Pocky & Rocky (SNES)

Arena
Checkpoints OFF
3 Difficulty levels
6 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Natsume
Published by Natsume in 1993

Even if by dint of small talk or Internet lazy exploration, many people are certainly aware to some extent of the praise Pocky & Rocky on the Super Nintendo gets from all sorts of sources. What a few might not know, however, is that the game is also a rare example of a console-designed sequel that improved and surpassed its arcade original Kiki Kaikai in every single way, exception made to the difficulty of course. Pocky & Rocky is not a quarter-muncher by definition, but it does offer decent challenge on top of a sweet colorful setting that makes for a great relaxed shooting time.

One could say the game is a cute'em up, which makes sense I guess. Most stage themes are dark but carry a fluffly design, kinda like Twinkle Tale on the Mega Drive, another sweet contemporary title that behaves like and arena push-scrolling shooter almost all the time. Much of the embrionary formula created in the previous decade is kept here, including the fact that you can't lock shooting direction and strafe, which on a first glance would require lots of moving around to escape bullets and hazards. The good news is that you have not only one, but two ways of safely dealing with that. And that's one of the reasons why Pocky & Rocky is such a joy to play.

But who are Pocky and Rocky, by the way? Pocky is a shrine maiden (a young priestess who takes care of a Japanese religious shrine) and Rocky is a racoon dog who comes to her in search of help because his siblings - the Nopino Goblins - have gone insane. And there they go, either separate or in co-op play, to discover what happened to the poor goblins and fight the evil entity who's behind everything. If you're into storytelling, Pocky & Rocky will certainly entertain you with lots of dialogue and panels that flesh out this story as the stages unfold, all of them properly written in the English language.

Pocky ascends to the skies at the end of stage 2
(courtesy of YouTube user A_alla_quarta Retrogames)

The multidirectional gameplay allows both characters to shoot (button A and Y for autofire), to wiggle a close-range attack (button B - the stick for Pocky, the tail for Rocky), to detonate bombs if available (button L or R) and to slide (button X). All these inputs can be remapped in the options. Right off the bat it's clear that the game allows much more flexibility than the dire conditions of original Kiki Kaikai. As I mentioned above, the only thing missing is the ability to strafe, which would help immensely with the diagonals of the SNES controller, but alas!

Discovering what Pocky & Rocky has to offer is, simply put, a delight. The game is gorgeous, the music is soothing and what seems to be insurmountable at first, such as the raft section that leads to the second boss, soon becomes more and more manageable with continued practice. Winning is pretty much a matter of patience and a little routing. Each life has a health bar that gets expanded for every level you're able to beat in the same credit, to a maximum of 8 hearts instead of the initial 4. Lose all hearts and lose a life. Lose all lives and the game is over, as you ascend to heaven with angel wings.

Items are found either by destroying a full wave of a specific enemy or by hitting chests. There is some randomness as to the items you'll find, but not by a significant margin. Weapon upgrades are given by colored balls: blue powers up the starting shot type, which evolves to a spread attack once three consecutive items are taken; red activates a fire shot that splits to the sides when powered up. Other items include extra bombs, a 2-hit shield, a magic drink (partial life refill), a magic snack (full life refill) and the mad dog (you'll ride it as he jumps and makes you invincible).

Although both main weapons are effective, eventually you'll end up leaning towards a specific one. I settled with the fireball during the first half of the game, but from stage 4 onwards I preferred to use the spread shot due to the amount of enemies approaching from off center. By all means, don't underestimate the ability of the close range attack to deflect regular bullets. Most often than not that's just much better than attempting to evade and dodge. And of course the slide move is there to help you escape long range or ramming attacks from large enemies, such as bosses and mid-bosses. Beware from falling off cliffs though, since it will take away a larger chunk of your energy.

Do you want to play me?

Besides the great arsenal at the characters' disposal, what many people often take for granted in Pocky & Rocky is that the close range attack can be charged for a more powerful move: Pocky will spin around to damage enemies, Rocky will turn into an invincible stone statue for a few seconds. This is very handy, especially because you can still shoot while this attack is charging (I confess I only learned about this after I had beaten the game... duh!). Much easier to figure out were the places in each level that conceal the hidden lucky gods that, once freed, release three random items (hit their secret spots). Besides that, a single item for an extra life can be obtained by hitting the shell of the first boss with the close-range attack after he's defeated.

Even though the temptation is there for greedy people who might want to keep going back and forth to amass more points, this is nicely avoided by the timer. If the time runs out a life is lost. A bonus is given for remaining time when a boss is defeated (10 points per second left) and for remaining energy hearts (500 points for each heart left). This means that in order to maximize scoring the recipe would be to take your time exploiting enemies while avoiding all damage, especially during boss fights. Regardless of how you decide to approach the game, the fun factor of Pocky & Rocky is undeniable. It's got captivating characters, impressive diversity, a great rhythm and a steady difficulty progression. A few bouts of slowdown appear in stage 4 when you come across those clouds shooting lightning strikes and also during the fight against the last boss, but that's it.

My character of choice was Pocky. Both characters are well rounded, but Pocky's bomb is definitely more powerful. Stocking bombs is a good way to take care of bosses, so if you have difficulty with any of them the best tip is to just drop bombs during the trickiest parts of the battle. I played in the Normal difficulty and got the 1CC result below, beating evil lord Dark Mantle on my last life. I did not do any milking throughout the credit.

Next: Pocky & Rocky 2.

Syvalion (SNES)

Arena
Checkpoints OFF
4 Difficulty levels
5 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Taito
Published by Toshiba EMI in 1992

On the subject of strange video games – shmups or not – here's a serious contender for the most eccentric one: Syvalion. A rather faithful port of an awkward trackball arcade title, it was released for the Super Famicom in Japan and the Super Nintendo in Europe. As a result, it remained relatively obscure outside those regions, known mostly to die-hard Taito fans or those with a deep interest in Darius lore. For Syvalion is a part of the Darius universe. The connection is unorthodox and somewhat obscure, but it unquestionably exists.

Well, unorthodox is actually the best word to describe this game. The first impression can be, quite frankly, a real disaster. From disheartening to downright unplayable, at first glance Syvalion seems to be impossible. Besides controlling a humongous dragon within a tight maze, you're often victim of enemies spawning right below the poor creature to drain its health to oblivion in seconds. Certainly aware of the awful nature of the gameplay, devs were smart enough to provide unlimited continues with no checkpoints at all, so people will at least inevitably reach the end no matter how many times that golden dragon explodes.

Your only way of attack is to breath fire by pressing buttons A or B (R and L make it spin its head only). While it's possible to deflect all bullets with the fire breath (not stationary lasers), aiming is a chore and there is absolutely no other way to inflict damage against waves of sneaky enemies and a series of huge bosses. Not only that, the reach of the dragon's breath diminishes the longer you keep firing, and the only way to recover is to refrain from doing it (moving the dragon helps recuperate faster). Lost health, indicated by the dragon's golden color turning red, might be replenished if you're lucky enough to see enemies release small triangles instead of DNA molecules whose only purpose is to give you points. Health is not recovered between levels, and no panic resource exists to help you out.

