Space Elite Force (Playstation 4)

Horizontal
Checkpoints OFF
2 Difficulty levels
7 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Rising Moon Games
Published by QUByte Game Studio / Red Art Games in 2023

A tiny little shooter developed by a tiny indie company, Space Elite Force comes bundled with its sequel in the Space Elite Force 2 in 1 package, recently honored with a retail release for the Playstation 4. I could state that a secondary honor is to be featured here thanks to the curiosity that motivated my daughter and I to try out the game on a whim during a lazy Saturday. We did get along with it during the short time we had, and she was even able to follow me in co-op until some of the boss fights. Given this good first impression, later on that night I decided to get back to the game and see what else it had in store in a serious solo run.

Space Elite Force is a straightforward shooter with little flair for backgrounds and not much variety as far as the enemy gallery goes. The good news is that it doesn't do anything wrong with these assets, which can be considered a strong positive in light of some of the dreadful disfigurements that many recent independent games sell as innovations. Get the basics right and offer decent fun from start to finish, never mind the game not being tailored to the hardcore audience that's always hungry for seemingly undodgeable bullet curtains.

In a nutshell, Space Elite Force is great for beginners. Often compared to Steredenn - Binary Starts in how it looks, even though I also see throwbacks to Aegis Wing here and there, the game is otherwise much more simple and straightforward. It's beatable in a single short session and can be played with a friend sharing power-ups, with good dodging fun, no complicated mechanics, no inertia for the ship and a gentle difficulty slope across seven stages. The sound design is by the book and follows along nicely.

Planetary dust rings, lasers and space carriers

The start of the game pays homage to Star Wars in the introduction story section, and once you skip it the action starts. Default inputs consist of button × for the main weapon, button □ for the secondary weapon and button R1 to slow down the ship (a third button for an extra weapon appears in the options but it's never used, probably something the developers forgot to exclude and nobody cares about). Both weapons come with autofire, but note that you can't use them at the same time. The secondary weapon takes precedence, so under normal conditions a balance needs to be achieved between shooting the main weapon and tapping the secondary weapon when needed, after all it's more powerful but has a much lower firing rate.

As you destroy the enemy armada tiny dots are left behind and get automatically sucked into the ship when you get close enough to them. This is the money that you'll be able to spend in between levels to purchase upgrades to both weapons and the ship itself. Expected upgrades exist for the starting pea shooter and the auxiliary missile, such as double, triple and spread shots or more powerful, versatile heat-seeking missiles as well as mines and piercing shots. A little catch is that you can only choose one of each prior to starting the next stage. Ship enhancements include reduction of enemy bullet speed, increased resistance to damage, more health and more temporary power-ups, and the good news here is that all these upgrades are permanently applied to the ship (or ships when in co-op). Another great touch when playing with a friend is that all weapon purchases are available to both players, and each one can configure his/her ship differently before going into the next mission.

Lives are treated as a single health meter that gets refilled every time a new stage starts, and if this meter reaches zero the game is over. When you begin the game you get 10 health cells on Normal, whereas on Hardcore you get 5. Lost health can be recovered within the level if you happen to come by the + item that appears from destroyed power-up carriers. These carriers might also release temporary power-ups in the form of a rotating shield, firepower boosters (a lightning bolt), money magnets (attracts money dots from all over the screen) or an extra score multiplier of ×2. The regular multiplier is shown below the score counter and increases as you kill enemies in succession, decreasing slowly whenever nothing is being destroyed and faster when you get hit. The secret to cranking it up is taking advantage of those waves of small enemies that appear from time to time, then surfing the rest of the level while trying not to destroy everything too quickly.

With a combination of all kinds of aimed shots and spread patterns, as well as lasers and enemies coming from all sides, which is always properly warned by exclamation signs at the borders of the screen, Space Elite Force's gameplay is as solid as it gets, if only too simple at times. All bosses have a health bar that tell you when they're about to die, I just felt they could be a little more menacing. Some of the later bosses are easier than the initial ones, for instance. This is one of the examples where the game could've use some fine tuning, but there's also the slight visual confusion when the magnet power-up is on and showers of coins start coming from the other side of the screen amidst enemy fire. Both points are minor though and shouldn't be taken as real issues.

Trailer for the Space Elite Force 2 in 1 combo for the Playstation 4
(courtesy of YouTube user and publisher RED ART GAMES)

In spite of how well it plays and feels, Space Elite Force does have a few functional shortcomings. While I do appreaciate the way power-ups are implemented in the regular game modes, Infinity mode is an inexplicable alternate experience where you play randomly generated levels and bosses one after the other, but power-ups can only be acquired by dying and ending the credit. Then you start again with the new equipment, and the only way to upgrade any further is to keep dying over and over. Another botched feature is the ranking table. There's no local ranking, and the online rankings for all modes were never updated for me even though I was able to place myself amongst the meager slots available for high scores.

