Been playing a lot of scrolling shooters lately to make some progress on the various retro game collections I've had hanging around - ironic because it really isn't a genre I have much attachment to, so if you're a SHMUP head add a half or full star to all my reviews for your own reference. That said this is one of the better ones I've played, with incredible visual design. The organic enemies are fantastic, literally the first thing that flies at you when you boot up the game is a flock of flying squids. Incredible. Plays well too, although I don't like that the power-ups replace each other - definitely prefer the games where you can load up with a crazy build, although this way you don't lose as much if you die, so there's ups and downs.

One of the best things Sega Channel ever did for me, and one of the places where Xbox Game Pass falls short, is not show the box art on games. Clicking a button that just said "Bio-Hazard Battle" in text and then having Bio-Hazard Battle happen is the reason people download huge lots of ROMs, not knowing what they are, just to hit load and go "what the hell is this" and get an answer you'd never see coming. Though, admittedly, this box art specifically isn't the best setup for what actually happens in Bio Hazard Battle, piloting a giant nematode or whatever through science hell to shoot the living fuck out of everything that pulsates. This game is sick and I miss mystery.

Not since “The Lord of King” have I seen such a limp wet towel of a Japanese original name for a game that was mercifully changed into something forgettably appropriate instead. “Crying”? Are you kidding me? Did you stub your toe at the same time you were coming up with that? What’s the sequel going to be, Giggling? Grow the fuck up, we’re calling it Bio Hazard Battle. It’s a battle, you’re fighting biological enemies, and yeah sure, I guess they’re a hazard to your immediate health. If you don’t like it, then you know who’s really going to be crying? The localization team, when they suddenly find themselves packing up their shit out of their offices because corporate just saw the sales figures for North America and realized no nineties boys wanted to buy a game called Crying. CRYING, for fucks sake

Biohazard Battle is a simple, medium difficulty STG that excels in presentation. The game feels like it begins immediately. Its OST blares over the SEGA logo as soon as you turn it on, leading you seamlessly to its start menu. After selecting your ship, the game begins as its dropped from a large mothership and the player ship descends from space through the planet's atmosphere and then finally the horizontal shooting segment that takes up the rest of the game. The slow blending of the black space and the blue atmosphere effect, the crescendoing music, the transition from the logos to the menu to the game itself, all as the OST supports these images—it achieves a unique cinematic effect that I not only haven't seen in other shooting games, but in many games period, even those whose whole purpose is to blend cinema and gameplay.

The remaining game has a sense of cohesion and verisimilitude as you travel through various biomes and take down the bug themed enemies. Its a pretty good console horizontal shooter, with caveats. The power up system is somewhat limited—there are a few different colored pick-ups as usual, but there's no upgrade system you usually see in STGs, so it makes the gameplay feel samey even though the levels and enemies have unique and interesting designs. It's always fun though. What really sets it apart is its presentation and style, not its gameplay.