In the search for Gigat and Armax

The story of Syvalion is that an alien race is invading Earth and capturing people to turn them into robotic slaves. Then the game unfolds in two different ways: a fixed adventure that works as a training/tutorial mode featuring fixed stages/bosses (basic series) and the main game mode, which contains procedurally generated levels, random bosses and ever-changing story developments that lead to more than 100 different endings (real combat series). The Super Nintendo version also features a time attack mode where the player must get as many points as possible before the timer runs out over the course of a single stage.

I played the Japanese version, so I couldn't understand anything about the story. For those who also do not understand Japanese, the only thing we need to know is that the first option in the selection screen is the basic series, the second one is the real combat series and the third one is time attack. And then, no matter which one you choose, suffering starts. Syvalion will teach players the meaning of claustrophobic navigation and playing under pressure. After all, the game is timed. If you take too long to follow the arrows and beat the level you'll die. If you procrastinate and stay put deadly skulls will start crossing the screen to bring you inescapable suffering and defeat.

But there is hope. Beating the game in a single credit is actually possible. The natural approach here is to play the basic series first, getting used to stage layouts and enemy behavior. After a while the challenge almost feels fair because it's possible to memorize where hazards are located and spawned. When you move on to the real combat mode suffering starts anew, heightened by a vicious AI that cramps all sorts of things in tight passages that require pixel perfect navigation to avoid damage. Bosses are chosen randomly from a gallery that includes three extra enemies: a giant snail, a dinosaur and a couple of variants of Syvalion itself.

Real combat series also includes a feature that's not present in the basic/tutorial mode: random upgrades applied (or not) to the dragon for each level. These upgrades include extra shots provided by trailing options (single shots, several variations of spread shots, exploding orbs, homing shots), unlimited flames or the best enhancement of all: invincibility. Being invincible allows you to cruise the whole level and still pummel the boss without taking any damage. As for the other upgrades, unfortunately you lose them if you die. Watch out for a variation of the auxiliary option in the form of the Silver Hawk, the trademark spaceship from the Darius series.

Look, ma, how tiny my hands and feet are!
(courtesy of YouTube user Now Loading Please Wait)

So the catch to see the ending of Syvalion's real combat mode in a single credit is a mix of two factors: lucky upgrades and swift performance. Swift because the game encourages you to keep moving even at the cost of some health. Enemies with a blue aura are unique in that they're invincible, so the only way to get through them is by navigating carefully. All dragon segments follow the movement of the head, but if you don't move or move too slowly they might drift a few pixels and get you in harm's way. I might be wrong here, but I don't recall this happening in the arcade version. Unfair cramping of narrow passages is another trait that seems exclusive to the SNES port, so there you have a strong hint of which version should be considered the hardest.

Another thing that doesn't seem to be in line with the original arcade game, aside from the different soundtrack, is rank. Sometimes the port just throws very difficult mazes in the second stage already for no reason at all. And the different boss attacks vary wildly. There are three of them: small blue shots, large blue shots and two forms of homing blue shots. Depending on the boss, if you get the homing shots you can kiss the credit goodbye because it's just really hard to deplete them in time. When luck plays such an important part of the challenge it's hard to state that the experience was actually fun, but Syvalion at least succeeds in teasing the player into trying again and again. The game is very short, graphics are crisp and colorful and the occasional slowdown will certainly be welcomed during the most crowded parts of the maze.

In the high score screen the right table refers to the basic series, and the left table shows the best results for the real combat series. Scores for real combat series tend to be higher because the bonuses when completing levels are cut in half in the basic series. That's why it's also harder to get the single extend in the basic series when you score 1,5 million points, an award that's valid for all game modes. Here are my best 1CC results for the main game modes in the default difficulty (Normal):

Hidden options allow you to change the difficulty and practice the game with stage selection. At the title screen press A, B, X, Y, START. For a debug mode with more options go for A, B, ↑, ↓, ←, →, START. These codes are only valid for the Japanese port.

UN Squadron (SNES)

Horizontal
Checkpoints OFF/ON
3 Difficulty levels
10 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Capcom 
Published by Capcom in 1991

UN Squadron, also known as Area 88 in Japan, is one of Capcom's boldest attempts at the horizontal shooter genre. Loosely based on the manga of the same name released in the end of the 70's, the Super Nintendo port is the most recognizable home version of the arcade game, and in my perception is curiously more fondly remembered than its source material, probably because it expands on the original gameplay and also due to a harder challenge level as a whole.

A quick intro with a take-off sequence made with mode-7 sets the tone for UN Squadron. You take the role of one of three pilots and need to complete several missions to stop an army of mercenaries known as Project 4. They have taken over a peaceful kingdom, establishing strongholds in several parts of the country and deploying all sorts of military machinery and convoys to keep their evil clutches over the land. Only those brave enough will be capable of harnessing the power of the weapons carried by a selection of formidable aircrafts, scrambling through several colorful landscapes and dangerous caverns. Some slowdown is expected if the action gets too cluttered, but overall the graphical performance is decent, as is the soundtrack.

The choice of pilot affects gameplay in two ways: how fast your plane is powered up and how fast it recovers from taking a hit. Shin Kazama powers up faster and takes longer to recover. Greg Gates powers up slower and is the fastest to recover. Mickey Scymon lies in between both his coleagues. They all start the journey piloting the F8E Crusader, the most basic aircraft from the fleet, capable of carrying only three special weapons but a very versatile plane regardless. It suits most of the starting missions quite well. 

Intro for UN Squadron on the Super Nintendo
(courtesy of YouTube user mcbanjomike)

Fulfilling the missions is accomplished by using a vulcan cannon and by firing special weapons with limited ammo, which in turn are selected by a specific button in the controller. All inputs can be properly mapped in the options screen. Certain enemy waves leave behind power-ups when fully destroyed: the orange one adds 1 point to the upgrade meter of the main shot, the blue one adds 3 points. On the right side of the overhead display the POW number indicates how many points you need to advance to the next power level, which is shown right above the cash counter. Cash is the other component of the upgrading process, and is automatically registered as you kill enemies and complete full stages. It's used to purchase special weapons prior to each level and to earn the right to fly new aircraft models. Each pilot starts the game with a cash stock of $3.000.

Lives in UN Squadron are treated in a very unique way. Each life comes with a health bar that allows players to take some hits before dying, but there's a catch. Whenever you get hit the energy gauge flashes for a brief while, returning to normal once the plane has self-restored. If you get hit again during this critical period you die no matter how much health you have at the moment, then a new target area must be chosen from the map. Dying is also detrimental to the cash balance because all the special weapons you're carrying are instantly gone, whereas if you complete the stage successfully all cash from unused weaponry is reinstated into your account. A word of warning to preserve health: you can safely hug the upper and lower surfaces of any stage, but you absolutely can't do the same on mountains or walls inside caves.