Anyway, since we're talking about the Playstation 4 we all know you can easily record footage as you play. By doing that I was able to extract the final result below before it quickly disappeared from the screen, playing in Hard(core) mode. Hopefully soon I'll get the chance to try Space Elite Force II.

Burai Fighter (NES)

Arena
Checkpoints ON
4 Difficulty levels
7 Stages (loopable)
Ship speed by icons
- - - - - - -
Developed by KID / Taxan
Published by Taxan in 1990

An arena shooter disguised as a horizontal with a great fantasy theme, anyone? Burai Fighter is the answer, and a rather good one too. Often compared to the likes of S.C.A.T. and Abadox, this game might in fact be the best of this bunch for a series of reasons. We can start by mentioning the solid action and the creative design, two characteristics that shine and help make this a highlight of the NES library, even a hidden gem of sorts. The multidirectional aspect of the gameplay is another feature that's tightly implemented and should please those who don't feel comfortable with rotating control mechanics such as those seen in Forgotten Worlds, for example.

Quick curiosity: the game was later ported to the Game Boy as Burai Fighter Deluxe, and to the Game Boy Color as Burai Fighter Color in Japan and Space Marauder in the West.

A powerful race of aliens called Burai is bent on conquering the universe, deploying all sorts of robotic mutants throughout the galaxy. The player is the only hope of mankind as a lone fighter piloting a proton pack, so off you go bring justice to the strangest confines of the universe armed with a main gun activated by button B and an assortment of bombs triggered with button A. By aiming and keeping button B pressed you lock your shot in any of the eight available directions, a resource that gives players a lot of freedom in how they want to tackle the different environments across seven increasingly harder stages. If you wish, a simple password feature allows you to start the game in any stage, just take note of them as the stage is about to begin.

Fight the evil Burai!
(courtesy of YouTube user NesShortGameplays)

 

Special items can appear simply floating in the air or from carrier pods that must be hit in their center orb to be destroyed. These pods keep changing their position at regular intervals while closing in on the player, so beware not to die by failing to destroy them in time. The most important items are weapon power-ups, which give you special powers depending on their letters: laser (L), missile (M) and ring (R). Each one has three power levels related to the amount of items you collect (1, 5 and 10/A). Weapons are upgraded separately just by taking items, and at maximum power they all acquire very efficient spread patterns (X-shaped for laser/missile and 3-way + one rear shot for ring). The missile is the only one that mandatorily fires forward (to the right) in its initial form, the other ones follow your firing direction. The ring shot is the only one that can go through walls.

Other important items are the speed-up (S) and the rotation pod, which looks like a spiky object (watch out, at first I thought it was harmful and avoided it for a few credits). The pod rotates around the player and destroys enemies on contact, but is incapable of shielding you from bullets. Additional pod items will make it rotate faster. As for speed-ups, from my experience two of them are fine to play the whole game. If you take more than that controlling the character might become a problem when there are too many enemies or dead corners around, after all you can also die by screen-crushing. Deaths reset the power of the weapon you're currently using and send you back to a previous checkpoint.

"Cobalt" bombs are acquired by collecting the red orbs left behind by destroyed enemies. For each white mark in the bomb meter you get one cobalt bomb that can be detonated with button A, wiping bullets and killing all regular enemies in the screen (there is no effect on bosses though). If you keep accumulating bombs and reach the EXTRA mark you earn a new life and the bomb meter is reset. Even though it's tempting to avoid bombing to get extra lives, it's always best to use them if the going gets tough. That's especially true when you realize there's a better way to gain more lives, which is simply related to scoring. A new one is obtained at every 100.000 points, and there's also the possibility of finding free extra lives in the form of 1UP items.

With practically no slowdown and tolerable bouts of flicker, Burai Fighter is a joy to play once you get the hang of the basic gameplay. The screen scrolls in all directions, and there isn't a single instance that makes you feel that you died cheaply. Of course it's better to stay in the center of the screen until you get used to the stage layouts. There seems to be an obvious inspiration from Irem, given the vague similarities with titles such as X-Multiply (level 2) and Image Fight (level 5). You do get two completely different levels in stages 3 and 6, which unfold in a top-view perspective. The objective there is to find and destroy a turret base as you move around non-stop, just like in the overhead levels of Thunder Force II.

