Sonic Wings Reunion (PS4|5 - Switch 1|2 - Arcade)

Sturmvogel Prime · Post by **Sturmvogel Prime** » Sat Nov 01, 2025 8:39 am

TRASHSTORM (EPISODE LXVI)
TRASHGIVING SPECIAL 2025: THE SONIC REUNION THAT CRASHED

TRASHSTORM IS NOT A REAL STORY.
IS NOT EVEN GOOD FICTION.
IS TRASH GAME REVIEWS.
ALL OF THE GAMES FEATURED WOULD CAUSE A PERSON DISAPPOINTMENT,
ANGER, FRUSTRATION, DEPRESSION, MONEY LOSS INCLUDED.
TO PUT IT ANOTHER WAY: DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME.

LIST OF PESTILENCE - THE TRASHSTORM SO FAR...

HALL OF INFAMY: THE WORST GAMES EVER Vol. I

Spoiler

I: EXIT TRASHFALL, WELCOME TRASHSTORM (POWER-DEAD BY BREAKTHROUGH GAMING) - (Nik & Kit's Math Quiz)
II: UNINSPIRED SPACE SHOOTOUTS - (X-Force Genesis)
III: NIGHTMARE DRIVING ON THE TRASH GAME ROAD - (Driverio)
IV: AGE OF DEVELOPER STUPIDITY - (Game Achievements "Stroke The Pet" Series)
V: TAKE THE TROPHIES, I DON'T WANT THEM! - (Rocketio)
VI: SUPERDISASTROUS SPACE SHOOTER SQUAD - (Super Rebellion)
VII: MYRON SAID "CRAPPY HOLIDAYS" - (Breakthrough Gaming: The Continents)
VIII: BREAK-TURD GAMING...AGAIN - (Project: Summer Ice - Pinball)
IX: DEEP SPACE ATROCITY - (Deep Space Anomaly)
X: ZAKYM'S DISASTROUS RETURN - (Rocketio 2 and 3)
XI: CRAPPER BOWL AND THE END OF BREAKTHROUGH GAMING - (Breakthrough Gaming's Football 2)
XII: ALPHA MORON - (Alpha Warrior by S-Mobile)
XIII: THE DEEP FREEZE - (SoulFrost by Xitilon)
XIV: WEBNETIC'S FIRST SHOOTER - (Space Defend by Webnetic)
XV: ONE BUTTON CATASTROPHE - (B Cannon by Xitilon)
XVI: CLASH FORCE? MORE LIKE TRASH FORCE! - (Clash Force)
XVII: TAURIAN MANURE - (Taurian Defense)
XVIII: INHUMAN ROAD: STINKING TURD LIGHTNING - (Thunder by Xitilon)
XIX: MORE XITILON TRASH - (S Lanes by Xitilon)
XX: TRASH-O-WEEN PRESENTS: CRAPPER-5 - (Hyper-5)
XXI: RED-CRAP-TOR - (RedRaptor)
XXII: FROM MEDIOCRE TO "X-CREMENT" - (X-Force Under Attack)
XXIII: CONSEQUENCE OF STUPIDITY - (Danjigoku)
XXIV: IF IT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH, IT'S EXTINCT - (Arcade Archives: Dinorex)
XXV: NEPHENTHEOSIC EUTHANASIA - (Nephenthesys)
XXVI: MESSED UP SHMOUPPING - (Shmoup by Phoenix Reborn Games)
XXVII: WAR AGAINST BLOCKS. AS STUPID AS IT SOUNDS - (Shooting Blocks by Webnetic)
XXVIII: (UN)HOLY WEEK SPECIAL - (Galactic Invasion by Pix Arts)
XXIX: DISADVENTURE IN VENARIS - (Flightpath: Adventures in Venaris)
XXX: THE OBSCENE LEVEL OF STUPIDITY - (Aabs Animals)

