Gamers Month - U.N. Squadron

UN Squadron



Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Arcade: 1989
SNES: 1991/1992

UN Squadron is a side scrolling shooter that was first released as an arcade title in 1989, but was later ported to the SNES in 91/92. UN Squadron or Area 88 as it’s known in Japan is based upon a manga and anime series of the same name. The manga run of Area 88 lasted from 1979 to 1986, while the first anime OVA of Area 88 went from 1985 to 1986. In 2004, Area 88 was released as an anime series that lasted a length of 12 episodes.

The game in itself does not go into the story of the actual manga series. The story is fairly simple. Your one of the three mercenary pilots of Area 88 and you have to stop an evil organization known as Project 4. You select a level from the area map, and at the end of each level you fight a super-sized boss. Some levels are mandatory, while others are not. You start off with one fighter plane, but with each level you beat you build up cash to buy up to a total of 5 other planes each with their advantages and disadvantages except for the most expensive plane. If you have any money left over you can buy a wide array of special weapons to aid in your destruction of the evil Project 4.

There are various differences between the arcade port and the SNES version, but I will be talking about the SNES version.

One of the best things that I found with this game is that it has a very good balance when it comes to its difficulty. It is a game that practically anybody could probably pick up and play. It could definitely be beaten in one day, but it has always remained one of my favorite SNES games. It is a game that is not necessarily easy, but not necessarily hard either. It has an awesome soundtrack and many people consider this game one of the best side scrolling shooters on the SNES along with Gradius III.

When you start playing the game you have the choice of three pilots:

1.) Shin Kazama: He can level up his main gun faster than any of the other pilots.
2.) Mickey Simon: He can use special weapons in a larger quantity than any of the other pilots
3.) Greg Gates: He can recover faster than any of the other pilots.

For the most part, I have always used Greg Gates due to his ability to recover from damage faster than any other pilot. I have managed to beat the game with all three pilots, and I found Mickey Simon the most difficult pilot to use.

Throughout the game, no matter what pilot I used. I just used the same pattern when it came to buying planes. I would try to defeat as many bosses as possible to buy A10A Thunderbolt because of shooting in two directions at once; then I saved up the money to get the best jet in the game which is the F-200 Efreet. I used that plane until I actually beat the game.

My favorite level throughout the entire game was the second sky level, in which you fought against three mini stealth fighters. I always found that level incredibly fast paced, and I found that boss fight really intense.

In the game their were not necessarily two levels that I hated, it was more along the lines of two bosses that I really hated and I found they were some of the most difficult bosses in the entire game. I found them even harder than the final boss.

The first boss battle I found incredibly challenging was the Battleship Minks, just due to its extraordinary amount of firepower and you can quickly get killed due to its amount of firepower. Thankfully before you reached this boss, there was a shield power-up you could pick up to put up with some of the onslaught. I remember playing this game as a kid and this boss absolutely destroyed me.

The second boss battle which I found the toughest out of all the bosses was the ceiling machine, because if you didn’t have the one of the two most expensive jets in the game, you were not going to have an easy time with this boss. You needed the sailing missile and the gun-pod to attack its weak point. It wasn’t even the boss that was tough, but all the enemies that came from underneath him are what this boss fight annoying.

I think one of the funniest things I ever encountered from this game, is when I first seen this game at the arcade when I was 10 or 11 years old. I actually thought the character Shin was a woman just because of his hair over one of his eyes. I thought he had the Dr. Blight look going on. It wasn’t until I rented the game when I was 12 years old I actually realized that Shin was actually a guy. You’d think the name of the character would have given me a clue.

Any discussion can take place in the other thread. I hope you enjoyed me talking about UN Squadron.

Angel of Light

Jam it back in, in the dark.