Top 10 run 'n' gun games

Run 'n' gun games may contain elements of shoot 'em ups and platformers, they can be modern day or futuristic, but whatever elements they're made of, they're all about blowing s**t up and taking names, just like the OTT action movies of the 80s and 90s. Speaking of which...

Ikari Warriors

One of the original top-down run 'n' gun games, Ikari Warriors is an all time classic. After crash landing your plane behind enemy lines, you have to fight your way up the scrolling jungle of enemy soldiers, taking weapons and also vehicles to aid your escape. The game is very clearly inspired by the Rambo films, with player 1's character looking almost exactly like Stallone (player 2 was the same, but blue). It's also one of those games that is difficult to translate to home platforms due to its rotating joystick controls (a problem we'll encounter again later on).

Metal Slug series

If you don't know what a typical run 'n' gun game looks like, you have obviously haven't played any of SNK's Metal Slug games. And if you haven't played any of these beautiful, violent and brilliantly ridiculous examples of arcade gaming, what the hell are you doing on a site like this? Metal Slug is one of the crowning jewels of SNK's legendary Neo Geo system and features some of the most detailed pixel art ever, but it's the high energy, high explosive, tongue-in-cheek gameplay that makes it a classic.

Gunforce: Battle Fire Engulfed Terror Island

If I was giving out awards for Most Awesome Subtitle, Gunforce: Battle Fire Engulfed Terror Island would probably win. This Irem run 'n' gun game from 1991 is very clearly inspired by Contra, but has a contemporary setting and two player co-op. Gunforce gives players the ability to lock the direction of fire by simply tapping the joystick and staying still, something many other similar games didn't do (such as Contra which always put the gun in a neutral position when you let go of the joystick). And although plenty of run 'n' gun games give you control of vehicles, there was something more free form about Gunforce's selection. They tended to be the same as the enemy vehicles and included screen-filling examples, such as the helicopter in the screenshot above. 

Total Carnage

In the 90s, Midway were the kings of over-the-top, parent shocking video games, from the visceral digitised action of Mortal Kombat to the worship of the cathode ray tube and total disregard for human life that was Smash TV. Released in 1992, Total Carnage shares a lot in common with Smash TV. Many of the game play elements, weapons and even characters came from Smash TV. As the name suggests, this is probably the craziest, crassest game in this list - a delight for teenage boys who grew up watching Willis, Van Damme, Lundgren, Sly and Arnie in action. The game also features an interesting password system, that will let you warp to sections of the if you know the four letter code.

Cyber-Lip

Here's another one from the SNK Neo Geo. Released a few years before Metal Slug, Cyber-Lip takes the game play of Contra and the plot from Terminator. You and a friend take control of two human soldiers, sent to take out the robotic army that's terrorising Earth after a military super computer goes haywire. Some notable features of Cyber-Lip are the ability to shimmy along handrails and the fact when you die you come back on a flying jet ski thing, which, for a few seconds, not only gives you the ability to clear the screen, but also allows you to position yourself where ever you like.

And no, I don't know what a Cyber-Lip is.

Mercs

Capcom's 1985 Commando was one of the earliest examples of vertically scrolling run 'n' gun games, pre-dating Ikari Warriors by a year. However, sticking to my rule of only including one game from any series, I must confess to preferring the faster, more hectic sequel from 1990. This game not only plays great, it looks great too, with clean, yet detailed pixel art that for some reason reminds me of Bitmap Brothers games. Unlike some of the other top-down games in this list, Mercs doesn't require any specialised controls, which means it translated well to home platforms too.

Midnight Resistance

I have found memories of various Data East games, but none more so than Midnight Resistance from 1989.  Like many of the games in this list, the characters looked like Rambo, but then he was the biggest action hero around at the time. Fallen enemies would sometimes drop keys, of which players could collect up to six. At the end of each level you break into a weapons store and each weapon or ammunition pack would require a certain number of keys to unlock. This was effectively just a coin and shop system, but it was more in-keeping with the story than having a random shop in the middle of the war-torn environment. This is another game that requires a rotating stick and so it didn't translate well to home platforms.