HALL OF INFAMY: THE WORST GAMES EVER Vol. II

Spoiler

XXXI: FECAL RAIDERS - (Space Raiders by Alexander Carparelli)
XXXII: STUPIDITY HAS NO LIMITS - (Hoodie Survivor by The Voices Games)
XXXIII: LEARN HOW (NOT) TO BE STUPID - (Learn to Play Vol. 2 - A Simple Shooter)
XXXIV: INVASION OF STUPIDITY - (Soraja Invaders)
XXXV: PAC-DISASTER - (Paku Paku)
XXXVI: THE GREAT STUPID RACE - (Learn to Play Vol. 4 - Happy Racer)
XXXVII: SEE-LA, CILLA! - (Cilla)
XXXVIII: DUMPED MIRAGE - (Cosmic Mirage)
XXXIX: TINY STARFIGHTERS, GREAT DISGRACES - (Tiny Starfighters)
XL: A BAD FRENZY (TRASH-O-WEEN SPECIAL 2024 - PART I) - (Tank Frenzy)
XLI: SHOT OUT AND WASTED (TRASH-O-WEEN SPECIAL 2024 - PART II) - (Anime Girls: Wasteland Shootout)
XLII: YOUR AVERAGE TRASH-O-WEEN REVIEW (TRASH-O-WEEN SPECIAL 2024 - PART III) - (Your Average Old School Shmup)
XLIII: A GLITCHED AND BLASTED TRASH-GIVING SPECIAL - (Glitch Blaster's Waifu)
XLIV: A NOT SO FUNNY TRASHMAS SPECIAL - (Y-Type by Y-ZO)
XLV: WHO YOU GONNA CALL...? - (Wave Buxters by Playstige Interactive)
XLVI: HOW BREAKTHROUGH GAMING STOLE CHRISTMAS... AND BLEW IT UP - (Santa Claus - Breakthrough Gaming Arcade)
XLVII: XITILON'S FIRST RUN N' GUN - (EX-802 by Xitilon)
XLVIII: CHARMLESS CRAPPED BLAST - (Pixicharm - Starry Blast)
XLIX: UNHOLY WEEK 2025: NINJA FAILURE, BUT THERE'S GOOD MUSIC - (Tiny Pixels Vol. 1 - Ninpo Blast)
L: SURVIVING THE UNSPEAKABLE FATHOMS OF GAMING - (Marine Survivors)
LI: HORROR IN NEON LIGHTS - (Space KaBaam Neon)
LII: SYSTEM: (CYBER) MISSION FAILED - (Cyber Mission)
LIII: WHEN "DO THE GRADIUS" FAILS - (Akinakes)
LIV: INFINITY IS A LONG NUMBER COMING - (Space War Infinity)
LV: YOUR WORST 2 MINUTES IN SHOOTING - (N6 Secret Mission by Xitilon)
LVI: YET YOU STILL HAVE LEARNED NOTHING - (Space KaBaam Neon II)
LVII: CALAMITY FOR A BUCK - (Astball by Xitilon)
LVIII: XITILON DOES THE "PUSH'EM UP" AND FAILS - (Bacrush by Xitilon)
LIX: SMASHED IN SPACE - (Space Smash)
LX: UNDODGEABLE STUPIDITY - (Dodge These Asteroids)

HALL OF INFAMY: THE WORST GAMES EVER Vol. III

Spoiler

LXI: HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2025 TRASH DESCENT I: FAILED CHARM - (Pixicharm - Spartunex)
LXII: HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2025 TRASH DESCENT II: BLASTED OUT OF ORBIT - (Pixicharm - Blaster Orbit)
LXIII: HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2025 TRASH DESCENT III: CHROMATIC CRAP - (Pixicharm - Chroma Astroanut)
LXIV: HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2025 TRASH DESCENT IV: 0HxN0xY0UxARExDEAD - (0xDEADRUN by Xitilon)
LXV: HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2025 TRASH DESCENT V: AIRBORNE (IN)JUSTICE - (Airborne Justice)

"THE DESIGN IS LAUGHABLE. LIKE IT WAS MADE BY A 15 YEAR OLD INEXPERIENCED PERSON."
"IT'S LIKE THIS GAME WAS RUSHED OUT THE DOOR IN ONE DAY BY ONE PERSON."

Another major blast within the shmup fandom.
God help us.

Looks like we're at the doors of another "Calamity Event" on the shmup forum. The Aero Fighters are back in the 'hood, but plagued with a lot of controversy and hate putting them in the line of fire. Yeah, even more than the infamous and highly controversial Aerofighters Assault.
¿But it was the hate well deserved, or it was another case of "Mistaken Judgement" like Contra: Operation Galuga and Raiden Nova?
There's only one way to find out: Time to check Sonic Wings Reunion for the PlayStation 4, 5, and Nintendo Switch.

SELECT YOUR MACHINE!

Before starting the game, you're given the option of selecting your starting difficulty: Easy, Normal, Hard or Very Hard. I think Normal is good enough for starters and veterans alike, leaving the last two for the Strikers 1999/Strikers 1945 III fans.
Once you make your choice of difficulty, you can select one of the 8 available aircraft. Each jet has its own strengths and weaknesses, so let's see each and every one of them.

GRUMMAN / NASA X-29: Piloted by Whity (Spanky) the dolphin. The ecology hero is back once again and is also the return of the X-29 after its debut as an unlockable jet in Aerofighters Assault. In terms of weaponry, if you remember the YF-23 on Sonic Wings Limited, its the same for Reunion: Its main weapon is the Aqua Shot which fires large bullets on a "\ /" direction similar to Mao-Mao's F-15 in Aero Fighters 2, and its backed up by the "Float Mine" as the "Artillery" weapon which are bombs that not just leave an explosion that damages your enemies, you can push them on any direction. Its bomb is the same same of the YF-23: Wave Beam, firing a tsunami to the sides pretty much like the Line bomb from Turrican. In terms of speed, it is a fast jet.

ILYUSHIN IL-102A "STURMOVIK": Piloted by Chaika and Pooshka. Unlike the noble cause they had in Aero Fighters 3 and Sonic Wings Limited, the twins have a different agenda for obtaining the reward. The IL-102A's main weapon is the "Rocket Shot" which fires a "\ /" vulcan just like Mao-Mao's F-15 in Aero Fighters 2, backed up with the "Moscow Missile" also known as "Rocket Tower" which fires projectiles shaped like Russian towers. The special attack of this plane is the "Super Matryoshka" which summons a random effect: Could be four Matryoshka dolls that move around the screen, grant you temporary invincibility as they're on screen or drop one that spew cyrillic words. Despite its weaponry, it is very useless since it trusts the frontal power to the artillery and worse, its a slow moving ship.