Stage order is another factor that adds to the challenge. After the first level a selection of stages opens up in the map for you to choose from. Naturally some of them are harder than others, often demanding at least some basic planning for special weapons or which plane to use. Unfortunately the mission commander only lets you know about the details of each stage after you've selected it, which completely defeats the purpose of strategic thinking. While not that serious in the long run, it's certainly unfavorable for newcomers and might rub people the wrong way. This also applies to the selection of planes since their description is only visible for the ones you haven't purchased yet. If they're already in your inventory there's no way of knowing what they do unless you choose them for the mission, a decision that's final and might not be the best one depending on the stage.

And speaking of planes, testing them is probably the most fun part of UN Squadron. Some of them are faster or slower while emphasizing air-to-ground or air-to-air combat. The A10A Thunderbolt is the slowest one but comes with an extra downwards stream for the main shot at the expense of a max power level of 3. The best feature of the YF23 Stealth Ray, for instance, is that it's undetectable to homing missiles. However, if you want to be able to use all special weapons you'll definitely aim for the F200 Efreet, which at the cost of $ 1.000.000 also comes with a maximum power level of 7.

Shin Kazama is out for justice

Besides the odd decision to not let the player know beforehand any info of the level or the plane choice, another aspect of UN Squadron that's particularly annoying is the firing limitation of the main shot. You just don't have a normal automatic firing rate. One press of the button fires a bullet salvo for a few seconds, requiring another press in order to maintain a steady firing stream. Seriously, was this really necessary? I guess it's better than nothing (no autofire at all), but it's an extremely irritating mechanic that's very detrimental to the player's concentration at key points in the game. Of course this can be instantly alleviated by the use of a turbo controller, a luxury that's not easily available for most people, myself included.

One final note about the gameplay concerns the gallery of secret items. They are, in fact, extremely important for survival, and knowing where to find them might represent the difference between life and death. All you have to do is shoot their location to release them. Never stop shooting and watch out for unsuspected corners in caves or prior to boss fights, you might be pleasantly surprised. The fuel tank fills your health meter partially, the yasichi (the lollipop) completely refills it, the star gives you a cash bonus of $50.000, the mech (actually a miniature of the character from Side Arms) is a smart bomb that clears the screen of enemies, the weapons rack adds ammo to the special weapons and the unicorn grants you with a shield that can withstand a good number of hits. Finally, extra lives are registered with 30.000, 100.000 and then for every 150.000 points afer that.

In my quest to 1CC UN Squadron in the Normal difficulty I ended up purchasing only the F200 Efreet as soon as I could afford it. I did go for the convoys that start showing up in the map in order to grab at least some $100.000. Each convoy gives you roughly $20.000 and apparently they don't stop coming at all (honestly, talk about a lazy means of rebalancing the cash mechanic). These convoys are also the reason why it makes no sense to talk about high scores in this game. I played with Greg Gates and finished with the result below. Since there's no score buffering and this screen disappears really fast, if you want to have it in pictures you need to resource to special recording arrangements.

Spriggan Powered (SNES)

Horizontal
Checkpoints OFF
3 Difficulty levels
6 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Naxat Soft
Published by Naxat Soft in 1996

Series like Spriggan aren’t what you normally see (or used to see) in the gaming world. Spriggan Mark 2 - Re-Terraform Project had already shifted lots of things around in comparison to the first Spriggan, including pivotal features such as the scrolling direction. Both games were released for the PC Engine CD in Japan and at least complement each other as far as the overall theme goes, an aspect that the third chapter Spriggan Powered inherits. Final game in the franchise and released exclusively for the Super Famicom at the end of the console's lifespan, its development is credited to ghost company Micronics with no involvement whatsoever from Compile.

With Compile off the boat, it’s no wonder Spriggan Powered feels a lot different from Spriggan Mark 2. Even though a couple elements are kept in place in the gameplay, this time you control only one mecha from beginning to end with no story intermissions across six levels of increasing difficulty. Dynamic performance takes a hit and at times the game feels sluggish, especially during some of the boss fights. The music isn’t bad but not remarkable either and in graphical terms the game is serviceable, yet sprites tend to be small. A touch of mode-7 effects in the first level doesn't really add to the overall appreciation, but I do like the excessive use of green. Such an underrated color, especially when it comes down to shmups.

Recurring enemy Quinsquin stars in the opening movie and shows up in the initial stages
(courtesy of YouTube user Game Archive - No Commentary Gameplay)

Overall the stage structure of Spriggan Powered is quite simple, with a midboss halfway the level and a main boss waiting at the end. Interesting design decisions serve to spice up the action, such as the vertical stretches where you go into outer space or approach the surface of a planet, the light beam that allows to you to see inside the dark caves of the alien-themed 4th stage or the constant threat of being crushed by closing walls in the final level. Moreover, each stage is unique in how enemies attack: in the 2nd level it’s recommended to stay far back due to enemies suddenly coming out from the clouds, whereas in the 3rd you’d better stay in the middle of the screen lest you get toasted by enemies coming from behind. The 5th level deliberately throws a confusing background filled with meteors, thus demanding extreme attention from the player. Lives lost are costly in the long run because the game has no extends and definitely requires some dedication to be beaten.

Our powered mecha always arrives to the action in ship form, quickly transforming into a nifty robot capable of firing a brief bullet salvo at the press of button B. This means you don’t need to mash the button like crazy to achieve a steady firing stream, just tapping it at a regular rhythm will suffice. Every now and then a subweapon power-up carrier appears, releasing an orb that cycles colors between orange (fireball), blue (piercing laser shots), red (shot enhancer) and green (homing shot). It takes two consecutive power-ups to maximize subweapon efficiency.

The reason why there’s no autofire in Spriggan Powered becomes clear after you’ve collected at least one power-up. By holding button B you’ll charge the so-called “potential” attack, which triggers a special maneuver according to the active subweapon color: orange (exploding blast), blue (slows down the action for a brief while), red (close-up flare) and green (outward rotating blast). Each potential attack consumes one third of the elemental gauge, an energy reserve that also serves as fuel for the activation of the shield with button A. The shield is a type of electrical deflector that protects the robot from incoming bullets and cannon fodder, and just like the potential attack can be used for as long as there’s elemental energy available.

Lost elemental energy is then recovered by destroying enemies and by picking up the gray orbs left behind by specific targets. Besides filling the elemental gauge faster, these gray orbs also grant score bonuses that increase in value only for the duration of the level in steps of 100, 200, 400, 800, 1.600, 3.200 and 6.400 points (max). If you die these bonuses are reset to the initial 100 points. The same bonus is applied to power-ups if you keep collecting orbs of the same color, but this progression is valid throughout the whole game. It's only reset if you die or if you take an orb of different color than the one you're using.

