1941: Counter Attack (SGX, 1991)
Graphics-8 Sound-8 Control-7.5 Challenge-8**/9* Story-5.5
Level Design-7.5**/7* Frustration-8**/9* Fun-7.5**/7* Originality-6
Overall Score-7.5
*1-player on default
**1-player at difficulty level 2 w/ 5 credits and 4 starting HP+focusing on the side
missiles weapon
+
Respawn on the spot after death (=after continuing; lose your clone trail/gun drones but not your weapon upgrade)
2-player coop
Pretty good variety (some enemy types are repeated a bit much)
Health bar (starts at 3 HP and increases to 6 over the course of the game based on the player's score - not hard to increase it to 6)
Often intense action
Smart bombs
Some hidden power ups (points only?)
Good bosses overall (most of them have several destructible parts, most have two phases)
Some mini-bosses
Charge attack (either a homing spread shot, a spread shot or a thicker forward shot depending on the secondary weapon equipped)
Sometimes highly destructible environment
Detailed options (hidden - hold button 2 with turbo enabled while booting up the game to access; lets you set the difficulty level (0-7, 3 by default; bosses are more aggressive at higher levels), timer speed for the secondary weapon? (not really an issue at the default setting), speed (?) - NOT plane speed, starting HP (3 or 4), starting credits (3-5))
Level rank screen after each level (shows the number of enemies destroyed, hit-miss ratio and how thoroughly a boss is destroyed; it's in Japanese however and the rank doesn't seem to affect gameplay)
+/-
Bombs cost HP instead of there being a separate ammo supply (this tends to lead to taking a hit and then using one so you lose 2 HP until you've memorized where to use them)
Gun drones take damage from enemy shots and collisions
Clone trail/gun drones don't carry over between levels
Supposedly has a somewhat lower default difficulty compared to the arcade game
Pretty short level 5
-
Limited continues (only 3 by default and can only be increased to 5! (unless I'm mistaken, maybe you can increase it a couple of times through your score or rank?), how many you have also isn't shown when continuing)
No standard auto-fire (fires a volley then charges the charge attack if held, could've charged when not firing instead - the 6-button controller seems to have been released in 1992 so after this game) - can use a turbo toggle on the controller itself (have to use Magic Engine if emulating) but this isn't quite optimal since you'll have to keep toggling it using the separate slider/button
The charge attack isn't actually that useful
Overpowered side missiles weapon (the laser should've been more powerful for what it is and the machine gun could've had a back attack or a stronger charge attack)
Trial & error (fast attacks from the back and sides, some enemy and boss patterns, some high speed sections, memorizing power up containing planes because they tend to disappear quickly+the power ups themselves move off screen quickly, some power ups cycle while others don't - makes certain segments a bit tougher since you can't use the side missiles)
No weapon inventory
No speed power ups (somewhat slow plane for what you face later on)
Sometimes uneven difficulty curve (almost no health power ups in levels 2-3 for example, some sudden intense moments where you pretty much need to use bombs)
Odd way of attacking backwards - have to move into a wall (provided there is one) and it will spin your plane around. A secondary weapon or upgrade that gave you backwards shots would've worked better
Can't upgrade the secondary weapons above level 1 and there's only 3 of them
Some annoying sfx (noise when the charge attack is at max, beeping when at 1 HP)
Some slowdown but it's pretty rare considering the amount of sprites on screen at various points
Somewhat tedious last phase of the final boss unless you use the side missiles
Notes:
-Beat it in 1-player using default settings and messed around a bit with changed settings
Level Design-7.5**/7* Frustration-8**/9* Fun-7.5**/7* Originality-6
Overall Score-7.5
*1-player on default
**1-player at difficulty level 2 w/ 5 credits and 4 starting HP+focusing on the side
missiles weapon
+
Respawn on the spot after death (=after continuing; lose your clone trail/gun drones but not your weapon upgrade)
2-player coop
Pretty good variety (some enemy types are repeated a bit much)
Health bar (starts at 3 HP and increases to 6 over the course of the game based on the player's score - not hard to increase it to 6)
Often intense action
Smart bombs
Some hidden power ups (points only?)
Good bosses overall (most of them have several destructible parts, most have two phases)
Some mini-bosses
Charge attack (either a homing spread shot, a spread shot or a thicker forward shot depending on the secondary weapon equipped)
Sometimes highly destructible environment
Detailed options (hidden - hold button 2 with turbo enabled while booting up the game to access; lets you set the difficulty level (0-7, 3 by default; bosses are more aggressive at higher levels), timer speed for the secondary weapon? (not really an issue at the default setting), speed (?) - NOT plane speed, starting HP (3 or 4), starting credits (3-5))
Level rank screen after each level (shows the number of enemies destroyed, hit-miss ratio and how thoroughly a boss is destroyed; it's in Japanese however and the rank doesn't seem to affect gameplay)
+/-
Bombs cost HP instead of there being a separate ammo supply (this tends to lead to taking a hit and then using one so you lose 2 HP until you've memorized where to use them)
Gun drones take damage from enemy shots and collisions
Clone trail/gun drones don't carry over between levels
Supposedly has a somewhat lower default difficulty compared to the arcade game
Pretty short level 5
-
Limited continues (only 3 by default and can only be increased to 5! (unless I'm mistaken, maybe you can increase it a couple of times through your score or rank?), how many you have also isn't shown when continuing)
No standard auto-fire (fires a volley then charges the charge attack if held, could've charged when not firing instead - the 6-button controller seems to have been released in 1992 so after this game) - can use a turbo toggle on the controller itself (have to use Magic Engine if emulating) but this isn't quite optimal since you'll have to keep toggling it using the separate slider/button
The charge attack isn't actually that useful
Overpowered side missiles weapon (the laser should've been more powerful for what it is and the machine gun could've had a back attack or a stronger charge attack)
Trial & error (fast attacks from the back and sides, some enemy and boss patterns, some high speed sections, memorizing power up containing planes because they tend to disappear quickly+the power ups themselves move off screen quickly, some power ups cycle while others don't - makes certain segments a bit tougher since you can't use the side missiles)
No weapon inventory
No speed power ups (somewhat slow plane for what you face later on)
Sometimes uneven difficulty curve (almost no health power ups in levels 2-3 for example, some sudden intense moments where you pretty much need to use bombs)
Odd way of attacking backwards - have to move into a wall (provided there is one) and it will spin your plane around. A secondary weapon or upgrade that gave you backwards shots would've worked better
Can't upgrade the secondary weapons above level 1 and there's only 3 of them
Some annoying sfx (noise when the charge attack is at max, beeping when at 1 HP)
Some slowdown but it's pretty rare considering the amount of sprites on screen at various points
Somewhat tedious last phase of the final boss unless you use the side missiles
Notes:
-Beat it in 1-player using default settings and messed around a bit with changed settings