When I was young, I used to play the "Aero" style "Sky-Scrollers" 'most everyday.
I mean, I wouldn't play Racing games, Fighting Games, Sports Games, Shooters (the gods FORBID!), or anything else.
It was long before "Athena Asamiya," "Mai Shiranui," and "Sakura Kasogano" became my 'Life-Long" girlfriends ('til death do we part).
Before I "met them..." I was...
A PILOT
I would fly high over the skies and beyond the Atmpsopheres and Stratospheres of our galaxy in vehicles like the Vic Viper, Falcon-X, and whatever the hell they call that thing in Raiden.
Yes. I was in Heaven... for $0.50 every two seconds!
"What makes you even want to play those types of games?"
My brothers would ask harshly.
"You can't ever beat them!"
Oh-ho! Beat them I did... and then they'd start over--at an even more difficult level!
What blazes in hell pushed gamers like you, like me--to the edge in the air like that?
Aero Fighters - 3,000 bullets on the screen at one time. SURE you could shoot many of the projectiles, but as soon as you hit one, 300 others you can't shoot come flying your way at over a-billion miles per hour.
Raiden - What sadistic scum created such a game for me to be as a virtual masochist and desire to die just so I may have another set of bombs to provide the illusion of a "shield" (bullets disappear when you drop a bomb in just about all of these kinds of games) that would eventually guide me to the end of the game... only after 300 something tries and more than $40 attempting worth of tokens spent?
Gradius - The classic fun goodness of this awesomely challenging game. Shoot millions of enemies and get a power up! Home of the 'Option' or "Mock Ship." This game has forever changed how we think of the term "Options."
*Evil Businessman Laugh*
*Destroys Large Corporations like Sony & Nintendo up with Konami Options...wait... 'Nintendo was our Producers and Distrubutors...! S***!)
Darius & G-Darius - Fish, mutants, and other monsters that shoot more "water" and other projectiles at you (in the extremities of space!?) than they would normally breath in their natural habitat (water).
Life Force - Ah, the classic. Fly inside the sun and fight a "Brain lobbing" skull near the end. Battle "Bad-A-Z Blood Cells" and "Shoot Back" arms that reach for you (on the first level). This game was just good clean fun. Not quite as challenging as say "Raiden" or "Aero Fighters," but certainly made up for this with fun factor (and suspense while in the Sun... LOOK OUT!)
*Flame Jet shoots up from bottom of screen and engulfs Vic Viper*
"Vic!"
"Huh...Agh!"
*Second Player Pulled Under*
*Game Over*
Final Assessment
The most fun I had with all of those was
Aero Fighters.
So many countries, and something about the bright colors, short (but witty) levels, different "Bombs" (and "Normal Projectile Attacks,") as well as "Fun Music" (Especially on Aero Fighter 3's final level, "Ap! Geep Monkey! Work it! Ap Gee Monkey1 Hit Me!" or whatever it is that was said) made it one of my favorite "Sky-Scrollers" of all time. Gradius and the original Darius Gaiden in close 2nd and 3rds. Life Force was also a blast (but was quite different from the average challenging "Sky-Scroller" in that you could run into mountains and the likes and there weren't so many bullets. I'm hesitant to even call this one a "Sky Scroller" as this one was more like "Contra" or "Jackal..." OOops! All by the same Company [Konami]! ^^
And the most difficult game [due to sheer challenge] of this type for me was...
*Horns* *Da-dada-Daaaaaa!*
*Cymbol Crash*
Raiden 2!
TRICK answer.
To this day, I still have not completed this game. I even purchased it for the PC and with 3 lives and 3 credits (9 lives total), I still can't win--nom atter how virociously I attack nor elegantly I dodge. I've gotten to level 5 out of 6 (I hope 6 is the last!)
I haven't had time to play it in almost a year, but Mone(?)'s comment in my PS3 topic sent me to reminiscing.
But that's not important for your minds.
My question to you is--
Which "Sky-Scroller" did you have the most fun with growing up/
Not only the ones I listed, but any one of the "Sky-Shooters" you can think of.
List them like this (if you will please)
1. <Most fun for you>
2. <The most difficult for you>
I look forward to hearing from you! (we-hel! Reading the response conceived from your mind and typed through your fingers!)
Take care.
Whole Heartedly,
-Tiger M. Gales
(On a recollection trip of nostalgia... Thanks Mo Ne! [for the reminder])
Interlude To The Challenge Of Game [Sky-Scrollers] 
