Sleeper of the Week: Space Megaforce (SNES)

[maxlords]

Hey….another shmup! Yup….yet another shooter, and one for SNES no less! Space Megaforce is a widely overlooked shooter, and quite frankly, probably the best one available for the SNES at all! As one of the lesser known domestic Aleste games (MUSHA for Genesis and Robo Aleste for Sega CD being more commonly known), you can expect a good game right off the back. Too bad Toho Co. had to stick it with the biggest loser name ever. Seriously...Space Megaforce? They may as well have called it Super Power Shot or something. Elsewhere the game is known as Super Aleste….a much better title.

Anyway, the whole of Space Megaforce is about gameplay. And lots of it! Your R button controls the pattern of your bullets with six options available. On top of that, you can collect red and green spheres that change what type of weapon you have, leaving you with 8 more options for a whopping 48 configurations of weaponry. If that isn’t enough, well, the weapons have power levels too! Toss into the mix a variable speed (I always keep it on 3 of 4), the ability to destroy powerups for an enemy-clearing blast, 5 different difficulty modes, and bombs too, and you have so many choices that it’s hard to decide! Bullets, lasers satellites, and homing shots are just a few weapons in your vast repertoire.

But choices are all well and good. However, without good gameplay to back it up, all the options in the world do not a good game make. Thankfully, Space Megaforce is an excellent game! With heavy-duty Mode 7 effects, huge bosses and a plethora of enemies, you’ll blow your way through a full twelve levels of gameplay. I know it’s twelve because the manual says so…I sure as hell haven’t gotten that far! The game is certainly challenging, but not impossible. But prepare to struggle through and love it! This is one of those shooters that keeps you coming back, regardless of your skill level. Thank goodness there’s a difficulty level for everyone! Tight controls and nice handling plus a configurable controller should let even the least skilled shooter fan make some headway in this one!

Oh yeah, and there are lots of neat side functions too. Sound tests, “short game” mode for condensed versions of each level, and my personal favorite, “break mode”, where you can view the sprites of all the enemies you have fought, scaling them in and out and rotating them with the buttons. Very very neat extra!

Anyway, you get the idea. Another really good shooter. No one bought it back in the day, and it’s not easy to find now. Expect to pay around $20-35 for a copy complete, though they do tend to fluctuate. I’ve seen complete copies selling as high as $50-60 before, though they seem to be much lower at the moment. If you like shooters, you owe it to yourself to give Space Megaforce a try!

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[maxlords]

BTW...sorry this article is so late....long day at work + nap = almost no free time! :D Enjoy!

[sisko]

The screens remind me a lot of the Thunderforce series on genesis (number 3 specifically).

Is this a free roaming shooter like that, or a vertical scrolling shooter ala 194X?

[maxlords]

100% vertical. I'm not a big fan of verts myself but this one is GOOD.

[Drexel923]

I'm always looking for another good vertical shooter...thanks for the info.

[DigitalSpace]

Sweet pick. Coincedentally, I just beat the short game for the first time a few days ago. :D Along with that, I've been looking for another copy throughout the week for someone who wants it.

This is one of my favorite shmups of all time. Hearing "Space Megaforce! Presented by Toho." after I pop this baby in my SNES and power it on is pure bliss.

[Mayhem]

Yes that intro... you get the booming "SPPPPAAAAAACCCEE MEGAFORCE" from the announcer. And then about a second later, it's almost as if he forgot to say the rest and blurts it out quickly and quietly and with absolutely no charisma whatsoever: "presented by Toho".

Thankfully the game is excellent. I got the US version cos I couldn't find the Japanese one for a reasonable price. Played it a lot, managed to beat it as well for my sins.

[Dire 51]

Space Megaforce is some good stuff. I may have to get it back one of these days.

[kainemaxwell]

Nic epick! played this at a friend's house and loved it! The graphics are pretty good and the music rocks but the best part of this is the weapon options during gameplay.

[o2william]

This is, hands down, my favorite shmup ever. The pacing, the difficulty, and the weapon selection are all so wonderfully balanced that it just never gets old. I also can't get enough of the explosion sample that sounds whenever an important target is taken out. There's just something pleasing about it.

I have Super Aleste, the Japanese version. There are some subtle differences, like no announcer on the intro screen, but the gameplay is the same.

Of all the Aleste games I've played, this game most reminds me of Blazing Lasers on the TG-16. The power-up scheme is really similar. If you like one of these games you'll like the other -- and there's a lot to like about both of them.

