Compared with something like Contra, it's a bit more creative and has a far better story/presentation although it's better today when you can look up what it's meant to be and ignore the bad translation. Great soundtrack. Gameplay is very good but tarnished a little by power ups that are actually busted and game breaking, looking at you homing laser. The bosses are also fantastic overall and hold up well. A must play for the shooter genre.

Pure unadulterated shooter fun and very addictive, great blend of difficulty and power ups making you feel OP at times. Super satisfying to beat after many tries, and in many ways perfect gameplay. Gameplay in general could not be more visceral for a game this simple. However, it obviously is no looker and very simplistic in terms of presentation. Music is actually pretty impressive for its age though. Gotta play it if you're interested in the shooter genre.

Basically the same game copy pasted 3 additional times with some slight changes and some of them are awful. For just messing around it's fine but really lacking as a complete experience.