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AXELAY Company: Konami Released: September 1992 Genre: Shooter Graphics: 9.0 Control: 8.5 Sound/Music: 8.0 Storyline: 6.0 Review by: Corbie Dillard ©2008 SUPER-NES.COM

Because of the Super Nintendo's slow processor, everyone assumed that it wouldn't be able to handle any intense shooters. And to be honest, there were some that had so much slowdown that they were virtually unplayable. Then, out of nowhere came the word that Konami had developed this unbelievably intense shooter that had almost no slowdown whatsoever. Even the media was in awe of this game. The game was called Axelay and thankfully it was being brought out in the US. No one knows for sure how Konami-developer Treasure was able to do what few, if any, developers were able to do with a shooter, but what they came up with is one of the greatest shmups ever. Over the years, shooters have begun to have the type of graphical quality normally only reserved for rpgs and side-scrollers. Axelay continues that tradition with some flashy visuals, and oddly enough, very little slowdown. Bosses are huge, and move quite fluidly. There's also normally large amounts of enemies onscreen at once, which makes Axelay even more impressive, considering the Super Nintendo's poky processor. I especially love the backgrounds, as most have a sort of flowing motion to them. On level 2 there's a huge steel grate that flows along with the horizontal movement of the level and behind it you can see yet another level of background moving which looks really impressive. It's little things like this, not to mention the giant lava worms that dive in and out of the molten surace of level 5, that set Axelay apart from the rest of the shooter crowd. So not only did Konami do the near-impossible job of creating a shooter with very little slowdown, but they did it without compromising the visuals and intensity of the game itself. Exremely impressive. I've always leaned towards the more rock-style soundtracks when it comes to shooters, but there's something about Axelay's "elevator-music" style that just seems to fit the game. It reminds me like a cross between elevator music, that you might hear playing in your local K-Mart, mixed with techno-style music. I know it sounds odd, but as I said, it really is pretty good and seems to go hand in hand with the slightly trippy backgrounds of the game's levels. I do have to give a big thumbs up to the voice used in the game. I love the guy's voice, and I never tired of hearing the "Arms installation complete...Good Luck!" speech again and again. The sound effects themselves are fairly standard shooter fare, so don't expect anything groundbreaking but overall the music and sound in the game was not bad at all. It's certainly no Lords of Thunder though. Since this is, after all, a shooter, there's not a lot of depth to the gameplay. You basically pilot your ship through not only vertically-scrolling levels, but also a few horizontal scrolling levels as well. You can cycle through any one of three different types of cannon fire, even on the fly, which comes in really handy as certain types of firepower work better with certain types of enemies. As you take a minor hit, you will lose the current type of firepower you are using and be left with only the two others. As you progress further into the game, you will acquire new types of cannon fire as well as new types of bombs to use. You'll find out just how useful these bombs are when you fight the level 2 boss. You basically must maneauver through each level, and once you reach the end of a level you'll be confronted with a huge boss character that you must destroy. I liked all of the bosses but my favorite would have to be the Lava Troll boss. The only downside to this boss is that he is huge and this is the one point in the game when slowdown becomes a problem. My only real gripe with the gameplay of Axelay is that there's just not enough of it. Personally I would've liked to see more levels and maybe a little more variety to the firepower, but other than that, it's a great game that's loads of fun. I've been a huge shooter fan since my days playing R-Type at the arcade on Saturday mornings. Axelay is one of the best around, and if you're a shooter fan, you must have this game. Intense action, beautiful visuals, and a steady flow of screen-filling bosses to fight, you're gonna find a lot to like with Axelay. It's living proof that an intense shooter can be done, and done right, on the Super Nintendo. Since the game has both vertical and horizontal-scrolling levels, it might turn fans of only one style off a bit. Overall a great shooter em' up for a system that was severely lacking in them.