This gets a lot of brownie points for being very charming and Sega-y, and unfortunately that's the majority of what it has going for it. As a game it's not all that exciting - a simple brawler with its very standard and dull combat obfuscated by unusual aesthetic subject matter. Both the (rather one-note, actually^) weird alien designs and weapon-based attacking are really just skins over your classic DOUBLE DRAGON stuff, so it ends up feeling a bit pointless. Probably the most fun parts are the very simple first-person segments because it is so empowering to just annihilate absolutely everything on the screen with non-stop gunfire. Also the parts where your character just starts running at 100 mph out of nowhere to do a quick on-foot scrolling shooter level, which is hilarious.

No matter what the gameplay is like, though, the opening scene and especially the ending credits are so goddamn charming that you can't help but begin or end a session of this with an "oh, youuuuu," feeling towards the famous Sega team who made it. You just gotta love 'em! Wish there was more to this though.

^There's only like one boss! What the hell?! How do you make a game like this that lives on its goofy enemies and do ONE boss??

I walked away enjoying this far more than Golden Axe and the first SOR. It's a bit faster paced and you have the ability to run as well as dodge roll which makes it feel surprisingly modern for an early brawler. The on-rails shooting sections also help break up the monotony that plagues even the best in the genre- the final boss being set up this way really took me by surprise.

It can still play a little dirty in some spots as it is a port of an arcade quarter muncher (I just like saying that because I know it triggers elitists like Mark from the electric underground haha). For instance, there were spots in those aforementioned shooting sections where taking damage seemed inevitable as you're using a slow moving cursor. At least there aren't bosses who can one shot or chop your life bar in half like SOR or anything remotely close to the bullshit that is Golden Axe's magic spamming final boss.

Despite its problems, I think this may be one of my favorite early titles on the Genny alongside GnG and the fantastic port of forgotten worlds.

Team Shinobi's final game as Team Shinobi is another iteration on the side-scrolling "beating them up" formula using all the lessons learned from the prior games. It has Golden Axe/Kunio-Kun style free movement, Shinobi's short/medium range attack patterns and FPS minigames, and from Altered Beast they wisely didn't take anything.

The character and enemy designs evoke the 80s special effects films—the designs and setting made me particularly think about 80s homages to 50s films, like Tobe Hooper's Invaders From Mars and Chuck Russell's The Blob. The characters all play differently enough, and the game can be somewhat difficult. It can look ugly, and it can feel awkward and frustrating, but this game has an air and style to it that just makes me want to return to it more than any of their other games. I can easily see myself plucking away at this again during the Halloween season.

So, originally, I wasn’t planning on covering this game at all. I didn’t even know too much about it, until I decided that I wanted to try out Alien Syndrome, because why not. I was gonna play the version featured on the Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection, but in order to unlock the ability to play it, I had to play through this game’s first couple of stages without dying once, and I went ahead and set out to do that. Ultimately, I did this challenge, and I unlocked Alien Syndrome to play, but then I realized something: I was having a good amount of fun with this game, even when I was only a couple stages in, so I said to myself “You know what, fuck Alien Syndrome”, and decided to play through Alien Storm instead.

Now, in theory, I should hate this game instead of loving it, because in a lot of ways, it is VERY similar to Golden Axe, a game that I didn’t really like too much. It features a lot of the same gameplay aspects, a lot of the same direction when it comes to how the sprites look, and even some of the same modes of that game. But, what ultimately pulled me in where Golden Axe didn’t was that this game is ACTUALLY GOOD. In fact, it is REALLY GOOD, and I had a great time discovering and experiencing it. It isn’t too unique compared to other games out there, but regardless, the gameplay and theme of the game pulled me in.

The story is incredibly generic, about aliens invading and you having to kill them, but then again, the story really doesn’t matter, the graphics are on the same level as Golden Axe, except they are better here with the color choices and designs of the enemies, the music was pretty good, although I can barely remember any of it, the control is a little weird to get used to, especially with some of the moves you can pull off, but it isn’t too bad to handle, and the gameplay achieves the great beat-’em-up that Golden Axe WISHES it could pull off.

The game is your typical side-scrolling beat-’em-up, where you take control of one of three characters, go through various stages, defeating an endless horde of alien menaces, using super attacks that you fuel with various energy capsules throughout the game, and you take on bosses and other threats along the way. Yeah, it is all what you would expect, and it is almost identical to Golden Axe in the presentation and how you play, but this game ends up being much more fun than Golden Axe for several reasons.

First off, the combat in the game, rather then being slow and clunky and weird, is actually pretty fast, energetic, and intense, which makes the game so much more enjoyable as a result. Sure, it does have some beat-’em-up hiccups, like getting hit by enemies when you feel like you shouldn’t but this game fixes that by giving you a dodge-roll button, which helped me out of a lot of tight situations that I wouldn’t have been able to get out of without. Not to mention, I prefer a sci-fi theme over a medieval one, and there are plenty of options for difficulty and for the energy bar, so of course I would enjoy this game more overall.

In addition to this, there are also several gameplay changes that mix things up and keeps the entertainment value going. The first of these are shooting gallery sections, where you shoot up a bunch of aliens from a POV angle, and you gather a bunch more energy capsules and health. Again, not too new of a concept, but the fast action, reaction times, and reward for these sections are what make them much more memorable and enjoyable. Secondly, there are also fast running segments, where you will be shooting aliens while running from left to right in a shooter fashion, and it follows the same trend as the other segments: not too original, but very satisfying and exciting to take on.

Now, of course, there are things that are holding the game back from me considering it perfect, even if these complaints are pretty minor.. First off, while I do like the sci-fi theme more for this game, and the designs of the aliens are pretty great, they don’t really go anywhere after a while, and they can become stale. Again, they aren’t bad, but I just wish more was done to really make the designs that much more memorable. Secondly, there are barely any bosses in the game at all. There are only three, with one of them being repeated, and they are spread out too far over the eight stages you run through, which does kind of suck, but at least the bosses themselves aren’t really the worst ones I have seen in a beat-’em-up.

The other complaints I would have about the game are even more minor compared to the other ones, such as the game getting a little repetitive at points, such as with the last stage, and the fact that they brought back The Dual mode for the game, which functions pretty much exactly like in Golden Axe, and still gives you no reward, so you wonder why they put it in in the first place. Having said that though, I still thought that the game was a hell of a lot of fun, and a blast to play through. It may not be as remembered and beloved as Sega’s other beat-’em-ups, but it definitely deserves to be right up there with them.

Overall, despite being basically Golden Axe but with aliens, the game manages to takes a lot of what that game tries to do, and makes them more more fun, fast, and accessible, while also providing new spins that keeps things interesting throughout. I would definitely recommend it for those who don’t really know about it, and especially for those who didn’t like Golden Axe. It will feel like a breath of fresh air in comparison.

Game #225

(played with MagneticBurn)

In which Team Shinobi finally stop shitting everywhere and make a solid arcade game (while under this moniker at least). Still has its share of issues, mostly feeling really choppy and having heinous sound design, but as far as everything else goes it's a massive step up from Shinobi, ESWAT and Golden Axe. Combined, even.

Once again, the Genesis version is probably better in all honesty. Everything feels nicer and smoother there, and all you're really missing out on is a couple silly cutscenes.

Absolutely loved this game. The arcade version was my first ever beat em up, which I played at one of my dad's hometown bars during the summer holidays.

Graphics, music, ambient. Rad lil game.

I told senpai Abel so much about it he bought it for his Megadrive so we could play together. Console version wasn't as polished, but still had the aliens the guns and the trash cans.