NORTHROP GRUMMAN/FAIRCHILD REPUBLIC A-10A "THUNDERBOLT II": Piloted by Glenda. Friend of the Blazers from Karate Blazers who made a debut in Aero Fighters 3. This is her second time in the A-10 since AeroFighters Assault. Like in Captain Silver days, the A-10's main weapon is the "Gatling Shot" which is another frontal laser fire that increase its width on each Power Up, it is backed up with the Cluster Bomb, which generates a blue explosion upon impact. Its bomb is the "Pinpoint Bomb" which creates a large explosion. Powerful, but slow. A common issue on the A-10 in most games.

LOCKHEED MARTIN F-22 "RAPTOR": Piloted by Blaster Keaton, also known as "Keaton Mk.3" or simply "Keaton". The "Mark 3" is Keaton's third body. After the NSFW drill prank done by Kowful in Aero Fighters 3 and Sonic Wings Limited when he restored his human body, Keaton is given a more human, yet mechanical body which he now covers in his flight attire. That's right, Unlike the hilarious cyborg from Aero Fighters 2, 3 and Sonic Wings Limited, Keaton gets a more human (and more serious) body and a new jet replacing the F/A-18A and F-117 (although I think they should give him the F/A-18E Super Hornet for a "Super Hornet-Super Keaton" gag). Despite using a Lockheed Martin aircraft, its weaponry is the same of the F/A-18A Hornet from Aero fighters: The "Laser Gun" or "Normal Shot", a wide frontal laser-like vulcan shots backed up with the Snake Napalm which drops a fireball that rolls across the screen and changes its direction following along the plane's movement. Its special attack is the "F.A.E." (Fuel Air-Explosive) which makes the Raptor to do a flip and drop the bomb. Basically, this is only a reskin of the old Hornet with a brand new Keaton. Anyway, it has moderate speed, making it a balance type jet.

LOCKHEED MARTIN / MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES F-2 SUPER KAI "VIPER ZERO": Piloted by Hien. He is sent to battle by orders of his Shogun and this time has a new aircraft (probably rebuilt by the same katana blacksmith who remade his FS-X in Aero Fighters 2). Like in the FS-X times, the F-2 Super Kai features the same weaponry: Laser Shurikens which upgrades to the Kunai Shot. Its Artillery weapon is the "Ninja Missile" which are powerful homing missiles, and the bomb is the "Ninja Beam", a lethal wide laser blast that pummels everything on its way. Combined with fast movement, it is a good choice for starters.

BOEING / McDONNELL-DOUGLAS / MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES F-15J "EAGLE": Aero Fighters is not complete without the fan-favorite (and shmup waifu of many) Super Sonic Idol Star Mao-Mao. Mao-Mao and her F-15J are back in the series and so it does its weaponry, which is based on the first Aero Fighters game where her F-15 uses the Laser Gun which fires frontally instead of the "\ /" firing in Aero Fighters 2. The F-15's backup is the Gull Laser which increases the overall firing width. Her special attack is the E-Wave (which makes a return after being replaced with the Ninja Beam in Aerofighters Assault). This is basically the time-stopper of the game, the defensive type weapon that freezes everything in sight for a few seconds allowing you to take enemies and damage bosses without any risk. Combined with mid-speed movement, this is another balance type jet.

SAAB JAS-39 "GRIPEN": Piloted by Kowful the Viking. Formerly Tee-Bee's jet, Kowful took control of the Gripen rather than returning to the AJ-37. Despite this, its weapons are the same of the AJ-37: Needle Laser, which fires thin but very powerful lasers, its artillery is the Metal Storm (not to be confused with IREM's platformer) which fires missiles in random frontal directions, and its bomb is "Thor Hammer", which shoots large missiles that chase and damage the enemies as they pass through. It has moderate speed though.

LOCKHEED MARTIN F-35 "LIGHTNING II": Piloted by Lord River N. White, he ditched the Tornado and the Harrier for something more modern. Its weaponry is the same as the Tornado: The "Normal Shot" backed up with the Bomb Dispenser, which fires small bombs that drop causing a powerful circular explosion and its special weapon is the Ring Bomb, which fires 6 missiles that spread into smaller ones and explode in a circular pattern similar to the yellow Cluster Bomb from Raiden II. It has moderate-fast speed, making it a "Balanced" type aircraft.

Despite being Whity the first character in the list, the game always has Keaton selected. I know he was the first in the list (except in Aerofighters Assault where Hawk took his place). If that's the case, ¿Why not putting Keaton on the far left? or make the character select more like in Sonic Wings Limited?.

The Aero Fighters are back!

The main gameplay of Sonic Wings Reunion is pretty much the same as its predecessors: Basic, yet non-stop vertical shootout where you (and a friend) are pitted against hostile military weapons and superweapons all around the world. One of the fun aspects of Aero Fighters was the fact that you don't know where the game will send you before the presetted final 2 stages. This added an element of randomness and challenge at the same time since you have to adapt to the stage you're sent. Like in all the series, your jet has four power levels, but the maximum level is temporary and will revert to level 3. Along with your basic shots you got the "Artillery" which is the missle/bomb of the game to provide you additional firepower such as napalm blasts, lasers or homing missiles. Along with taking down enemies, there's the additional building destruction that grants you bonus items in return to increase your score. However, one rule that you have to consider about is that your maximum power doesn't last forever, it depletes with time, sending you back 1 level. Seems like Hamster followed Video System's rule from the original Aero Fighters games instead of punishing you with a constant all the way back to level 1 rule from Turbo Force, and you're gonna need a good amount of power to withstand what's headed right to you.

