GOTD – U.N. Squadron
U.N. Squadron – Action(SNES)
Capcom
A game that slipped under the radar (ha-ha), U.N. Squadron is a solid side-scrolling action game with a few twists.
The actual action part is quite good. It’s a shooter in the vein of Gradius, with a large variety of enemies and special weapons to use.
At the beginning of the game, you select a pilot from a possible 3. Each pilot has a specialty – the first gains experience upgrades (improved when you pick up some power-ups in stages) faster than usual, one is balanced and can supposedly use more than one special weapon at a time (I’m not coordinated enough to try) and the third recovers from damage faster.
Speaking of damage recovery, the game has an interesting way of handling damage. If you get hit by something, you temporarily go into “Danger” mode, where you are vulnerable. If you’re hit again while in that mode, you immediately lose. If you can stay safe for long enough, you simply lose some life.
Between stages, you can use money you’ve acquired to purchase new planes and recharge the special weapons your current one can use.
Although the game is relatively short, it has four difficulty modes – of which I can only beat two. I’m convinced that Gamer mode (the hidden 4th difficulty) is one of the hardest action games there is, particularly with some of the more difficult bosses.
Taken as a whole, the game is a solid action game that has enough modifiability to keep each game interesting, and difficulty modes to keep you playing it again. Definitely worth a try, and it’s not a hard game to find.
The game is, by the by, based on a fairly old anime by the name of Area 88.
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