An overlooked solid SHMUP on the Genesis. The music is stellar in this game, perfectly complementing the bosses and the stages you go through. It's quite catchy as well. The artstyle isn't particularly unique in it's own right, but given the amount of Sci-Fi SHMUPs seemingly flooded the 4th gen, it is a very nice change. Enemies and their bullets are easy to recognise and avoid.
It is basically a better version of Phelios, that doesn't have it's speed locked behind power-ups and gimmick levels. This is is very much a standard affair, but the design of the first four stages are fun to traverse and avoid enemies in and an additional 4 you need to finish to beat the game. You're given a good amount of free space to experiment with your shots and the game promotes frantic movement with a barrage of enemies coming forwards and backwards. The story... is there. I didn't pay much attention to it but it wasn't very interesting. Granted, I don't play SHMUPs for their story but if you are interested I would reccomended reading the manuals or overviews as there is two twists that you'll miss if you just breeze thru the game.
Boss fights are probably the best parts of the game as there design directly compliment their patterns and are fun to fight as they don't pull any cheap tactics. However, the final boss can be a bit gruelling given how you have to beat each prior boss before beating him. It's not a unique thing to this genre, but i'd at-least prefer having the last boss on a separate stage.
Difficulty scaling however is all over the place, the inital 4 stages are moderately difficult (but I was able to 1CC on my first try), the next 4 stages are a different story, going from -easy-hard-easy-really hard. And within each of those stages that pacing is terrible as well. Sometimes there will be too much dead-space to even bother shooting enemies. You're better off just dodging them and charging your shot for whenever a difficult enemy appears.
I don't think it's good enough to 1CC, but if you want A) A better Phelios or B) A SHMUP from the early 90s that isn't Sci-Fi... Elemental Master is a solid pick and another fine addition to Technosofts library of SHMUPs.
It is basically a better version of Phelios, that doesn't have it's speed locked behind power-ups and gimmick levels. This is is very much a standard affair, but the design of the first four stages are fun to traverse and avoid enemies in and an additional 4 you need to finish to beat the game. You're given a good amount of free space to experiment with your shots and the game promotes frantic movement with a barrage of enemies coming forwards and backwards. The story... is there. I didn't pay much attention to it but it wasn't very interesting. Granted, I don't play SHMUPs for their story but if you are interested I would reccomended reading the manuals or overviews as there is two twists that you'll miss if you just breeze thru the game.
Boss fights are probably the best parts of the game as there design directly compliment their patterns and are fun to fight as they don't pull any cheap tactics. However, the final boss can be a bit gruelling given how you have to beat each prior boss before beating him. It's not a unique thing to this genre, but i'd at-least prefer having the last boss on a separate stage.
Difficulty scaling however is all over the place, the inital 4 stages are moderately difficult (but I was able to 1CC on my first try), the next 4 stages are a different story, going from -easy-hard-easy-really hard. And within each of those stages that pacing is terrible as well. Sometimes there will be too much dead-space to even bother shooting enemies. You're better off just dodging them and charging your shot for whenever a difficult enemy appears.
I don't think it's good enough to 1CC, but if you want A) A better Phelios or B) A SHMUP from the early 90s that isn't Sci-Fi... Elemental Master is a solid pick and another fine addition to Technosofts library of SHMUPs.