One of the best shooters on the SNES.
The gameplay is pretty straightforward, like pretty much any shooter. Players guide their ship, Axelay, through six levels of mayhem and shoot a giant boss at the end. The levels are divided into two types, the horizontal and the Mode 7. The Mode 7 is what really made the game stand out for it's time. It helps give the game some variety that some shooters at the time were in dire need of.
The biggest thing that set Axelay apart though was the weapons system. Instead of having to collect the powerups in the levels, the player gets to select the powerup at the beginning of the level and keep them. There are three types of powerups to select and more become available as the game progresses. Whenever Axelay gets hit, the powerup becomes unavailable. theoretically this means that the ship can take some damage, but if it collides into anything like a wall, it explodes. Thankfully the ship respawns where it helps off, so this helps make the game less annoying than some shooters.
In terms of difficulty, it's varied. Easy mode isn't too bad, but the harder difficulties will give any shooter fan a good challenge. Overall, this is one of the more accessible shooters out there.
The graphics look great for an early SNES game. There's only a little bit of slowdown and the Mode 7 graphics have aged surprisingly well.
The music is fantastic. It's sounds very high quality and there is not a single mediocre track to be seen.
The only real negative aspect about this game is it's length. It's a little disappointing that there's only six levels, but there are so many positive aspects about this gem that it's really not all that bad. All in all, this game is great and definitelycomes recommended for shooter fans or anyone who wants a good SNES game.