Super E.D.F.: Earth Defense Force (Super Nintendo)

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Sturmvogel Prime
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Super E.D.F.: Earth Defense Force (Super Nintendo)

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DANGER ZONE (PART V)
THE ELITE. BEST OF THE BEST. WE'LL MAKE YOU BETTER.



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Up there with the Best of the Best.

Continuing with this series of great shmup reviews, "We now return" with the Earth Defense Force.
Super E.D.F.: Earth Defense Force on the Super Nintendo.



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Four weapons you've already know, plus four new ones.
Be sure to check all of them.


Before starting your mission, you are granted a weapon selection like in the arcade version, but this time the XA-1 gets four new weapons to complete the arsenal.
Also, the player is now able to know the grades of each weapon. Shot Speed indicates how fast the projectile is, Shot Power is the strength and Rapid Shot is its fire rate. All of them are ranked from "A" to "C", being "A" the best and "C" the worst.

VULCAN (Shot Speed: A - Shot Power: C - Rapid Shot: B): The basic all-rounder with a basic 3 way spread. It's power is between average and weak and with a simple 3 bullet fire rate while the Satellite formation is in "Union", but in the other modes they fire a weaker, frontal fire.
LASER: (Shot Speed: B - Shot Power: B - Rapid Shot: C): The Laser was rebalanced of some sorts in this game, as it enemy piercing capabilities were restricted to pass through a few small enemies and being "absorbed" by a large one, killing its effectiveness as the "Armor piercer" of the game.
ATOMIC: (Shot Speed: B - Shot Power: A - Rapid Shot: C): The Atomic weapon is pretty much the same as in the arcade as it retains its powerful capabilities and bullet destroying explosions. But it also retains its weaknesses as the bomb can be destroyed by enemy projectiles and its slow fire rate.
HOMING: (Shot Speed: B - Shot Power: C - Rapid Shot: A): Like in the arcade game, it fires small bullets that chases the enemies on screen. The fire rate was increased from six to eight, increasing its effectivity even with the satellites detached from the XA-1.
EXPLODE: (Shot Speed: A - Shot Power: B - Rapid Shot: C): The "Splitting" type. It fires bullets that split in smaller ones after hitting an enemy, potentially hitting more enemies nearby.
SEARCH LASER: (Shot Speed: C - Shot Power: A - Rapid Shot: A): The new Homing weapon. This weapon combines the power of the Laser and the lock on capabilities of the Homing as the Satellites "Auto-Aim" the enemies, making it an extremely effective weapon.
PHOTON: (Shot Speed: A - Shot Power: A - Rapid Shot: C): The "Charge Shot" of the game. You have to hold the fire button to charge the fully powered shot, just like the Charge Beam in Super Metroid and the E. Laser in Gradius III. You can also use the "Charging" energy (holding the button) to shield yourself and destroy any enemy that gets in contact with the Satellites and the beam. It's only weakness is its fire rate.
GRENADE: (Shot Speed: C - Shot Power: A - Rapid Shot: C): Another "Explosive" type weapon. The Grenade has a short range, but and extremely powerful attack, making it perfect to defeat bosses quickly.

As for the Satellite formations its functionality and unlockable modes are exactly the same as in the arcade as you start with the "Union" and "Rolling" by default, the "Shadow" unlocks after reaching Level 3 and "Homing" in Level 5.



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Saturday Morning Combat.
The best way to start your day is with a dogfight.


There's no need to talk in-depth about the gameplay of Super E.D.F. because is pretty much the same as the original arcade where the main goal is to destroy most of the enemies on-screen to get bonus points for the destroyed enemy formations. The RPG-like level up system was also kept in the game and improved. Everytime the gauge is filled after level 5 will grant you an extra Shield point. The enemy formations in this version were improved making the stages different from the arcade version, giving a whole new sense of strategy and memorization because all of the tactics you might remember from the arcade will not work on the SNES version.
One of the major improvements in the gameplay was the inclusion of a 3-level adjustable speed in the style of the Thunder Force games, giving the player a much more complete control of the XA-1. Like in the arcade game, there's no extra lives due to the use of the shield mechanics. The continue system was changed, rather than respawning where you left off, it sends you back to the beginning of the stage. For an expert player, this can be exploited for the sake of leveling up (Example: Kill all of the enemies on Stage 1, commit suicide on the boss fight, restart and proceed with the game as normal), with the right weapon (the Search Laser), this trick will allow you to reach level 5 in Stage 3. This trick is virtually the same as in the SNES port of U.N. Squadron/Area 88 minus the money benefit of course. To complete the new features, the game adds a "Secret Bonus" granted to the player for clearing the stage without taking damage.