Time to shoot and sink that monster carrier.

No Aero Fighters game is complete without military-themed boss fights. From desert transports to colossal carriers and even a Vapor Trail-like rocket chase (minus the satellite fight in space), including familiar enemies from the previous games.

Want to blow up the carrier?
Too-fucking-bad! This game robs the privilege off the player.

Unfortunately that's where the good part of the game ends, because the game has plenty of negative aspects. First one is the ship's strength and weaponry. When your level 1 shots can't take down the small zako/popcorn enemies with one bullet, that means problem because it is more than clear that the game designers doesn't know how to balance difficulty. Second is the lack of "blinking". In any normal shmup you can notice if you are damaging the boss or not as they blink on either yellow, white or red. This doesn't happen on Sonic Wings Reunion, which is the same problem as with Thunder Dragon and Super Spacefortress Macross and it will make you think you're not damaging it, forcing you to burn a bomb when it was actually unnecessary.

Another hit to the gameplay is the downgrade of the common aspects from previous games like the money items, they lack of the bonus factor from Sonic Wings Limited. If you don't know what I'm talking about, well let me explain: In Aero Fighters Special, the Money item increases its value the more it stays on screen before being picked up. This also applied to the Power Up item, greatly enhancing the bonus and challenge factor of the game. This is completely absent in Sonic Wings Reunion.

Bosses are somewhat disappointing, but the worst part is the carrier boss of Stage 7. While in other entries of the series, you can blow it in a large blast, in this game it keep you away from that fun aspect of the game by plunging down to the sinkhole and exploding there leaving you like a fucking idiot holding the fire button. THAT...wasn't fun.

Terminator 7: Monkey Business

The final stage is the worst of all. Along with the horrible background, there's only one final boss: Osaru (or "The Alien Gorgonzula" according to Mc O'River's SNES port of Aero Fighters), known in the localization as "Monkey", but before you fight him, it will reveal its true form: Mecha Osaru (Mecha Monkey). Like in previous games, this battle is timed, but the problem here is that you have barely enough time to defeat it before it escapes and sends you to the bad ending. So, if your ship power level is below level 3, then consider it lost unless you commit deliberate suicide and/or burn a credit to max up your firepower. It was a surprising move to see how the boss can do the same special weapon attack of your selected jet and really, it had the potential to make a "Bomb duel" like the laser duels in Metal Black. ¿Can you imagine two Ninja Beams clashing while you tap the bomb button like crazy to overpower "Skynet Kong"? That would be great and would enhance Sonic Wings in one unexpected aspect, but they dropped the ball. Also, why they didn't added random final bosses: Pandora, Gurabura (the UFO from Aero Fighters 3), Station Core, Mega Car from Turbo Force, more bosses from Video System's history? And you know what's even dumber? The fact that the final boss score ends in 50,001 points instead of 50.000 like any normal game. Leave the single point bullshit to Capcom's "Point of Shame" for continuing. All of these are just a series of stepbacks on what it could be the R-Type Final of Aero Fighters.

However, if you can clear the game regardless of good or bad ending, the game goes all the way down to hell as the difficulty (Rank) climbs to 15. ¿The result? More damage-tolerant enemies, even "Zako/Popcorn" enemies are more resistant and you will be missing the majority of them at the point you'll let the continue countdown drop to zero. To put it simple, if your level is two or lower, you will be having a really hard time with the second loop. Also, good luck with the final boss because it will spit more bullets and lasers not seen in the first loop, making it a game changer (thanks for the data xEbb1993x). ¿Does abusing of HP was really necessary? I mean, a slight increase in bullet speed and some fast surprise shots were enough for that. ¿Remember Aero Fighters 2?, The second loop (Stage 11-20) increased the challenge by improving the attack patterns of the enemies and bosses, while retaining the same fair amount of HP for the enemies.

In an unexpected move Success included a hidden bonus called "A Farewell to Arms" which goes like this: Complete a stage without shooting or using a bomb and WITHOUT DYING (and letting the boss escape). The result of this? A special bonus which will increase exponentially as you repeat the process on the next levels. If you have god-like skills and perfect ship handling, you can max out the score to 999,999,999 points after surviving stage 5 in loop 2. You can't do the "Pause-unpause" trick since it opens the menu screen, so you have to be a pro manuevering through the bullets. I can understand a pacifist mode as a bonus challenge aside from the original game to unlock something else (think the challenges in both Contra 4 and Contra: Operation Galuga), but not as part of the main game where the idea is to shoot everything. Once you know this secret, you'll be death-stabbing the main idea of the whole game.

The trophy progression is one more negative aspect of the game. Why? Because you can get all the trophies by finishing the game on Easy without encouraging the player to try the other levels, and the game doesn't care if you got the bad ending or if you used continues. Compare this with Natsuki Chronicles and the recent re-releases of Triggerheart Exelica and Triggerheart Exelica Enhanced. They track total scores, accumulative scores through multiple sessions, items picked, if you got all the endings, all of that to encourage the player to stay in the game as much as possible. But in this game is the "Give no fucks" category common in shovelware. Aero Fighters deserved better.

