PUBLIC MARKS with tags shmup & www.1up.com

ABA Games is a little Japanese company that has dedicated itself to that strange, videogame induced Nirvana, and they've produced a half dozen games that'll help you get there. Stranger still, they don't want a penny for it. How enlightened.

Shooters are the foundation of the video game industry, dating back all the way to the 1960's with Steve Russell's classic Spacewar. Since that time, the genre has been responsible for bringing much depth to the world of interactive entertainment, popularizing vital concepts like the power-up and the end-of-level boss which are still used in many of today's greatest games.