DRAGON SPIRIT is reminiscent of F-ZERO-GX in terms of fun and difficulty.
Graphics: I don't know what exactly the TurboGrafx-16 was capable of, but it's a good-looking game. Its graphics are somewhat simple compared to many of the bigger SNES and Sega Genesis games, but they look good. I never once had a negative thought about the graphics, but I wasn't blown away.
Score: 8.5/10
Sound: "SCRAAAA!" That's your dragon dying. "SCRAAAA!" It died again. "SCRAAAA!" That sound is embedded in my head. And despite its negativity, I like it now. The music's good: not exactly for conventional listening, but it certainly enhances the game. Score: 8/10
Gameplay: Now, the reason you're reading this review: is it a good game? If you're an experienced video game player, you should love it. It's like F-ZERO GX: incredibly difficult, and yet you keep coming back and trying: it's addicting to the point that you'll want to beat it despite the difficulty, not like I felt about Kid Icarus. Here's what the game is about:
You're playing as a blue dragon in a vertically-scrolling shooter. There are tons of power-ups: dragonbreath upgrades, 8x firepower (with which you shoot streams of fire that pierce all enemies), shrink to make you much harder to hit, speed to serve the same purpose, and most-fun of all, you can get multiple heads for your dragon. In addition, there are also wide-shot, where each head shoots three fireballs that spread out, and homing dragonbreath, which shoots out tons of fireballs that fly across the screen decimating every enemy. Like in Xevious, there aren't just enemies in the sky, but on the ground below you. You drop blue fireballs on them from above, but unlike in Xevious, this adds a new element of fun and depth to the game. You can even get an earthquake power-up that instantly kills all ground enemies on screen for 15 seconds or so.
It's incredibly satisfying to fly across the sky with three heads, an earthquake below you, shooting streams of piercing fire or homing blasts or nine fireballs per press of the B button, obliterating dozens of enemies very quickly.
Here's an important note: you can survive two hits, and will die on the third. It's not instant death, like in Xevious. Also very importantly, use the 100-continues code. It's what makes the game reasonable. If you did truly have to start over constantly, the game would simply be terrible.
Score: 9/10
The difficulty is relentless, but not to the point of ruining the fun. It's like F-ZERO GX in that respect. You can't just walk away forever and leave it unbeaten once you get into it. I finally beat the game today, and it was one of my greatest gaming accomplishments ever (up there with getting everything in F-ZERO GX, every trophy in SSBM, etc.).
In case you don't know, with the Virtual Console, you can create a temporary save file anytime. Beating this game in one sitting would take around ten hours unless you've become amazing through constant play.
It's not a Kid Icarus, where the difficulty ruins the fun. This game came closer to the feeling of challenge and addictiveness of F-ZERO GX than any other.
I highly recommend it to anyone who's serious about video games. Overall: 9/10