Clear #115 - Sapphire
'Tis a damn fine shewty that really shows off the capabilities of the Arcade Card. I've beaten this quite a few times in years past, but I've struggled mightily in recent years to 1CC 'er again. It's finally done, though, after I stopped getting myself killed trying to "save" my bombs.
The Good: rockin' tunes, courtesy of Ts Music; two player simultaneous fun and four somewhat different ships with their own cute girly pilots and weapons; nice cutscenes for the intro and outro, though nothing more fancy than what you'll find in many a Super CD title; long loading times between stages are cleverly disguised with 'pilot briefings'; a charged options attack that lets you build score for extra ships; and some of the coolest graphics found in any PCE title, with detailed, layered, and animated backgrounds and lots of variation in enemies, sub-bosses, and bosses (many of which are huge), with neato lighting effects and morphing of sprites and backgrounds.
The Bad: the ships are slow and clunky, and the difference between the four is not as great as it could be; high score doesn't save; it could use another level or two, as it's a bit on the short side; and the girls never get nekkid.
The Ugly: the loud, grating sound effect used for some ship/weapon combos while firing; and the weird partially invisible face in the ending (pallette error?).