A giant creature awaits at the end of stage 4

As mentioned above, keeping the same subweapon throughout the whole game is essential to achieve higher scores. However, at the end of each level you’re also granted a few extra bonuses based on stage completion, elemental gauge stock, risky techs (a rudimentary grazing mechanic that rewards tight bullet dodges) and the refusal to use the shield (No shield) or special attacks (No potential). This gives an immense flexibility to the scoring system, but notice that the further you go the hardest it is to avoid using elemental energy, especially when you realize how effective potential attacks can be against bosses. Except for the slowdown (blue) they’re all capable of nullifying all enemy attacks. Finally, another mundane scoring device is in the act of milking the destructible bullets from some of the bosses. Fortunately they all time out, so you can't leech them forever.

While certainly not in the same league of the most accomplished shmups on the SNES, Spriggan Powered delivers some good mecha shooting action and serves as a decent bastard finale to the trilogy initiated by Compile. Regardless of how players see it, it's certainly the best outing by Micronics on the console if you consider the company was also responsible for Raiden Trad and Acrobat Mission.

Given that the final screen tallying after you beat the last boss disappears quite quickly and the game doesn't have a score buffer, it's good to devise some sort of technique to capture your final result. Here's mine, playing in the Normal difficulty. For those who enjoy cranking up the challenge level, an extra setting above Hard can be enabled with a special code.

The Hunt for Red October (SNES)

Horizontal
Checkpoints OFF
1 Difficulty level
9 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Riedel Software Productions
Published by Hi Tech Expressions in 1993

Despite the fascination that surrounds them, my feeling is that submarines were never a "thing" during the golden era of gaming as far as shmups go. However, given the success The Hunt for Red October achieved in movie theaters throughout 1990, its video game adaptations had all possible chances to leave a standing mark in the submarine subgenre. Speaking of the home console market, three games came out for Nintendo platforms, and while they seem to be the same on the outside they're actually quite different from each other.

The NES version, for example, isn't quite like The Hunt for Red October on the Super Nintendo,  which makes sense since these games were developed by different companies. The SNES version also came out a couple of years later, and given how it turned out this leads me to believe the game was only taken out of the development shelf in order to try to cash in on the Super Scope peripheral, even though the light gun bazooka is only used in the bonus areas and during the battle against the last boss. Thankfully the Super Scope is completely optional, as in most of the 11 titles developed for the accessory.

Defection time
(courtesy of YouTube user glennznl)

In the quest to lead the Red October submarine across nine missions that don't really follow the plot of the movie (or the novel), the player has a wide array of functions at his/her disposal. All buttons are used in the SNES controller, starting with Y for torpedoes (frontal attack), B for bombs (downward attack), X for surface-to-air missiles (vertical fire), A for surface-to-surface missiles (an arching frontal attack), L for direction switch, R for cavitation drive (navigate undetected) and SELECT for "electronic countermeasures" (a device that when dropped disables all nearby enemy fire for a few seconds). The lower HUD shows the ammo for each resource, as well as the amount of damage taken by the sub, ranging from 0 to 100%.

You'll be using all four face buttons of the controller a lot, whereas R and SELECT are best reserved for tricky sections or for when you are low on health and need whatever resources you can to survive. After all there's just that energy meter to get through the game, with only a little recovery in between levels and two other opportunities to get some health/ammo back. One of them is a single in-game item that provides the sub with minor repairs and refills the stock for all main attacks, the other is the periscope icon that takes you to a gallery view where you need to shoot down jets and ships (the sections where the Super Scope is enabled).

Since moving the crosshair with the regular controller is so slow, anticipating enemy trajectory is the best way to perform better during the periscope bonus intermissions. A good kill ratio guarantees a good repair level on the sub, as well as the replenishing and even maxing out of the weapon stock. It's by far the most reliable way to keep the submarine in healthy conditions, so try not to lose any periscope items if possible. If the sub gets wrecked either by enemy fire or by colliding against obstacles (100% damage) the game is over. However, if you fail to complete a mission because you depleted the necessary weapons to kill a boss or because the cruise ship you're escorting gets destroyed before reaching its destination you get sent back to the map room instead of ending the credit right away. You don't get to recover any health or ammo though.

While the graphics aren't anything special, with little flair and lots of blue and gray, the physics for the movement of the submarine and the behavior of weapons is rather well implemented. The soundtrack is as repetitive and boring as it gets though. Getting used to the rhythm of the game and the reload cycles of enemies proves to be essential in the long run, especially during later levels. Prior to each stage the map room shows the available levels/missions with a scrolling text message describing their objectives. Completing the available one(s) will unlock further missions, which can be tackled in slightly different order if you so wish. After the initial defection stage you get two missions in the Caribbean (one of them to escort the abovementioned cruise ship), three missions in the North Pacific (oil platforms is the hardest), two missions in the Mediterranean and a final mission where you return to the USSR to prevent a coup attempt to overthrow the communist party.

Diving in dangerous waters

 

In spite of the pressure imposed by having only a single health bar and by the lack of continues for explicit practice, The Hunt for Red October isn't an overly hard game. It's got its share of tricky moments, but memorization and careful play will inevitably result in victory. As for the final boss, if you get there in good health conditions you can safely ignore the minor enemies and just bombard the large ship to oblivion. Going out of your way to take them down (or any other enemy for that matter) is useless because the game has no scoring system.

Even though it doesn't do anything fundamentally wrong, the game doesn't do anything to impress either. Fans of methodical and aim-oriented shooting might have mild fun with it, players who enjoy fast and flashy action should certainly stay away. That said, comparisons between this game and the NES version are natural and expected once you've played both. In my opinion the NES wins in pretty much all aspects that matter, including diversity, challenge and presentation (the Game Boy is disregarded for obvious reasons). For fans of the movie, unfortunately there's no mention at all to the character played by Sean Connery in the SNES game.

 

Neither the US nor the Japanese version of The Hunt for Red October for the Super Nintendo has an options screen, which is surprisingly present in the European cartridge. No need to worry about it though since it only includes the choice for stereo/mono sound and a BGM/sound test.

Space Megaforce (SNES)

Vertical
Checkpoints OFF/ON
5 Difficulty levels
12 Stages
Ship speed selectable
- - - - - - -
Developed by Compile
Published by Toho in 1992

In the US the subject of this blog post was released as Space Megaforce, an incredibly generic name that says absolutely nothing about the game's origins. The Japanese market got it right because the Japanese title is none other than Super Aleste, a name that rings a lot of bells for fans of the most famous shooter series made by developer Compile. It's the final entry in the sci-fi branch of the franchise, as is Robo Aleste for the mecha series on Sega platforms, and combines many of the elements presented in classic Compile games such as Zanac, Power Strike and GunHed.

With the processing power of the SNES it's no wonder that Super Aleste / Space Megaforce shines with vibrant colors and flashy weapons galore. It is by all accounts a natural evolution to the abovementioned titles, complete with the trademark long levels so typical of Compile. It had been a while since I last touched one of these games, so I was kinda caught by surprise with a seemingly endless first level. And then, once the initial reconnaissance minutes were done, I had another go and was struck by the fact that I had just cleared the game in my very first try on a single credit.

