PCE: Spriggan  .

STORY OF THE SEIREI SENSHI

In dramatic space opera style, the known universe has been conquered by an evil warlord who commands an armada of mechanized warships and an army of technomages. As avenger of the oppressed, you control the mighty Spriggan suit — with toothy grin and horned head, it looks like a bulkier Evangelion. Some of Compile’s other shooters are pocked by “dead spots” — stretches of scenery without any activity — but Seirei Senshi Spriggan delivers a continuous stream of enemies to impede your angelic mech.

After diving through a waterfall populated by mechanical piranhas and delving into a smoky underground tunnel infested by exploding fungi, your Spriggan is blocked by an enormous worm. Its goal is to swallow your mobile suit whole. No surprise there. After dozens of shots to its head, the worm will perish, but don’t rest or take a breath . . . because FOUR MORE are about to burrow through the limestone walls!

To counter the deluge, Spriggan offers an arsenal of over twenty weapons, each acquired through an inventive “mix and match” system that not only surpassed Gunstar Heroes‘ similar concept, but predated it by two years. Even though some weapons are overpowered, the game was still challenging enough to keep me focused.

Spriggan’s creativity extends beyond the weapon system. Land-locked civilians run from monsters, villains gloat via enormous video monitors, and allies actually fight by your side. As your Spriggan descends into the first level’s cloudy city — a gorgeous cityscape, I might add — a computer-controlled friend will come to your aid. He’ll soon die a horrendous death. Throughout your quest, other allies will drop in from time to time to offer assistance. They, too, will die horrendous deaths.

These allies aren’t very bright; they’re terrible at dodging enemy fire, and they take too many chances. That’s fine. I don’t expect my allies to be intelligent. This is my quest, my battle, my time to shine. I don’t want computer-controlled partners to steal my glory. So, when they’re shot down by incoming fire, I don’t mourn. I smile. I smile because, unlike other games in the genre that would simply set me out alone, on my own, Compile has given me companions whose very presence makes the adventure feel like a battle, and whose deaths make the battle feel like an unforgiving slaughter.

Eventually, the friends stop coming. From that moment on, you fight alone; upon reaching the dark lord’s lair, the reason for your solitude is evident. Broken bodies of past Spriggan heroes, dozens of broken bodies, lie scattered and sprawled across the palace floor. All who have come before have perished. With dramatic strength, the grim realization sets in: you are the world’s last hope. You know this not because of a paragraph of text in an instruction manual, but because the game shows that you are the world’s last hope.

That’s the story mode. The score attack is something else altogether.

As each entrant into 1991′s Summer Carnival shooting competition discovered, Spriggan’s score attack doesn’t spare even a second for idle admiration. That’s because the game only lasts two minutes. Two minutes to take on a legion of futuristic necromancers, segmented dragons, and soaring skulls, all while searching for hidden “sweet spots” that add thousands of points when uncovered. A lot happens in those two minutes, because Spriggan is fast. Faster than Toaplan’s venerable legends, and faster than modern manic shooters. The screen may not be lathered in bullets, but those projectiles friggin’ fly.

Due to its difficulty and depth of play, this two-minute barrage of power went down in shooter history as one of the greatest scoring trials ever created, and several of its (then-unique) concepts are mirrored in more modern titles. Some enemies launch missiles that can be destroyed for additional points; therefore, it’s advantageous to intentionally let those opponents live. Unearthing consecutive “sweet spots” invokes a point multiplier; while one is worth 1000 points, the next will be worth 2000. There’s even a boss to be defeated. With a ridiculously fast pace and constant opposition, it’s a worthy challenge — scores can range from a mere ten thousand to a manly 850 thousand.

It’s a shame the developers didn’t extend this fast-paced style across the seven-stage story mode, but I can’t accuse them of laziness, as Spriggan showcases Compile at their finest. They took a two-minute burst of scoring bliss and added an epic intergalactic war. Whether I want to enjoy one of Compile’s most memorable shooters, or whether I want to challenge my Turbo-loving cousin Ivanazac to a Sunday High-Score Showdown, Spriggan is always ready and willing.