Battle Squadron: Take a trip back in time and play the best shmup ever

Originally released on the Amiga in 1989, this vertically-scrolling shmup borrows many elements from Japanese examples of the genre, such as Tatsujin and Star Soldier. The alien Barrax Empire has been at war with Earth for centuries to gain control over the Universe. While returning from a mission to destroy all Barrax on Planet Urainia while gathering information on the empire’s fleets, Commander Barry D. Mayers and Commander Lori Bergin were taken hostage by a Barrax nova cruiser, their last transmission mentioning something about being able to turn invisible for a short period of time. The mission is to rescue them. Batttle Squadron offers arcade-style action and graphics coupled with an overhead view with vertical and horizontal scrolling enhance the look and feel of high speed flight.

You can play simultaneously with a friend as you take out the enemy who has set up strongholds and deployed tremendously huge forces on the ground and in the air. To make it even harder, some of the forces are using a cloaking device which makes it nearly invisible for you to detect them, until it’s too late. Battle Squadron features 25 different power ups spread across four different types of weapon: particle beam, energy ball, magma wave, and laser. The player is also provided a full-screen clearing Nova Bomb, with three to start and more that can be acquired during play. Unusual for the genre, the game has an overworld and three lower sections that can be entered through craters. Each of these have to be cleared to reach the final boss. Ignoring all craters makes the overworld restart from the beginning. Amiga Computing gave Battle Squadron a whopping 109% in their review, with both the graphics and gameplay scores going off the scale.

news source: AF/AP/CU/AC/ image source: GenerationAmiga / watch on Youtube / download AmigaOS 1.3, AmigaOS 4.1, Windows

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