Flying Hero: Bugyuru no Daibouken (SNES, 1992)
Graphics-8 Sound-7 Control-8 Challenge-7 Story-5
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-7 Fun-7.5 Originality-4.5
Overall Score-7.5
+
Pretty good art direction overall (cutesy and colorful - very Twinbee-like)
Weapon upgrades also serve as extra HP
Decent use of Mode 7 effects
Mini-bosses (2+ per level)
Plenty of large sprites
Pretty intense action at times, sub weapon (homing projectiles - up to six (!) at once)
Bombs (relatively small AOE and they're fairly rare)
Diagonal and backwards aiming (hold l/r or both at the same time)
Manual speed control (three settings)
Some good bosses (final boss)
Difficulty options (hidden - press select; three settings - check 1cclog.blogspot.se, tougher enemies and bosses on hard))
+/-
Respawn on the spot until game over (you regain 3 bombs)
More conventional weapon system than in Twinbee (Darius style - three upgrades per weapon and you need three cakes to upgrade one level)
Somewhat forgiving hit detection (ship hit box is smaller than its sprite)
Limited continues (only 3)
No air to ground attacks
Picking up the same weapon power up twice doesn't level up the weapon
Weapon levels aren't linked (you can kep a level 3 weapon while losing levels for another one, then pick up that weapon as level 3 later)
Extra hidden options (start+select on controller 2 - lives and continues, stage select)
Only minor slowdown in a few spots
-
Uneven difficulty (bosses 2 and 3 are easier than the first one (unless you use the safe spot) and most bosses are pretty easy when near full upgrades)
Some trial & error (boss patterns and some surprise attacks)
1-player only?
No weapon inventory
The "shotgun" cloud weapon is kind of lacking until it reaches level 2 or 3
Some annoying sfx (some bosses when hit)
Some overly long pauses in the action
Safe spot vs the first boss (just stay in the bottom middle if you have a level 2 weapon)
No control config
Review:
Flying Hero is a vertical scrolling shoot 'em up which borrows quite a bit from Pop 'n Twinbee, from its visual style and cute/surreal elements to its gameplay. Except for one important thing - the weapon system is a more conventional one, avoiding the somewhat polarizing bell juggling system of its main inspiration.
You instead get three upgrades per weapon and you collect three cakes (yes, cakes - picking up the same weapon actually does nothing) to upgrade one level. Weapon levels aren't linked, so you can keep a level 3 weapon while losing levels for another one, then pick up that weapon with it still being level 3 later. There's also a homing missile sub weapon which is also upgradeable. Besides that, you get bombs for use in a pinch. Surprisingly they cover a relatively small area of effect rather than being smart bombs so there is some skill involved in using them, and they are also fairly rare.
So far so good but there's nothing particularly unique here. However Flying Hero also adds diagonal aiming to each weapon, which is controlled by the shoulder buttons. Press both and you can even shoot backwards, which is useful in some situations. Nice!
One thing that might annoy some however is the lack of a weapons inventory, as you might find yourself in a situation where a different weapon would be optimal. There are also no air to ground attacks as seen in Twinbee, removing a layer of complexity to the gameplay.
A minor but welcome addition to the weapon system is that each gained level also adds a hit point to your ship. You also get manual speed control of your ship (three settings) and there's no need to grab power ups after death to regain speed, which in combination with a "respawn on the spot until game over" system, the life bar and the fact that you start with 3 bombs after dying means the game feels more modern and is relatively accessible to newcomers to the genre.
Level design-wise, Flying Hero offers good variation with 2+ mini-bosses per level besides an otherwise respectable enemy roster. The difficulty of the main bosses is kind of low - the first one is easily exploitable by finding a safe spot and other ones are pretty easy as well if you're near or at full upgrades - but it does end with a good fight against a final boss which I won't spoil here. As you can expect from most JP shoot 'em ups, your ship's hit box is smaller than it appears. You can also expect some trial & error, it is a shoot 'em up after all, though it's far from being among the worst cases in the genre. Finally there are a few long pauses in the action, which could've been skipped.
Technically, the game is fairly impressive in that there are plenty of large sprites, decent use of mode 7 effects, and only minor slowdown in a few spots despite the sometimes intense action and the sub weapon shooting up to six projectiles at once (which certainly isn't the norm for earlier SNES shoot 'em ups).
All in all, this is another really solid 16-bit shoot 'em up, particularly for those who don't care for the bell juggling (or the co-op, this is 1p only) in Twinbee but still want something similar. Note that the game does have difficulty options but they are hidden - you need to press select on the start screen to show them as well as a guide to translate them. The limited continues (only 3) means that you'll likely be busy with default mode for a while, except there's also ANOTHER hidden options menu! Press select+start on controller 2 and you can select number of lives and continues, as well as access a level select.
