Pulstar
The basic gameplay is simple: you have to navigate your spaceship through the levels, collect power-ups, and keep your spaceship from being destroyed. The game bears very obvious similarities to R-Type in terms of design and gameplay. It is even believed that some former Irem employees left the company to join Aicom, which previously worked as a subcontractor for various arcade game manufacturers such as Jaleco and SNK. Despite the similarities, Pulstar is not without its innovations. There is the option to use the weapon power bar, which consists of two halves. The right side of the bar turns blue when the fire button is pressed. When fully charged, the spaceship fires a devastating energy beam. The left side turns red when the button is held down continuously and fires a volley of smaller, rapid shots. The game’s graphics consist largely of pre-rendered 3D graphics, which give the interactive elements a far more realistic look. Great emphasis was placed on truly immersing the player in the game’s world, with cinematic cutscenes and pre-rendered videos. It relies heavily on strategy and not just on destroying everything in sight. The use of the charged weapon is crucial and requires careful precision. Once a power-up is obtained, a small sphere also appears at the rear of the ship. This can be used to your advantage by deflecting/absorbing incoming enemy fire and taking out small enemies that collide with it.
Story
In 2248, the first recorded sign of extraterrestrial life was detected from Mars. The signal emanated from the planet, from which an object was moving out of the solar system at the speed of light. Scientists on Earth read the signal but did not know what it was and warned the world's defense systems in case aliens detected the signal and followed it to Earth to destroy it. Eight years later, the aliens followed the signal into the solar system and began attacking the human spacecraft that awaited them in orbit around Neptune. The battle between the humans and the aliens spread to the entire solar system; within two years, Neptune was disintegrated, Jupiter was transformed into a star, and more than half of Earth's continents sank due to rising sea levels and the planet's changing axis as a result. Kaoru Yamazaki, the lone fighter pilot of the Dino246, is one of the few survivors of the Pulstar attack force formed to save the solar system from the alien invaders; only through her might humanity have a chance to survive the alien threat.