Scarper!

Scarper! is a side scrolling shoot 'em up where the player's task is to protect ten computer programmers who have escaped from a prison on the planet Tubark. The programmers walk across a scrolling landscape that the player flies over and they have to walk many miles to reach the rescue ship located at the far right of the playing field. As they do so they will be under attack by the crudilites whom the player has to shoot before they can do any harm to the group of wanderers. The player's ship has an energy gauge that depletes when making contact with the enemies or the ground or when firing excessively. When it reaches zero a life is lost but it can be replenished by not firing.