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-7 Fun-7.5 Originality-4.5
Overall Score-7.5
+
Pretty good art direction overall (cutesy and colorful - very Twinbee-like)
Weapon upgrades also serve as extra HP
Decent use of Mode 7 effects
Mini-bosses (2+ per level)
Plenty of large sprites
Pretty intense action at times, sub weapon (homing projectiles - up to six (!) at once)
Bombs (relatively small AOE and they're fairly rare)
Diagonal and backwards aiming (hold l/r or both at the same time)
Manual speed control (three settings)
Some good bosses (final boss)
Difficulty options (hidden - press select; three settings - check 1cclog.blogspot.se, tougher enemies and bosses on hard))
+/-
Respawn on the spot until game over (you regain 3 bombs)
More conventional weapon system than in Twinbee (Darius style - three upgrades per weapon and you need three cakes to upgrade one level)
Somewhat forgiving hit detection (ship hit box is smaller than its sprite)
Limited continues (only 3)
No air to ground attacks
Picking up the same weapon power up twice doesn't level up the weapon
Weapon levels aren't linked (you can kep a level 3 weapon while losing levels for another one, then pick up that weapon as level 3 later)
Extra hidden options (start+select on controller 2 - lives and continues, stage select)
Only minor slowdown in a few spots
-
Uneven difficulty (bosses 2 and 3 are easier than the first one (unless you use the safe spot) and most bosses are pretty easy when near full upgrades)
Some trial & error (boss patterns and some surprise attacks)
1-player only?
No weapon inventory
The "shotgun" cloud weapon is kind of lacking until it reaches level 2 or 3
Some annoying sfx (some bosses when hit)
Some overly long pauses in the action
Safe spot vs the first boss (just stay in the bottom middle if you have a level 2 weapon)
No control config
Review:
Flying Hero is a vertical scrolling shoot 'em up which borrows quite a bit from Pop 'n Twinbee, from its visual style and cute/surreal elements to its gameplay. Except for one important thing - the weapon system is a more conventional one, avoiding the somewhat polarizing bell juggling system of its main inspiration.
You instead get three upgrades per weapon and you collect three cakes (yes, cakes - picking up the same weapon actually does nothing) to upgrade one level. Weapon levels aren't linked, so you can keep a level 3 weapon while losing levels for another one, then pick up that weapon with it still being level 3 later. There's also a homing missile sub weapon which is also upgradeable. Besides that, you get bombs for use in a pinch. Surprisingly they cover a relatively small area of effect rather than being smart bombs so there is some skill involved in using them, and they are also fairly rare.
So far so good but there's nothing particularly unique here. However Flying Hero also adds diagonal aiming to each weapon, which is controlled by the shoulder buttons. Press both and you can even shoot backwards, which is useful in some situations. Nice!
One thing that might annoy some however is the lack of a weapons inventory, as you might find yourself in a situation where a different weapon would be optimal. There are also no air to ground attacks as seen in Twinbee, removing a layer of complexity to the gameplay.
A minor but welcome addition to the weapon system is that each gained level also adds a hit point to your ship. You also get manual speed control of your ship (three settings) and there's no need to grab power ups after death to regain speed, which in combination with a "respawn on the spot until game over" system, the life bar and the fact that you start with 3 bombs after dying means the game feels more modern and is relatively accessible to newcomers to the genre.
Level design-wise, Flying Hero offers good variation with 2+ mini-bosses per level besides an otherwise respectable enemy roster. The difficulty of the main bosses is kind of low - the first one is easily exploitable by finding a safe spot and other ones are pretty easy as well if you're near or at full upgrades - but it does end with a good fight against a final boss which I won't spoil here. As you can expect from most JP shoot 'em ups, your ship's hit box is smaller than it appears. You can also expect some trial & error, it is a shoot 'em up after all, though it's far from being among the worst cases in the genre. Finally there are a few long pauses in the action, which could've been skipped.
Technically, the game is fairly impressive in that there are plenty of large sprites, decent use of mode 7 effects, and only minor slowdown in a few spots despite the sometimes intense action and the sub weapon shooting up to six projectiles at once (which certainly isn't the norm for earlier SNES shoot 'em ups).
All in all, this is another really solid 16-bit shoot 'em up, particularly for those who don't care for the bell juggling (or the co-op, this is 1p only) in Twinbee but still want something similar. Note that the game does have difficulty options but they are hidden - you need to press select on the start screen to show them as well as a guide to translate them. The limited continues (only 3) means that you'll likely be busy with default mode for a while, except there's also ANOTHER hidden options menu! Press select+start on controller 2 and you can select number of lives and continues, as well as access a level select.