[ClubNinja]

I kick myself daily for not picking this up for $3 when I had the chance two years ago. I haven't seen one "in the wild" since. :(

[NeoZeedeater]

I consider Space Megaforce the best shooter of the 16-bit era. Compile was a master of the genre.

[shai hulud]

i played this game and loved it before i new of the term SHMUP.

[Sotenga]

This is a damn fine example of a shmup, and a testament to Compile's awesomeness. I'm actually not that great at it (haven't got past level 5 yet, but I blame the ZSNES emulator for glitching the graphics on me!), but with practice, I'll be able to witness all twelve awesome stages. I've seen that the level 7 boss is... well, really freaking impressive as far as graphics go. Great stuff, great stuff. Hell, I may go play it soon. :D

[Blackjax]

Man, that game looks alot like Blazing Lasers for TG-16.... was it the same designers?

[Sotenga]

Man, that game looks alot like Blazing Lasers for TG-16.... was it the same designers?

You mean Compile? Sure is! :)

[Crush Crawfish]

Man, for some reason I distinctly remember being at a friend's house as a kid and him asking me if I wanted to borrow this game. I said no for some stupid reason. The weird thing is that I can't even remember the kid's name or face, just sapce megaforce. weirdness. Anyways, I gotta pick this one up as soon as I find it!

[FurinkanianFrood]

Really great shooter, one of the few SHMUPS on SNES worth the plastic the case is made of.



I blame the ZSNES emulator for glitching the graphics on me!


A real copy ain't exactly expensive.... I really can't understand why anyone messes with those things other than for taking screenshots.

People are still trying to sell those games at independent shops ya know (and they aren't necessarily overpriced either!)

Don't contribute to ethical degeneracy. Many of us have done it, and I don't mean this as a personal attack on anybody, but c'mon already.

Of course there are places in the world where it's really difficult to find any legit games (or any other legit media content for that matter....).



Anyway, you get the idea. Another really good shooter. No one bought it back in the day, and it’s not easy to find now. Expect to pay around $20-35 for a copy complete, though they do tend to fluctuate. I’ve seen complete copies selling as high as $50-60 before, though they seem to be much lower at the moment. If you like shooters, you owe it to yourself to give Space Megaforce a try!


Japanese copies are pretty easy to find (and relatively cheap), $20-35 isn't a big deal, and complete copies I could care less about.

If someone wants to spend $$$ on packages to look at then they can waste their money, but after a certain point you gotta wonder how many people have struggled in poverty while others fondle cardboard boxes.....

I always have the packages for CD games, and I have the boxes if a game comes with it for a reasonable price, but really.

[sportbettor]

I remember when Space Megaforce first came out. I was absolutely amazed at the number of sprites on the screen. And no line sprite overload like would have appeared on the Genny with this game.

Space Megaforce and Axelay are the two shumps that I like on the SNES and UN squadron to some extent.

BTW if anyone is intersted i have a copy of Space megaforce w/box (no inst) for $20+shipping. Will also trade for equivalent item on my want list.

[FurinkanianFrood]

And no line sprite overload like would have appeared on the Genny with this game.


Only if the Genny game had the effects that Mode 7 did in the SNES version. Mode 7 was really kind of a gimmick in shooters.

It's the color depth that really matters in this case I'd say. The Genny has some nice colorful games that nearly seem to get around the limitation, but many of those were late and kind of obscure (SOA is eternally dumb).

I was very impressed by Axelay back in the day but I really don't feel that the Mode 7 makes shooters any better. And the warping at the back of Axelay is kinda funny looking.

Panorama Cotton (Megadrive) is more impressive graphically IMO, but like hell if PCotton is worth the $250 it goes for on ebay and such.

Thankfully Compile was able to program the SNES well enough that Super Aleste didn't have slowdown issues. The SNES can be really slow if it's coded inefficiently.

Area 88 is really, really nice, and so is Scrambled Valkyrie even though I can't stand the Anime. Rtype 3 is cool. Gradius 3 kind of pales next to 2 IMO.

[sportbettor]

Im not talking about the color pallete or the mode 7 stuff. Im talking about the limitatation of sprites on a horizontal line on the genesis. I think there was a 20 sprite limit or something. If the game exceeded that on any single line the sprites would glitch. There was so many sprites on the screen in space megaforce (and on the same lines) that the genny would not have been able to handle it. All I know is when I first saw Space Megaforce I think i started drooling. I remember showing the game to anyone that would look.

If I remember corretly I thought R-type and gradius both had slowdown issues. For some reason I remember not liking them that much on the snes. Im trying to get a copy of Scrambled Valkyrie, but Ive found macross games to be sort of hit and miss.

