ACA Neo-Geo: Blazing Star (Switch - XBOX One - PS4)

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Sturmvogel Prime
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ACA Neo-Geo: Blazing Star (Switch - XBOX One - PS4)

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The pinnacle of Neo-Geo shooting.

OK kid, empty your Shooting-filled mind for a while, because it's time to talk about the ultimate Neo-Geo shooter, and when i say ultimate its because no other shooter in SNK's behemoth come close. I'm talking Blazing Star.

The opening of this game doesn't explain too much of the story, but according to Neo-Geo Freak, the plot of this game is about a war between the planets Remulia and Mutras. This two worlds wage an ongoing war with no sign of ending anytime soon. The conflict went too far up to the point of entering in a very dangerous territory: Bio-Technological warfare by Organic Weapon Production combined with Alien Technology, as the bio-technology emerged, it became a double-edged sword for both worlds.
A sentient weapon called Brawshella was born to existence. Despite its embryonic stage, this living weapon gathered the animal life from Remulia and Mutras becoming the "Ringleader". It was only a matter of time until human beings from both planets were captured and turned into "Demons", a Remulian term used to refer lifeforms reformed into cybernetically enhanced beings without willpower or self consciousness. Once a living thing became a Demon its only purpose in this "second life" was to continue to fight against everything and everyone without being able to ask itself "Who is my enemy?", "Why i'm fighting for?", "What i'm I fighting for?" (and no, it's not a Zero reference on that one).
While all Demons seem to be submissive and obedient to its master, four Remulians regained their consciousness and human hearts as they began to remember their pasts, this small group was known as the "Awoken". As they regained their humanity, they had to deal with a defining moment of decision: Follow Brawshella's orders like the other Demons do, or fight against the sentient weapon and regain their independence, deciding the second option, they turn against the sentient weapon and prepare for the final battle. Without knowing it, two pilots from planet Earth will get involved in this conflict under different circumstances. With this unexpected arrival, the Awoken "teams up" with the Earth pilots for the ultimate battle against the bio-technological horror they brought up.


SHIPS AND PILOTS
The ships and their respective pilots are a unique feature in this game. Each spacecraft has its own weapon system and speed level, adapted for all kinds of players, ranging from Beginners to High-Score enthusiasts. The pilots, unlike other shmup teams such as the Aero Fighters, Triggerheart units, or Thunder Force 222, they don't fight for the single ultimate goal of victory, freedom and independence. The Remulians and the Yamazaki sisters have their own reasons to fight and their own goals as well.


HELL-HOUND
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PILOT: Caster Mild, he selfproclaims as "Bloodwood".

PILOT PROFILE: Despite his heroic appearance, Caster is a villain. In order to obtain the ultimate power, he welcomes any advantage he can get at the point of "making a pact with his inner-devils" after being captured and turned into a "Demon" by Brawshella. Resurrecting in his new "Demon" body, Caster will use this advantage against the sentient weapon and his forces so he can became the new Ringleader and ruler of Remulia. He was born and raised in Folktown, an underground slum built 79.2m below the surface where the worst of Remulian society lives. He doesn't care about racial prejudice since he's of mixed descendance and apparently that gave him the power of take the memories and experiences of other people and use them for his own goals.

SHIP DESCRIPTION: The Hell-Hound is the "Standard" type of ship, which is the average, balanced level spacecraft designed for common gamers, equipped with homing missiles and a 4-Way Spread Shot.

SPEED LEVEL: 2/3 (Balanced speed for standard maneuvering)

NORMAL SHOT: 4 Way Shot. A basic 4 bullet spread shot accompanied by homing missiles that seeks and destroy your enemies.

RAPID SHOT: 6 Way Shot. The "Faster version" of the Normal Shot. The 4-bullet becomes a rapid 6-bullet shot and the homing missiles leaves blue explosions that inflict additional damages.

CHARGE SHOT: Deathflame. This Charge Shot consist of a linear stream of large fireballs that inflict constant damage as the Charge gauge is depleted.