Finest Hour

Despite taking its name from a Winston Churchill speech, Namco's Finest Hour from 1989 is actually set in the future and puts the player in control of an armoured robot, seeking out the enemy in a jungle-like terrain and blasting them to smithereens. Finest Hour has a few unusual features. Firstly, it has an auto-lock on for the main gun and second, although it's not a one-hit-death game, you don't have health either. Instead you have a heat gauge, which goes up when you are hit. If the meter reaches critical, you blow up. However, stay out of danger for long enough and you'll cool down again. So when people talk about the auto-recharging health and shields of modern games like Halo, Gears of War and Call of Duty, you have to wonder if it started here. Officially, the game was only available in Japan, but I do remember it making it over to a few UK arcades. 

Rolling Thunder series

A former Classic of the Month, Namco's Rolling Thunder oozes spy style. The original had super smooth and detailed animation to go along with its great gameplay and atmosphere; the sequels added more locations, improved graphics and two player. The sequels are also some of the few run and gun games that put player 1 in control of a female protagonist (although others, such as later Metal Slug games, had optional female characters).

Alien Syndrome

Firstly, I love, love, love Sega's 1987 classic Alien Syndrome! I mean, I have soft spots for all the games in this list, but I have particularly found memories of Alien Syndrome - not so much the arcade original as the Sega Master System conversion. It wasn't as fast, but I always thought the graphics were cleaner. Nonetheless, this game manages to evoke the sense of foreboding and dread that permeates the Sigourney Weaver movies and with the kind of squelchy, undulating monstrosities found in John Carpenter's The Thing. Unlike the other games in this list, the maze-like structure of the levels of this game force players to explore and the time bomb ticking down in the background only added to the sense of dread.

Contra (AKA Gryzor)

Characters that looked like Arnie and Sly? Loads of big, crazy guns? Soldiers, robots and aliens to blast? What was not to like about Contra - or Gryzor as I knew it in the 80s. I was truly terrible at this game, but it wasn't until I was much older that I discovered it is generally considered one of the hardest games of that period. I own the Xbox Live Arcade version and even when I lower the difficulty and use all my continues, I still can't get past level 3. This game also made it to my original Top 10 list of seminal arcade games from my youth and for good reason. As good as similar games are in this list, Contra is still my favourite. So you can imagine how excited I was a few years ago when the games company I worked for at the time were pitching for the contract to do a modern remake of this classic franchise. Sadly, the bid fell through and it wasn't to be.

Join me again next month when I'll be counting down my top 10 light gun games.

MTW

Top 10 sports games

It's a scorching summer here in the UK, so it seemed like the perfect time to talk about Arcade Throwback's top 10 sports games.

Track & Field/Hyper Sports

Here I go, starting the show with a show stopper! Konami's Track & Field series is legendary and there are more games in the series than most people remember. In 1984, a year after Track & Field, there was Hyper Sports, which is the first one I played. Then there was Konami '88, International Track & Field (1996) and Negano Winter Olympics '98, as well as numerous spin-offs on home consoles. For most people, myself included, it's those first two games, that kick started the whole button mashing sports genre, that really stay with us. 

Tecmo World Cup '90

There were no football fans in my family, so first time I got into the beautiful game was during Italia '90, when I was 15. And what England fan didn't caught up in the moment when Paul "Gazza" Gascoigne's emotions got the better of him during our semi-final game against Germany? Even my mum watched it! Anyway, the football game to play that summer was Tecmo's World Cup '90. The simple controls made for a fast paced game that anyone could pick up and play and it remains one of my favourite video game interpretations of the sport.

F1 Grand Prix

Video System Co. Ltd's F1 Grand Prix could have gone in my top 10 driving games, but as one of the few properly licenced arcade racers I could remember, I thought I'd save this excellent top-down racer for the sports list. The game features all the teams and drivers from the early 90s, including such legends as Nigel Mansell, Jean Alesi, Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost and of course Ayrton Senna, all beautifully drawn and instantly recognisable. And while F1 begs to be made into simulators as opposed to arcade games, the top-down perspective works brilliantly, like a helicopter cam, letting you get a birds-eye view of all the jostling for position.

