Uploaded May 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago

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My best scoring run of this vertical shmup developed by Namco
and released in 1989.
Pretty underrated game, fast paced and packed with ideas,
back in '89 was ahead of its time, maybe the first shmup with
integrated rapid/full fire (up to 20Hz) i saw.
The game start with 3 different ship each with its own weapon and bomb,
when you lose a ship the next type come into play (similar to "Moon Cresta"),
after stage 4 remaining ships combine in a powerfull big ship (larger hitbox).
Game is short, 15 min of gameplay, but full of unique enemy and bosses
that can be destroyed piece by piece for higher score and bonus stages
rapresented by blue pills that make you warp at high speed and apply
a X10 multiplier for the duration of the effect (less then 10 seconds).
Also after stage 4 there are branching path that can be choosen by
killing or letting escape bosses and latter option lead to combined and more
difficult bosses (a mechanic i never saw in others arcade).
The soundtrack, composed by Yoshinori Nagumo, is realy good,
with different tracks for every stage and boss.
I played on wolfmame 0.225 with 30Hz autofire.
For comparison here an old run with default rapid fire: youtu.be/WM3CViUFke8?list=PL3Q26811K0d-VQUqpvY6KlljV8WnetCCg
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:13 First Mission
00:00:25 Stage 1 (1st tube)
00:01:18 Boss 1 (Triple-Eye)
00:01:52 Stage 2 (2nd tube)
00:02:50 Boss 2 (Strike-Ants)
00:03:21 Stage 3 (3rd tube)
00:04:23 Boss 3 (Roller-Snail)
00:04:54 Stage 4 (4th tube)
00:05:54 Boss 4 (Hunter-Moth)
00:06:28 Second Mission
00:06:39 Stage 5 (Mars)
00:07:34 Boss 5 (Multi-Squid)
00:08:11 Stage 6 (Saturn)
00:09:06 Boss 6 (Monster-Head)
00:09:43 Stage 7 (Neptune)
00:10:37 Boss 7 (Ultimate-Tiger)
00:11:21 Final Stage (Boss Rush)
00:14:14 Final Boss (Danger-Seed)
00:15:47 Endings + Credits