Axelay (SNES)

[Sturmvogel Prime]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3F3l-SiN78
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfBDur-l6nQ

What can we say about Axelay?, one of the best shmups on the SNES library, and it has enough features to prove this is the best shmup ever made on a 16-bit console.

First off you can select the ship's speed in "Trigger Speed", as well as the screen brightness and button configuration, you get a choice of weapons, but in the beginning you have one basic selection, you'll unlock a weapon once you complete a stage, and some weapons will need some practice to master them, like the Round Vulcan or the Morning Star, but they're easy to learn, the only weapon that i found useless is the Cluster Bomb, a bomb for rear attacks, i rarely use it since the Round Vulcan is more effective. The Wind Laser is a Laser type weapon, but it's fired like a missile. You also have a sub-vulcan for the missile weapons, and sub-missiles for the laser weapons, and those are your emergency weapons when you lose them, when you're hit by a bullet you lose a weapon, you can take 4 bullet hits, but if you get hit when you have selected one "OUT", you blow up, no matter if you had the other two available, and if you get hit by a missile or you crash that means instant death, that's some realism on the damages. The enemies have some attacks that will try to ruin your day, like the Short Circuit-beam of the Stage 4 boss, that beam will switch your weapons, combine that with bullets, you'll be on a "Death Roulette" where one bullet could put an end to the game. Sometimes you need to find their weak points, like the T-36 Towbar (Stage 2 Boss), once you blow his front cannon, you have to attack the boss from behind using the Round Vulcan, or firing the Macro Missile or Explosion Bomb if you want a frontal attack, for kill Wayler (Stage 5 boss) you have to fire to his chest until it reveals his green core and for quote Gradius V "Destroy the core!".

The stages uses two different scrollings: 3D Semi-Vertical, and Horizontal, the vertical ones have Mode-7 visual effects, and for a game made in 1992 is not only fascinating, but also a breath of fresh air for those who we're looking some different from the traditional vertical shooting, but the visual effects aren't only for the scenery, but also for the details of your ship, the enemies and obstacles. Graphically, it looks more like something that you'd see on an arcade rather than a console, so this means "Epic Work" for a console game. If that wasn't enough, the sound department is another good point to the game, with a variety of the best songs you'll hear on the SNES, if the graphics are arcade quality, the music fulfills the arcade atmosphere in this game. My favorite example for this is the music from Stage 2, the song called "Colony", it was burnt into my brain since the first time i played the game. The boss themes are an sinister version of the stage music, if there's something that i could complain about this game is being unable to hear the music when you pause the game, why?, 'cos like in most Konami games you'll hear their trademark pause sound when you push start, and also there's no Sound Test. Bottom line: have a Sound Test in options.


Curiosities
- There's a Gradius reference in this game, in Stage 5 you'll see the Sand Dragons from Gradius III
- The Earth-like planet that appears in the game is the planet Corliss (or "Mother" in the japanese version).
- The music composer Sotaro Tojima is credited as "Taro".
- After beating the game twice on Hard, you'll get a message saying "See you again at Axelay2". However, Axelay 2 was never made.
- Axelay is an unlockable jet in the PS2 game Airforce Delta Strike, and also the hardest jet to unlock 'cos that means unlocking Ellen McNichol as a Delta pilot and all her jets, play and buy all the jets for every single pilot, and that means play with Jamie and his prop-planes, and also, trying to unlock Brian's Sea Vixen will be a nightmare, and have all the other Konami special aircraft, Good Luck with that. The only good news about that is you don't have to buy it since you'll get the Axelay as a present from Harry.
- Axelay also appears in Otomedius Excellent as the Ride Viper Hadouken, piloted by Gesshi Hanafuuma.
- The stage 4-1 of Super Turrican 2 is a homage to the vertical stages of Axelay.


Conclusion
It looks like an SNES game, but it feels, plays and sounds like an Arcade game, if this game was released on the arcades, it'd be a "Smash Hit" with no doubt. Axelay is definitely the ultimate shmup on the SNES, forget Super Nova, U.N. Squadron, Thunder Spirits and any other SNES shmup you can think, this game is a must have and a must play. 10/10 for this game.