Side Pocket

If there was one sport that was on the telly in my house as a kid, it was snooker. I can't remember any snooker games in the arcades, but there were a few pool games, many of which came from Data East, including the dubious Pool Gal series. However, Side Pocket is the game I remember from the arcades I visited. With its top-down view, the mechanics were greatly simplified, but as always that suited the arcade.

Punch-Out!!

Nintendo's Punch-Out!! is perhaps better known for the NES and Super NES versions, but it did start out in the arcade in 1984. I remember it being a technically impressive game for the time, with the player's green-haired character (later known as Little Mac) appearing as a transparent wireframe model, so that you could get a better view of your opponent. And what a cast of characters they were! Glass Joe, Piston Hurricane, Dragon Chan, they were all brilliantly drawn and full of personality. The simply controls provided enough variety that you didn't just mash the buttons and the opponents' combinations of attacks, blocks and feints kept you on your toes. Nintendo resurrected the franchise in 2009 on the Wii and it's a brilliant update of the game.

Wind Jammers

You can look at SNK's Wind Jammers one of two ways: either you can disregard it because its a made-up sport or you can play it and enjoy one of the best one-on-one video games ever! The premise is simple, mix a little tennis and squash, but played with frisbees and add in special movies that wouldn't look out of place in a King of Fighters game. This is definitely one of those games that's easy to pick up, but very hard to master. Doing the special's is easy enough, but countering your opponent's specials and send them back at him with deadly force is much harder and also much more satifying.

Pigskin 621AD

Okay, if you thought I was pushing my luck with WWF Super Stars, you'll think I'm way over the line with Pigskin 621AD, but you won't deny it's a riot to play! This crazy medieval version of American football is almost as much a beat 'em up as a sports game. The field is also full of traps, like ponds, muddy puddles and boulders, which prevent you from zig-zagging wildly down the field in an attempt to avoid being clobbered by a mace-wielding warrior-jock. Unlike many other football games, you only control one player, the team captain, Thor Akenbak, but you can control the tactics (in a basic way) of your team mates by pressing the red button. When the player's team is in possession of the ball you can swap between "Block" and "Scatter", and when your opponents have the ball you can swap between "Get Ball" and "Man-to-Man". In either situation you can also set your team to free-for-all by selecting "Bad Attitude" — assuming you have enough time to think that far ahead in all the chaos!

Hit the Ice

Ice hockey is fast and frequently violent and so it's perfect for translation to video game. Few versions of the sport are as manic as Taito and William's Hit the Ice. Take control of a goalie and one member of either the Reds or the Blues, then skate, pass, shoot and, if need be, punch your way up the rink to score a slot shot. There are plenty of quite serious ice hockey games out there, but Hit the Ice is a bit like Pigskin in that it takes neither itself nor the sport it's based on too seriously. The result is a game that's full of comedic violence, like hitting your opponents in the head with the puck and making them see stars.  

Virtua Tennis

When it comes to tennis, us Brits have never had so much to celebrate, with Andy Murray winning just about every grand slam he enters and several young stars, like Laura Robson, doing us proud as well. For gamers, there is no finer tennis game than Sega's Virtua Tennis series, which was developed for their Naomi system (which shared its guts with the Dreamcast console). The game manages to be both accessible and authentic in equal measure, allowing players to feel like they could take on the grass courts of Wimbledon as well.

Neo Turf Masters

All the other games in this list are based on fast, action-oriented sports, but Nazca's Neo Turf Masters for the SNK Neo Geo masterfully adapts the sedentary pace of golf to the rapid-fire world of arcade gaming, without sacrificing the core elements of the sport. For lives you get a strict stroke limit, meaning that you can only progress if you can stay under par, meaning you can be facing the game over screen as quickly in this game as any other in this list. And thank God for one of my school mates showing me Microprose Golf on the Commodore Amiga back in the early '90s, because otherwise I might have totally overlooked this gem, which remains one of my all time favourite arcade games.

