Alien Soldier: Weapon Setup & Stages 1-7
5VISUALSHOCK! refers to the amazing detail this game has. It can be borderline Super Nintendo quality.
SPEEDSHOCK! refers to the game's fast-paced gameplay. Blast processing strikes again.
SOUNDSHOCK! refers to the game's sound & music being pushed to the Genesis' limits, such as the thunderous timpani in the opening, and the several voice clips heard throughout the game.
Superhard is the default difficulty for this game, so I'm choosing it over the other only option: Supereasy.
When you begin the game, you can setup what kind of weapons you can start out with. You can even have at most 4x the same weapon if you want. Unlike Gunstar Heroes, Epsilon-Eagle only has limited ammo, but said ammo can recharge if you switch it out for a different weapon.
There are 26 different types of Status Windows, which are all different combinations of 3 gauges at the top, based on whether any of them can be bars, numbers, or completely hidden and unknown.
After that, you can test out the game's controls before truly starting it.
Shoot Mode Change affects Epsilon's clothes. When they're white, he shoots in place, like Gunstar Blue prefers. When they're yellow, he can move while shooting in the direction he started it out with, sorta like what Gunstar Red prefers.
The Counter Force can but used as a short-ranged attack, but it can also convert projectiles into health. If Epsilon Zero Teleports at full health, he'll literally blaze across the screen instead of just dashing. He'll lose a bit of his full health from it, but if you're good enough with the Counter Force, you can get it back quickly and use the burning Zero Teleport again. It's pretty badass and really strong against bosses.
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There are a lot of aliens and monsters to fight through in this game. One thing that stands out in Alien Soldier is the sheer magnitude by which miniboss and bosses are thrown at you in a small amount of time, not to mention how bizzare or just downright freaky they can be.
You must summon quick reflexes in order to survive against these freaks of nature. At least crosshairs show up to tell you their weakness.
Stage 1 to 7 seem to be in the same setting because, until going up to 8, beating one stage leads STRAIGHT to the next one, with no changes in standard music but potential fade outs can remain. It's similar to going between most Acts of Sonic 3 & Knuckles.