As was the case with Tanuki Justice, I'm surprised people on here seem to dislike this game.

Flying Hero is a vertical cute 'em up with an aesthetic that reminds me of Kirby above all else. You get three different power ups (although one of them is pretty much useless), bombs and homing missiles on top of the ability to curve your blasts by tapping the shoulder buttons. In addition, you have a hit point system similar to some Compile games where getting hit will just take you down a level with death occurring if struck holding a tier 1 weapon.

The way powering up actually works in this game is a bit confusing. Unlike most other shmups, collecting the same weapon two or three times will not increase its strength. Instead, you need to collect three cupcakes for level 2 and another three to be at full power. It sounds confusing, but even an idiot like me was able to adjust. It's also quite easy to manipulate this system- just avoid the cupcakes if you have two (kept track of in the right hand corner of the screen) and full power. Next time you get hit, you can just snag the third one and be back at the tier you were on before.

Design wise, flying hero really doesn't do anything too unique other than the curving shot trick but it more than makes up for it in charm. The whole time I was playing...it felt like something I would've loved as a kid had I discovered it in the early 2000s around the same time I was enamored with Kirby, monkey ball and klonoa. Sure, Twinbee is better, but I still found a lot to like here in the seven stages presented.

I do have two grievances to bring up other than the somewhat odd powerup system. First, your character sprite is pretty damn big for a shmup. It's a good thing that the bullet density is kept pretty low or else this would've made the game frustrating. It also explains why the health system is so forgiving- this would not have bode well under normal shmup rules. Second is that none of the three speeds really felt right. Speed 1 was a bit too slow, speed 2 is zippier than I would've liked, and I only used 3 on the final boss' last phase since he charges at you incessantly.

That said, the game is still worth playing especially if you're looking for an easier entry in the genre to play and finish in under an hour. Just don't expect it to be among the best of the best or brimming with originality.

A decent vertical shmup done by developer Sting. Despite its colorful visuals, it never really strives to do anything the genre hadn't already done by 1992. Acts for the most part are decent to good outside of Act 5 which was a pretty bad one. The weapon system is small in fact the game also only uses 2 buttons with one being a bomb that is surprisingly bad for what's it's meant to be used for. There's only three weapons that level up three times but they keep the levels even when you switch to one and then back. This is also a shmup where you can take multiple hits before death.

Bosses feel kind of rudimentary? Like none of them feel like they're unique even in this game in a vaccuum. I just felt very unimpressed with them in this game, maybe it's because a lot of their projectiles can be beaten out by yours? There was one boss that I swear is impossible unless you have your homing helpers. This game also has controllable speeds by hitting select, up to 3 levels. Honestly it's not the worse I've seen this implemented but it could be better, I only had to use the slowest speed once. The game does look nice but nothing about enemy designs are that outstanding, same goes for the environments. Maybe I'm just spoiled by something like Twinbee.

Flying Hero is decent but you could also find much better in this era. I wouldn't say you should avoid it but just don't go in expecting something amazing.

Vertical shooter. You can adjust your speed, fire bombs, and in an usual feature hold L and R to direct your shots to the left or right or hold both to fire behind you. Your health and weapon power is connected to collecting three small cakes or one large one that can enhance your power twice, getting hit drops power by one. Enemies and bosses are mediocre, none of the other weapon pickups seems like they would be more useful than the default, stage design is dull, music is instantly forgettable, it is almost impossible to die until the last stage and death starts you in the same spot you died. Playable but does nothing well.

Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1676493912553422848