U.N. Squadron (1989)

U N Squadron, for SNES

Rating: 7.3/10; Good

UN squad is a 2D horizontal scrolling shooter where you must fly a jet and fight off all manner of ground, sea and air enemies, while avoiding projectiles. The game starts by having you choose 1 of 3 pilots, each with a special trait. Unfortunately, this trait is not spelled out in game mechanics, so it is hard to choose (unless you check a guide). The mission select screen is a tactical map and very interesting. You can tackle levels in your own order to some degree, some levels are mobile and move around the map forcing you to fight them if they reach your base, and there are recurring simple levels for grinding money. It is a cool system.

Another cool system is how you can use money to buy new aircraft. Unfortunately, there is not enough money to buy all the aircraft. I would have preferred a system where you get 1 copy of each plane for free as you progress through levels, but you have to pay for replacements if you die, and where each plane has unique abilities that make it a tactical decision which to use based on the enemies and your playstyle. You also have to pay for special weapons, and this is a good tactical choice based around beating the level vs saving money. You lose whatever you purchased if you die, though you will be refunded for any unused ammo at the end of a level (this refunding goes way too slowly though and can take a couple of minutes or so if you have a full compliment to be refunded).

The game is very difficult because of the sheer amount of enemies and projectiles, and your low health. Some bosses are cool because they have multiple pieces (like gun turrets) that can be destroyed, giving both a good visual and tactical sense of progress. Too bad some bosses do not have that feature. The boss of the second last level is also poorly designed and ridiculously difficult because of inability to damage it without vertical special weapons, and infinitely respawning adds. Given that fight is in a cave, you really should have taken a VTOL or helicopter. Who takes a jet underground? Final level is also like that.

Your basic weapons can only shoot horizontally forward, and there is no way to turn the plane and shoot in other directions. Some boss fights have you automatically turn around the scroll the other way. My question is why is this not something you can do any time at will? There is also no saving of any kind.

Overall a fun game with some interesting features that could be expanded to make a very cool game. I just wish there was more flexibility in how you can move around to make it seem more like you are actually flying an aircraft in 3D space.

Tried a couple of minutes on normal and figured I could handle hard. I did manage to beat the game on hard, but it was literally the most difficult thing I have ever done in my history of gaming. Even with hardcore save state scumming every 5 seconds, I nearly gave up a couple times. The boss of the 2nd last level was ridiculous; flying a jet inside a cave trying to defeat a boss that is above you and shielded on the sides, so only vertical attacks work (and there is no way to make the basic attack go vertically). On top of that, there are infinite adds spawning from both sides, and the basic attack also does not shoot behind. I did manage to work out the pattern, but there is extremely little room for error and almost entirely revolves around proper switching of special weapons between vertical to damage the boss, and something to kill the adds behind you. Edit: After reading a walkthrough, you can switch special weapons while the game is paused. That would have helped a bit.

Final boss was easy compared to that.

I played as Micky and used the starter plane until I could afford the best one.