MTW

Top 10 beat 'em ups

Before I begin this top 10, I am going to preface it by saying I know purists would say fighting games and brawlers are two separate genres; Fatal Fury is a fighting game, while Double Dragon is a brawler. However, back in the day, any game with fist fighting in it was known as a beat 'em up and here are my favourite 10:

Kung-Fu Master

Kung-Fu Master was the first beat 'em up I ever played that pitched the player against waves of enemies, as opposed to one-on-one.  Despite being based on the Jackie Chan film Wheels on Meals (or Spartan X as it was known in Japan), it actually played out very similar to Bruce Lee's film Game of Death, with each floor being guarded by a different boss.  I always remember hearing people talk about what the boss was on the final levels, but I don't think I ever saw past the Man of Brute Strength on floor 3, so I never knew if those rumours were true.

World Heroes

World Heroes was one of many games designed to cash in on the success of Street Fighter II. While it never did anything to set itself apart from Capcom's classic, I've always been rather fond of it. The characters were generally a little nuttier than those in the early versions of SF2, which was always part of the appeal. Plus, when the Street Fighter cabinets were crowded, this was always a nice alternative.

Favourite character: Hanzo (sorry, you have Street Fighter II to blame for that).

Power Stone 

The first of three Capcom games in this list, Power Stone was an arena fighting game quite unlike any other. The game felt like some kind of crazy mix of a Jackie Chan film, with characters bounding over tables and chairs, as well as hurling anything they could pick up at their opponent, and Power Rangers, which each character capable of powering up into typically Japanese super heroes. The ability to power up was reliant on being able to beat three different coloured gems out of your opponent, then collect them before they did. Matches were frantic games of cat and mouse, often times extracting the gems was by no means a guaranteed victory.

Favourite character: Wang Tang

Guilty Gear II 

When I first saw Guilty Gear X, it had been a couple of years since I had played a 2D beat 'em up and after feeling disappointed by Street Fighter 3, I loved how completely out there Guilty Gear was. I can't pretend I understood anything about the game, from the out-there character designs to the multitude of meters, but it looked wonderful and felt like a much more exciting direction for the old genre.

Favourite character: Jam

Tekken 3 

If you have to pick a point where the arcade first started to show signs of losing the battle to home machines, it was when the original Sony PlayStation came along. I originally played Tekken 3 on a PlayStation and it was probably better than the arcade version. It's also generally considered to be the best game in Namco's legendary series. I've played all but the latest Tekken game and I have to say I don't think any of the later games better this instalment.

Favourite character: Paul Phoenix.

Virtua Fighter 5 

Sega's original Virtua Fighter was a ground breaking game, but once Tekken came along it kinda felt a little stiff in comparison. However, during the life of the series Virtua Fighter has stood out as a solid, deep and brilliantly balanced fighting game.

Favourite character: Lau Chan

Final Fight 

After Street Fighter, Final Fight is Capcom's biggest beat 'em up.  Like Golden Axe it featured a co-op mode that was enhanced by the differences between the characters.  I was a Cody player at the time and because of the bizarre universe Capcom games occupy, that continued in Street Fighter Alpha 3 years later.

Favourite character: Cody.

King of Fighters series 

SNK gave us two great fighting game series, Fatal Fury and King of Fighters, but as good as they both have been over the years, I feel I can only give one a place in this list, so it has to be King of Fighters. Now in its 13th iteration, King of Fighters' tag-team combat set it apart when it first appeared and is still a big part of its appeal.

Favourite team: Terry Bogard, Mai Shiranui and Yuri Sakazaki.

Soul Calibur II 

Of all the 3D fighting games spawned by Virtua Fighter, my absolute favourite is Soul Calibur II. It was the third game in the series and arguably does not add anything that wasn't in Soul Calibur, but I think some of the new characters were interesting. One of my previous employers had an Xbox running Soul Calibur II in the canteen, which was a hugely popular break and lunchtime distraction. Myself (played as Mitsurugi) and one of my mates (playing as Knightmare) were particularly keen on playing the game as methodically as possible, rather than just bashing the buttons in the vain hope of winning. Our long, drawn-out matches were really tense and punctuated by the occassional decisive blow making it through the others defences. Great times.

