In a seemingly never ending sea of shmups on the Genesis/MD it can be fairly difficult to stand out. You sometimes need to make the ships a bunch of bug creatures, star a duo of anime ladies, or have an intro that gets turned into an ancient meme that can be found in hieroglyphics in some Egyptian tombs.
Vapor Trail doesn't do a damn thing to make a case for it being the most unforgettable experience of the 16-bit era. Fictional jets and tanks, oh boy! It even commits egregious acts like having a whack difficulty curve, stages that last too long, and only having one stage theme in the entire game while somehow having more boss music. The last one is actually probably the most disappointing quality, because the stage theme itself is probably one of my favorite pieces of Genesis music. Imagine the other stages having their own unique themes with comparable quality, you could've had something here that could've potentially taken the fight to Thunder Force IV, Verytex, Undead Line, etc, but I guess they all gave up after they made that theme. "Pack it up boys, we ain't followin' that up". Cowards.
Regardless, your one stage theme is still a great showcase for the Genesis/MD not always sounding like a fax machine passing a kidney stone like some seem to think, even if I sometimes still like those kind of soundtracks ironically or not. Cheers.
Vapor Trail doesn't do a damn thing to make a case for it being the most unforgettable experience of the 16-bit era. Fictional jets and tanks, oh boy! It even commits egregious acts like having a whack difficulty curve, stages that last too long, and only having one stage theme in the entire game while somehow having more boss music. The last one is actually probably the most disappointing quality, because the stage theme itself is probably one of my favorite pieces of Genesis music. Imagine the other stages having their own unique themes with comparable quality, you could've had something here that could've potentially taken the fight to Thunder Force IV, Verytex, Undead Line, etc, but I guess they all gave up after they made that theme. "Pack it up boys, we ain't followin' that up". Cowards.
Regardless, your one stage theme is still a great showcase for the Genesis/MD not always sounding like a fax machine passing a kidney stone like some seem to think, even if I sometimes still like those kind of soundtracks ironically or not. Cheers.