I guess when people say Compile games are easy chances are they're probably referring to their experience with Space Megaforce. There are a few special considerations to be made about this assumption, but let's analyze the core game first. It feels very familiar to those who already played any of the abovementioned influences: there's a button to shoot, another button to bomb and a button for speed selection between four fixed settings. The new addition in this chapter is a fourth button that's used to alter the attack patterns of your current weapon. All these inputs can be configured in the options according to four control types (if speed selection isn't there it's because it's supposed to be carried out with the SELECT button). Weapons are defined by numbers that go from 1 (default vulcan) to 8 (scatter shot), switchable by taking the proper red capsule released by carriers that constantly zap through the screen at predetermined intervals.

The start of a whopping journey to victory
(courtesy of YouTube user 8-bit Days a Week)

Powering up is achieved by collecting orange/green orbs. There are 6 power levels in total, shown in the upper left corner beside the current weapon number/name. The quantity of orange orbs needed to achieve an upgrade is the same as the next upgrade level (one orb for level 1 or five orbs for level 5, for example), whereas a green orb provides a full upgrade level no matter where you stand in the power scale. Life count and bomb stock are shown in the lower right corner of the screen: extra bombs are obtained by taking the respective B items, extra lives are given based on score (50, 200, 500 and then successive ones for every 500 thousand points scored).

A very special type of item is the green version of a weapon capsule. It cycles through all weapon numbers but is frozen in place if you hit it. Hit it long enough and it will turn into a pulsating energy mass known as "enemy eraser", which works as a smart bomb that clears all enemies at once. This isn't however its only function, since for each enemy eraser taken you'll gain an instant respawn after dying (instead of being sent back to a checkpoint). The availability/number of instant respawns is indicated by a golden hue in the number/icons of the life meter. If this feature sounds familiar the reason is that it's exactly the same one firstly introduced in GunHed / Blazing Lazers.

As if the enemy eraser mechanic wasn't such an awesome tool in surviving against the odds of twelve stages, there are also many other ways in which Space Megaforce allows players to hold on to their lives. Dying only happens if you get scroll-crushed by a wall or if you get hit at power levels 0 or 1 (anything above that will just degrade your current upgrade status by 4 levels). Other factors that help you survive and contribute to make the game easier: almost all enemy bullets can be destroyed by your firepower, there's no harm at all in touching walls or floating tiles and the series trademark split-second invincibility is there for every single item you collect. Speaking of items, watch out for some hidden ones amidst unsuspected blocks and tiles.

Bypassing checkpoints is of course great for survival, but certainly plays against scoring. Since you can amass so many extra lives, it's only natural that scoring benefits by dying and exploiting checkpoints, of which the most lucrative is the penultimate one in the final stage.

Laser capsule ahoy!

When compared with previous chapters of the Aleste franchise, the biggest draw of Space Megaforce is in the graphics, which make excellent use of mode 7 effects to present unique visuals such as the huge space station that zooms in and out in stage 2 or the revolving river down below in stage 5. Audiowise the game is also well served, with digitized voices for weapons and a varied soundtrack that at times sounds very similar to in-house contemporary Robo Aleste. Everything in the game moves and explodes with no slowdown at all, and huge bosses make you scramble all around the screen in order to advance. Sometimes the scenery makes it confusing to discern where you're supposed to go around walls, especially during the parts that take place in space stations. Walls can't kill you but can restrain your movement, so the idea is that if your shot hits something then it's certainly an obstacle.

Despite all the goodness to be seen and experienced in this game, by the time you reach stage 10 Space Megaforce starts recycling the environments of the first level, a clear sign that it went too far with its length even when you consider that every 3rd level is relatively short and plays like a bonus area of sorts, full of those destructible tiles reminiscent of the Star Soldier games (this isn't the only throwback/homage you'll see, stage 4 has a wave-like moving background that's clearly inspired by Recca). Since it feels so much like the older games in the series, it's rather understandable why Space Megaforce is overshadowed by MUSHA on the Mega Drive when we talk about which 16-bit cartridge-based Aleste title was better.

Perhaps feeling that the game they created was indeed too long, Compile added a short game mode for immediate selection at the start screen. It takes just ten minutes to be completed, as opposed to the hour-long standard campaign. That's not the only alternate mode included in the package though. If you go to the options and select Tricky mode, suicide bullets will be added everywhere in both game variations. Wild represents a harder Tricky, thus being the hardest mode of all. It's really nice to have extra settings that are not just different difficulties, which is welcome for those who think the default challenge is too easygoing. The game does name them "mode" instead of "difficulty" after all.

My best 1CC result on Normal mode with no milking whatsoever (no checkpoint deaths) is below. This second time was certainly more entertaining than the first since I had a better understanding of the weapon system and the game as a whole. I tinkered a little with Tricky mode but didn't attempt anything more serious on it. Maybe next time I'll try to do it.

SD Gundam 2 (SNES)

Hybrid (Horizontal / Platformer)
Checkpoints OFF
3 Difficulty levels
8 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Bandai / Angel
Published by Bandai in 1993

Second and final entry in a limited series of shmup/platforming hybrids on the Super Famicom, SD Gundam 2 graced Nintendo's 16-bit platform almost at the same time as the first installment SD Gundam - V Sakusen Shidou, which was released in the previous year without much of an impact in the gaming scene. As a consequence, both games still remain obscure oddities mostly known by Gundam fans and stubborn people such as myself. So here I am doing my part in spreading the word out there for those who want to know a little bit more about them.

The story of SD Gundam 2 picks up exactly where the first one ended, but now the player can choose three different paths represented by the choice of three big-headed chubby robots. The paths are different because each one of them has a specific set of stages, so we kinda have three different games in a single package even though some levels or bosses appear in more than one storyline. These courses also differ a little in length since a few stages are split in two halves, but their overall duration isn't too long. Cooperative play is also available, but I didn't check how the stages unfold when two players join forces in the battle against an army of cute evil robots.

Bringing justice to cities in flames

Button Y shoots and button B is used to jump (platform areas, double jump is possible) or turn the character left/right (shmup areas). Besides the general gameplay style, the one thing that's preserved from the original game is the basic upgrading scheme. The power-up bar fills up automatically and lights up the upgrade slots, which must then be selected with buttons R/L and activated with button X. The first one is the rifle laser, the second is the power bazooka and the third one differs according to the chosen character. A fourth selectable slot actually corresponds to the special attack made available by collecting the blue item that appears every now and then and is also character-specific; white items refill a portion of the health bar and golden items fill up the upgrade bar instantly with a few bonus points on the side.

The best news about SD Gundam 2 is that there's no ammo constraints for weapons and autofire is implemented by default. On the other hand, getting hit sends you instantly back to the default pea shot (with only one exception, keep reading). If you played the first SD Gundam then you know how much of an improvement this is: on top of relieving you from dealing with speed-ups, the new upgrade method also allows an almost immediate return to the lost weapon if you manage to avoid getting hit for at least the time it takes to fill up the upgrade bar again. The close-range automatic melee attack is still there lest you happen to be surprised by an enemy at point-blank distance.