But the nail that seals the fucking coffin is the outrageous price: Are you willing to pay 30 bucks (plus tax for $35) for a badly made game? That's fucked, dude. Platinum price for a shovelware grade game, and what's worse, trash sequel created by the Arcade Archives and Psyvariar guys (They should be a shamed for ruining Sonic Wings like this)

F/A, Ginga Force, and now Sonic Wings.

Despite the flaws within the game, I'm gonna be fair because there's still good features. One of them is a cool feature: Alternate Soundtracks. The "Basic Sound" which is the regular original soundtrack of the game, "Arrange Sound" which is a set of remixes featuring themes from previous games composed by famous gaming arrangement composers and bands like Shinji Hosoe, Fantom Iris, and even the Aero Fighters composer Soshi Hosoi, and last but not least "MAO MAO attack" which is the Basic Sound with Suzuka singing along with new themes for the stages. The game gives you the option of arranging the soundtrack to your likeness pretty much like Raiden III x Mikado Maniax so you can hear the remix you like on the stage you think it fits right.

Another good thing is that you can finally know how much full power time you have left and what's best of all, it can be replenished with a Power Up item, triggering the multiplier. Also, the multiplier not just doubles the score value of downed enemies, they also double the bonus items. I mean, they had the idea, but with all the bonus items scattered they could exploit it further to "x3" or "x5". There's a "Training Mode" to practice any level just like the Dreamcast port of Triggerheart Exelica. There's also the "Show Score" option that tells you which enemies you took down and how much points they worth. You can also toggle the visible hitbox of your aircraft which will appear as a heart in the middle of your aircraft.
More points in favor is the removal of the "country exclusion" from the first Aero Fighters. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, let me explain it. In the first Aero Fighters, if you picked Keaton or Keith, they won't be sent to the USA level. In Sonic Wings Reunion, if you're Keaton or Glenda, you will be sent to Florida sooner or later. Also, the "stage penalty" for continuing (Inherited from Rabbit Punch and Aero Fighters 2 and 3) is gone, so if you die in the final stage, you can continue at the point you've died. So there's reedeming values, small improvements in favor despite the negatives.

No shmup is complete without unlockable characters. Ending the game will unlock characters to increase the cast of 8 to 10.

AOUSAGI (Lepus): Piloted by Komomo Kamishirasawa, the once damsel in distress from Rabio Lepus/Rabbit Punch now takes the hero role in this game. Aousagi's main weapon is the same of the F-22 and F-15: "Normal Shot", just in pink instead of blue and is backed up with homing missiles similar to Hien's "Ninja Missile". Its bomb is the "Rabbit Punch", which is a one-two punch that generates explosions. ¿Why Lepus instead of Rabio? God knows. This character is unlocked after completing the game's first loop once.
LOVE ME TENDER: Piloted by Inufuku, the "Lucky dog" from Video System's quiz game series SukuSuku Inufuku. Its main weapon is a "Twin Vulcan" like fire which increases its firing rate as it powers up. For its special attack, it summons a group of Love Me Tenders to provide backup fire. This ship is unlocked after completing the game's first loop with the other 9 characters.

The game introduces another new concept called "Wingman Mode" which grants the player the bomb of another aircraft (Example: The F-22 can use the E-Wave of the F-15J), acting like a secondary bomb. Curiously, the idea of the "Wingman Mode" not just revives the premise of multiple endings from Aero Fighters 2, it makes the 2-Player endings available to unlock without the need of a second player in the game, further increasing the game's replay value. There's also the 2 Player mode as well in order to have a more arcade-like experience to play with a human being, and what's even better: Both players can select their ship freely, removing the "Country Team" block from Aero Fighters 3 and Aero Fighters Special.

Unfamiliarized with the name Sonic Wings?
CHANGE IT! We give you that option!

It was also interesting to see how the game allows you to change the title from Sonic Wings to Aero Fighters. I could say "This feels like the title customization from R-Type Final 2" but actually it is more reminiscent of the X68000 port of Gradius II, where the game gave you the option of change the title from Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou to Vulcan Venture.

I've fought better designed Legos.
Or "Worst...Vazeel...EVER".

The graphics...OH..MY...GOD. This is where the "By God..." rule applies. You know; "By God..." with capital letters, bold text, underlined and font size 220 in Microsoft Word, right? Well, this game is in font size 800 in Photoshop. The reason of this is because its cheap and very, VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY PRELIMINARY look. Just take a look to the jet models, they look like cheap CGI with minimum attention to details. Judging from what I've saw on Raiden Nova, I'm really sure the duo Hamster-Success relied on the "Flat CG + Bitmap Texture" technique when designing ALL the characters and enemies in the game, but in the lowest grade you can find on a shovelware smartphone game. Compare that with R-Type Final 2, you will notice how incredibly well made the models for both Transdimensional Fighters and enemies are, you can even see the interior of the cockpit of the R-9A, while in Sonic Wings Reunion the model is flat and basic, killing the idea of calling this a PlayStation 4 (or 5) game and turning the graphics of the game in an insult. The same could be said for the destroyed buildings, just a crappy box with "burning debris" texture and there you go. Everything about the graphics is a block looking disaster at the point that looks more like a mess of crumbled boxes.