BREAK SHOT: Hell Burst. As soon as the first Deathflame fireball is released, pressing the B button will make the linear stream to split into multiple small fireballs in a spread pattern.



WINDINA
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PILOT: Leefa Chao.

PILOT PROFILE: She's a curious, optimistic-looking girl. Her "Demon" body resembles a mechanical mermaid. She can be considered a "Daddy's Girl" since she's the daughter of the President of the Chao Corporation, a Heavy Industry company which became a massive conglomerate expanding its energy and resources into military contracts, accounting 70% of Remulia's military development. It is unknown how Leefa became a Demon, but it is possible that she was captured by Brawshella like all the humans and animals on Remulia. As a "Demon", she only lived for destruction, which was the only thing remaining on her "human" heart, but with the pass of time, she began to recover her humanity and past memories. Her ultimate goals are unknown, but i guess she wants to return to her previous life and enjoy her hobbies of swimming, practicing aromatherapy and archery, along with waiting for the day to became the new president of the Chao Corporation like her father.

SHIP DESCRIPTION: This "Simple" type ship is the basic spacecraft designed for beginners, with a extremely wide and powerful shots designed to help the players in the majority of situations they can find in the game.

SPEED LEVEL: 1/3 (Easy Handling for Starters)

NORMAL SHOT: Wave. A basic, but powerful 3-Way shot that inflicts good amounts of damage to your enemies.

RAPID SHOT: Tidal Wave. The green shots turn into an extremely powerful red spread pattern of Waves with a much larger width, reaching way further than the regular shots.

CHARGE SHOT: 3 Way Spread. This Charge Shot fires three large green energy balls that inflict a circular blast after they impact on an enemy, the blast can deal extra damages or destruction for a few seconds before fading away.

BREAK SHOT: Homing. The 3 Way Spread will split into small homing fireballs which causes a fair amount of damage.



ARYUSTAILM
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PILOT: JB (short for Jean Bismarck).

PILOT PROFILE: He is the Far East Division Colonel of the Remulian Space Corps, a soldier at heart and a family man. Unlike the rest of the "Awoken", JB's transformation into a Demon wasn't by being captured, he agreed to be transformed by order of the Remulian Army and he didn't hesitated to obey. Apparently, JB puts the military and its orders above his own personal goals, desires and even above his family, even if he's ordered to be used like a lab rat. Now that he regained his human heart, he only wants to recover his "lost time" before he can return to his wife and daughter.

SHIP DESCRIPTION: This is the "Offensive" type ship specialized in High-scoring, from an average gamers perspective it looks like a ship with a massive "Full Force" frontal shots and a short ranged Charge shot. However this is the main feature of the ship and the reason behind its High-scoring capability. In the hands of an expert, this ship is the "Super-score" maker.

SPEED LEVEL: 3/3 (Second fastest ship availabe)

NORMAL SHOT: Laser. This hard-hitting, machine gun like laser shots are the main shot of your ship, inflicting considerable damage to your enemies as long as the player taps the button without triggering the Rapid Shot.

RAPID SHOT: Lightning Bolt. The very rapid pacing and button tapping of the Laser gives place to a larger and apparently stronger stream of beams, which are capable of passing through the enemies and bosses. But the truth is that the Lightning Bolts are weaker than the normal Laser.

CHARGE SHOT: Sword. Unlike the other "projectile" charge shots, the Sword is a short ranged beam that lives-up to its name, Its slow-consuming time is the key for High-scoring as the player can take multiple enemies to create multiple Hit Combos and "x128" Multipliers.

BREAK SHOT: Swordfield. It transforms the Sword into a shield that sorrounds the ship, protecting it from enemy fire for a short while.



PEPLOS
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PILOT: Asayuki Kizuyomina.

PILOT PROFILE: She's a Remulian released from the long nightmare of being a Demon apparently by keeping the faith as her profile says she was holding an amulet called "Omamori" in her blood stained hands in hopes of stopping the bloodshed she considered as "sacrifices for the Demons" in Remulia. Now that she's free of Brawshella's control, she turns against the sentient weapon's orders to save herself and her family and find a better future together.

