Arcade: 8.5/10
Genesis: 5/10
Master System: 0.5/10

Potentially the most technically-impressive game ever, at least relative to its launch year. Sega's mastery of scaler technology and cabinet schematics suck you into a high-speed burst through an infinite stratosphere. Less a shooter and more a racer in the way enemies are simply fodder for increasing your time, and masterful play comes from going full-throttle every opportunity you can.

The Genesis version is how most people experience this game though, and it's a terrible first impression. Doesn't feel like a completed product, with how many environmental tiles got replaced with linedraw canvases. It's a lot more fun to play once you already 'know' the ins-and-outs of GFII Arcade though; the systems and visuals don't feel as vague. It gave me the same feeling as playing 2600 versions of Atari's arcade titles. Hell, even if it doesn't 'look' good, the amount of objects it pushes on-screen is pretty sweet for 1991, and the OST is marginally beefier than arcade. A 'bad' port, but a nifty complement to the main attraction.

Stay the fuck away from that Master System port lmaooooooooooooo what were they thinking

Reviewed on Apr 08, 2023


1 Comment


Playing any version of this other than on MAME or the amazing PS2/3DS remasters just gives the worst impression. It’s a hard, immense experience which the early home ports couldn’t do justice. Not even the X68000 was beefy enough for this. I agree that this has to be one of the all-time untouchable tech pushers; Virtua Fighter 3 comes up often, but it still got a quality home port in under three years after release. This game took way longer for competing arcade and consumer hardware to adequately run.