At the beginning of the overhead stages a radar appears showing the location of the base relative to yours. In the words of the instruction manual: be careful to remember your location and the location of the base, because if you don't you might wander the barren cosmos for all eternity. The map rolls over itself, so if the base is up there and you're down below just move down to find it easily instead of going all the way up.

Ascending the platforms of stage 5

Ten hidden rooms can be found throughout the game, but getting access to all of them is actually a mystery. The one that appears in the first stage is clearly visible, but as much as I tried I couldn't make the screen go up to enter it, not even once in all my time playing the game. I did get to access the small detour to the left with a 1UP in the descent phase of stage 2 a few times, but I have no idea how I triggered it. In any case these hidden rooms aren't really important in the long run since all you need to succeed is provided in the regular paths of the game anyway.

Although it's not exceedingly hard Burai Fighter does have a few tense checkpoints such as the one that leads to last boss Slimedragon. Dodging his molten rock fireballs can be a pain, but note that by using ring the fight doesn't drag for too long. In fact, the instruction manual mentions that each boss has one weapon as weakness. Besides that, it's also very useful to abuse point blanking for faster kills. The fourth boss won't even get to the middle of the screen if you hammer his weak spot at close range with laser. End-of-stage bonuses multiply your weapon levels by a certain amount of points depending on the difficulty, doubling these numbers if the weapon is maxed out. In the Normal difficulty (Albatross) the maximum bonus is 120.000 points, for example, whereas on Hard (Ace) it's 300.000 points, which is  also equivalent to three extra lives. Unfortunately the scoring system is broken because you can just wander around forever in the overhead stages killing hordes of enemies, in what's the only true reprimand that can be given to Burai Fighter. The music might be another undignified feature, but while not memorable it's at least decent.

By beating Burai Fighter on Normal (Albatross) the game teases you with a graphic ending before starting again on Hard (Ace). A panel with the character looking at the colorful horizon is finally shown upon beating the game on Hard, but then it loops again in another final difficulty called Ultimate. The high score below was achieved starting on Hard and ending in stage 6 of the second loop (Ultimate). Sadly I wasn't able to recover once I died there.

GG Aleste II (Playstation 4)

Vertical
Checkpoints OFF
3 Difficulty levels
6 Stages
Ship speed fixed, selectable at start
- - - - - - -
Developed by Compile in 1993
Published by M2 in 2020

Okay, time to resume the Game Gear Aleste saga brought to the spotlight again by M2 in the Aleste Collection. GG Aleste II follows on the footsteps of GG Aleste as Alice Pfeiffer, cousin of previous protagonist Ellinor, boards the cockpit of the Lance Bird prototype space fighter in order to restore peace in another fight for the future fate of the Earth. Some folks are remarkably keen on knowing more than that about the story, but I'd say it's enough to set up the premise and the mood for some more 8-bit handheld shooting action blown up to the big screen in this relatively odd entry in the Shottriggers revival series.

As we can see from the intermission screen when you boot the PS4 disc, GG Aleste II was also released as Power Strike II in Europe, a title that's totally unrelated to Power Strike II for the Master System. For all purposes both Game Gear variants are exactly the same bar the title, so go figure why have both in the disc. Perhaps to propagate the confusion with this series even further? No matter how much I think I'm familiar with this franchise I still find myself quite confused every now and then. That's why it's much better to just play these games and shoot mindlessly, regardless of how similar they all feel at first glance.

Lance Bird departs into the Space Plant wielding the Hammer hawk

 

Yes, on the surface GG Aleste II is a lot like GG Aleste. Stage design seems to be all over the place and can't help but feel generic, yet the game compensates all of that with intense action and a few cool bosses. There are some crucial differences between both games though, starting with the reduced amount of air across all six levels and two bonus areas that unfold like a rail shooter after stages 2 and 4. The basic rule of upgrading the main shot and the auxiliary weapon separately still applies though. Power chips are released in groups of four from specific drones and slowly increase the ship's main shot, whereas a P icon powers up the auxiliary weapon. These are reduced to only four this time: N (Neo napalm gun), H (Hammer hawk, your quintessential homing shot), R (Rising masher, laser beams) and D (Delta form, a series of options that surround and protect the ship in a triangle formation).

The auxiliary weapon needs 3 Ps to be maxed out, and upon coining the credit you're allowed to select which one will be initially used. At the start of the game and at every respawn after dying you're also equipped with one G-Strike bomb, a powerful blast with a ripple effect that damages everything on screen. That is the second button input you have in GG Aleste II, the first one being the regular shot of course. Note that this bomb doesn't give you invincibility, so don't expect to survive impossible odds with it. However, as in pretty much all Compile games of the Aleste series, split second invincibility is still in place for every item you collect.

