A classic arcade space shooter built in PICO-8.
Survive 10 waves of increasingly aggressive enemies, collect power-ups, and face the boss. Your best score is saved between sessions.
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| Arrow keys | Move |
| Z / N | Fire |
| X / V | Use medkit |
- 10 waves of enemies with scaling difficulty
- 6 enemy types with distinct movement and attack patterns
- Boss fight at wave 10 with multiple simultaneous attack phases and an enrage mechanic
- 6 collectible power-ups dropped by enemies
- High score persisted between sessions
- Screen shake, hit flash, and border feedback effects
- Parallax star background
| Enemy | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Drone | Flies straight down |
| Basic | Fires a 2-shot burst when aligned with the player |
| Strafe | Bounces off screen edges while shooting |
| Diver | Locks onto the player then dashes at high speed |
| Sniper | Telegraphs with an orange targeting line before firing a fast precision shot |
| Cross | Fires alternating 4-way bullet patterns (cardinal then diagonal) |
| Boss | Bounces across the top; cycles through cross burst, aimed shot, and spread fan attacks; fires independent sniper shots; enrages at 50% HP |
| Icon | Name | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Shield | Absorbs the next hit | |
| Rapid Fire | Increases fire rate for ~30 seconds | |
| Bomb | Destroys all enemies on screen instantly | |
| Spread Shot | Fires 3 bullets per shot for ~30 seconds | |
| Speed Boost | Doubles movement speed for ~20 seconds | |
| Medkit | Stores a full heal — press X/V to use |
- Open PICO-8
- Load the cart:
load space_shooter - Run:
run
Or clone this repo into your PICO-8 carts folder and load from the splore/editor.
- PICO-8 — fantasy console
- Lua — scripting language used by PICO-8