Favourite character: Mitsurugi

Street Fighter series

I don't know precisely what it is that makes me come back to Street Fighter time and time again, but I know my urge to play it has barely waned in two decades.  My favourite iterations are Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Street Fighter III 3rd Strike, Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Super Street Fighter IV.  Each one has something different about them that makes it possible to enjoy them all equally, without feeling as those the older games have become antiquated.

Favourites characters (because I can't just choose one): Blanka, Ryu, Cody, Makoto, and... oh I'll stop there.

Classic of the Month - Neo Turf Masters

Manufacturer:	SNK
Developer:	Nazca
Genre:	Sports
Board:	NeoGeo MVS
Year:	1996

Here on Arcade Throwback, I talk a lot about blowing things up in shoot 'em ups or knocking street punks about in beat 'em ups, but rarely do I talk about the more sedate side of arcade gaming, like golf game Neo Turf Masters on the SNK Neo Geo system.

I first played it with a couple of college friends in an arcade in my home town. In was one of the games on a Neo Geo MVS that also contained Art of Fighting and Metal Slug. The arcade in question was very much focussed on fruit machines; the only other game cabinet I can remember was Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting, although I feel sure there must have been others. Whatever is the case, there was not a lot of choice. I can't remember who suggested playing Neo Turf Masters (I'm trying to recall a singular event from nearly two decades ago), but I have a feeling it was the same friend who had introduced me to Microprose Golf on the Commodore Amiga five years earlier. Now I'm no sports fan, not football, not rugby, not cricket, not motorsports, not snooker and certainly not golf, but for a while in 1991 I was hooked on Microprose Golf; Neo Turf Masters not only looked a lot nicer than that earlier game, but being an arcade game, it was a whole lot more accessible too.

Obviously real golf is a very pedestrian game and Nazca didn't scrimp on content. The game features four fictional 18-hole courses, each in a different country (Germany, Japan, America and Australia). So, in order to make it work in the fast paced, 20p gobbling environment of an arcade, Nazca streamlined all the aiming and club selection and even added lives, which they called holes. Your hole count starts at three, if you finish the course on par you lose a hole and bogeys take two, so as you can imagine you could be facing the continue countdown pretty quickly. In order to progress you had to score Eagles or Albatrosses, which did not take away any lives. It was simple, but effective and meant skilled players could actually have a pretty full complete golf experience. Even though the game auto-aimed and auto-selected clubs, there was enough of an error margin with things like variable wind and slopes made it as tough as any other sports game.

Visually this is as good as it gets. As you rotate the view the links moves in several parallax layers, which meant everything moved in parallel, rather than panning a fixed bitmap. The golfer himself is digitised, with some very detailed animation. As I watched the YouTube video below, a full 17 years after I first played the game, I was as impressed as I was then. It's testament to to the power of the Neo Geo hardware.

MTW

Top 10 shoot 'em ups

I've done a few Top 10s over the years, but as I'm winding down Arcade Throwback this year they also give me an opportunity to quickly cover some of my all time favourites from each genre. So here, in no particular order, is Arcade Throwback's Top 10 shoot 'em up of all time.

Galaxian

There's something almost comforting about Galaxian's familiar formula. The game is barely any different from Space Invaders, but in 1979 it was by far the most visually and aurally appealing game in the arcade. That initial ditty still puts a smile on my face today. Compared to Space Invaders, in Galaxian the player is in far more peril from the get go. There's no cover and the aliens start dive-bombing you almost straight away, but who doesn't get a kick out of destroying a flagship and both its escorts when it's millimetres above your ship.

1942

In a genre that is full of crazy over-the-top weapons, enemies and locations, there is something refreshing about 1942's simplicity. There have been many sequels and remakes over the years, but none have quite lived up to the purity of the original. It also started a trend for having shmups based on World War II fighter planes, one of which is in this list.

Fantasy Zone

In a genre full of glinting metal spaceships and gelatinous alien monstrosities, Fantasy Zone's cute and colourful graphics are completely out of place, but that's partly why I like it so much. There are other cute 'em ups (Twin Bee and Parodius for example), but for me, Fantasy Zone stands out because it's also a solid shmup.