Besides the bomb, other new gameplay features are related to the continuous collection of power chips. The ship receives a 1-hit shield whenever 20 chips are collected (the front hull aqcuires a blue thick outline). If you continue to pick up chips while the shield is active this counter will stop at 19, meaning that upon death the very first chip taken will grant you another shield. In parallel, an extra G-Strike bomb is granted for every 32 chips you're able to collect. Both the shield and the extra bombs highlight the importance of the gadgets prepared by M2 for this port, which allow you to track how many chips you need to receive the extra resources. If you play the game on an original Game Gear you'll never have an exact idea of when they might be coming, unless you're an expert at keeping count of things amidst the shooting mayhem.

GG Aleste II by M2, from the second boss to the end of the third stage
(courtesy of YouTube user alienparadox)

Though not by a large margin, GG Aleste II is certainly harder than the first game. It's still an easy fun clear, but some bosses can definitely take you by surprise with a few tricky attack patterns. Another way of getting the clear more easily is by sticking to the Napalm gun as your auxiliary weapon of choice, since the napalm spreads are capable of cancelling all regular enemy bullets. Saving bombs for the hardest sections is also a good strategy because the bomb stock is not depleted upon death, a very rare treat when it comes down to shmups (if you have at least one bomb in stock you don't get another bomb with a new life though). Finally, dying is an event that's not that harsh since you lose only one power level for each shot type. Just don't die twice or three times in a row and you'll get back up quite quickly.

The routine for score-based extends starts with 50.000 points and continues with 100.000 and 500.000 points. After that a new extend is registered at every 500.000 points. An item-based extra life can be found easily in stage 3 by destroying all space debris halfway into the level.

Click for the option menus translation for GG Aleste II in the Aleste Collection

Pretty much all the options for GG Aleste II are the same as those for GG Aleste. including the screen settings and interesting tweaks such as several steps for rapid fire and "comfort mode", which eliminates the original flicker and slowdown. I just wish M2 had added a language switch so that we wouldn't have to go into the trouble of translating everything, but alas! It's fine as it is, I guess.

My best 1CC score below was achieved in the Normal difficulty with comfort mode set to ON. I didn't tinker with rapid fire settings because they messed up the efficiency of the napalm gun. Since you can theoretically exploit bosses with no time limit for item carriers, M2 considered GG Aleste II broken and only allowed completion time as a method to track the player's performance, just like they did with GG Aleste. However, climbing up the online leaderboards in the sequel is a lot harder to do because it requires uncommon strategies such as suiciding in order to have more bombs available.

Next: GG Aleste III.

Kyūkyoku Tiger II Plus (Saturn)

Vertical
Checkpoints OFF
4 Difficulty levels
6 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Takumi
Published by Naxat Soft in 1997

One of the defining titles in the shmup portfolio of Toaplan is Kyūkyoku Tiger, also known everywhere – with a few gameplay changes – as Twin Cobra. Given the amount of exposure and ports the game continues to receive even today, it’s only natural that many players are still unaware of its sequel. Add to that the fact that Toaplan went bankrupt before it could be completed, thus handing over the project to newly formed company Takumi (with the blessing of powerhouse publisher Taito, of course).

Following the trend of the original, Kyūkyoku Tiger II is also known as Twin Cobra II overseas. I guess we can measure the success it gathered by the number of home consoles that followed. There is only one so far, released for the Sega Saturn in Japan roughly two years after the arcade game appeared. Named Kyūkyoku Tiger II Plus, this version includes a special mode made for Sega's console (hence the Plus in the title), which comes with a new soundtrack, color palette changes, an exclusive new stage and lots of cut scenes fleshing out the story.

Many elements of the first game were kept in this sequel, and are mixed with new aspects that try to give it a fresh take. A mid-sized chopper is still the carrier of all power-ups and bombs. Power-ups cycle colors and switch or upgrade the main weapon between red (straight vulcan), blue (spread shot) and green (the "thunder claw", a combo of straight laser bursts and homing side shots). Bombs are stocked up to five, with every further icon upgrading bombs in stock to hyper bombs, a much more powerful version of the regular bomb. As for power-ups, it takes three of the same type to max out your firepower.

A very warm reception over a dark ravine in stage 5

All game modes in the Saturn port use a simple controller button layout of shot (A or C), bomb (B) and credit insert (R). Pause and press A+B+C to revert back to the main menu and switch game modes. The shot input has autofire by default, which despite not being that high still gets the job done so there's no need for a turbo controller. Bullets and lasers are almost always aimed and come in various patterns, but it's possible to "seal" enemies in order to avoid their attacks (stand very close or directly over them if we're talking ground targets). Tapping and sweeping is the bread and butter of survival, but getting sniped is still a possibility later in the game. However, if enemies can't see you they can't shoot, and for that reason sometimes it's better to just stick to one side of the screen in order to avoid unnecessary risks.

