One of the greatest, least known, 2D side-scrolling sci-fi shooters of the SNES era finally comes to the Wii VC!!
My first impression was that it was insanely difficult , so I kept trying... and so, I got past the first stage,and couldnt stop playing!...that was until I got to the second boss...which, again, was SO difficult... until I figured it out... and so on...the whole thing was amazing.
This game was my first try at a decent mecha game, with excellent gameplay mechanics that controlled your mecha in a proper fashion, and just felt "good". Besides, graphically speaking, it was just mind blowing, there was so much detail to it on every aspect that sometimes I would just stop to admire the backgrounds and the overall animation of the mechs.
I would play the game over and over again, just to get to the fourth stage where you fall from a space station (where almost everything was destructible!) and enter into the earth´s atmosphere, while fighting other mechas. Visually speaking, that whole scene was just mind-blowing and conveyed the whole "sci-fi-mecha-all-out-war" just perfectly.
Did I mention how tough it was?... Years have past by (14 to be exact!) and I found it still is a tough game...especially when considering it has NO save or password function whatsoever... talk about a challenge! ... in this day and age when we rarely have to play through a stage in a game more than once, having a game like this that forces you to play from beginning to end in one sitting can prove to be quite a challenge, either because of the game´s difficulty, or by the fact that you have to sit, play and do the whole thing in one sitting. Back in the day, it was kinda common... Im not sure if that applies as well now.
On the sound department, the soundtrack and sound effects are just a perfect fit to the overall mechanized look and feel of the game, and have past the test of time quite well.
The story and cutscenes tell a very gritty, yet intriguing tale of war, and treason, love and hate... your usual anime-styled drama that just goes to every limit possible with big bosses, lots of explosions, very cool weapons, and some super cool anime sequences (that is, 14 year old kinda-cool)... all combined to make a great memorable, sci-fi, anime game.
If youre still into 2D gaming, love anime, love mechs and have patience on your side, then youll be playing one the coolest, least known SNES action games released back in the day!
Oh and by the way, the ending sequence is totally worth playing it on one sitting!!