Firepower 2000 is extremely underrated.

[Gunstar Hero]

I have Firepower 2000 for my Super Nintendo and all the reviews I've read on it say it's mediocre and I strongly disagree. First of all it's one of the very few shmups on the SNES. With such a small library of shmups released on the SNES, you don't have much to choose from and this is your best bet for fun. Second, it is 2 player simultaneous action, which is always great for shmups, especially when one player gets to be a tank and one gets to be a helicopter! Third, the power up system is awesome with 3 different special attacks and 5 (at least) different main power ups, that can each be leveled up to level 7, at which point the weapon becomes INSANELY AWESOME! Fourth, the difficulty curve in this game is great. It is easy to introduce to an ok gamer, but not before long does it turn into an intense shmup filled with gunfire. Fifth, the boss battles are crazy! Sixth, it's arcade style feel makes it perfect for use with arcade joypads such as the Super Advantage. Finally my seventh and final point, it's DIRT CHEAP!!! I picked mine up for 4 bucks at a classic video game specialty store. So if you have a Super Nintendo, and don't yet have this game, then by all means get it!

[Emperor Megas]

I agree; it's extremely underrated. I ALWAYS throw out Firepower2000 in discussions about favorite SNES titles, and I often feel that I'm the only person who really loves that game. It's basically a top down version of Tecmo's arcade shooter Silk Worm, another game that I love. Firepower2000's horrible attract mode music is the only real negative I have with the game.

[klausien]

Firepower 2000 is awesome and is a SWIV game. Have you ever played Mega SWIV (Eu Megadrive import)? It's better.

[T]

I AGREE!!!!!!

Firepower 2000 and sunset riders are my favorite co-op games

I put both of these in my top 50 alltime greatest games

[Emperor Megas]

Firepower 2000 is awesome and is a SWIV game. Have you ever played Mega SWIV (Eu Megadrive import)? It's better.

What's SWIV? I don't think I've ever heard that before. And is that SWIV as in Swiv, or SW 4?

[Parodius Duh!]

Not enough shmups on ur SNES? pull those tabs out and then about 50+ will be available to u from japan.

[Gunstar Hero]

Not enough shmups on ur SNES? pull those tabs out and then about 50+ will be available to u from japan.

I appologize I meant there aren't many North American shmup releases... I'm definentely going to check out some of the japenese releases.

[A Black Falcon]

What's SWIV? I don't think I've ever heard that before. And is that SWIV as in Swiv, or SW 4?

SWIV is the series that Firepower 2000 is a part of. It's a European shmup series, and Firepower 2000's original title is "Super SWIV".

So yeah, that's SWIV, or Swiv, not "SW 4". It has no officially defined acronym, though the reasonable supposition is that the [European] creators meant "Silk Worm In Vertical", because much like the Japanese NES shmup Silkworm there are two vehicles for the players to use, one a jeep that drives on the ground, and the other a helicopter that flies in the sky. Silkworm was a horizontal shmup, though, not vertical like SWIV, as that supposed acronym suggests. It's no cooincidence that the same people who made SWIV, SCi, also did the home computer ports of Silkworm.

As for the series, the first one was a European computer game, released on the computers popular there (so not the PC, but all the other stuff from the time). I haven't played it. The second was the SNES game, which got a US release and is indeed outstanding. Then came the Europe-only Genesis one, Mega SWIV. It's basically an altered port of Super SWIV (Firepower 2000), so it's very similar, but the two aren't exactly identical. The last game was SWIV 3D, for PC (DOS and Win9x versions are both on the disc). This last one's a 3d helicopter-only arcade flight combat game. It's okay, but I like the SNES/Genesis game more. It was released in the US.

[Gunstar Hero]

I agree; it's extremely underrated. I ALWAYS throw out Firepower2000 in discussions about favorite SNES titles, and I often feel that I'm the only person who really loves that game. It's basically a top down version of Tecmo's arcade shooter Silk Worm, another game that I love. Firepower2000's horrible attract mode music is the only real negative I have with the game.

Don't worry you're not alone, I treasure Firepower 2000 as well. I agree the attract music is not the best, but from the second I start up the game and add a second player I go right into play, skipping over the terrible title music.

[Gunstar Hero]

Firepower 2000 is awesome and is a SWIV game. Have you ever played Mega SWIV (Eu Megadrive import)? It's better.

No, I haven't got the chance to try the Megadrive version for the reason that I live in the US and thought it may not play on my North American Genesis. If anyone has any information on an adapter to allow PAL Megadrive games to be played on a North American Genesis (if one exists) then please tell me! I would love to try the Megadrive version.

[Emperor Megas]

Not enough shmups on ur SNES? pull those tabs out and then about 50+ will be available to u from japan.

That would be Super Famicom though, not SNES.

But seriously, is there a thread about or a quick list of shooting games for the Super Famicom? I'm a shooter fan, and admittedly ignorant of the Super Famicom's offerings.

SWIV is the series that Firepower 2000 is a part of. It's a European shmup series, and Firepower 2000's original title is "Super SWIV".

So yeah, that's SWIV, or Swiv, not "SW 4". It has no officially defined acronym, though the reasonable supposition is that the [European] creators meant "Silk Worm In Vertical", because much like the Japanese NES shmup Silkworm there are two vehicles for the players to use, one a jeep that drives on the ground, and the other a helicopter that flies in the sky.

Ah, I never knew about this SWIV series. I mentioned in my earlier post that the FirePower 2000 game was like a vertical version of Silk Worm, I suppose it's more than a coincidence then. I've never played the NES port of Silk Worm, but I use to play the arcade game ALL THE TIME back in the day. It's one of the few arcade games that I played frequently but never ended. I always played the helicopter though. It seems like the helicopter was pretty underpowered compared to the jeep. I just liked it's better though. I'm the same with Firepower 2000, still, one of the things that such a blast about it is that you can play the same game two different ways. It's like two games on basically.

[A Black Falcon]

That would be Super Famicom though, not SNES.

But seriously, is there a thread about or a quick list of shooting games for the Super Famicom? I'm a shooter fan, and admittedly ignorant of the Super Famicom's offerings.

Ah, I never knew about this SWIV series. I mentioned in my earlier post that the FirePower 2000 game was like a vertical version of Silk Worm, I suppose it's more than a coincidence then. I've never played the NES port of Silk Worm, but I use to play the arcade game ALL THE TIME back in the day. It's one of the few arcade games that I played frequently but never ended. I always played the helicopter though. It seems like the helicopter was pretty underpowered compared to the jeep. I just liked it's better though. I'm the same with Firepower 2000, still, one of the things that such a blast about it is that you can play the same game two different ways. It's like two games on basically.

Yeah, while they are from different developers, it's definitely not a coincidence that the setup is so similar to Silkworm's.

[kedawa]

SWIV is an unofficial sequel to Silkworm, made by the same people that ported Silkworm to the Amiga.