16bit Chronicles: Super FamiComplete #99: Space Megaforce

Title: Super Aleste (JP), Space Megaforce (NA)

Release Date: 04/28/1992

Developer: Compile

Publisher: Toho Co., LTD.

Once again that moment where you look at your blog, and suddenly it has been a month and a half since your last update. Luckily, the game I am returning to is really quite good, and comes from a company with a really good pedigree for schmups. Dare I say, this is the best vertical shooter that we have encountered thus yet in this journey through the SNES catalogue.

Background

Compile was the well known and loved developer known originally for creating the Japanese rival to Tetris, Puyo-Puyo. If I am skirting over Puyo-Puyo it is because we will be talking about it a metric ton later in the blog. Not content with creating that incredibly popular game, Compile is also known as one of the big grand-daddies of the schmup genre, having creating popular titles such as Zanac, Blazing Lazers, and Spriggan. Probably the most well known series of their creation, though, is their Aleste series.

This game is actually the fourth game in the Aleste series. The first game, Aleste was released for the MSX2/Master System, with the next two games, Aleste II and Musha Aleste being released for the MSX2 and Genesis respectively. Super Aleste, though, was only developed for the SNES, and when released in the US they changed their name to the much more plain Space Megaforce.

There is a difference in the story between the two regions in which this game was released. In North America, the story takes place in 2049, when an alien sphere enters Earth's atmosphere. The sphere begins unleashing a fleet which attacks major cities around the globe, and the Earth is helpless in mounting a counterattack with its current weaponry. Thus, the world's governments make an advanced fighter known as the "Super Aleste" with which to attack the sphere. In the North American version, you play as a nameless pilot.

Now in the Japanese version, you play as an anime styled pilot named Raz and his co-pilot, the alien woman named Thi. Thi has some connection to the sphere, which plays out in cutscenes and the ending.

Gameplay

The game is a very mellow paced vertical schmup; now when I say mellow, I mean really mellow. Stages take a long while, and the game very slowly ramps up its difficulty. It feels like your ship moves quite slowly as well, at least in the pace it scrolls northward. The actual pace of play, though, eventually ramps up to be quite intense.

The game really seems to push the amount of bullets and sprites on screen to the edge of the Super Nintendo's capabilities, and I think this is done through really clever pattern and enemy placement design. It often seems that as soon as one enemy is dealt with, another takes its place; as soon as a pattern of bullets passes, there is already another one on its way. The game, to help this frenetic moment to moment play, also mixes in a fair amount of navigation puzzles on top of just bullets and enemies. Much of the game is about navigating the stage while dealing with a few enemies and their bullets, rather than dodging intricate bullet hell patterns. In fact, I would say that for a schmup, this game really isn't a bullet hell. In its patterns and level designs, this game pulls more from Contra, or to compare to another schmup, something like the bosses from Gradius V.

As far as mechanics, the game features an innovative take on power ups, and ties them directly into your health. Throughout the game, you are continually offered a cycling set of weapons: there is a spread shot, a heavy machine gun, electric currents, spheres which circle around you, homing missiles, and shots that explode upon impact, to name a few. Each of the weapons has six levels of strength, with the final level usually being incredibly powerful and melting through what is on screen. To gain these levels, you either need to get multiple of the same weapon power-up, or collect "eggs" which will slowly boost up your power (three eggs gains a level). If you get hit, though, you lose 2-3 levels of power-up. Similar to rings in Sonic, as long as you have some level of weaponry, you can't die, which actually makes this a pretty forgiving shooter. As well, extra lives are quite common and easy to collect, which extends your longevity in the game. When you die, you restart right where you died unless you die three times in a row; in that case you start the most recent section of the level over.

The game has 12 levels, making it quite long for a schmup. In a weird convention, you can actually choose to play a "short game" which is only six levels, but you don't get the final level. The levels are quite innovative in their design. The first level is crazy long, and it is you repelling the alien invasion from Earth. The second level is an assault on a space station which starts with the space station in the distance launching artillery at you, and then moves into your assault on the station's exterior defenses, ending with a climactic battle against the station's core, with your final attack sending the station careening into space (incredibly satisfying). There's an underground mine/lava flow, some weird biological environs, as well as fighting a ghost fleet (that level is almost a bullet hell). There are also three weird casino style "bonus stages" that are easy and are basically there to refresh your lives/weapons. All in all, each level feels incredibly fresh and fun, and for a longer schmup, it rarely feels boring.