Here's a brief description on the behavior of the three available Gundams regarding the third upgrade and the special attack (blue item):

• RX-178 "Gundam Mk-II" (left at the selection screen) - a direct evolution of the mecha from the first game, this one comes with the same shield with three levels, the last one being a brief invincibility period and then back to no shield status; the special attack is a powerful bomb blast.


• RGM-179 "GM II" (middle one at the selection screen) - the third upgrade is a unique spaceship form equipped with the laser rifle; each extra upgrade level adds one spare hit that the ship can withstand; when the ship form is lost the character reverts back to whatever weapon was active prior to the ship's activation; when in ship form it's not possible to turn left; the special attack slows down all enemies for a specific amount of time.


• RMS-106 "Hizack" (right at the selection screen) - the third upgrade is a useless mystery that looks like a large electrifying bazooka that does nothing at all; the special attack adds two rotating options to the character for a remarkable increase in firepower.

More Super Deformed fun on the Super Famicom
(courtesy of YouTube user Old Games Database)

SD Gundam 2 will not set anyone's world on fire, but it's surely an improvement over the first game. Despite the short gap between both titles, it's clear that Bandai seems to have tweaked the gameplay into something less contrived than what we got the first time around. Not only are the inputs more sensibly executed, but the game moves faster, the enemy gallery is a bit more varied and the AI is much less annoying, which makes the whole experience easier and more fun regardless of the chosen character. Speaking of which, my favorite of the bunch is the middle one due to the ability to turn him into a spaceship even during the platforming parts (if you play well enough you don't even need to use the robot form at all). That's quite nice since SD Gundam 2 feels a little more biased towards shmupping, as opposed to what happened in SD Gundam - V Sakusen Shidou.

The Versus mode now has 10 selectable characters for head-to-head combat either in a space colony setting (platforming) or in outer space (shmup style). Once again this fighting alternative offers nothing more than mindless button mashing chaos.

I beat the game with all three robots, and soon realized that the course for the RGM-179 robot has the best scoring potential. That's the robot I used in the 1CC high score shown below (Normal difficulty). For every 40.000 points you earn an extend, but this time there's no end bonus based on life stock after the game is completed.

SD Gundam - V Sakusen Shidou (SNES)

Hybrid (Horizontal / Platformer)
Checkpoints OFF
3 Difficulty levels
7 Stages
Ship speed by icons
- - - - - - -
Developed by Bandai / Angel
Published by Bandai in 1992

Dear readers, allow me to start this essay by saying that I know absolutely nothing about the Mobile Suit Gundam universe. I don't know how the multitude of sequels and spin-offs connect, let alone the intricate chronology that goes back and forth from one chapter to the next. What struck me even more is the fact that this particular anime is probably the most adapted ever in the form of video games, a personal knowledge gap that's probably related to the fact that most of these games never leave Japan, in the old days at least.

While only one true shmup based on the franchise exists (SD Gundam Neo Battling, released for the arcades in 1992), some other adaptations still warrant a few mentions in any shmup talk since they have a mix of shmup and platforming, as is the case with SD Gundam - V Sakusen Shidou for the Super Famicom. For a long while I thought this little game was the fifth in a completely obscure series, but that's not the case (Japanese terms can be a mess for us Westerners). The subtitle actually translates to something like Project V Start or Operation V Start (V for victory) and mirrors a particular event in the ridiculously detailed Mobile Suit Gundam storyline. In addition to that, SD is a short for Super Deformed, a variation that uses largely modified and anthropomorphic mecha designs based on the original Gundam franchise.

Long story short: unless you're a diehard fan of the anime there's absolutely no point in trying to understand the meaning behind the title or the game's story. Suffice it to say we're actually talking about the first in a limited series of two shmup hybrids released for the Super Famicom, the other one being SD Gundam 2.

Here comes the hyper bazooka!

Players control the RX-78 Gundam unit, a short, plump, big-headed cute robot that must battle other plump robots and their minions across seven stages that mix shooting and platforming sections, both of the autoscrolling kind; if a co-op credit is started both mechas are differentiated by their chest hulls, blue for player 1 and red for player 2. Platform inputs consist of B for shot, A for jump (press again for a double jump), R/L for upgrade selection and Y for upgrade/power-up activation. The shooting parts use the same inputs, but button A is then responsible for turning the character left/right. Finally, the mecha performs a saber melee attack automatically if the shot button is pressed when you are close enough to an enemy.

I'll be the first to admit there's an odd sense of charm in a game starring child-like chubby robots, and even though it doesn't shine in any technical aspect the soundtrack is kinda catchy with its alternation of light and darker themes. However, playing SD Gundam soon proves that any good first impressions couldn't be more far from the truth. The gameplay is slow and clunky, the resources are hard to manage, the AI is bastardly cheap most of the time and the mild inertia in the shooting parts is totally uncalled for. The game falls short is about every attribute that matters, failing to offer any sense of excitement or a single truly engaging moment. Of course one can always adapt to the rules imposed by the gameplay, but to my liking the price of admission is a bit too dire.

Take the upgrade scheme, for instance. There's an upgrade bar that fills up automatically with time. When one of the slots is full you can activate its function with the Y button, thus being able to use a laser rifle (16 shots), increase speed (5 steps), activate a shield to withstand more damage (3 levels, the last being a 15 second invincibility window), bear a mace, use a rocket launcher/bazooka (8 shots) or slow down time for a few seconds (a resource that's only available in the final level and only works on regular enemies, not bosses). The further to the right an upgrade is the longer it will take for the bar to reload for another use, so it's no wonder the most powerful weapon in the game is the bazooka. Thankfully the laser rifle is able to supply the basic weaponry and can always be recharged in due time if you don't spend all of its 16 shots too quickly.

Harnessing the benefits of the double jump is essential during the platforming parts, as well as devising a strategy to make the best out of the invincibility provided by a level 3 shield. Just remember that when the invincibility window is over you need to upgrade the shield again from scratch. In any case, preserving health for boss fights is the most important strategy to have in the game. The only single pick-up available, a green item that staggers across the screen every once in a while, recovers five energy cells but comes with a little evil twist: it will be immediately destroyed when shot at. This just reinforces the idea that SD Gundam isn't a game for trigger-happy players, and that memorization is the only real way to increase your chances to survive longer.

  Super Deformed fun on the Super Famicom
(courtesy of YouTube user Japanspel)

Memorization, you say? Be my guest in trying to come up with strategies to handle bosses without taking damage. With a few exceptions, they're all very erratic and bound on a holy mission to bleed you dry, taking away your lives in a snap (note that receiving too much damage can destroy your current shield and send a level 3 in reserve back to level 1). Another annoying thing that might happen is running out of ammo and returning to the pea shooter in the heat of the battle against any enemy. By the way, if you value survival above anything else many of them are better off avoided instead of engaged. You lose a few points but in the end that's irrelevant because every life in stock is converted into 700.000 points upon game completion, which is much more than you can amass during the whole credit. The first extend is registered with 10.000 points, all others at the hundred thousand marks.