Sorriest jungle stage ever.
Even Raiden III was better than this.

Stages like Guiana Shield are by lack of better term, horrendous since they look too "blocky" for a nature based stage, I can understand the blockiness if we were talking the Nintendo 64 or the Super FX chip of the Super Nintendo, but we're talking PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and present day arcade systems. That means more modern and capable hardware. It is hard to believe that an indie studio like Exor made a much better job on that with X-Morph Defense while Success didn't. SUCCESS CORPORATION, the same company that made the Cotton and Psyvariar series along with the amazing arcade perfect port of Raiden Trad for the FM Towns Marty (KID Corp-Success joint venture). It blows my mind in so many levels to believe Success Corporation failed on something important for the graphic aspect of the game, but it still gets worse. The boss death explosion animations are offending. Just a large blast illustration that lasts a blink and then a flash to white ¿Why not a more elaborated explosion animation like in the past games? Same for the aircraft animations. Anyone who knows how the F-22 and F-35 work will probably remember that they open the belly hatch to do the bomb drop. In Sonic Wings Reunion you don't see that when you use Keaton's F.A.E. or River's Ring Bomb. Even the F-22 in Strikers 1945 III had an opening hatch animation when you used the Cluster Bomb. For those who whined about Contra: Operation Galuga and called it a "Smartphone game", that's Terminator 2 movie quality compared with Sonic Wings Reunion. Here, the smartphone cheapness is abundant with horrible low-definition buildings placed on a bitmap texture. This is NOTORIOUS on the city levels which they look like if someone was fiddling around with Google Maps or Google Earth, making it look like the "Poor Man's" version of Albion D.U. from RayStorm. The north pole stage is the second worst since the ice looks like crappy white blocks and don't get me started with the Fata Morgana Core level, which is a horrible mashup of vomitive color combinations in a poor attempt to make it look like a dimensional warp or something, making it look like a poor imitation of the warp levels of Darius Gaiden (Zone G for example). The font selection is horrendous and unfitting. The generic "Military/The Home Depot" font ("Stencil" according to MS Paint) and a formal font for the character names, kill count tracker and story dialogues. These are your typical choices on crappy phone games and if they look bad on cheap chinese apps, it looks TERRIBLE in this game, and you know what, this is where I understand why fans are so hostile with this game: Because Hamster and Success could bring a much better job, even if they made it with 2D graphics in the style of the Neo-Geo and the PlayStation, that would be much better since Aero Fighters Special was amazing with the 32-Bit graphics from the PS1 CPU utilized for that game.

While we have familiar bosses like Super X and Osaru/Monkey, some other bosses are generic or bad, and the worst of all is the new battle station built by a three year old, I mean Vazeel EX, which looks like a bunch of boxes stacked together rather than a ground carrier-tank mix. I miss most of the bosses of the original games such as those from Aero Fighters 2 and Special, which were waaaay better than the new cast.

The ship size looks considerably small compared with the screen in previous games and I hate when I need to get closer to the TV screen to know what's up with the game. Speaking of visibility, there's the annoying problem of the bullet visibility, but here's also the enemy blending with parts of the background like camouflage. This can be seen on the tree bitmap texture of the Tokyo stages where the zako helicopters blend if they're on that part of the textures.

Lootin' and pollutin' is not the way.
Hear what Captain Spanky has to say.

In the legendary tradition of Aero Fighters, the cast of characters range from the military man turned into a cyborg, a ninja with a mission, the strongman looking for his ultimate challenge, the idol star who thinks this is a virtual reality game and even a talking dolphin capable of flying a jet. The wackiness also follows some of the enemies such as buildings that become "weaponized" like the Tokyo Big Sight, the Ethiad Towers and La Sagrada Familia as a spaceship that shoots its towers as missiles, those fantasy elements which broke the "Modern Military" monotony a bit.

WHAAAAAT IIIII'VE DOOOOONE!!
I'll face myself to cross out what I've becooooome.
Erase myself and let go of WHAAAAAAAT IIIIIII'VE...
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!!!

Since the whole franchise utilizes real world aircraft, there's one thing Hamster and Success didn't realized when they made this game: Copyright rules have changed since the late 90's. You can't say "F-15J Eagle" in a game without Boeing's permission nowadays. Yeah, "Corporate Divas". One of the main suspects of why Arcade Archives: F/A didn't had an overseas release 'cos Hamster and Bandai-Namco are too coward to explain. So, what did Hamster-Success did? Change the designation number. On Project Blue's fighters is just "PB": PBF15J, PBF22, PBF2SKAI, PBF35, PBX29, and Fata Morgana's aircraft are FM-14, FSU57, FmNH, Fmc-130 (F-14A, SU-57, F-117A, C-130), which was a creative move since Lockheed Martin didn't care to sue them even if the PBF22 and PBF35 are the same F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II we know.

Oldschoolers knew this joke would happen.

Something that I've noticed is that Keaton's robot parts kinda resemble Riga Pratica's suit from Dariusburst. Even before Sonic Wings Reunion I joked (and forgot to post) about this "Riga-Keaton" reminiscence in my first play of Arkanoid VS Space Invaders when I saw Riga's silhouette and thought "¿Keaton appears in this game?" until I realized it was Riga. Aero Fighters fans will surely like that joke.