I probably have 15 or so macross games. And the only ones I like are:

macross 2036 pcengine (this is the only console macross game I really like)
and the Macross shooter arcade boards.

[sportbettor]

BTW if anyone has macross superfami available Id buy or trade for it.

[FurinkanianFrood]

Im not talking about the color pallete or the mode 7 stuff. Im talking about the limitatation of sprites on a horizontal line on the genesis. I think there was a 20 sprite limit or something. If the game exceeded that on any single line the sprites would glitch. There was so many sprites on the screen in space megaforce (and on the same lines) that the genny would not have been able to handle it. All I know is when I first saw Space Megaforce I think i started drooling. I remember showing the game to anyone that would look.


I see... I'm a bit tired I guess. I started thinking about line scrolling (like with Space Harrier type games), and that lead to me thinking about the SNES using Mode 7 for Pseudo3D effects like in FZero et al. But I don't think that the Horizontal sprite limit would be a huge issue. Probably not too hard to program around it. I don't think there were many more than 20 on a line in SMForce anyhow were there? Depends on how it's programmed.

Like I said, I think the Genny color palette would make the backgrounds a bit washed out.

Super Aleste couldn't look the same on Genny, I was just thinking about how close it could get.

It could easily be pulled off as a PCE SuperCD game though.....

I'm not all that familiar with the SNES effects hardware either.... never looked at programming for it (Largely because I am mainly interested in consoles that can run homebrew games on the actual hardware without anything weird needed).



macross 2036 pcengine (this is the only console macross game I really like)
and the Macross shooter arcade boards.


That's about as far as decent Macross games go. Two decent console games is the extent I'm pretty sure.

I do like the PCE game myself. Actually Macross isn't what bothers me. The original anime wasn't bad for it's time. It's just that I never really cared for it that much, and as much as I would like to forget the messed up American version, the memory still makes it hard for me to take the original seriously.

[cr0n0]

One of my favorite overhead shooters of all time. This game showed off almost all of the SNES special effects. My hats off to the designers of the game for putting together a classic which will be remembered for many more years to come.

[NE146]

Got this when it came out based upon it's review in EGM. My impression? "Gawdamn it this is just Blazing Lazers!" LOL

I guess it should have been a good thing.. but I had played Blazing Lazers TO THE GROUND so it was kind of like coming right back to a game I had pretty much played all the fun out of... if that makes any sense... :hmm:

[ubersaurus]

I've been looking for this game locally for a long time now...I love those compile shooters, and this certainly looked to be no exception.

This, R-Type 3, and Super Nova...all I need to be happy for SNES shooters.

[sportbettor]

I've been looking for this game locally for a long time now...I love those compile shooters, and this certainly looked to be no exception.

This, R-Type 3, and Super Nova...all I need to be happy for SNES shooters.

I still have a boxed Space Megaforce for $20+shipping if you are interested.

[ubersaurus]

I may be...I don't expect I'd find it for locally for less loose.

[sportbettor]

I may be...I don't expect I'd find it for locally for less loose.

Ok well pm me if you want it.

I also have thousands more available games in teh link on my sig. I will sell or trade anything.

[lendelin]

Sorry to bump this up, but I overlooked it back then.

Good review, maxlords. Space Megaforce is indeed a true gem. The options are so well integrated into gameplay that they make it the best space shooter on the SNES from a strategic standpoint; and the graphics, challenge and frantic action is on par with the best shmups on the SNES.

I finished the game back in the days, but haven't looked at it for more than 5 years.

[lendelin]

If someone wants to spend $$$ on packages to look at then they can waste their money, but after a certain point you gotta wonder how many people have struggled in poverty while others fondle cardboard boxes.....


Yep, there are also people who have PCs and post on message boards while a lot of people struggle in poverty...and they have game systems...and two cars...and make two times vacation a year...and an endless supply of completely unnecessary clothes...and spend time and energy to go to the E3.

Sorry, I had to say that...:)

To get cardboard boxes and have games complete has nothing to do with a lack of social conscience or solving global political problems.

Mostly it is irrational because it has to do with authenticity which collectors like, and there is a part rationality in it because boxes and manuals are part of game history (quality and style of manuals and boxes, stories told in manuals and on boxes.) Thus, they represent the 'spirit of the time' of their release.

[Ed Oscuro]

Yep, I encountered this entry to the Aleste series not that long ago. Very good looking for the SNES indeed! Too bad it's so darn rare, though...