Hard to dislike what is already such a singularly perfect rail shooter. Sadly, where this remaster of sorts fails its original is just about every facet (save for thee untouched OST) of what made thee 1995 classic so inspired.

Graphically an immediate downgrade. Nothing packs a punch. Accidental abstractions called "enemies" thanks to chunked pixelated models are no longer left to thee imagination of an already imaginative game. Sky soaring blurs are now corporeal; less fascinating. Spires of missiles are missing those high impacts crunches & rattling bolts sound like pea shooters.

Less was inarguably more, but that much you already knew.

Playing this on a crt is incredible. That first stage is the most beautiful shit, even on my fucked up tv rescued from dad’s garage where the color green bleeds off the sides of the sceen but fuckitweball.

For seven stages, you ride an earthly dragon on-rails: alone against an army, you’ll challenge a rival, destroy the enemy base, and part away with sorrow.

It’s like shadow of the colossus but at the arcade and with a gun. The gameplay is very simple, you can only blast away, lock on enemies, and steer the dragon went facing front. At the stage 5 boss, monotony set in: “it’s awkward switching view and losing your movement”, “how do I dodge all that”, but the stages following kept me invested. This ps2 version allows infinite continues and ditching lives so it’s probably the top way to play the original. Those top speed flight sections are stellar, and the final boss was properly imposing.

Oh and the music is fuckin awesome