From battling the Hildroid to kill Invaders?
Not exactly.

This Riga-Keaton joke isn't the only thing the locked Riga pic looks like, there's also an uncanny resemblance to "The Man" from Aero Fighters 3 as Captain Waffle from Spinal Breakers (Turbo Force Diabloon).

Only coincidentional and unintentional.

Looks like Keaton isn't the only one in this game of coincidences, the locked silhouette of Tetsu-Chan is very reminiscent of Mao-Mao too.

This is Rad 23 years after Transformers Armada.
Feel old yet?

The ending art is for a lack of better term, terrible. For a corporate-developed shmup, it screams "¡¡¡AMATEUR!!!", "¡¡¡FAN ART!!!" and "¡¡¡LOW BUDGET!!!" on every aspect, evoking the cheap drawing style of the 2002's Transformers Armada anime, but in a far lower style, making it look like an amateur anime-styled drawing from DeviantArt. ¿Did the game artist wasn't taking the job more seriously? This is a total lack of interest in the project, but with the "Do It Cheap" mentality of Hamster and Success, I won't be surprised if this was the same case with the artist, and why not think that about him? I mean, after years of official, high-quality artworks from artists such as Tom DuBois, Daikichi, Shimada Fumikane, Kotobuki Tsukasa, Boris Vallejo, Jun'ya Inoue, Kazuhiko Kakoi ("GRA"), Tsukasa Jun, Mark Ericksen, etc, all of a sudden you see a drawing that looks like the average 20 minute-ready fan art that you can find on DeviantArt, then it's normal that something on your head explode and with all known reasons. The only comforting thought is the fact that at least the artwork of Sonic Wings Reunion was made by a human being and not AI like most shovelware games out there.
So anyway, grab a drink and put your headset while hearing Dire Straits "Walk of Life".

A jet that took 5 minutes in photoshop to draw.

Also, notice the same sky background was utilized for Keaton and Whity.

Tonight on Speculative Gaming:
What if Hamster and Success got their hands on the cancelled Ecco II: Sentinels of the Universe?

Yep, if you look closely, you'll notice they repeated the same dolphin layer twice in Photoshop, changed the helmet color on one of them and voila, Whity/Spanky and his two friends.
Captain Planet: Remember the "Three R's": Reduce, Reutilize and Recycle. The Power is Yours!

Step #22 (OPTIONAL): Grab your "spray" tool to make the smoke and fire effects.
Now your plane is now going down in flames.
Hope you like this tutorial.

This isn't over, He-Man!
I'll be back, and you'll regret letting me live!!

Unused concept art for a cancelled ninja spin-off of Assassins Creed.

Apparently, the Astrologist Mona Megistus is a guest gamer in Mao-Mao's tube channel.

I saw better drawn "waifus" on DeviantArt, and drawn by real people rather than AI.

Mao-Mao and Glenda deserved something better. Way more better than this.

Latest DA Deviation: "Tourist twins in Japan"

Let's end up this messed up gallery saying the words AWACS Galaxy taught us in "Consequence of Power".

Hamster Corporation and Success. You've fucking earned it.
NOTE: I take no responsibility if you find this repetitive. Internet repeats "the Metal Gear Solid sound" billion times more often than this quote.

The music of this game is on its weakest point. It is more than clear that the "Basic Sound" tries to retain the atmosphere of Aero Fighters 2 and Sonic Wings Limited, but there's two major problems: The upbeat rhythm is almost non-existent because is too relaxed, even for the electronic standards of the first three Aero Fighters games, and second, the stage length prevents you from enjoying the music (same problem of Aero Fighters 3). If you're considering the idea of "Pause the game to hear" then think again because pausing the game sends you to the options screen. This only happens in the normal game, because in Training Mode, you can pause the game and hear the music, which is good considering the amazing 90's-esque Florida theme, which is by far the best song of the whole game: Fast, 90's-electronic, and rhythmic.
The violins utilized are played in the style of Shiro Sagisu (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Godzilla Resurgence), this is notorious in the final stage. Fans also criticized the selection of songs for Arrange Sound since some themes doesn't fit quite well with the stages and bosses they're assigned.

There's also an official music video for "Reunion" and to be honest looks very amateur. If you know and watched the music videos of The Piano Guys, its pretty much the same: "YouTuber Quality" without all the visual spectacle that makes music videos what they are. While Suzuka made a great work cosplaying Mao-Mao, I think she missed on wearing a wig to further increase the character-accuracy since that's the core and soul of cosplay. As for the song itself, it feels like a soundalike of "Ginga Force"/"Ginga Force (2020)", the opening-ending theme of Qute's shmup of the same name.

TRIVIA WINGED REUNION

- This game marks the (failed) return of Aero Fighters to the classic 2D vertical shooter after Aerofighters Assault.
- Second Aero Fighters game where the F-14, Rafale and F-117 are not playable aircraft.
- Sonic Wings Reunion is a first timer in the following facts.
-- First Aero Fighters game made by Success.
-- First entry in the series released overseas under the Sonic Wings name.
-- First time in the series where "Pacifism" is included.
-- First debut of the SU-57 as an enemy aircraft.