SHIP DESCRIPTION: The Peplos ship is the "Difficult" Type ship designed for expert players and hardcore/diehard gamers who want a challenge from this game. This ship will never get powered up with items, so it starts the game with the maxed-out Charge gauge. Its speed also brings the challenge as this is the fastest ship you can find in the game.

SPEED LEVEL: 3/3 (Fastest ship in the game)

NORMAL SHOT: 3 Way Shot. Like the name says, it releases a simple 3-directional shot, delivering minimal damages to the enemies.

RAPID SHOT: 3 Way Rapid. A faster and slightly stronger version of the 3 Way Shot, the damage inflicted is increased, however it requires a very fast button tapping.

CHARGE SHOT: Holy Flare. The Holy Flare can be considered as the light version of Hell-Hound's "Deathflame" since it works exactly the same; a linear stream of fireballs that last inflict constant damages. Its time depends on the time of the charge.

BREAK SHOT: Divine Breath. Like the Hell-Hound's "Hell Burst", the Divine Breath shoots multiple fireballs in a spread pattern.



DINO-135
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PILOT: Naomi Yamazaki.

PILOT PROFILE: She is Kaoru's long lost sister. Unlike the Awoken Remulians, this Lieutenant pilot from Earth gets involved in the Remulia-Mutras war in a very unusual manner. During one of her missions, Naomi was sent to destroy an alien base which resulted in the total destruction of their planet, Naomi and her Dino-135 were caught in the blast. After she regained her senses, her ship was drifting towards Remulia. Believing to be the Earth, Naomi descends on the planet to make sure of that, getting involved in the ongoing conflict.

SHIP DESCRIPTION: This "Technical" type ship is the predecessor of the R-Type-esque Dino-246 from Pulstar, as such, it lacks of the Force "Voyager" unit, however it has a backup support from the Io's above and below the ship which can aim on any direction for a full range attack, helping the player on potentially hard situations.

SPEED LEVEL: 2/3 (Balanced Speed)

NORMAL SHOT: Shot. Like its name says, it fires a simple triple-bullet shots in a linear direction while the Io's direction can be changed by the ship's movement.

RAPID SHOT: Rapid Shot. The fire rate of the Triple-bullet shots is increased along with the Io's shots. Also, the Io's will change their linear shots to 2-Way Shots, giving them a spread-like shooting.

CHARGE SHOT: Spread Shot. This Charge shot is the "N" Item from Pulstar, the Spread Beam. The Spread Shot fires an yellow energy blast followed by spiraling green energy waves that increases the inflicted damage.

BREAK SHOT: Special Scatter. The spiraling waves from the Spread Shot splits from the charged shot to inflict damages in a wider range.



DINO-246
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PILOT: Kaoru Yamazaki.

PILOT PROFILE: She's the main character from Pulstar. A Major pilot of the Earth Space Federation who was involved in the Remulian conflict during a mission as she was still searching her sister Naomi and her Dino-135. During an alien invasion, One of the enemy vessels had a portal of some sorts which warped her to Remulia.

SHIP DESCRIPTION: The "Defensive" type ship. If you've played Pulstar, you'll remember this as the R-9 like ship which is R-Type accurate in gameplay mechanics. Using the Voyager which works as the Force of the Arrowhead, sharing the same function as a shield against bullets and providing massive additional firepower, and the Io's which are the equivalent of the Bits adding firepower from above and below the ship along with minial bullet protection as well. Unlike the R-9, the Io's can aim in any direction, but unlike in Pulstar, they can't be locked in a certain direction. Despite this flaw this is a good ship for beginners.

SPEED LEVEL: 1/3 (Easy Handling)

NORMAL SHOT: Shot. The regular Dino-246's simple red bullets, they're backup'd by Homing Missiles that inflict moderate damages to the enemies.

RAPID SHOT: Rapid Shot. Like in Pulstar, the regular fire is supported by fast green bullets which increase the width of the linear shot. The fire rate is also improved on the Io's.