SD Gundam also comes with a Versus mode where players can battle each other or against the computer. There are seven robots available and options to fight in platforming fashion (Earth) or in a free-roaming shmup style (outer space). My only stance about Versus mode is that the fighting mechanics are abysmal, and in general even worse than what you get in the main game. So much for cute robots, unfortunately! That said, if you're still game for other 16-bit experiences with big-headed cute characters my recommendations would be Ghostbusters on the Mega Drive (platforming) and Air Zonk on the PC Engine (shmup).

I have no qualms about the crappy 1CC score I was able to achieve on my last life, as shown in the picture below. The game is just so annoying I didn't bother to try again. There are distinct animations for the ending depending on how fast you're able to dispatch the final boss, but no direct impact on the final score. Based on what I've seen so far, I don't have high expectations for the sequel but nevertheless I'll try to make it my next SNES challenge.

Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius (SNES)

Horizontal
Checkpoints ON
7 Difficulty levels
8 Stages (loopable)
Ship speed by icons
- - - - - - -
Developed by Konami
Published by Konami in 1995

And here we come to the 4th chapter in the Parodius saga, the spin-off series that at this point mocks much, much more than its original inspiration Gradius. Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius continues one of the longest lived dinasties of video game wack and brings the franchise back to its living room roots, after all the series was born on the MSX and continued in the arcades for two chapters before this comeback developed exclusively for video game consoles; since it was released in the end of the Super Famicom's lifespan, one year later Konami was kind enough to also deliver enhanced ports for the Playstation and the Sega Saturn. How interesting, huh?

Jikkyou (or Jikkyō) succeeds Gokujyou Parodius and keeps the great quality standard that's so typical of 16-bit Konami, only with a defining difference: the abundance of comical voice snippets provided by a famous Japanese narrator, which was made possible by a special chip included in the cartridge (the "super accelerator" SA-1 chip). That's where the title of the game comes from, after all Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius translates to something like Chatting Parodius Live!. Another important feature is that now players can choose any of the 16 available characters instead of being restricted to the ones associated to the player sides. In addition to that, this time many sibling characters received completely different powers, such as babies Upa/Rupa and matchstick men Soitsu/Doitsu. The latter, for example, has a Vic Viper-like behavior that's quite distinct from original Koitsu/Aitsu. Once again there's no co-op available, only an alternating 2-player mode.

Many people have told me they were upset by the constant babbling of the narrator during gameplay, but it didn't bother me at all. It's possible to shut him up in the options by switching "oshaberi" to OFF though. The options screen is the second-to-last after you press START, and fortunately everything in it is in English. The main game is started in the first option, and despite the Japanese description all other options can be easily figured out. It's kinda puzzling that the main game hub was left in Japanese while almost everything else is in English.

Choose your might!

Nothing has changed in the basic way characters play in this new episode of the franchise. It's all Gradius gameplay 101 again: collect colored capsules to light up the slots in a weapon array and activate the desired slot to obtain the respective upgrade. Speed-up and missiles are the only untouched staples, along with the default power trap that's a Parodius trademark (a.k.a. one of the worst "upgrades" ever in shmup history). Following the trend started in Gokujou, Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius deviates from the norm in the other available upgrades, namely two types of firepower (originally double and laser in pure Gradius moniker), power enhancer (originally options/multiples) and shield, which for some characters was turned into a smart bomb.

Controls are fully customizable, and my setup of choice was Y for shot and missile, R for power-up and L for bell power. Oh yes, bells, you can't talk about Parodius without juggling some! They are as much a link to the TwinBee games as a full-on passport to survival refreshments and higher scores. Once released you can shoot them to change their colors and get blue (powerful bomb), green (inflate + invincibility), white (straight shot made of random messages in kanji, blocks bullets) brown (three vertical energy bars) and yellow. Yellow bells increase in value as long as you don't lose any of them, maxing out at 10.000 points each. Since the purple bell introduced in Gokujyou Parodius is gone, Konami came up with a new extra gimmick in Jikkyou, the hidden fairies worth 10.000 points each. They are freed for immediate pick-up if you shoot at their secret spots, which are often located in unsuspected corners as the stages unfold.

Checkpoints are mandatory regardless of your selection of the upgrade scheme, whether it's auto or manual power-up mode (upper/lower options after you choose the character). Since the differences in character behavior are more pronounced this time around, trusting the auto power-up mode might be a good idea to get to know all of them faster. A very welcome addition to the general power-up scheme is the giant capsule that performs the same function of the roulette. They are often strategically positioned so that you can cut corners when upgrading the character.

That's the way I like it!?
(courtesy of YouTube user Salvatore Forenza)

Even though I liked the stage themes chosen by Konami in Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius, I couldn't help but feel that the company didn't really push the series into new grounds as they did with the previous chapters. Was it the console format, I wonder? Of course there's still the customary abundance of colors and throwbacks to other Konami titles with cute and nonsensical details everywhere. However, the reappearance of many enemy designs from Gokujou (most apparent in the pre-stage sections and in a few boss choices) lowered the bar a little in my opinion. The new level layouts mocking games like Tokimeki Memorial, Xexex, Legend of the Mystical Ninja and Lethal Enforcers are welcome additions for variety but come on, did we really need another dancing panda as the first level boss?

I read everywhere that the SA-1 accelerator chip was responsible for special feats in this game, such as the /enhanced/ graphics of the stage based on the bubble area of Xexex. Perhaps they're referring to the occasional spinning blocks, but quite frankly I didn't see anything there that couldn't be achieved in a regular cartridge. Much more impressive and useful is the ability to save high scores by character and difficulty, as well as "save" the game to start it again later (pause and press SELECT). Granted, it resets the score as you "load" the saved stage, but it's a nice resource nonetheless. Loop + stage select is also available but must be unlocked first by performing a few achievements such as beating the game or collecting all fairies.

By the time Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius reaches the end it returns to its roots by mimicking none other than arcade Gradius III, complete with a short boss rush level prior to a multistructured final stage that mirrors some of the sections of that game's final area. Since it was developed specifically for the Super Famicom, Jikkyou does not pack the same difficulty of its predecessors (even Super Famicom Gokujyou), mainly due to the amount of slowdown and the kind extend scheme that grants an extra life with 20.000 points and further ones for every 100.000 points scored. Fortunately extra lives stop coming once you reach one million points, which leaves the player with the challenge of making the best out of them as the second loop starts with more bullets and even more slowdown, depending on the chosen character of course.

Thanks to my baby girl handing me the cartridge the day I took it off the package, Rupa was my character of choice during most of the time I spent with the game. A very powerful character, Rupa creates an all-around wall when her powers are maxed out, the only downside is that she lacks a shield. Once I looped the game with her a couple of times I switched to Soitsu, admittedly the best character to uncover fairies and juggle them bells for higher scores. The final score below was achieved with Soitsu on default settings (diff. 4, auto shot ON, roulette ON, oshaberi ON) and manual power-up mode, reaching stage 2-5. Next time I'll try one of the 32-bit ports (Playstation or Saturn) to check the improvements made by Konami.

