Grind Stormer

"Grind Stormer" is a vertical-scrolling arcade shooter from 1993 that was originally developed and published by Toaplan in Japan and North America. It is considered the spiritual successor to "Slap Fight." Based on the concept of a video game within a video game, you take on the role of a young secret agent tasked by the government with taking control of the NA-00 space fighter to defeat the eponymous virtual reality simulator, rescue the kidnapped players who lost to it, and uncover its true purpose.