Space Megaforce

"One of the Greatest Shooters of All Time"

I'm not going to slam some cocky garbage of ''I keep it real. I'm all about games. I don't give no BS, and I'm the only guy that's right,'' onto you, just to possibly convince you that my opinion is any more valid than another person's. No, that's not what this is supposed to be about... *ahem* Anyway, back when I bought my SNES 10 or so years ago (base system, no game included, and only 1 controller), I was looking for a good game to buy. Being at that time, the only ''standout'' game was Super Mario World, I spent quite a while searching. I was staring straight at some crappy Ultraman game, when Space Megaforce caught my eye. When I looked on the back of the box, the screenshots reminded me of a game I played back in a visit to Taiwan that totally blew me away. By coincidence, it was the same game. So, enough of my personal anecdote...

Story: 3
Typical ''Aliens are invading the earth'' fare. While not being exciting or even that good, most shooters out there don't bother much with story anyway. It doesn't really matter all that much in a game like this.

Graphics: 9
Considering this was a first generation SNES game, it was extremely good. Now it won't be able to compete with much nowadays (in fact, it wouldn't even be able to compete with most of the last generation SNES games), but it was cutting edge back then. With plenty of ''Mode 7'' effects and countless enemies and bullets on the screen, it was all eye candy. There's often so much filling the screen (especially on Wild difficulty setting) that you lose track of your spaceship.

Gameplay: 8
Most shooters are very basic. You've got your array of weapons, a bomb, and that's pretty much it. With the availability of 8 weapons, each one having at least 2 ''modes,'' there's plenty at your disposal. While I can't deny the fact that some weapons are just useless or made obsolete by others (Missiles are useless because Lasers do everything and then some. Scatter Shot and Sprite are crap) there's still the variety. Pretty much, you can fly through the game with a powered up Laser, and no other weapon would be needed. But it's not that easy, because at the lower levels (Weapons have levels 1-6), it sucks. Also importance is not only the weapon's strength, speed, and range, but it's penetrating ability. Some weapons like Multiple Shot and Scatter Shot can't go through barriers, which limits their use. And contrary to stupid belief, the ''Bomb'' featured in this game is not garbage. Unlike most Bombs in Shooters, it doesn't automatically destroy everything on screen, but to be useful, it needs strategic use. It's like a funnel action, where the bomb explodes and orbs of energy fly out in a circular motion, and then return to the epicenter of impact. That means enemies farther away from the epicenter take little damage while something right in the middle is given a beat down. But enough about weapons and that stuff. You can go read a FAQ if you want to learn more. There are plenty of hidden powerups in many levels, sometimes hidden inside out of the way paths. And there are 5 difficulty levels. Also unlike stupid belief, none of them are meant to speed up the rate at which the screen scrolls. Wild and Tricky (the former being the harder of the two) are almost impossible. When you destroy anything, several small bullets fly out. This includes enemies, the bullets they fire that can be destroyed, etc. Hard and Hyper make the enemies much faster, so much so that most of your weapons can't keep up with them. There's quite a bit to consider with the gameplay.

Sound: 11
I've never heard such great music in a Video Game like this. Most of the songs are composed of electronica beats and melodies, and there's no doubt in my mind that it's better than 99% of other game music. The sound is kind of muffled, but that's okay, because it's quality stuff. The ''voices'' are actually pretty good for such an old game. The soundtrack is great.

Replay: 5
With so many difficulty levels and secrets, there's plenty of reason to play through it more than once. But, like most shooters out there, it eventually gets boring. And it's only a one player game, so friends can't join in on the fun. Plus the fact that each of the Levels takes about 6 minutes to complete, at the very least (except for the ''bonus'' stages that take only 3 or so) makes it a bit too long to play through over and over.

Personal Tilt: 10
Yeah, this is where I get to be bias. But I just love this game. It's got the music, the gameplay, and the flashiness to keep my attention, even now. Granted, I can't play through a full game without getting bored now, that's to be expected... I first played this game almost 10 years ago.

Summary
When you take into account all that Space Megaforce has to offer, there's no reason to give it a mediocre score. Unless you apparently don't like the genre (why the hell are you playing this game then). Being such an old game, and such a first-generation game, it's surprisingly lasting. At least I think so, and I don't have to feebly attempt to defend my opinion with stuck up, subconsciously antagonistic and idiotic rants. I'll leave that to someone else.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/28/02, Updated 03/28/02