One of the earliest genres of video games is the shooter.
Why?
Simplicity.
Here’s the concept: Fire a projectile at an enemy or obstacle, watch it blow up, rinse, repeat.
You see? With such a relatively modest list of goals for a group of programmers to try to achieve, the appeal is obvious.
And for the gamer, the idea of blowing crap up is fun too.
So, shooters’ explosion in popularity in the 1970s and 80s was probably inevitable, and they’re an important part of gaming history.
I included the wack-a-doodle Air Zonk earlier in this countdown, but I also knew, given the genre’s importance, I should probably include a more traditional shooter somewhere in my Top 20.
How did I settle on Soldier Blade?
It’s really stinking good.
Soldier Blade
Genre: Shooter
Released: 1992
Platform: Turbografx-16
5/5 from GamePro
The “Star Soldier” series, of which Soldier Blade is essentially the culmination of (or minimally at least a significant entry in), is one of the more influential parts of the shooting genre. Those games, which began with — appropriately enough — the arcade cabinet “Star Soldier,” took off in Japan for their tight & fast gameplay, balanced power-ups and nifty music. That tradition, and those elements, became a consistent hallmark of the series, which Hudson Soft eventually brought home to its PC Engine, the Japanese equivalent of the Turbografx-16 over here.
So in summation, this was a quality series in the shooter space, in the same way that Mario and Sonic were quality series in the platformer realm.
The “Star Soldier” games scrolled vertically, as opposed to horizontally (like R-Type or Gradius) or not at all (like Space Invaders or Galaga), so you might think of them as being a good cross between the two, as the non-scrolling games were typically aligned vertically. Here, you’ve got that traditional vertical alignment, but with a more modern touch of scrolling backgrounds (and in some cases, foregrounds).
The PC Engine series of games was as follows: Super Star Soldier, Final Soldier, and Soldier Blade (ala Super Mario Bros 1-3), and they were built and released in quick succession to one another.
Part of the reason for the quick turnaround was to give fans incentive to come out to trade shows and gaming expos (presumably to whip them into a spending fever so they’d buy more stuff). Hudson did this by building “caravan” versions of play into their games.
What that meant was instead of trying to progress through the entirety of the game by advancing through different stages (as is customary in gaming), gamers were instead given a time limit to get as high a score as possible. Winners got prizes, and the whole thing was very much like the plot of “The Wizard,” except of course Fred Savage wasn’t there.
This was pretty much a straight Japanese phenomenon, since shooters were more popular there, but yeah, it was a thing. It was actually a pretty BIG thing.
Why did this come to pass on the PC Engine? There’s probably a technical reason in there somewhere, but overall, the system just seemed to process these kinds of games better, and Hudson figured that out early on.
There are definitely exceptions. There are great shooters elsewhere. But in the same way the SNES became known for being a great haven for RPGs, the PC Engine/Turbografx became known for housing a wealth of shooters. And deservedly. This lineup is pretty well all-star, gold coin, whatever you want to call it. It’s killer. When the Turbografx-16 Mini was released, it was basically a heaven-made, shooter fan, dream box. It was filled to the brim with shooters … and it still left off many of the all-time greats.
So yeah, that’s part of my rationale here too: If I’m including shooters, it feels appropriate to have the top of that list include titles from the TG16.
I do like the extremely early days of shooters, and I do think it’s probably important for fans of gaming history to circle back to things like Space Invaders and Asteroids. If I do this series long enough, I’ll eventually include some of those games.
But part of the point here is sharing the games I think everyone should give a go, and doing it in some kind of preferred order. And Soldier Blade is my preference for traditional shooters.
Soldier Blade was essentially the Super Mario 3 of the “Star Soldier” series, in that in came third, was flippin’ fun (not too difficult), and was technically the most impressive (graphics and sound) of the bunch.
Reasonable minds can differ, but this one is my Exhibit A of why folks should give shooters a try.
So what makes it worth playing today?
It’s a great looking and sounding game (the soundtrack seriously kicks ass), and the way it plays is approachable and just plain good. Much like comparing how different cars handle, some shooters play too fast, too slow, too loose, what have you. This is the Goldilocks in how it controls. It’s essentially perfect in how it feels.
And again, it’s not stupidly hard. The early stages are a nice, easy progression from simple to harder and harder. The difficulty curve is what it should be, allowing the gamer to feel accomplished in the early going, yet hungry to experience more.
You’ve pretty much gotta try your hand at some shooters to gain a more complete view of the tapestry of gaming, the Super Star Soldier trilogy is at the top of the genre’s heap in terms of overall quality, and for me, Soldier Blade is the best of that group.
Some folks prefer other games in the series, or other series altogether. That’s cool. This is my list.
Soldier Blade is my Goldilocks.
It’s just right.
Dave’s Score: 10/10
Check out the whole Retro Gaming Essentials list here!
How to play
- Original hardware (PC Engine/Turbografx-16)
- Wii & WiiU Virtual Console
- PSP “Soldier Collection”
- Playstation Network
- Turbografx-16 Mini