Great shooter, unfortunate slow-down due to hardware limitations.

Spectacular parody entry to the Star Solider series. Don't let the first stages fool you, the difficult increases later on. Ode to the PC Engine, Hudson-soft, and Fans alike.

1991

This review contains spoilers

Very solid horizontal cute'em up with spectacular music, and voice samples throughout the game. Colorful graphics with use of parallax-scrolling in later stages, that are visually appealing. Item and weapon power-ups are greatly inspired by Gradius having a similar method of upgrading and choosing a set at the start of the stage. Do not let the cute visuals fool you, this is a challenging game once you reach level 5. Prior stages are manageable with continues, becoming increasing more difficult starting on level 4.

The fifth stage will test your patience, ability to navigate tight corridors, that include a boss rush ahead. Once you get passed the lengthy final boss you are greeted to the stage from HELL - gravity controlling split second reactions are required. Overall a solid underrated horizontal exclusive shooter.

Very creative, challenging, exclusive shooter! You have three weapons that you power-up gradually, straight forward shot, backward shot, bottom & top shot. You also have an option to change the speed of your ship, a few moments they are necessary navigating tight corners and Stage 7 final boss. Interactive stages, strange mini-bosses is an overall experience. Difficult shooter but not impossible.

Outstanding run'and gun 2P action game that only improved on the original! Smooth animation, detailed sprites, graphical effects, and above all challenging difficulty. This time around you do have a life meter.

Intriguing early exclusive shooter. Forgiving continues, plentiful power-ups, beautiful soundtrack. I'd like to mention speed power-ups could be detrimental to accumulate when navigating tight corridors, tunnels, and could make it more difficult to dodge bosses bullet patterns.

This review contains spoilers

This game was cryptic!

On the surface you have a delightful pre-rendered 2D run 'n gun that included platforming, item collecting, unique hovering mechanic, complete with boss battles. What's not to like? The moment you press start to begin your journey on the first stage it became clear something is off. Several things are wrong. What is considered background and foreground in order to jump on, slippery walking and running controls, hit detection of enemies, hit detection of your gun. But that isn't game breaking, more of a nuisance instead - besides it wasn't programmed by some big name developer. Then you realize you need to utilize the flying mechanic of shooting your gun down while doing a running jump in order to hover over obstacles such as spiked vines. Tricky at first but eventually will need to become second nature to progress throughout later stages.

So far not a terrible game, sloppy but not terrible. Now I will explain the cryptic elements. Stage 3 has you needing to move by shooting, a briefcase to use as a trampoline in order to jump on a roof of an exit door. A second one in order to collect a poorly visible ticket stub in the air. Bosses show little to no indication they are being attacked. Your charge shot ability takes fifteen seconds to shoot that is practically useless since enemies will walk into you or shoot you from across the screen. Charge shot also doesn't damage bosses and certain enemies. I'm still unsure what the importance of collecting musical notes were. On top of all this is the quick deaths from leap of faith jumps, soon your credits will expire.

I will give credit to the Kitchen stage, and tunnel they were not as obscure on the requirements to complete them. The second to final stages falls back to being cryptic returning to several elevators, melting monsters, and retrieving headphones to name a few. The wheelchair stages were a good change of pace. Overall a very amateur, sloppy, experience with a fantastic soundtrack. If it wasn't for all the issues it would have been an average score but it suffers from several that make it unnecessarily more difficult then it should be.

Beautiful visuals, sloppy hit detection. Linear stage designs that become predictable. Interesting mini-games that take advantage of the hardware some work better than others.

Unique weapon based arena fighting game riding on dragons, a real one of a kind game. Closest similarity would be Psychic Force, where you have freedom to move and attack. At first I underestimated the depth but combos exist, special moves, super attacks, meter management (you must allocate in order to win) techniques to recover once your knocked off your dragon and more.

Detailed 2D fighting game similar to Vampire: The Night Warriors but with a unique boost mechanic that features a cast of robots. Continuation of Powered Gear series that doesn't disappoint featuring characters with short range attacks to long range. Decent length for a fighting game.

What a fantastic run'and gun and shoot'em up hybrid! You pilot a giant robot that can dash, jump, crouch, slash, bomb, and shoot your way through a slew of enemies coming from all angles including behind you. In the beginning you choose your robot or you can customize parts to make your own that suits your play style for example having a long-sword and homing missile combination.

Overall excellent action-packed 2P experience that spans more than ten stages. Once your robot is destroyed you eject similar to Metal Warriors and are now allowed to fly and shoot thanks to your jet pack - once you collect three power item pieces then you can re-build your robot suit.

Several steps down from the arcade original overall; average graphics, slow gameplay, although the unique formation feature is in-tact. Difficulty ramps up on stage 5 onward. I had trouble recognizing what was in the background and foreground maneuvering my ship. Tricky stages that requires the proper formation, but the bosses are a breeze once powered up.

Solid vertical shooter with a ridiculously long final boss! Without spoiling try to save as many bombs as possible for the final stage.

Average shoot'em up that features a whip ability to smack your enemies.