Even though the overall level of accomplishment might be questionable, Kyūkyoku Tiger II has interesting dynamics that sort of succeed in addressing some of the most dire traits of its predecessor. It's still harder than its world counterpart Twin Cobra II due to more resilient and more aggressive enemies, but it certainly takes it easy on players during the first couple of levels when compared with Kyūkyoku Tiger. When deployed, the bomb provides instant invincibility instead of leaving you vulnerable for a few seconds. The assortment of bombs is also much higher in the sequel since every carrier releases one power-up and one extra bomb. And if you die you're respawned with the same weapon you were using instead of reappearing with the vulcan shot.

Another striking feature of the sequel is the constant use of sprite scaling to convey the sensation of flying at different heights and diving into deeper and deeper layers of the enemy headquarters. My impression is that visually the game bears a strong resemblance to Donpachi, which is also the first game from another offshoot company that formed from the ashes of Toaplan. However, unlike Cave's perennial debut, Takumi's first game was never able to carry the Kyūkyoku Tiger/Twin Cobra torch into new grounds. Perhaps that wasn't their intention at all since the company decided to focus on Giga Wing instead.

As a result of the lack of development zeal, Kyūkyoku Tiger II ended up halfway into being a truly great shmup. One of the reasons for that is the dreadful unbalance of the weapon system. Once you realize how much more powerful the green shot is you'll certainly feel stupid whenever you take red or blue by mistake, with the obvious exception of the chopper taking off with the red shot at the start of the game. On the other hand, the green weapon is the worst one to die with since it's probably the least useful in a default condition. Depending on where you die you'll be in severe trouble because power-up carriers might take too long to appear, so don't get stingy with bombs if necessary. 

Quick fun with the Sega Saturn mode in Kyūkyoku Tiger II Plus
(courtesy of YouTube user ShiryGL)

Speaking of bombs, avoiding to use them is one of the key aspects of the scoring system. At the end of the level each spare bomb is multiplied by 5.000 and by the stage number, whereas each hyper bomb gets multiplied by 20.000 and the stage number. A full stock of hyper bombs in the final level, for example, results in a reward of 600.000 points. Good luck getting that though, especially if you keep collecting repeated power-ups for progressive bonuses, an act that eventually makes the speed of enemy bullets skyrocket. Once max power is achieved, each power-up builds up in steps of 10.000 points until a maximum of 100.000 points per item is obtained (if one power-up leaves the screen the next bonus is reset to 10.000 points though). Finally, ground and aerial stars released by enemies increase in value in steps of hundreds and then thousands until maxing out at 10.000 points each. Dying sends both the dynamic rank and all these bonuses back to their starting values.

So what would you choose, avoid surplus power-ups all the way for an easier game or get them all for higher bonuses at the expense of a much harder journey? In this port you can do it in Arcade mode (a direct TATE conversion of the arcade game), Sega Saturn mode (wobbling YOKO) or Arrange mode (just like Saturn mode but with the added features mentioned at the start of this post). The game has automatic saving while Arcade and Saturn modes share the same high score table, but note that Takumi or Naxat Soft unfortunately messed up with the scoring system by adding a few extra points for the blue helicopter (player 1 side) until max power is achieved. The red helicopter (player 2 side) isn't affected by this, but if you decide to play with it you need to cope with a highly unreliable replacement for the green laser. It's downright awful, honestly one of the weirdest weapons I've ever seen in a shmup.

Regardless of what scoring purists might think of the above and some odd design choices, Kyūkyoku Tiger II is still decent shooting fun, with plenty of action and fairly suitable music. Since it lacks checkpoints, it's also remarkably easier than Kyūkyoku Tiger. Fans of the first game should try the sequel, if only for the new elements related to scoring and the new approach towards rank. I played in Arcade mode (TATE) with the red chopper (player 1) in full defaults, which means Normal difficulty and Power Up set to A. Don't mess with this setting unless you want to tinker with the behavior of weapons when respawning.

Sexy Parodius (Saturn)

Horizontal
Checkpoints ON or OFF
8 Difficulty levels
7 Stages (+1)
Ship speed by icons
- - - - - - -
Developed by Konami
Published by Konami in 1996

After the console venture of Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius, originally released for the Super Famicom, Konami turned back to the arcades for the 5th chapter of the series in Sexy Parodius. While no big aesthetic changes are to be seen here, the company did tinker with the gameplay a little in order to bring new elements to the well-known style established since Parodius Da!. As a consequence, even though it looks like more of the same from the outside, Sexy Parodius comes packed with deeper mechanics aimed at pleasing players of all skill levels.

