Conversion of the popular arcade game, it is a vertical shooter, and was created originally as a rival to scramble, the gameplay matches elements such as being able to fire forwards and to drop bombs on targets with the ais of a sight.

The game was praised on launch for its colourful detailed graphics, and crunching sound effects, there is also considerable graphical variety in the 16 stages. Innovative features such as hidden towers that are only revealed by bombing certain areas.

The players spacecraft, the Solvalou is based on the Nostromo space tug from the film Alien, and many of the other craft pay homage to other Sci Fi classics such as Star Wars and battlestar Galactica.

The arcade was a huge success in Japan, but less so in America, but is now considered an arcade classic, with conversions to many home systems up to the present day as part of retro compilations.

It is considered an influence on later machines such as Twinbee.

This NES version is a faithful copy of the arcade original, and was one of the machines first arcade conversions and third party games. The title sold out in three days, and Namco were inundated by calls from frustrated players who could not find a copy of the game, and others who wanted playing tips to counter the game's punishing difficulty.

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