Exerion is a vertical scrolling space shooter developed and published by Jaleco, released in arcades in 1983 and ported to the NES the same year. You pilot a lone fighter against relentless waves of alien enemies โ insect-like swarms and geometric attackers that dive and wheel in formation across a parallax-scrolling starfield.
How to Play
Your ship carries two weapons: a rapid-fire single shot (Z / B button) and a double shot (X / A button) that fires two bullets simultaneously. Double-shot ammo is limited and replenishes slowly, so save it for tight clusters. The game’s defining trait is inertia โ your ship drifts a beat after you release the d-pad, which means you need to position yourself a moment early rather than snap to a lane at the last second.
- Arrow keys โ move
- Z โ single shot (rapid-fire)
- X โ double shot (limited ammo)
- Enter โ Start
- Shift โ Select
Tips
- Work with the inertia, not against it โ nudge into position a beat early and let the drift complete rather than correcting at the last second.
- Reserve double shots for dense enemy columns; two simultaneous bullets through a tight formation are worth far more than singles.
- Enemy waves follow fixed patterns. After the first few loops the dives become predictable, and routing yourself ahead of a wave beats reacting to it.
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