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..) ;)
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