Does it succeed? I believe it does, but it took me quite a while to figure out why.

The game's also supposed to feature a sexy or risqué design but I didn't notice much of that at all. To be honest, the only real moment I thought could get some attention from a bystander, for example, is the final lady boss, which indeed appears in a very sexy manner and probably acts in the most comical way out of the whole series. That's quite fitting actually, seeing that Sexy Parodius is the final title in the franchise and it fades out, as expected, with a wacky bang. This Saturn port is pretty much arcade-perfect, down to the absolute lack of slowdown, and as far as I know there's no reason why the Playstation version shouldn't be of the same caliber.

Koitsu and his new sexy adventure
(courtesy of YouTube user The VideoGames Museum)

The main idea behind the story of  Sexy Parodius is a rather funny one, which players will eventually get to know due to the panels that appear in between levels. They show regular characters Takosuke (the octopus) and Pentaro (the penguin) running an enterprise that hires agents (the playable characters) in order to fulfill missions for special clients. There is a preamble to this in the attract mode animation, which also shows Takosuke dreaming about scantly clad girls everywhere (tentacles!). Anyway, that's the reason why you can't play with them this time around. The character roster includes eight pilots and their 2P counterparts with the possibility of co-op fun. Familiar faces such as Vic Viper, Michael, Koitsu, Mambo and Hikaru are back, with a couple of newcomers in the form of Option/Multiple (self-explanatory for Gradius fans) and Shooting Star/Black Viper.

Classic characters like Vic Viper still adhere to the weapon rules originally defined by the Gradius franchise, but newer additions to the roster are so unique that only the speed-up and the shield seem to be relatable to the old upgrade styles. Everything in between might be the most diverse combination of missiles and shots/lasers, which are still upgraded by taking orange capsules and activating the desired slot in the weapon array. This can be completely manual, but you can also select semi-auto and auto modes after the character is chosen. In semi-auto the game does the upgrading for you but allows players to do it as well. In auto mode the game completely dictates how the character should evolve, and you can't even trigger a new speed-up. On the other hand, auto mode eliminates checkpoints, gives you a bell shower upon death and does away with roulette capsules. These are special capsules that make the weapon array go crazy, cycling very fast until you press the upgrade button just like you would in a slot machine.

Speaking of input buttons, they work with (rapid) shot, (rapid) missiles and power-up. Shot also activates bell powers across all game modes (manual, semi-auto and auto) whenever applicable. At every four shots fired on regular yellow bells they change their color so that you can use special powers: brown (3 vertical barriers), purple (turns all minor enemies into capsules), blue (super bomb),  green (inflate + invincibility) and white (Alex, a special option/minion that helps you out in several ways). Yellow bells are only useful for scoring: if you don't let any of them go by they increase in value from 500 to 1.000, 2.500, 5.000 and finally 10.000 points.

Alex is one of the new features of Sexy Parodius, as is the mission gimmick applied to all stages. In each level you're given a task (collect a certain number of coins, kill a certain number of enemies, destroy bosses within a certain time limit). For stages 2 and 3, failing to accomplish the missions will send you to alternate levels with completely different layouts and bosses. A successful mission in alternate stage 3 sends you back to the main stage 4, but regardless of your results in any variation of stage 4 (main or alternate) you'll continue playing in a single route through stages 5 and 6. Additionally, a random level with bosses from previous games can appear anywhere between stages 2 and 6. Finally, if you complete all missions succesfully you'll also play a special stage after the end credits, which just like in Gokujyou Parodius ramps up the difficulty to ridiculous heights.

You will only see this lovely boss if you fail the mission in stage 2

An interesting note about the missions is that they add to the feeling that the game is longer than it actually is. With only six main levels (not counting the special stage), Sexy Parodius is actually the shortest game in the series since the very first Parodius. Another noteworthy aspect of the mission mechanic is that the biggest contributor to rank is the act of completing all of them. Maxing out your power, surviving longer and abusing bells for scoring certainly make the game harder, but there's a clear difference in enemy aggression if you continue to succeed in the missions proposed by Takosuke. I was brutally decimated with little to no fanfare when I got to the last stage a couple of times after being 100% successful in my missions, and once I tested the game in MAME I knew it was too high a price to pay just to access the special stage.