CHARGE SHOT: Charge Shot. Like the R-9's Beam and Megaman's Mega Buster, the Dino-246 fires a Large fireball which inflicts considerable damage, but here's a catch; it's not as harmful compared with the other ships like Hellhound's "Deathflame". Although it can pass through small enemies to make "multipliers", it doesn't make Hit Combos like the rest.

BREAK SHOT: Bomber. The Break Shot takes the place of the Voyager's self destruct feature by making the Charge Shot burst into multiple explosions, it's bomb function is completed by the bullet destroying feature along with the damage inflicted by the blast.




POWER UPS AND ITEMS

The game offers a basic, but very score-addicting items which increases the replay value much further when we combine them with the 6 selectable ships.

Power Up Item: There's no need to explain what does this item do to your ship. But lets just say it increases the firepower of your ship by one level. Gives you a 300 point bonus when its picked by a maxed'up ship.

Bonus Jewel: This item looks like a simple blue crystal that gives you 300 points and a voice that shouts "BONUS!" everytime you pick it. But actually it's a high-score builder. If you pick 8 of them without missing one, its value increases; From 300 to 500, pick other eight and they'll give you 800, the process repeats until you get from 1,000 to the very well recieved amount of 81,560 points!

Lucky Panel: 5 panels that form the world "LUCKY". Unlike the Power Up or Bonus Jewel which gives you immediate bonification, the Lucky Panels are part of the Level Clear bonification. To pick each panel you have to destroy a formation of purple/green colored ships without leaving one alive to obtain a panel.

Event Item / Rate Up Angel: This flying orb with wings gives you a score multiplier depending on the color it has when its picked. To increase its value you have to avoid it until it leaves, it'll return with a different color, increasing its value. Repeat the process until you get the multiplier you want. Depending on its color it will give you a "x2" or "x16" multiplier or even a "x128" or a Yume-chan, which is the special one that turns enemies and destructible bullets into Power Up Items.

The gameplay may look like your traditional horizontal shooter, but that's only the first impression, because as soon as you pass the first waves of enemies in Stage 1, the game's pace will increase significantly as the game is focused in making combos with your charged shots, which is the main feature of this game. This game isn't just about survival and simply destroy enemies, it's about high-scoring. The charge shot combos are one of the elements, but there's also another score trigger: The Bonus Jewels, as you keep picking these items, you'll see how those extra 300 points become 500, 800, 10,000, 40,000 and finally 81,560 points. Once the Bonus Jewels reach 10,000 combo making and the Lucky Bonus become irrelevant for the player since you can pick 1 million by collection Bonus Jewels, the same goes for the Rate Up Angel.

Boss battles are often compared with those of the Metal Slug series at the point of calling Blazing Star "Metal Slug with Spaceships", the reason of this is because the boss size ranges from half-screen to multiple screens. Along with their own challenge factor and "score milking" potential in some of the bosses (Stage 3 boss for example), you can't waste too much time since the battles are time based so you will be focused on not letting your enemies escape, for the sake of level clear bonus scoring.

This game is one of the few shmups that have 2 player exclusive features. When both players are in the game, they can play with the same ship, giving the player a second colorscheme on pure Street Fighter II' Champion Edition style. If you wanna know who's the best Aryustailm pilot among you and your friends, there's the chance. Also, the co-operative game will include two exclusive items: Decoy and Stealth. Both seems to have the same function; Slightly increase the speed of the player ship, make your score increase in a short period of time and both items can be swappable when a player ship touches the other. However there's a difference. Decoy makes the enemies aim to the player who carries the item, while the Stealth makes the enemies ignore you. It only needs a couple of simple but well exectued challenge elements to heavily improve the simultaneous play.

Being part of the ACA Neo-Geo library gives the player the chance of playing both Japanese or English versions in the "Original Mode". Unlike ACA Neo-Geo Alpha Mission II and Aero Fighters 2 where playing the Japanese Version allows you to play ASO II Last Guardian or Sonic Wings 2 and witness differences from more content omitted in the European/US Version or a simple title change, in Blazing Star's case the differences are on the very minimals just like Pulstar's case. Since most of the things are in english there will be VERY few things in japanese, in the How To Play the game will display the Item names and make a description of them and the game functions, and the last can be found on the Player Select screen where the ship type name ("Technical", for example) and Peplos "This ship can't be powered up" warning is written in kanji.



