Keio Flying Squadron (MCD, 1993)
Graphics-8 Sound-8.5 Control-8 Challenge-8 Story-6.5
Level Design-8 Frustration-8 Fun-8 Originality-6
Overall Score-8
+
Whacky and memorable character design and comical tone (similar to Parodius)
Varied action and level backgrounds
Difficulty options (3 levels, number of lives, hit box placement settings (!), slowest and fastest ship/dragon speed setting (can toggle between two of them in-game))
Nice sprite-based cutscenes (not that much animation though, skippable)
Good power up system (four sub weapons with four levels of upgrades, only two main weapons with three levels? (forward or spread), two gun drones which can be sacrificed for a smart bomb-like attack - not that strong but the drones also regenerate if you don't shoot for a bit) - trail formation (Gradius)
Mini-bosses
Manual speed toggle
The ship you start chasing in the intro makes a few in-game appearances throughout the course of the game
Some innovative level design (the part where you take out enemies trying to close gates)
Decent in-game transitions between levels
Good bosses overall (most have two phases)
+/-
Respawn on the spot (lose your sub weapon+gun drones (temporarily)+all or most main weapon levels but you're also given one level of each back as power ups)
Usually forgiving hit box on your avatar but some bosses have large hit boxes than it looks like (first mini-boss for example)
The homing bird sub weapon is somewhat inefficient (sometimes a bird gets stuck on an enemy killed just by another projectile and just circles in that spot)
Can generally move into walls and ground tiles without taking damage (also the large ships in level 1)
Time limits on mini-bosses
No gun drone formation options
Alternate history theme
Can't manually scroll levels in the direction they're not scrolling (see TF4 for example)
No shield power ups
Limited continues (only 3 on Normal, 6 on Easy)
-
No weapon inventory (power ups are somewhat rare as well but they do cycle)
Poor voice acting overall (some things not even translated)
Some trial & error (boss patterns, the enemies that surround Keio in one level, some fast attacks from behind)
In a couple of spots it's hard to see the enemy shots due to them being the same color as yours
Somewhat unbalanced weapons (homing shots are usually superior), few checkpoints (none in the final level)
Very grainy/messy FMV cutscenes
Some slowdown and flicker in spots
Some dead space and boring parts
Sometimes overly saturated or dark color choices
Some levels just scroll horizontally from left to right
Level Design-8 Frustration-8 Fun-8 Originality-6
Overall Score-8
+
Whacky and memorable character design and comical tone (similar to Parodius)
Varied action and level backgrounds
Difficulty options (3 levels, number of lives, hit box placement settings (!), slowest and fastest ship/dragon speed setting (can toggle between two of them in-game))
Nice sprite-based cutscenes (not that much animation though, skippable)
Good power up system (four sub weapons with four levels of upgrades, only two main weapons with three levels? (forward or spread), two gun drones which can be sacrificed for a smart bomb-like attack - not that strong but the drones also regenerate if you don't shoot for a bit) - trail formation (Gradius)
Mini-bosses
Manual speed toggle
The ship you start chasing in the intro makes a few in-game appearances throughout the course of the game
Some innovative level design (the part where you take out enemies trying to close gates)
Decent in-game transitions between levels
Good bosses overall (most have two phases)
+/-
Respawn on the spot (lose your sub weapon+gun drones (temporarily)+all or most main weapon levels but you're also given one level of each back as power ups)
Usually forgiving hit box on your avatar but some bosses have large hit boxes than it looks like (first mini-boss for example)
The homing bird sub weapon is somewhat inefficient (sometimes a bird gets stuck on an enemy killed just by another projectile and just circles in that spot)
Can generally move into walls and ground tiles without taking damage (also the large ships in level 1)
Time limits on mini-bosses
No gun drone formation options
Alternate history theme
Can't manually scroll levels in the direction they're not scrolling (see TF4 for example)
No shield power ups
Limited continues (only 3 on Normal, 6 on Easy)
-
No weapon inventory (power ups are somewhat rare as well but they do cycle)
Poor voice acting overall (some things not even translated)
Some trial & error (boss patterns, the enemies that surround Keio in one level, some fast attacks from behind)
In a couple of spots it's hard to see the enemy shots due to them being the same color as yours
Somewhat unbalanced weapons (homing shots are usually superior), few checkpoints (none in the final level)
Very grainy/messy FMV cutscenes
Some slowdown and flicker in spots
Some dead space and boring parts
Sometimes overly saturated or dark color choices
Some levels just scroll horizontally from left to right