Star Fox (SNES)

Rail shooter
Checkpoints OFF/ON
1 Difficulty level
6/7 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Nintendo
Published by Nintendo in 1993

At the height of the 16-bit video game wars, both Sega and Nintendo were at full throttle trying to cater to each company’s avid fanbase. With an enhancer chip that allowed the processing of incredible polygonal graphics, Star Fox certainly left its mark in video game history as one of the most impressive punches thrown by Nintendo against the competition. And as a Segaphile myself I was forced to temporarily throw in the towel in order to (happily) enjoy this amazing rail shooter. Later on Sega would bounce back with their own enhancer chip, which produced an equally impressive experience albeit in a different genre with Virtua Racing.

That said, to this day I believe Star Fox (released in Europe as Star Wing) is one of the most immersive video games I’ve ever had the pleasure to play. All rail shooters share immersion as a functional trait, but here it reaches a point where graphics, gameplay and music unite in order to create something unique. The only aspect that might look dated today is also what gives the game its undeniable charm: the blocky geometry of obstacles and the aspect of folded paper with which ships and enemies are rendered. The action is intense and supported by a gallery of anthropomorphic characters that interact a lot throughout the journey, in another story of good against evil that can be played across three different paths.

Players take the role of Fox McCloud, the captain of the Star Fox team. Aided by Falco, Peppy and Slippy (an avian creature, a rabbit and a toad, respectively), Fox departs from planet Corneria with the mission to stop an evil villain called Andross in the distant planet Venom. Brief cinematics precede, take over at specific points and give closure to their quest, with lots of style and an awesome sense of scope.

Level 1, the adventure starts in planet Corneria
(courtesy of YouTube user Espaciodejuegos)

When you press start you need to select your control scheme out of 4 options, as well as decide if you want to go straight to the game itself or if you want to play a training course that teaches you how to control the ship (it's always good to practice a little in order to get the hang of how things work when starting out). I've always felt more comfortable with the type A configuration, which works with reverse verticals and has the following inputs: Y = shot, A = bomb, X = brief boost, B = brief brake/deceleration (check the lower right gauge for boost/brake intensity), L/R = tilt left/right (tap quickly to perform barrel rolls). I think this setup is very intuitive and makes great use of the SNES controller.

In Star Fox there are no extra difficulty settings, instead we must decide on which route to play the game. All three start and end on the same planets, occasionally sharing enemies and environments while providing distinct challenges. Level 1 is the easiest and Level 3 is the hardest and longest course with one more stage than the others. All stages share the same structure, with a boss waiting at the end and the possibility to shift between three viewpoints with the SELECT button: standard, approach and cockpit. When in approach the ship is viewed at a closer rear view, whereas cockpit puts you inside it but is only available during outer space levels. Frankly I never use the cockpit view because I like to see my vessel from afar in true rail shooter fashion.

Each life gives the player a shield bar that allows the ship to withstand damage from collisions and enemy bullets, with death only happening when this bar is depleted. The most common pick-up in the item gallery is a revolving ring that refills part of your energy and is often released by killing specific foes. A stationary blue ring not only refills more energy, but also serves as a checkpoint. Then there are the blaster upgrades (first one gives you double shot, second one turns it into a plasma double shot), a shield (three basic hits or less, depending on the density of the obstacle you crush into), extra bombs and extra ship (to get it you need to shoot all three corners of the triangle, which starts to spin once the first one is hit). Bomb usage requires aiming, that's why a bomb that's dropped while the ship is pointing up will be practically wasted. The maximum amount of bombs you can carry at any time is five. If one of the ship's wings gets damaged you'll lose it, and the only way to repair it without losing a life is by collecting a blaster upgrade.

As one of the most impressive rail shooters of its generation, Star Fox flows at an almost perfect pace, scrolling by gracefully while throwing all sorts of obstacles and enemies towards the player. The game conveys depth successfully, and even though textures lack finesse and detail they certainly excel at the use of color and shading. Ship control feels natural and fluid, never mind the few bouts of slowdown here and there. I do love the several rules you need to adhere to in certain stages in order to be successful, such as flying through all the arches to collect an item or going pacifist against the space stingrays of Sector Y (stage 4 in Level 2). There will be times, however, where it’s virtually impossible not to get hit, and while trying to find the best path to dodge things you’ll often rely on pure luck to get through. The worst passage is the storm of stray bars prior to the 4th boss in Level/course 3.

You'll depart from Corneria late in the day if you choose to play course 3

Star Fox has a lot going on with regards to gameplay, but the interactions between protagonist Fox and his wingmen surely add a special flavor to the action. Each pilot has his own life bar, and once this bar is depleted the character is also gone for good. They tend to cruise the screen while chasing or being chased by an enemy, some will ask for assistance and others will rant against it if you decide to help them. Apparently you can’t damage their ships when you hit them by accident, so fire away even if they decide to obnoxiously stand in the way (this happens often). Not that the scoring system here is deep and gets hurt by it, but having a wingman die is detrimental to the stage completion percentage because the few enemies they chase will be missing from the tallying.

There's no actual score display for Star Fox in the common sense. Score is based on destruction ratio and maxes out at 10.000 points per level, which corresponds to 100% completion. So theoretically the highest achievable score is 70.000 points in Level 3. Extra credits are gained with 10K, 30K and 50K, and definitely help a lot when you're learning how to approach the later stages. Speaking of which, the briefing message from the captain prior to each mission might give important clues about what to do to succeed, so don't be hasty and read them at least once. Boss battles are often intense, diverse and fun, with a few exceptions where hit detection becomes an issue (stage 3-6). Beyond the basics there are still two hidden areas accessed at stages 1-2 (Black Hole) or 3-2 (Out of This Dimension), but they work more as easter egg novelties than anything.

Of all aspects of this incredibly fun game, my favorite one is probably the music. It's a magnificent work of art, full of pumping, atmospheric and eerie compositions that put to shame most sci-fi film soundtracks. There are those who seem to dislike Star Fox for its supposedly slow frame rate, but they forget to analyze that everything about the game works incredibly well thanks to the way the control scheme works. In my humble opinion it took the foundations of this subgenre and infused it with pure awesomeness, to the point where many people still consider it the best game in a series that also saw entries for the Nintendo 64, the GameCube and the Nintendo DS. Others insist on comparing Star Fox to Silpheed, ignoring the fact that the gameplay of both titles is vastly different from each other (the only thing they have in common is the use of polygons).

I don't remember if I actually did it back in the day, but this time I 1CCed all three courses in Star Fox. Level 1 is indeed an easy ride, I don't think I ever boosted or braked the ship there, but boosting and braking are of utmost importance in Levels 2 and 3. Below is my final result for Level 3 (the game halts at this screen indefinitely until you reset the console).

Note: a special competition cartridge for Star Fox with a heavily tweaked game was released and contains a full fledged scoring system, but that's a whole different story. A direct sequel for the SNES was planned and partially developed, but eventually got canned.