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"In case some of you are wondering who the best is, they're up here on this plaque on the wall."
- Mike "Viper" Metcalf (
Top Gun)


The game features 12 Achievements in total, so any experienced player will unlock them all in 2 hours or less. Not to metion, it only needs the Aryustailm and not missing a single Bonus Jewel so you will get 10 million points before reaching the boss in Stage 4 during "Original Mode". Both Hi-Score and Caravan Modes achievents can be unlocked before finishing Stage 2. The funny thing of Caravan Mode is that the game will end before reaching the second boss, making it look like a Demo, the reason of this is because the counter doesn't stop during the Stage Clear sequences, so the timer keeps running as the Bonus are counted. This issue is common in all the ACA Neo-Geo games, while in fighting games is not too much of a problem, in games like Blazing Star and the Metal Slug series is kinda "unfun".
UPDATE I August 21, 2020: The PS4 port's achievements are lesser than the XBOX version as it only covers The three highscoring in Original mode, and submitting scores in the other modes, for a total of 6 or so.

On a final note, there's a curious error that happens if the console settings of the XBOX One are in english, the menus of Hi-Score Mode and Caravan Mode appear in spanish. Looks like some of the latest ACA Neogeo releases got curious flaws, for instance, Shock Troopers plays both modes using the japanese version instead of english.
UPDATE II August 21, 2020: Now that I've bought the PS4 port, I can confirm only the XB1 version has this flaw.



Graphically, the game pushes the limits of the Neo-Geo to incredible levels, as we have multi-layered backgrounds, gorgeous mechanical animations in the background and fluid ship and mecha animation. The opening scene is a fascinating display of colors and sepia-tones that bring impressive action sequences. There's no moment where the game lacks speed or something, as the fast pace is everywhere, from forest battles to boss fights during an atmospheric re-entry, intense combat meets eye-catching detailings and sceneries.

The music it's pure earcandy. Although the Ambient, Trance and Dance are common genres in shooting, in Blazing Star, they offer some of the best tunes we can hear in the game, changing the pace we heard in Pulstar from a quite dark tune to a Calm-to-Nonstop beat rivalizing with Taito's RayForce and Darius Gaiden in rhythm sequence and beats, and in "CD Quality/High Fidelity" as well, this one is due to the sound board of the Neo-Geo. Each stage features some of the most memorable "Non-King Of Fighters" themes our gamer ears can experience, from the opening theme "Blazing Star", "Navigation" (Stage 2: The Route of Nemesis), "Urgent" (Stage 4: The Hollow Street) to the frenetic boss theme "Get Rid", this game will delight our ears at the moment we "deposit the coin" by pressing the credit button in our consoles.


BLAZING FUN FACTS

- In February 19th of 2018 will be the 20th Anniversary of Blazing Star.

- This was the first game and first shooter released by Yumekobo.

- Yumekobo is actually Aicom, a former subsidiary of Sammy, until it was picked and funded by SNK, resulting in its rename and becoming an SNK division, which will also explain why the ACA Title screen credits SNK instead of Yumekobo (kinda like Konami and Ultra Games/Palcom Software).

- Blazing Star was the last shooting game released on the 330 Mega version of the Neo-Geo.

- While its predecessor Pulstar used 305 Megas (38.125 Megabytes) of 330, Blazing Star pushed the limits with 346 Megas (43.25 Megabytes), being among other behemoths that pushed the Neo's 330 Megabit hardware limit such as The King Of Fighters 97 and Metal Slug 2, which led SNK to create the 1 Gigabit (128 MBs) hardware known as Giga Power Pro-Gear Spec.

