have found that‚ again‚ like most genres on the Atari computers‚ there are far too many good games to cover in a single digestible video‚ so I have narrowed my list down to just the ones I feed should be highlighted first.  So please‚ sit back and enjoy my list of the 25 essential AStari 8bit horizontal scrolling SHMUPS in alphabetical order.   First Up is Airstrike II AirStrike II from 1986‚ released  by  English Software is considered a classic of early UK Atari 8bit gaming‚ and while I find it very challenging‚ it  adds an extra element to the Scramble style formula by requiring you to shoot the fuel or you will run out of lasers weapons‚ which can be deadly.  Atari Blast from 2016 by Paul Lay is THE shooter you have to play. The first level is vertical‚ but every other level after that switches to Horizontal and is an absolute showcase for what SHOULD have been done with the mini-Amiga in the 80s;  Attack of the Mutant Camels from 1987 Mastertronic / Llamasoft‚ code by legend Jeff Minter ‚ is his Llama based zarjaz filled clone of the Parker Brothers Return of Jedi 2600 that more than makes up for the fact the original official release never saw life on the Atari computers Callisto‚ a homebrew from the 2012 ABBUC contest by Cosine‚ looks great‚ is fun to play‚  doesn’t have one hit death‚ but is still a huge challenge on your joystick hand and fire button finger. The official Defender arcade port  released in1982 by Atari was coded on an Apple II and even though it doesn’t use all of the capabilities of the Atari 8bits it’s an absolute blast to play and shows the kids of fast graphics that can be obtained even without used of the GTIA and antic by simply blasting pixels to the Atari’s memory addresses. Dropzone released 1984 US Gold By legend Archer MClean takes the unofficial defender port he was working on and shows what can be achieved by using all of the Atari’s special chips and processors making likely the best Defender  styles game released so far for the platform. The Eliminator is a  1982 Adventure International  release that requires you to fly your plane over the landscape‚ blasting enemies and rescuing prisoners while adding the unique ability to fly and shoot at angles and not just straight ahead. In The Extirpator!‚ a  1988 Firebird release‚You control a large spacecraft flying over various landscapes and shooting at hostile objects that approach from the right side of the screen‚ while on your side is a multiple hit health bar and a powerful laser weapon tends to overheat right as you need it the most.   Fort Apocalypse released by 1982 Synapse is a  Steve Hales classic that‚ like a few games on this list‚ is primarily a horizontal shooter‚ but adds some vertical exportation and rescuing to the mix‚ making an extremely well presented‚ challenging and fun experience.  Laser Gates a 1982 developed by 1985  Imagic release for the Atari computers never got it own release outside of an Imagic compilation‚ but is one of the absolute best classic shooters on the 8bits and shows exactly how Imagic should have been upgrading their 2600 games for the 400/800 in 1982 and not just releasing straight 6507 to 6502 ports. In Red Rat’s  very enjoyable 1986 release  Laser Hawk‚ your civilization is under attack‚ and it’s down to you and your Laser Hawk helicopter to Destroy the five heavily defended bases belonging to Proc Irata‚ while dodging ordinance and refueling in the air.  Released by the APX as Caverns of Mars II  and then Antic in 1984 as Mars Mission II this Greg Christensen ‘s scramble-like follow up to his impressive classic Caverns of Mars  is quite fun and probably the best of it’s kind until Playsoft’s homebrew Scramble came about more than 30 years later. In Mirax Force‚ a  Chris Murry codes‚ 1987 Tynesoft release‚ we find of the first a handful of Uridium‚ destroy the dreadnought defenses then land and blow it up‚  clones for the Atari 8-bit machines‚ and unlike most of the clones‚ it separates the foreground  immovable death shattering objects from the foreground destroyable objects much better than much of its competition.  Oxygène BE‚ a 2020 update to the Original from 1988‚ is a German Uridium clone that looks every bit as good as the  C64 original‚ with the only thing missing being the incredible Andrew Barybook musical score.  Protector 2‚ a 1982 Synapse release‚ and a Mike Potter classic‚  adds a little bit of strategy and human rescuing to what is essential an enormously entertaining  blast fest requires you to save 18 people under threat by the Fruxullan Slime Hoards to the city of hope before the volcano explodes.  You can always count on Pauk Lay and Playsoft to deliver and Scramble‚ a  2018 unofficial arcade conversion is the best of its kind of the Atari 8bit machines‚ probably only bested by Pauk Lay’s own Atari Blast.  Shadow World‚ another Mike Potter release from  1983 by Synapse has you destroying Bosconian like Rigilian empire mother pod ships‚ and other nasties with you blaster and smart bombs as they are slowly descend from the sky to attack your planetIn  Sidewinder‚ a  1986 Futureware release by the same developer as the upcoming  on this list Thunderfox‚ is a vet challenging Super Cobra style “heli in caves” style arcade carefully  maneuver and blast fest.   Super Cobra the 1983 Parker Brothers official arcade port release was the very challenging best of it’s kind in the early A8 Bit years‚ and one my personal favorite cartridges top lay in out Atari 800 when it was released‚  In the multi-way asteroids style genre defying Survivor‚ a 1982 Synapse game by Richard Carr‚ developer of the also genre defying Air Support‚ you have to fight your way through endless fortresses of mounted turrets and asteroids‚ if you really wanna be a ‘survivor’. Thunderfox is a 1987 Atari XEGS release that is  better than the sub 5 out of 10 score it has on Atarimania‚ but is not up to par with the other Uridium clones we have listed so far‚ is notable because it adds the necessity to replenish your smart bombs by flying back to the left side of the screen and visiting your mother ship‚ which adds strategy to a game that has a few too many background scenery deaths. The SNK Vanguard arcade port from 1983 by Atari was only officially released on the 5200 and is every bit as fun and  difficult as its unique horizontal and sometimes diagonal and even other times vertical  arcade counterpart .  X:8 a 2013 ABBUC winner by Pereira and Brown as a home brew horizontal extra weapon collecting blaster‚ only bested on the Atari 8bits by Playsoft’s Atari Blast‚ and has oodles of charm that will keep you blasting for quite a while.  Zeppelin‚ is a 1983 Synapse release  Mataga coded brilliant games that like Fort Apocalypse‚ adds some adventure elements to what is an outstanding blaster and a unique experience that was only bested or equaled by Blaster Master on the NES. Zybex‚ a 1988 Zeppelin release‚  is considered by most Atari 8bit fans to be the best classically released extra weapons style horizontal blaster on the 400/800/XL/XE and who am I to disagree.? Bring a friend to your Atari 400 mini because it allows two players to work together to escape execution while collecting Zybex crystals in order to fight Zybex itself.  That’s all for this time. Like I said‚there are far more than 25 games in this genre‚ please send me any that I missed so I can add them to a followup video.  Until next time‚ have fun playing your choice of horizontal blasters on the machine of your choice‚ in the vertical blank‚.