Mega Drive / Genesis shoot em ups
The Megadrive is the platform for shoot-'em-up fans of the 16-bit generation the consoles fast cpu and punchy music made it an excellent choice for this genre the library includes titles like Thunder Force 4 which pushed the hardware to its limits as well as Gley Lancer and Eliminate Down which are great titles but also demand a pretty penny and of course there was Zero Wing a mediocre shooter made famous for its awesomely mistranslated dialogue almost everyone has heard of the classic "all your base are belong to us" and now let's take a look at 5 great shooters that don't seem to get a lot of coverage.
While in most shooters you control a spaceship some games took a more original approach like Phelios by Namco a shooter themed around Greek mythology Apollo grasps his sword and leaps on his wing charger Pegasus to save Artemis his one true love. You fly and shoot your way through seven stages filled with a plethora of folklore foes.
The expected power-ups like speed ups and weapon enhancements will help you on your mission. by holding down the fire button you can charge your sword and unleash a powerful attack Apollo can take a couple of hits before he perishes and is sent back to the last checkpoint before the final battle you can restore the power of Phelios the sword of light allowing the use of a devastating beam attack an odd fact is that in the real Greek mythology Artemis was actually Apollo's sister awkward Technosoft was well known among shoot-'em-up fans for their excellent Thunder force series but they also developed a couple of other worthy titles like elemental master released in 1990.
You control a sorcerer on his quest to drive back the evil forces from his kingdom. The levels scroll vertically and you can shoot in upward or downward directions each time you complete one of the first stages a new weapon is added to your arsenal based on one of the four elements similarly to ThunderForce you can toggle between your acquired weapons during gameplay elemental master was initially only released in Japan The three years after its debut Renavation brought it over to the US sadly the game never saw a European release as usual with Technosoft releases The music is top-notch it was written by the composer who would later score Thunderforce IV Elemental master is a challenging but well-balanced title in the Megadrive library and a must-have for shoot-'em-up fans in Battle Mania dai Ginjo you control two trigger-happy girls named Madison and Crystal as they blast their way through enemy forces.
It's the sequel to battle mania which is also known as Troubleshooter in the West. you start out controlling just one character but after completing the first stage your teammate crystal will join you you can command her to shoot forward or backward at the tap of a button and via the options menu you can select a mode to have more control over your firing direction overall the game controls incredibly well and feels fluid as hell between levels you can pick one of four powerup ponts which act as a special attack after being charged the level design is a mix between horizontal and vertical scrolling stages all richly detailed and inspired by Japanese culture the upbeat music and fast-paced action make it a really fun title but it's a pretty rare shooter that carries a hefty price tag on eBay In Empire of Steel you pilot a world war one style plane or a Zeppelin a type of vehicle that rarely appears in battle against hostile invaders your fighter has a vitality bar which is essential to survive the barrage of enemy missiles and projectiles by picking up experience capsules you can enhance your firepower and shields your fighter can shoot either forward or backward and can occasionally pick up devastating lightning bombs the Stryker airplane is more agile while the Zeppelin is more resilient.
The unique steampunk theme makes it a really distinct experience and although the boss battles can feel a bit repetitive Some levels have exceptionally nice parallax scrolling effects and with plenty of action it's a nice addition to any Mega Drive library Gaiares may seem like a basic shoot-'em-up at first glance but there are a couple elements that set it apart from the rest you have control over a powerful pond called the toz system which you fire at enemy targets to capture their weapons or upgrade your current one.
Making for 18 different weapons in the game The graphics are surprisingly bright and colourful especially for a shooter and the great soundtrack will keep you coming back for more the boss designs are also noteworthy ranging from a grim reaper to a giant mermaid foes considered atypical in this video game genre the game was brought over to the US by renovation the same company who distributed some of the techno soft shooters outside of Japan.