Saint Dragon

Jaleco's Saint Dragon is one of a handful of shoot 'em ups to employ a manoeuverable tail into the gameplay, but for me, non did it as well. Careful use of the metal dragon's tail can protect you from all but the fiercest enemy ordinance, but the spray of bullets, leapest metallic panthurs and environment obstacles mean you cannot simply coil yourself up to avoid the flak. This is a great shoot 'em up, which is often overlooked and well overdue a nice, shiny remake.

Blazing Star

The SNK Neo Geo was a wonderful arcade machine, probably best pure sprite-based machine ever made and few games demonstrate this better than Blazing Star. Sequel to the rather poor Pulstar, Blazing Star is busy, beautiful shoot 'em up to behold.

Raiden series

Seibu Kaihatsu's Raiden series is a sublime collection of shoot 'em ups that have survived the death of the arcade and made a happy home for themselves on modern consoles. It's difficult to pick one game in the series over any other, but they all play brilliantly. I just wish that Raiden Fighters Jet compilation for Xbox had made it to the UK.

Radiant Silvergun

When it comes to Treasure's two vertically shoot 'em ups, there's always debate as it which is better, the polarising Ikaruga or the diverse Radiant Silvergun. Personally, I like that RSG gives the player loads of choice about how they deal with each enemy encounter right out of the gate. Add in the colour-coded score bonus system and I can't help thinking it has more game than its younger brother. And thanks to the recent (and brilliant) port to home consoles, it's no longer a mythical game nobody's played. Any shmup fan would be a fool not to pick up.

Akai Katana Shin

Released in arcades in 2010, Akai Katana (as it's known here in the UK) is by far the most recent game in this list. I love pretty much all of CAVE's games, but this probably my favourite. Balancing collecting steel to arm your spirit form and energy to power it up takes thought and plannning, which would seem impossible among the chaos of this bullet hell shooter, but a steady hand and a stiff upper pays incredible dividends. Seeing your patience and care pay off in a shower of giant Gs is one of those pseudo-orgasmic experiences that only a select few games can offer.

Gradius series

I love Gradius, although the first game I played from the series was actually Salamander - also known as Lifeforce. These games are tight, precise shoot 'em ups, with brilliant environmental challenges. Ironically, although I'd struggle to pick a favourite among the original arcade games, my absolutely favourite Gradius game is Gradius V, which is a Playstation 2-only game made by Ikaruga developers Treasure.

R-Type

This is the one, the shoot 'em up that has stayed with me longer than any other. I played it in the arcade, I owned it on my Sega Master System, Commodore Amiga 500, Nintendo Gameboy, Sony PlayStation, Sony PlayStation 2 and now Microsoft Xbox 360, with the sublime R-Type Dimensions compilation.

Honourable mentions

Here are a few other games that almost made it into my top 10:

• Truxton (Tatsujin)
• Galaga
• Ikaruga
• Batsugun
• Mars Matrix
• Progear
• Tempest
• Defender
• Juno First
• Darius series

MTW

Boss Fight - Rootmars (Metal Slug 3, 2000)

It's difficult to say which SNK Neo Geo series is the best, but I do remember when I first saw Metal Slug in a Mansfield arcade in the mid-90s thinking how incredible it looked. Of the many Metal Slug games there's been, 2000's Metal Slug 3 is generally considered to be the best. As with previous games, you are battling General Morden's army, only discover Morden himself is under the control of the same Martian threat that appeared in the second game. And begins another crazy, over-the-top Metal Slug adventure, in which you battle enemies human, undead, mechanical and Martian alike.

The final boss is the Martian overmind, Rootmars, whom you encounter on-board its giant mothership, in orbit over Earth. You begin by entering a chamber to find Rootmars is hooked up to heart of the spaceship by numerous wires and tubes. When the fight begins, he blasts you with enormous blue energy balls, which get bigger and bigger, until eventually they're taking up about a ¼ of the screen. Blast it enough, and Rootmars' glass dome will explode and your character (Marco Rossi, Tarma Roving, Eri Kasamoto or Fio Germi) runs off screen.

For the next few minutes you run down a Giger-esque corridor, blasting zombie clones, robots and giant, goo-dripping Martian quadrupeds, to finally escape out of the airlock. As you plummet to earth in a SV-001, you get a nasty surprise - Rootmars is not dead and has jumped out of the exploding mothership after you. The battle then rages on, as you both fall through the atmosphere, as this video demonstrates.