- Blazing Star was originally developed as Pulstar Blast, completing its connection with Pulstar. However SNK told Yumekobo about Pulstar's flop in America due to its difficulty and picked other names. Blazing Star was among them, along with others such as Zero Hour and The Zenith.

- Rather than a sequel, the game is actually a "Gaiden" or Side-story.

- There were plans to make a Neo-Geo CD port which was suddenly cancelled.

- SNK advertised this game as "Hyper CG Shooting Game".

- The player's death explosion animation was re-used in Prehistoric Isle 2, a Yumekobo-Saurus joint project released one year later.

- The depiction of Brawshella in space at the end of the opening sequence is often compared with the "Star Child" from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

- The soundtrack features two unused tracks: "Vacant Mind" which was an unused Continue theme and "Various" which is a triumphant theme.

- The S.E. Collection in the game's soundtrack features an unused voice sample that shouts "One Up!", which implies the game was intended to have 1ups, however they were discarded.

- This game marks the second time in gaming where Homing is wrongly written as "Horming" since Horming Torpedo in Megaman X.

- There's other mispellings in the game like "Difensiv" and "Offensiv".

- The multicolored Rate Up Angel is called "Yume-chan" which means "Dream-chan".

- Blazing Star is mostly remembered for the boss escape phrase "YOU FAIL IT!", which is considered as the origin of the FAIL meme.

- The ships have different cockpit styles that fit with the pilot's appearance. The Hellhound and the Dinos 135 and 246 are the typical pilot seat. Windina's cockpit is a high-tech fishbowl which can also be compared with the concept of the Entry Plug from Neon Genesis Evangelion since the cockpit is filled with an LCL-like breathable liquid, so Leefa can swim and breath freely, putting her mermaid-themed armor to work. The Aryustailm's cockpit is more like a Motorcycle, the handles are located far from any human's arms, but JB's super long arms extend to reach the controls and fit on the ship's chassis (also explaining the arm-extending during the game's opening).

- The Aryustailm ship is the game staff's recommendation, according to the Neo-Geo Freak Magazine.

- Remulia (or Remuria) is a reference to Lemuria, the mythical lost continent in the Pacific Ocean also called "Mu" which connected Hawaii, Easter Island, Micronesia and the Polynese Islands into a giant New Guinea-like continent. Lemuria is also associated with Kumari Kandam, another lost continent in the Indian Ocean which connected Madagascar, India, Sri-Lanka and Australia mentioned in Tamil literature as the "Cradle of Civilization". However this version of Lemuria was discarded by the evidence given by plate tectonics and continental drift.

- The planet Mutras looks IDENTICAL to Jupiter while Remulia is identical to the Earth. At the end of the opening we can see the Arabian peninsula on the left. This could imply the battle takes place in an alternate universe where our Solar System has different names and planets are in different orbits (per example; Remulia is a "Satellite Planet" of Mutras), and it will fully explain why Naomi thought Remulia was Earth.

- Although most sites like Wikipedia and the Android store said there were six pilots assimilated, they're actually four, since Naomi and Kaoru were involved in this conflict in different circumstances: Naomi arrived on Remulia as she confused it with the Earth, while Kaoru is searching for her.

- Although the character designer Daikichi said Caster was an original character, he looks similar to Camus from Saint Seiya.

- He might be a tough guy, hunger for destruction, manipulator and power obsessed, but ironically, Caster's personality is actually feminist.

- Leefa was created based on Yuko Asahina from Tokimeki Memorial by a "strong request" of one of the planners. Like Yuko, Leefa has the same "Kogal" personality.

- Leefa's "Demon" body is based on a mermaid, since swimming is one of her favorite hobbies.

- While gaming sites like Shmuplations and Hardcore Gaming 101 mentioned that Leefa's dad is the President of "The Corporation", the company name is mentioned in Neo-Geo Freak as Chao Corporation.

- JB was created using the actor Jean Reno as a base model. A staff member was a huge fan of him and one of his Jean Reno sketches was "cool-looking" for Daikichi, and ended up using it as JB's base model.

- JB is the tallest of both "Awoken" Remulians and Earth pilots measuring 2m 05.6cm tall. He's also the oldest of all the characters with 37 years old.

