Aerial Assault
System: SMS
Release Date: July 1990
Developer: Sanritsu
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Shoot ‘em Up
Save the world from terrorism once again in Aerial Assault! The nations of the world are all powerless against the evil N. A. C. military group. With their huge laser emitter, they threaten to destroy the Ozone layer, which would cause untold devastation to the planet and the creatures on it. Enter you, the Freedom Fighter, lone champion of the planet Earth. Your goal, send this terrorist scum packing for good!
To start things off, you can choose from one of three difficulty levels. I went with Normal. This is your typical side scrolling shoot ‘em up. Enemies come on screen mostly from the right, but occasionally from everywhere else. You can hold down button 1 for continuous weapon fire, which is welcome. Button 2 drops bombs, if you have any in stock. You can stack multiple bomb upgrades to fill your bomb hold up. Memorize the weapon powerups so you know what to actively avoid, or prepare to lose your favorite weapon or bomb. Capsules will fly up or down to your altitude, making it dangerous to avoid them.
There are nine different weapon powerups for you to find during your battle, as well as five bomb types. I put the weapon types in either a good pile or a bad pile. Surprisingly enough, there were more good weapons than bad weapons, though they really tried forcing the bad ones on me… I did not like the directional shot, as it takes away your ability to back up and kill baddies coming right for you. I also didn’t like the exploding ball. I did like all of the different spread shots, but the real winners were the Chaser Missile, which fire horizontally below the plane, and the Wide Laser. These were deadly against the bad guys and lasted me through the last couple levels. The bombs are all useful, but the Hyper Ball was completely overpowered, destroying bosses without issue.
Enemies are mostly standard fare, but there were some unique units to deal with. Obstacles, such as missiles and asteroids can mess you up. There can also be enemy generators that you need to take out. The end of each level has a boss that must be destroyed. In order to beat them, you have to destroy all of their weaponry. This means, you have a line of sight on anything that could hurt you. It might take some low sweeps, but you can take out anything important in your way. Level four has the hardest boss. Kill the final boss and save the world. The world loves its new hero!
Graphics: 3.0
This is a really good looking game. There are a lot of colors present. There’s some good parallax scrolling on display. I don’t recall slowdown or flickering.
Sound: 3.0
This is the Master System style soundtrack that I do so enjoy. The only truly annoying sound effect I ran into was the normal laser.
Gameplay: 3.5
There are a lot of different powerups to choose from. Most of them are useful, making each playthrough as unique as you’d like.
Difficulty: 3.0
Levels are mostly fair and after you get caught off guard the first time, you won’t be fooled again. You also receive a number of continues based on difficulty level.
Fun Factor: 3.5
I really enjoyed this one, it was a good time and didn’t overstay its welcome.
Overall Rating: 3.2
Aerial Assault earns a B+. This is another gem on the Master System that I had no knowledge of. Check it out, it’s definitely worth a try!