The only flaw of this game was the same as the SNES ports of Final Fight and U.N. Squadron: Removing the 2 Player mode, which is part of the heart and soul of arcade games. On E.D.F.'s case the Co-op mode was also competitive as the kill count granted experience points and score points, along with the traditional concept of team play that allowed you and a partner to progress further combining their strength. The only minor flaw is the few slowdown instances in the game like in Stages 2 and 3, but the gameplay is still solid and well done.



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Saturday Night Fight.

Graphically, it looks much better than the arcade version as if Jaleco decided to remake the levels on their entirety. A great example is Stage 2 where we can see the city as a real city rather than the lights and yellow blobs. The first stage now has a day to dusk transition, and the new stages feature brand new graphic effects like the sprite scaling in Stage 5 as the player makes a lunar approach. The sprite work looks arcade perfect for the XA-1 and the Satellites, although they retain their Level 5 form throughout the entire game, and the level 2 boss has a darker palette. Some effects are missing like the giant ship from Stage 2 and was replaced with more enemy formations.



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Tropical underground cavern, same hellish fights.

The game took liberties not just with the enemy formations, but with the stages as well. For instane, the ocean level (Stage 4) was removed in favor of a space station level and stage 3 replaced its lava/volcanic background in favor of a more natural water cavern as if the original stages 3 and 4 were combined, resulting in this underground world reminiscent of the Mexican "Cenotes" or the Son Doong cave in Vietnam.

As for the sound department, the game rearranges the soundtrack of the original arcade levels and include more instruments and sound effects thanks to the SNES soundboard, now the sounds don't "block" part of the music like in the arcade and the lightning effect prior to the boss now has a thunderous sound. There's new themes for the new levels and the ending has a different song.


SUPER E.D.F.C.F: EARTH DEFENSE FORCE's CURIOSITIES AND FUN-FACTS


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E.D.F./NASA footage of the 22nd Transdimensional experiment.

- Holding Up and Start on controller two will change the space background into a Thunder Force III-like waving effect.
- According to the Japanese manual, the stages have names: "First Encounter", "Midnight Intercept", "Deep Blue Cave"
(wrongly spelled "Bluecave"), "Space Trap", "Dead Landing" and "Final Fortress Charge".
- The back of the box mentions "From beyond the clouds to inside the enemy spaceship". While in the arcade, Stage 5 resembled the interior of a GeoFront-like base or space colony, in the SNES version, the now reassigned final stage takes place inside the Moon.
- In the ranking screen of Tuff E Nuff
(the localization of Dead Dance), Super E.D.F. appears on the 4th place as "S.E.D.F." along with other games from Jaleco like Bases Loaded (B.Loaded), King Arthur's World (K.A.W.) and Brawl Bros (B.Bros).
- In the first stage of Game Tengoku: The Game Paradise, the 1st stage boss fight of Super E.D.F. can be seen on the arcade cabinets.
- The Japanese version has level up and invincibility codes which were removed on the international releases.
- Please, for the love of God, don't confuse this with Sandlot's E.D.F. games, those are a whole different story.
- Raiden V and Natsuki Chronicles feature a similar shield-life mechanic omitting the extra lives.




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Only this battle, Nina.
The E.D.F.'s duties continue up to this day.


Super E.D.F.: Earth Defense Force looks different compared with the original E.D.F., but the real idea of this port is to be an "Enhanced" and more complete version of the game as it retains most of the familiar aspects of the arcade game while adding new content, giving the "Old-yet-New" feeling for old schoolers.

¿Is this game worth to play today, even with the original E.D.F. on the PS4 and Switch?, the answer is "Yes".



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Another positive result on the "Lea Scale".
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