This game is a technical marvel and it plays really well too. Taking a horizontal shmup series and putting it into the gameplay of something like Space Harrier is no easy task. The game features lots of spectacle, challenge, and lots of opportunities to get a huge high score. The presentation and audio is still as good as usual for the Cotton series with the only unfortunate absence being the cutscenes for every level now being only for the opening and ending of the game. It’ll probably take you a few attempts to beat the game as it can be pretty hard and you only have one life and a few continues. Try to play well to achieve more life.

While the impressive presentation is an amazing achievement for the system, it comes with the unfortunate problem of the framerate being a bit low. It’s not the worst but it sucks that there will probably never be a good FPS version of the game. With that said however you should definitely try the game out as it’s one of the finest shmups on the system with a lot of replayability. It also has seen a modern rerelease though be warned that make sure you update it as it launched with inaccurate emulation. It also features a new translation but a fan one also exists. Sadly getting an original copy is expensive, especially brand new. Hope you enjoy this incredible game or at least get to enjoy the visuals and fast pace.