 

Then I got back to the Saturn game and cleared in on the very first time I completely ignored some missions. By failing to destroy the required number of geisha in stage 3 and failing to collect the minimum number of coins in stage 5 (don't get Alex, he'll definitely try to help you achieve that), the final level became much more approachable. This also leads to the conclusion that for players with normal skill levels such as myself it's perfectly possible (and maybe even easier) to get decent scores by not pursuing the special stage at all. Bells don't appear as frequently as in previous games, but still represent the primary means of scoring and are certainly easier to deal with when you're not focused in completing missions.

In a nutshell, Sexy Parodius is a shmup that can be made as hard as you want. Fun is likewise relative, and it might take some while to figure out the right amount of dynamic difficulty you're able to cope with, but the game's charm is undeniable. For my taste it goes a little too far with aggression just for fulfilling the proposed missions though, with the added albeit debatable drawback of the most pleasing versions of stages 3 and 4 being relegated to the failure route (I always died by mistake due to the exaggerated colors of the main 4th level, the girl factory). Minor details such as health gauges for bosses and colored bells showing descriptions when appearing are very welcome, but I missed not having a dedicated button to activate bell powers.

Once I saw how Mambo's awesome piercing laser behaved I had to have him as my character of choice, so most of my attempts at beating the game were with him. As I mentioned above, the highest score below (difficulty 4, auto mode) was achieved in my very first run after deciding to not fulfill all missions, thus refusing the see that ridiculous special stage.

Even though the Parodius series ends with Sexy Parodius, some of its traits lived on in Otomedius, which got an improved home version in Otomedius Gorgeous for the Xbox 360.

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.

Radiant Silvergun (Saturn)

Vertical
Checkpoints OFF
5 Difficulty levels
6 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Treasure
Published by ESP in 1998

Already established as a revered developer for the console market throughout the 90s, Treasure took to themselves the task of making their first arcade game with Radiant Silvergun. And my friends, what a debut! How many companies come up with such a hit in their first try, I wonder? Anyway, the similarity of the arcade board and the Sega Saturn architecture soon led to a port to Sega's 32-bit system that became extremely sought after and rare, further cementing the game's reputation as one of the most desired titles in the platform. Of course there are more noble reasons for that, after all the game is a masterpiece that challenges players in a way very few shmups do, with outstanding production values and incredible cinematic elegance.

It doesn't take long to at least understand the hype behind Radiant Silvergun. Just a few credits are enough to realize how different it is, from the enigmatic stage structure to the fact that you have 7 weapons at your disposal from the get go. It's all tied up into a detailed backstory and controls built upon a layout that originally uses only three buttons but in the port takes full advantage of the Saturn controller. With an ambitious soundtrack and a slew of graphical effects it's all about spectacle, but spectable backed up by an elaborate leveling up system that many consider akin to RPGs. I can't say I agree with that, in my opinion what makes this game unique is an intricate puzzle element that's rarely seen anywhere else in the genre.

And instead of just porting the arcade game Treasure went beyond the basics and added an extra Saturn mode that expands the original structure while cleverly giving less experienced players the chance to see the whole game without resorting to infinite continues. Gameplay basics are the same for both modes though, as are those ominous but nonsensical messages that appear during boss warning announcements, of which the most famous one is definitely BE ATTITUDE FOR GAINS.

Getting circled by Nasu, the boss of stage 2C

The three fundamental shot attacks consist of vulcan (button A), homing (button B) and spread (button C). The combination of these inputs lead to extra shot types that are mapped to the other buttons in the controller, which results in homing spread ring (button X, or B+C), backwide (button Y, or A+C) and lock-on plasma (button Z, or A+B). Finally, at the press of all basic inputs A+B+C or button R you activate the radiant sword, a short-range moving appendix that's also capable of blocking/absorbing regular bullets. If you absorb 10 bullets, as indicated by the gauge below the score counter, the next sword activation will be the hyper sword, a devastating attack that deals great damage and also makes you invincible.

The amount of weapons at the player's disposal is overwhelming up front, but they are all effective in their own way. Vulcan and spread are great for immediate offense, whereas the lock-on plasma and the homing ring can reach through walls. The current power of each basic weapon is shown in cycles right beside the score display, but in a game that has absolutely no power-ups how exactly are we supposed to upgrade our weapons? That's when chaining comes into play, and everything about Radiant Silvergun assumes a whole new level regarding strategy. It's not about haphazardly killing everything anymore, and there's simply no way around this if you want to have a chance at succeeding in the long run. If you ignore it completely there comes a point when your weapons start to lack power and bosses become virtually invincible.