- According to Neo-Geo Freak, JB's wife is called Fran and his daughter Lirias.

- JB's "Extendable Arms" are very reminiscent of Roddy from Top Hunter Roddy & Cathy.

- In the ACA Neogeo manual, JB's name is refered as "Jan Bismark" instead of Jean Bismarck.

- Talking about SNK references, Naomi and Kaoru's last name is Yamazaki, which many Fatal Fury/King of Fighters fans could probably think of them as very distant relatives of Ryuji Yamazaki from Real Bout Fatal Fury Special and The King of Fighters 97 (just like Billy Kane and Alfred Airhawk are theorized to be relatives of the biplane pilots of Prehistoric Isle in 1930). However, this "Bloodline" was never mentioned or confirmed in any official material, resulting in a funny coincidence of the SNK Universe.

- Naomi is actually a very optimistic woman, but sometimes she has self-confidence problems making her prone to days of depression.

- On the other side, Kaoru's personality is more firm and serious.

- The last request from the staff and the character designer Daikichi was aimed towards Cosplayers asking them to do cosplays of the game's characters. That would be one hell of a challenge because of the armor-like outfit of the "Awoken" Demons, making them even more difficult than fully equipped Triggerheart Exelica and Otomedius cosplays.

- The Thunder Force V themed doujin game Legendary Wings borrows the Aryustailm ship and the Vipers (rifle mecha from Stage 2) as one of the enemies for the RVR-01.

- Shinu Real's Arts game Wings of Bluestar borrows several influences from Blazing Star, from stage design to life lost quotes such as "Get Serious!".




ASAYUKIPEDIA - CURIOSITIES AND FUN FACTS ABOUT Ms. KIZUYOMINA

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You know, that in twenty years or more. You still look the same, as you do today.
You'll still be a young girl, when I'm old and grey.



- Asayuki was originally created for another game which unfortunately never saw the light (but judging the Neo-Geo's heavily based library of fighting games, we could assume it was a cancelled fighting game). Daikichi decided to use her in Blazing Star because he thought it'd be a shame if she was discarded and forgotten forever.

- We can call Asayuki "Daikichi's Waifu" since she's Daikichi's favorite character, and according to him, he has a strong attachment to her.

- Daikichi drew three times the amount of rough sketches for her, compared to the rest of the cast.

- Asayuki's hobbies are Weaving, Indoor Cultivation and Crossword Puzzle, which are actually Daikichi's hobbies.

- Despite her adult looking appearance, Asayuki is a 15 year old lady, making her the youngest of the "Awoken Four".

- Her birthday is on March 9.

- She was born in the year 2243.

- Her measurements are 156cm tall, weighs 45kg, and her B-W-H is 80-53-83.

- Her favorite colors are white and green.

- Asayuki's personality is gentle and warm, however she also have a pessimist side, which she was unaware of that until she became a Demon, this part of her emerged and became her dominant personality.

- In a twist of irony, for someone called a "Demon", Asayuki resembles an Angel.

- Her mechanical wings became the basis of the mechanized look of the Remulian "Demons".

- Most of Blazing Star's fan art is about her.

- Asayuki means "Morning Snow" in japanese.

- Asayuki has a younger sister called Amayuki. Although she doesn't appear in the game, she did appear in the game artworks.

- While we have an idea of how the cockpits are like, the inside of Peplos remains a mystery even for the staff members themselves, but it is possible that Asayuki would be suspended by cables in a silly, pathetic manner like a Remulian "Human Piñata". But that's only the idea of the game's director Michio Sato, since Daikichi didn't revealed that detail.

- The Android port of Blazing Star wrongly named her as "Asayuky"
(meanwhile "ad hoc" and "et al" mourns the loss of "sic" due to this error) .

After 20 years since its debut on the arcades, there is no question about why Blazing Star stands high on top of the list of Neo-Geo shooting games and a well deserved place in this genre. This game is really a game worthy of pick up on your XB1, PS4 and Switch.
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