In a series that is jam-packed full of incredible boss encounters, there's something about fighting as you free fall that makes this fight with Rootmars the most extrordinary of all.

MTW

I'm so jealous

Hands up who would like to own an arcade machine?  As I thought, most of you, but in reality it's incredibly impractical.  None the less, if I had the money and floor space for a cabinet, I would buy an SNK NeoGeo MVS.  Aside from the fact SNK made lots of great games during the late 80s and 90s, it's one of the most powerful sprite-based machines ever made and it is one of the few that took multiple cartridges.  With a NeoGeo MVS you would not be restricted to one game, you could have several in the machine at once and swap them around with relative ease.

So why am I so jealous?  Because my 23 year-old nephew has one gone and done it.  Furthermore, he got his MVS and a Fatal Fury cart for just £40--the jammy ********.

MTW

Classic of the Month - Blazing Star

Manufacturer:	Yumekobo/SNK
Genre:	Shoot 'em up
Board:	Neo Geo MVS
Year:	1998

So far during this run of classic shoot 'em ups I've talked about games from my childhood. For this month's classic, I've gone for one that came out in 1998, when I was 23 and rediscovering gaming after several years away.  SNK's Blazing Star, for their Neo Geo MVS system, was one of the biggest and most visually spectacular sprite-based shoot 'em ups ever made.  It was an unofficial follow up to 1995's Pulstar, but where that game ripped off R-Type in almost every way, Blazing Star stands up better on its own feet, with numerous gameplay improvements and an attempt at a deeper plot than most shmups, told through a series of anime-style cutscenes and pre-rendered CG.

According to Wikipedia, the plot of Blazing Star is as follows:

Sometime in their past, the planets Remuria and Mutras started an interplanetary war that showed no sign of ending. The endless fight between the human-like inhabitants of the two planets had gone so long that weapon development moved into dangerous territory: Organic Weapon Production combined with alien technology. Soon, a sentient weapon - Brawshella - was born. Brawshella gathered all animal life on both planets and forced them to do its bidding and attack the humans. In a week, the humans were assimilated by Brawshella.

Yet, once they were assimilated, they found no other purpose in life but to continue fighting each other. After a while, four of the assimilated fighter pilots regained their consciousness and remembered their pasts. Upon discovering their humanity, the pilots were conflicted with following Brawshella's orders or fighting it to fully regain their independence. The pilots finally turn against the machine in a battle to rediscover themselves and reclaim their planets.

All of this is pretty much unknown to the player, who simply has to two one of six pilots and their fighters:

• Hell-Hound flown by Caster
• Windina flown by Leefa
• Aryustailm flown by J.B.
• Peplos flown by Asayuki
• Dino 135 flown by Naomi Y.
• Dino 246 flown by Kaoru Y.

Each ship has different speed, power ratings and bullet patterns, but the basic mechanics is the same for all.  Tap the A button for the main weapon, tap rapidly for a more powerful shot, hold the A button for a charge shot (a la Pulstar) or hold A then tap B as you release A for burst shot.

Actually playing the game, it looks as frenetic as any bullet-hell shmup - especially in two player mode - however, Blazing Star is not that hard compared to most shmups.  Where as other games you can't complete no matter how many coins you shove in, Blazing Star can be completed by new players with just a handful of continues.  Some hardcore gamers say this detracts from the game play, even compared to its forebear, which was much harder, however, I would argue it makes a nice change to have an arcade shoot 'em up that isn't completely unfair and littered with cheap bosses.

Here's an interesting bit of triva though, the popular internet put down 'Fail!' apparently derives from Blazing Star's Engrish game over screen, which says, "You fail it! Your skill is not enough, see you next time, bye-bye!" I bet half the kids saying 'Fail' weren't even born when Blazing Star hit the arcades.

Let's see this amazing looking game in action:

There are literally dozens of shmups I could blather about, but there are a lot more other classics to discuss, so for now, that's the last shump I'm going to talk about. Next month, I promise to get as far away shoot 'em ups as I can.

MTW