Chaining in Radiant Silvergun is color-based. Except for bosses, every single enemy is either red, blue or yellow. The basic rule is that these enemies must be destroyed in successive groups of three of the same color, without killing anything else that bears a different color. By doing that the multiplier over the base values increase dramatically, additionally powering up all weapons used in the process. Dying or destroying an unwanted enemy resets the chain/combo value. Another source of upgrades is the act of correctly dismantling bosses. Almost all of them have multiple parts/components that can be destroyed independently. Managing to get a 100% destruction ratio yields a lot more points and faster upgrades, but if you go straight for the kill and leave the extra parts intact this destruction bonus of course won't be as good.

Extra scoring methods can be squeezed in depending on the enemy layouts. A secret chain, for example, is obtained when you destroy at least one red enemy, hit a blue one and then start targeting only yellow ones. Chain values skyrocket quickly and soon reach the maximum of 100.000 points for every three enemies destroyed. Despite the difficulty to actually pull it off, stage 2B is a great example of when to exploit the secret chain technique. Other ways to score more points is by standing close to bullets and lasers (grazing), landing multiple hits with the same weapon and finding the "merry dogs", which are hidden in specific places and can only be unlocked by using the homing ring (B+C). They come in three types, but increase in value progressively.

Long story short, the upgrade progression is directly related to the weapons you use and to how well you're able to score. As I hinted above, the puzzle element related to chaining is one of the defining features of Radiant Silvergun, as well as the amazing sense of style and grandeur evoked by the game's scope. The stage structure, for instance, is quite unorthodox. In Arcade mode the game starts in stage 3, which is comprised by 5 sections. After that you must choose between stages 2 or 4, both also comprised by 5 sections. Then you proceed to stages 5, 6 (where you face a humanoid final boss named Xyga) and 1 (where you can't shoot and must survive the attacks from the evil crystal behind everything in the story). Since each section has its own boss, it's as if the game had 13 stages. Each stage also has a name that ties into the story (Return, Reminiscence / Evasion, Victim, Origin and Link), an aspect that's fully developed in the new Saturn mode.

Original trailer for Radiant Silvergun on the Sega Saturn
(courtesy of YouTube user SegaSteve)

Specifically tailored for this port, Saturn mode spices things up with extensive backstory animations and Japanese narration while making players go through all levels from start to finish (after stage 3 you advance to stage 2 and then stage 4). There are also four extra bosses in stage 6 prior to the final showdown against Xyga. More merry dogs than usual can be found, and minor graphical tweaks were applied to make the game a little more colorful. Since this mode is longer, the upgrade progression is a little slower than in Arcade mode. In any case, the most important feature of Saturn mode is that you're given the option to save your game so that you'll always start with the power-up levels you had in your last run. Eventually you'll max out all weapons at level 33, thus making it a lot easier to defeat bosses and reach the end of the game. The only initial challenge of Saturn mode is that continues are limited and get unlocked as you play, whereas you can just add credits at will in Arcade mode (with the L button). You can always play Saturn mode on a clean slate at any time, of course. 

Given how the gameplay works, it's reasonable to consider Radiant Silvergun to be one of the most methodical vertical shooters out there. It sure has its share of hairy moments, with true bullet hell sections and pressure mounting against some gigantic bosses the less powered up you are, but for the most part the rhythm of the game is clearly dictated by slow moving bullets. That said, for the majority of players the deadliest enemy for a good while is the confusion regarding weapon usage. Missing a hyper sword charge or triggering it in the wrong occasion, for example, can throw everything off in any run. That's why planning ahead, applying good crowd control and devising safe strategies for bosses are so important. This process might take longer than usual for a shmup, but the journey is decidedly worth it.

Arcade and Saturn modes are quite distinct between each other, as I mentioned above. They do share the same extend routine though, with score-based extra lives granted at 1 million and 5 million points. Other than that, all credits across both modes have incredibly detailed stats that can be seen in the options screen, which is also where you switch between game modes. You can even unlock special menus that allow stage selection, for example. The only features that I really missed in this outstanding port is a replay save function and some decent practice options. Unlockable stage selection is nice but doesn't cut it, especially with the frequent deaths of my back-up batteries.

I focused on Arcade mode after I came across a working MAME rom. I used it to practice until stage 2C, where it unfortunately crashed, so I had to learn everything after that the hard way. It was a memorable undertaking, but certainly not as memorable as Saturn mode, which I'll leave for a future opportunity. A common misconception about Radiant Silvergun is that the game is too long, but that's only true about Saturn mode, which takes over an hour to be completed. As we can see from the photo below, I was able to 1CC Arcade mode in less than 27 minutes in the Normal difficulty, going through the stage 2 branch (stage 4 is too evil). My back-up battery was dead during this run, so all the history from a previous 1CC and other attempts were sadly gone.

Now I can finally say I'm ready to move on to Ikaruga.