Lighthouse by Orbic Entertainment

Links: Yoyo Games

Lighthouse is the only game I've seen involving, well, a lighthouse.  And it's done very well.  Control the lighthouse to not only warn away friendly vessels from crashing, but burn away enemies such as pirates and mines (I thought they were animals at first).  You burn by focusing your light using the 'E' and 'W' keys or you can simply lay down mines using the right mouse button to blow away enemies and make big combos.  I have yet to achieve the 1000 points needed to have a Steamer vessel appear on screen, but I will keep trying.

 

Illusion Trails Eternal by Crimzure Games

Link: Yoyo Games

Illusion Trails Eternal is an interesting puzzle game.  Roll a Smiley face ball around various courses, collect all the crystals, then head for the exit.  Various additions such as an inventory and the ability to eat things to give temporary advantages helps to keep the game interesting and helps to set it apart from other, more static puzzle games.  A simple password function makes it easy to start your game right where you left off.

 

Iji by Daniel Remar (Remar Games)

Links: Original Site, Caiman

Every once in while a game will come along that leaves you breathless and wanting more. Iji is just such a game. At its basic level it is a shoot-em-up side scrolling platformer, but Iji has been programmed with far more than that. Along with a thoroughly engaging story line, inventive enemies and Boss battles, Iji also has many unique touches to it that add much to the game and to it's replay value. At the start choose to either complete the game as a pacifist, bypassing as many battles as possible, or as a berserker, slaughtering everything in your way. How you choose to play will alter how the game plays out. Also includes bonuses, secret weapons, and the ability to either upgrade or combine weapons to make new ones. With hours of game play you'll be enthralled for a good long time.

 

Star Wars: Battle of Yavin / Battle of Endor by Bruno R. Marcos

Links: Original Site, Caiman (Yavin), Caiman (Endor) 

I'll admit it; as a kid, and like every other kid out there, I wanted to see what it was like being in the climatic final battles of the Star Wars movies. Well, now you can with two games by the same author. Battle of Yavin recreates the final fight of the original Star Wars movie while Battle of Endor recreates the final fight of the third film. Both place you in the cockpit of an X-Wing in full 3D epic space battles, complete with Star Wars music. I couldn't have asked for more. Well, except for full ship skinning as the original games were programmed with shaded gray models. Luckily there are full Mods available on the author’s site to add detail to both games. The controls themselves are kept simple; the mouse to move, the left mouse button to fire, 'Q' and 'A' to speed up and slow down, 'Z' to change to torpedoes and 'X' to change firing style.

 

Hovertank 3D by Martin Crownover Games

Links:  Original Site, Game Maker Games, Yoyo Games

Hover Tank was voted as one of the best games to be made with Game Maker at the official forums and it's not hard to see why. The 3D capabilities in Game Maker are limited, resulting in tonnes of bad 3D games, but Hover Tank uses those limitations to make a truly great game; simple shapes are used to create a pleasing atmosphere. HT3D itself is a straight forward shooter: control a tank and blast away at enemies in different 3D environments. Multiple ways to play, including missions and single arena games, means high replay factor. When starting out, practice quite a bit and set the accuracy of the enemies to '0' in the options, otherwise you'll find yourself blasted out of existence fairly quickly.

 

Cosmic by Virtanen Games

Links: Original Site,  Yoyo Games

Cosmic is an entertaining game as it combines side scrolling action with RPG in a good way. Plus, despite the fact that the main player is equipped with a gun, violence is kept to a minimum; it's used more as a tool than a weapon. Fly between worlds to collect stars by performing different tasks, completing riddles, and playing mini-games. Great fun all around. It's worth it to check the other games on the site as well.

 

Space Oddity by Bouncing Fox Productions

Links:  Original Site, Softpedia , Caiman Free Games

Space Oddity is, in it's simplest form, a Space Invaders clone, but it's so much more than that.  Intriguing enemies, fantastic orchestral music, varying and engaging levels and a unique Boss helps to put Space Oddity above the usual Space Invaders knock-offs.  Truth be told, it didn't even feel like I was playing Space Invaders when I played this game. The game is presented as two player but a single player can play by themselves, though I wish the key controls reverted to more traditional layout during the single player mode.

 

Nanaca Crash by Helgoland

Links: Original Site, Albino Black Sheep, Starcreator

You wouldn't think a game where you crash into a high school student with a bike and send his corpse flying through the air would be fun but...well; maybe you would think it fun.  I certainly do.  Nanaca Crash is a Flash game in which you do just that; launch a high school student through the air in hopes of gaining the longest flying time.  Along the way you can bounce him off of other people, men and women, in order to increase the flight time.  Generally the male targets offer power-downs while the female targets off power-ups (save for the Blocker and the Stopper).  Also available are special moves which can be activated by pressing the spacebar when the word 'special' flashes on the screen (they are randomly chosen from the female targets).  The previously mentioned Blocker and the Stopper targets actually have the most powerful special attacks.The entire game is controlled by the space bar, either by pressing it when the Special flashes or when the corpse is in the air, causing the bike to teleport in and hit him either up or down.  It's incredible just how fun this game is, despite the minimal user input.

 

Perfect Cherry Blossom from Team Shanghai Alice

Links: Team Shanghai Alice, Acid Play, Mega Games

Perfect Cherry Blossom is the 7th game in the fantastically bizarre Touhou Project series.  If you've never heard of Touhou, then you don't play many SHMUPs.  It's incredible to think that one person, Zun, is responsible for most of the games in the series.  If you've not heard of this series they are essentially vertical bullet hell shooters involving girls instead of the classic ships seen in others shooters.
In Perfect Cherry Blossom the player has a choice of three different girls, Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame or Sakuya Izayoi.  Each has a unique type of game play so it's essential that the player discover what best works for them and fast:  the action is relentless in it's onslaught and the unprepared player will soon find themselves looking at the 'Game Over' screen.
The main menu and in menu choices are provided in Japanese and English so it's not difficult to follow along, though the story is presented in Japanese only.  Not really a big thing though; just blast away to your hearts content.

 

Die Slave from Sexy Death Entertainment

 LINKS: Mega Games, Acid Play, Caiman Free Games

Die Slave from Sexy Death Entertainment is a stunning horizontal shooter with 3D graphics.  What sets it apart from most other shooters is the customization available to the player and the amount of weaponry.  The player can select from three different ships, each of which of have multiple firing mechanisms (hold down Z and X for a mega blast weapon).  The different enemies are rendered in full 3D and are quite stunning to look at (the 2nd level Mech Boss was incredible to watch in action).  All said, Die Slave, is a top notch shoot-em-up that can compete against purchased shoot-em-ups.