Should you fail to find every warp portal with every second picture piece, however, you will fail to get the best ending. While the Japanese version was released as a standalone game, in the US it was put on a multi-game CD with Bonk’s Adventure, Bonk’s Revenge, and Bomberman (via hidden code) bundled with the Turbo Duo and the Super System 3.0 Card. Shop for Curse on eBay. Despite not having cutting-edge graphics or especially innovative gameplay, Override (known as Last Battalion in its X68000 release) is good fun and has great pixel art. PC Engine SuperCD. Shop for Cross Fire (Super Airwolf) on eBay Combined with the jaws, it can be fun to see if you can make it through the first level without firing. I know that many if not all of the Japanese only games will also work fine in US systems by using a Game Genie as a pass through (no codes needed), a Genesis 3, or (please don’t mutilate) widening the slot to accommodate the Japanese carts. Those that enjoy Blazing Lazers and Super Star Solider should feel at home with this gem. From what I can tell, it’s a vertical shooter, but it doesn’t look anything like a standard shmup with the cute and colorful appearance. Overall, due to the import price tag (for North Americans) Zero Wing is a game that is best left to collectors who are completionists and people who are interested in it just for novelty’s sake. Publisher: PalSoft/NEC The game has unique enemies on every area and some great effects like a rocking effect that can give you vertigo. Gaiares is horizontal shmup released stateside by Renovation. Aero Blasters is a game developed and published by Kaneko. PC Engine SuperCD. Overall, the weapon system is rather diverse, giving you an opportunity to experiment and find your ideal playing style. Publisher: Taito The story is pretty standard for the time, with you being sent in to eviscerate a group of bad guys who have stolen military equipment, and plan to use it on the rest of the world. Alright people, I'm in another rush of game buying, so I am after 2D space shooters/platformers for these systems: NES SNES GameBoy DS DreamCast PS2 XBox GameCube N64 If there are really good ones for other systems, post them as well. Shop for Fire Mustang on eBay The PS1 library is so big that it's hard to go through the whole thing. However, like the classic Blazing Lazers, Sylphia is a welcoming shooter to both novices and diehards. Taito’s Insector X and IGS’s Cyber Core came first, and Cyber Core set itself apart from its PC Engine and 16-bit peers with its unique presentation. Another interesting thing about the levels is that, while they can be lengthy, the often branch in different directions. 1991 While navigating the mazes, there is no navigation to help you track your progress or destination. The biggest knock on the game is that it lags, and to be honest, it can get pretty bad at spots. PC-Engine SuperCD. 1991 Each stage must be cleared by fulfilling a necessary condition, usually by defeating a group of enemies or a sub-boss. What set the Star Soldier series apart from other shmups of the era was the customizable weapon system. However, the music does seem more balanced with the sound effects than the muted tunes in Gate of Thunder. There is nothing wrong here; Verytex is a pretty vanilla shmup developed by Operahouse and published by Asmik which never saw a release outside of Japan. Shop for Viewpoint on Amazon.com, As you may have guessed from the title, evolution plays a key role in this one. This is highlighted in the boss fights at the end of the game’s eight stages. During the game’s compelling boss battles your ship transforms to its mech (Battleroid) formation and fires the weapon continuously, allowing you to use the buttons to change the angle of your shot for a full 360 degree field of fire. There’s also some secondary weapons to equip such as homing missiles and defense orbs. PC Engine. The larger hitboxes definitely add to the challenge, but your characters also move nimbly to help compensate. Difficulty is still balanced pretty evenly and increases mostly on the last three stages; everything flows well enough that it never gets boring. There are a few other shooters listed in here, but we aren’t going to be extensively covering run-and-guns or most multi-directional shooters at this time. Gate of Thunder’s gameplay is strategic and resembles Thunder Force with a twist. It’s not a long or difficult game though, and is a largely forgettable experience. Aldynes: The Mission Code for Rage Crisis, is a horizontal shmup developed for the SuperGrafx in Japan. The US version of Elemental Master was published by Renovation. Are you ready to be prosecuted to the full extent of the jam? The later levels start showing some intense challenges including missiles (some homing) threatening from both your front and back, quick projectiles, enemies that bounce and some crazy bosses. The four ships each have advantages and disadvantages over the other ones and there are plenty of power ups to find throughout the game’s eight stages. Sprinkling in interesting sound effects and Japanese speech rounds out a solid experience. on Amazon.com, Several complaints that people often have with Genesis games versus Super Nintendo usually involve criticizing the sound and graphics. Thankfully, obtaining a copy will not cost arm and leg, the game is fairly affordable. Some levels are simple and can be beaten on the first try while others may take a few attempts. You can roam freely on the stage and your goal is to kill the bad guys and the things that spawn them (not unlike Gauntlet). Developer: Compile Collecting green orbs increases the power level of the active weapon. In addition to standard power-ups, you can also buy spells, which perform special attacks or heal Ripple. Wow, that was quite the tome. The only criticisms that one might have are against an annoying sprite flicker that can occur when the action heats up and that some of the sound effects can get aggravating after hearing them for over twenty minutes. The slinky is able to move along the floor, walls, and the ceiling by slinking along them; it can also make a short jump to move between walls and platforms to slink to a different section of each stage. The graphics have been ramped up, and the difficulty, while not excessive, was a good mix between Super Star Soldier and Final Soldier. When you get the shot power-ups, you get little sidekicks that add to your shot range. The overall color presentation and background design is excellent — perhaps only exceeded by a few games on the PC Engine like Sapphire (mentioned above). Grabbing extra red icons while you already have options will grant you a smart bomb. Figured it would be good to separate them — especially since this one is so long already. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMQFTXkefg4. It’s your job to make sure it doesn’t happen, and while the story doesn’t represent anything great, it doesn’t get in the way either. Other helpful items are scattered throughout the journey including shields, multiple shot, and energy to replenish your health bar. The smaller “normal” sprites also make the heartier sprites look even larger. Overall, Download 2 is a really solid title, but perhaps not as impressive as one might expect when jumping from a HuCard to a Super CD format. Metamor Jupiter is a lesser known title from a lesser-known studio which, at first, may seem somewhat humdrum and humble. 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