is a 1990 horizontally scrolling shooter

arcade video game An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arca ...

developed by

Kaneko , stylized as KANEJapanese

Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...

in Japan and Sharp Image Electronics in North America (licensed from Namco). Two players control the "Blaster Fighter" star ships in their efforts to destroy a mysterious mechanical fortress orbiting Earth, with plans to take control of the planet. The Blaster Fighters can equip one of seven available weapons, which will change the ship's firepower and abilities, such as diagonal shots, homing missiles and small drones that follow the player's ship. ''Air Buster'' received a favorable reception for its visuals, sound effects and gameplay, although complaints were directed at the difficulty, which was deemed "too easy" by numerous publications. Ports of the game were released for both the

TurboGrafx-16 The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC, NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth genera ...

and

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

, the former being renamed to ''Aero Blasters'' for international releases. The Sega Genesis release was ported over to the "Project EGG" digital storefront in 2014, which remained exclusive to Japan. A version for the

X68000 The is a home computer created by Sharp Corporation. It was first released in 1987 and sold only in Japan. The initial model has a 10 Megahertz, MHz Motorola 68000 Central processing unit, CPU, 1 Megabytes, MB of Random Access Memory, RAM ...

was in development but never released.

Gameplay

''Air Buster'' is a horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up game. Players choose between one of the two Blaster fighters through six scrolling stages. The Blaster fighters can equip one of seven weapons. The weapons include the Striker weapon which adds additional firepower through vertically aligned Options, the Reverse shot which fires two diagonal shots from the rear of the ship, the Six Way Shot which fires semi-automatic shots in six directions and the Homing Shot which tracks enemies all around the screen. The other three weapons are

Missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket i ...

-based which vary from Red straight-firing

Rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

s and Green Homing Missiles. There is also the Border item which surrounds the front of the ship, keeping it from crashing into foreground objects. The only other Items include Power-Ups which increase the ship's standard shot power and Bonus Points that appear in the sign of Dollar signs.

Development and release

The Mega Drive/Genesis port runs fullscreen, features more detailed graphics, keeps most of the Arcade version's parallax effects and has better sound effects. The PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 port features a slightly expanded ending and has a unique track on stage 2.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Air Buster'' in their March 1, 1990 issue as being the third most popular arcade game of the month. '' MegaTech'' magazine gave the game 78%, commenting on the "excellent graphics, sound and playability", but criticising the low challenge factor.MegaTech rating,

EMAP Ascential plc, formerly EMAP, is a British business-to-business media business specialising in exhibitions & festivals and information services. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Ric ...

, issue 5, page 78, May 1992 ''

Mega Mega or MEGA may refer to: Science * mega-, a metric prefix denoting 106 * Mega (number), a certain very large integer in Steinhaus–Moser notation * "mega-" a prefix meaning "large" that is used in taxonomy * Gravity assist, for ''Moon-Eart ...

'' placed the game at #13 in their Top Mega Drive Games of All Time. ''

Mean Machines ''Mean Machines'' was a multi-format video game magazine published between 1990 and 1992 in the United Kingdom. Origins In the late 1980s '' Computer and Video Games'' (''CVG'') was largely covering the outgoing generation of 8-bit computers l ...

'' gave the game 80%, but said that it could not compete with '' Hellfire''.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Video games, 1990s 1990 video games Arcade video games Cancelled Sharp X68000 games Kaneko games Namco games Namco arcade games Horizontally scrolling shooters Sega Genesis games TurboGrafx-16 games Video games developed in Japan Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games featuring female protagonists