- The JAS-39 was renamed as SAA-39 refering Saab.
- The "vehicle renaming to avoid copyright" trick is very similar to that of Project Wingman (F-14D > F\D-14 for example).
- While the F-2 Super Kai is depicted in black in the game, the promotional art depicted it with the "real world" blue colors.
- For some reason, Komomo is refered as "Kotomi" on the character select screen.
- "Caspian Sea" is refered in game as "Casoian Sea".
- While it sounds very Engrish-like, the phrase "Gird your loins" had a biblical origin. It refers to a time when long clothes were often worn, and "girding the loins" was to tie that clothing farther up on the legs to increase mobility. Like rolling up your sleeves, but on your legs.
- Also, "Gird your loins" is a reference to the quote "Alright everyone, gird your loins!" said by Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt) from the movie The Devil Wears Prada.
- "A Farewell to Arms" is a reference to the 1929 novel written by American writer Ernest Hemingway, set during the Italian campaign of World War I.
- The name "Love Me Tender" comes from the 1956 song by Elvis Presley.
- Vazeel EX's design is somewhat reminiscent of the Autobot Grandus from the Japanese Transformers line Battlestars: Return of Convoy.
- The bartender seen in River N. White's ending is no other than Captain Silver, the former A-10 pilot from Aero Fighters 2 and Aero Fighters Special/Sonic Wings Limited.
- The "Mysterious man" from the ending of Inufuku is Koichi Sone, a recurring challenger from the SukuSuku Inufuku series.
- Apparently the events or Aerofighters Assault were declared out of canon. Proof of this is the Tokyo stage which is no longer a submerged city like it was depicted in Aerofighters Assault.
- "The champions are missing" on Chaika and Pooshka's ending is a reference to Ryu's ending from Street Fighter II
- Although the Keaton-Hien team-up says Fata Morgana's base is in a "Spatial distortion", having the final stage of the game as "Core" it might imply that the battle takes place in a "subterranean" or "near Earth's core" premise in a Hollow Earth/Agartha-like premise.

Total Wreck...

Overall, Sonic Wings Reunion is clearly an intended heartfelt return of the franchise under someone else's hand, but having a heart for Aero Fighters is not enough to make a great comeback when the developer doesn't seem to care on making a quality product. It is more than clear that the game was way too soon to be released, considering the potential of being far more complete but they messed up in the end in several aspects. I mean, this game had the potential of being the R-Type Final of the series featuring lots of characters of all the series, new ones and even tons of stages with selectable routes like R-Type Final 2 did, but instead it is the Broken Thunder of the 2020's in terms of "incomplete game".

Accurate description of how this game came to existence...
...and what happened later.

This soulless effort feels more like if Hamster and Success said "Alright, alright, alright! Here's your new Aero Fighters game, you can stop crying right now!" and such message is notorious in the final product. Also, when the game secretly tells you that you can rack up higher scores by not shooting and just dodging bullets, it stabs the main element of the game which is shoot and kill your enemies, that's fucked up, and to make things worse add more inri and salt to the wound, the graphics are just cheap and pathetic, along with forgettable music most of the time. To put it simple, Thunder Force VI was much better (and more complete) than this. Yeah, all the fan-hate, poison, slandering that Thunder Force VI received was nothing compared with Sonic Wings Reunion.

The correct company logo for this game.
Well, it's not LJN, but it feels like it.

As a commercial game, its a mockery towards Aero Fighters fans. I mean, I saw a lot of far worse shooters before this game (Breakthrough Gaming, Xitilon, etc), but those are independent developers or "Indies", not commercial games which are developed with stricter quality control. I mean, this isn't LJN or Electro Brain (that goes for you SNES Raiden Trad), but Hamster and Success did an LJN with this game.

The closing words for Sonic Wings Reunion and the Sonic Wings franchise as a whole.
Thanks to Hamster and Success.

When you make a sequel of a game, you put what you've learned before in practice and evolve (best example? Thunder Force V: Perfect System), Sonic Wings Reunion didn't. If this game wants redemption the only thing Hamster-Success has to do is to try to follow the steps and apply the lessons Hello Games learned with No Man's Sky: Uplifting an initially bad and lambasted game until becoming a way better and greatly accepted product. But sadly, looks like Hamster and Success are not gonna do that since they're already working on Psyvariar 3 which is following the same "Do It Cheap" mentality and steps of Reunion, and you know what? I'm worried about Hamster's acquisition of Warashi's Shienryu (and maybe their "Pre-Exelica" catalogue), what if they picked it to make Shienryu III and turns out a cheap mess just like this one? It's a truly horrifying thought, and if that's the case, I'm really, really, REALLY glad Triggerheart Exelica is in Cosmo Machia's hands.

Hamster Corporation, Success and Red Art Games, you owe me 35 bucks for this fucking joke you call a Sonic Wings game. I mean, if you're asking that much money for the game, it means you've made a quality product (ask the Mikado editions of Raiden III and IV) instead of this OFFENSE to the franchise. If this monstrosity is Aero Fighters, then I am Batman.
If you are a fan of the Aero Fighters series and want some action just stay with the classic Aero Fighters tetralogy, Rabio Lepus, Turbo Force and the Strikers 1945 series. Sonic Wings Reunion isn't worthy.

Let's close this review with a final score of 2 R-9's out of 10, and that's the lowest score I ever gave to a commercial game:

This game should have been classic! But instead, it's worthless!
It's as worthless as this fucking "Crying Eda" I've posted to qualify it.