Battle Garegga - originally released in arcades in 1996, and later on Sega Saturn in 1998, is an absolute masterpiece among 2D vertical shooters. With Garegga, Raizing, the super-talented programmer-designers behind the likes of Kingdom Grandprix and Soukyugurentai, took the traditional 'war-plane' arcade shooter lineage which had evolved through titles such as the 194X series, Flying Shark, Raiden and Strikers 1945, and brought it kicking and screaming into the 90's with a technically and aesthetically stunning piece of videogame craftsmanship. Neo-Futuristic prop-driven aicraft have long been a staple of the Japanese videogame and animation industry but Battle Garegga took this popular style of 'fantasy aeronautica' to previously unseen levels of detail and creativity within the shootemup genre. The Saturn conversion is 100% perfect - effortlessly coping with seemingly limitless projectiles and sprites without a trace of slowdown to be seen - nothing short of a programming miracle. Battle Garegga was followed by an arcade-only sequel in 1999 - Battle Bakraid - but for the time being 2D shoot em ups don't come any better on ANY format in the home (unless you are one of those lucky swines with a dedicated arcade cabinet in your living room..) ;)