Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A playthrough of Irem's 1990 shoot 'em up for the NES, Image Fight.
This playthrough shows both loops through the game. The second loop begins at 24:05.
"On a fateful day in 20xx, the Earth's moon exploded into four large fragments and a multitude of meteors. Aliens from afar had succeeded in destroying the West's moon base. One after another, mankind's other military industrial space complexes were being lost. What mankind dreaded had come to pass. Scores of unidentified fighters were in the area. In addition, the moon's main computer, still intact after the explosion, had a strange vegetation coiled around it. Their trademark evil exploits being a dead giveaway, invaders from the Boondoggle Galaxy had arrived to take over the Earth. To counter these evil forces, leading scientists from all over the globe created the 'OF-1' Fighter-ship. Combat pilots depart the Earth to fend off the invaders and earn everlasting glory."
So goes the plot of Image Fight, an NES adaptation of Irem's 1988 arcade game of the same name. It's also the plot of youtu.be/sRltIEP5PEY, but I suppose that's beside the point.
In Japan, the arcade version of Image Fight is regarded as a classic shooter cut from the same cloth as R-Type, and like R-Type, it seems to be best known for the challenge it poses. I've never played it, so I can't weigh in there. It looks nice in screenshots, though. Home versions of the game were released in 1990 across four platforms (the NES, PC Engine, FM Towns, and x68000), with the NES version being the only one to make its way its way stateside.
The game is divided into two chunks. The first five areas are "combat simulation stages." If you can finish the simulation with an average rating of 90% or higher (total enemy destruction rate), you are allowed to proceed to the "real combat" portion for the final three areas.
The OF-1 can be fitted with up to three firing pods that attach to its sides and back. The blue ones fire straight ahead, the red ones fire opposite of the way you're moving, and you can mix and match as you see fit. Hitting A+B will fling them in a boomerang loop that can whack things your main gun might not be able to reach.
The ship's primary cannons can be upgraded with one of eight special components (including lasers, homing missiles, a spread shot, and a bullet absorbing shield). The upgrade additionally acts as a one-time damage buffer, which comes in handy given that any direct contact between your ship and an enemy, projectile, or wall will instantly kill you.
And finally, you can freely select between four movement speeds with a tap of the A button. The ship's engines flare when you shift, and the blast can be used to destroy anything caught in your wake.
All of this provides plenty of choice in how to handle threats, and I'm sure that the arcade version requires you to make thoughtful use of these tools. On the NES, however, it feels over-engineered. You'll rarely see more than a few enemies on screen at once, and there are several long stretches where nothing happens. The sole challenging moment arises when you die and find yourself sent back to the checkpoint before the final boss.
The visuals are likewise barren. The backgrounds are extremely sparse, the enemies are small and lack detail, and the bosses are impressively unimpressive. The color choices don't help matters, either, with everything being rendered in garish shades of orange, blue, and green. And finally, rounding out the presentation is a Micronics-grade cacophony of colliding square waves that attempts to pass itself off as a soundtrack.
Japan System House, the developer Irem hired to bring the game to the NES, went on to see success with a string of high-profile Game Gear games. They didn't get to that point overnight, though, and I think it's safe to say that Image Fight lost pretty much all of its appeal in the move to the NES. It runs at a silky smooth framerate, there's no flicker or slowdown, the controls are fine, and the ship upgrades are cool, but it feels like a shadow of the game it was meant to be. It's too empty, too easy, and too dull to warrant any serious attention.
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
A playthrough of Irem's 1990 shoot 'em up for the NES, Image Fight.
This playthrough shows both loops through the game. The second loop begins at 24:05.
"On a fateful day in 20xx, the Earth's moon exploded into four large fragments and a multitude of meteors. Aliens from afar had succeeded in destroying the West's moon base. One after another, mankind's other military industrial space complexes were being lost. What mankind dreaded had come to pass. Scores of unidentified fighters were in the area. In addition, the moon's main computer, still intact after the explosion, had a strange vegetation coiled around it. Their trademark evil exploits being a dead giveaway, invaders from the Boondoggle Galaxy had arrived to take over the Earth. To counter these evil forces, leading scientists from all over the globe created the 'OF-1' Fighter-ship. Combat pilots depart the Earth to fend off the invaders and earn everlasting glory."
So goes the plot of Image Fight, an NES adaptation of Irem's 1988 arcade game of the same name. It's also the plot of youtu.be/sRltIEP5PEY, but I suppose that's beside the point.
In Japan, the arcade version of Image Fight is regarded as a classic shooter cut from the same cloth as R-Type, and like R-Type, it seems to be best known for the challenge it poses. I've never played it, so I can't weigh in there. It looks nice in screenshots, though. Home versions of the game were released in 1990 across four platforms (the NES, PC Engine, FM Towns, and x68000), with the NES version being the only one to make its way its way stateside.
The game is divided into two chunks. The first five areas are "combat simulation stages." If you can finish the simulation with an average rating of 90% or higher (total enemy destruction rate), you are allowed to proceed to the "real combat" portion for the final three areas.
The OF-1 can be fitted with up to three firing pods that attach to its sides and back. The blue ones fire straight ahead, the red ones fire opposite of the way you're moving, and you can mix and match as you see fit. Hitting A+B will fling them in a boomerang loop that can whack things your main gun might not be able to reach.
The ship's primary cannons can be upgraded with one of eight special components (including lasers, homing missiles, a spread shot, and a bullet absorbing shield). The upgrade additionally acts as a one-time damage buffer, which comes in handy given that any direct contact between your ship and an enemy, projectile, or wall will instantly kill you.
And finally, you can freely select between four movement speeds with a tap of the A button. The ship's engines flare when you shift, and the blast can be used to destroy anything caught in your wake.
All of this provides plenty of choice in how to handle threats, and I'm sure that the arcade version requires you to make thoughtful use of these tools. On the NES, however, it feels over-engineered. You'll rarely see more than a few enemies on screen at once, and there are several long stretches where nothing happens. The sole challenging moment arises when you die and find yourself sent back to the checkpoint before the final boss.
The visuals are likewise barren. The backgrounds are extremely sparse, the enemies are small and lack detail, and the bosses are impressively unimpressive. The color choices don't help matters, either, with everything being rendered in garish shades of orange, blue, and green. And finally, rounding out the presentation is a Micronics-grade cacophony of colliding square waves that attempts to pass itself off as a soundtrack.
Japan System House, the developer Irem hired to bring the game to the NES, went on to see success with a string of high-profile Game Gear games. They didn't get to that point overnight, though, and I think it's safe to say that Image Fight lost pretty much all of its appeal in the move to the NES. It runs at a silky smooth framerate, there's no flicker or slowdown, the controls are fine, and the ship upgrades are cool, but it feels like a shadow of the game it was meant to be. It's too empty, too easy, and too dull to warrant any serious attention.
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
