Axelay (SNES) - Let's Play 1001 Games - Episode 547
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I'm Gaming Jay: Youtube gamer, let's player, fan of retro games, and determined optimist... Join me in this series while I try out EACH of the video games in the book 1001 VIDEO GAMES YOU MUST PLAY BEFORE YOU DIE, before I die. The game review for each game will focus on the question of whether you MUST play this game before you die. But to be honest, the game review parts are just for fun, and are not meant to be definitive, in depth reviews; this series is more about the YouTube gamer journey itself. From Mario games to the Halo series, from arcade games to Commodore 64, PC games to the NES and Sega Genesis, Playstation to the Xbox, let's play those classic retro games that we grew up with, have fond memories of, or heard of but never got a chance to try! And with that said, the game review for today is...
Axelay
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axelay
Axelay[a] is a 1992 scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Konami for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Set in the fictional solar system Illis where an alien empire known as "Armada of Annihilation" invades its planets including the Earth-like Corliss (Mother), players take control of the titular D117B space fighter craft as a last resort to stop the alien invasion by recovering its lost weaponry. The gameplay mainly consist of both vertical-scrolling and horizonal-scrolling stages in the same vein as Konami's own Life Force, with players choosing three different weapon-types, which increase in number as they progress through the game.
Headed by Super Castlevania IV producer Kazumi Kitaue, Axelay was developed by most of the same team that would later go on to form Treasure, the creators of Gunstar Heroes. Though first launched for the Super NES, the game has since been re-released through download services for Nintendo consoles. The title became popular and regarded by publications as a classic of the shoot 'em up genre, garnering praise for its visuals, music and an advanced selection of weapons available at the time. A sequel, Axelay 2, was planned but never materialized due to low sales of the first game.
Axelay was designed by a group of Konami employees that would later go on to found Treasure, the creators of Gunstar Heroes.[4][5] Kazumi "Mr." Kitaue served as producer with Hideo "Dreamer" Ueda, S. Tamate and Kazuhiko "König" Ishida serving as programmers.[5] Tsunenari "Boncharu" Yada and "Furiten" Nagisa Tsuchiya acted as designers with Toshiharu Furukawa and M. "Kagenin Sasaki" Suzuki gave additional support during development, while artist Kazuhiro "PD." Namba created the pixel art.[5] Former Konami Kukeiha Club composer Taro Kudo scored the soundtrack, however the music for the second stage boss ("Cosmic Dance!") was remixed by Masanori "M.C." Adachi and the ending music was composed by Akira "AKI" Souji, though Souji is not credited as such in the game.[5][6][7] Other also people collaborated in its development.[5] Ueda stated that one of the enemies in the last stage previously appeared in other shoot 'em up games by Konami such as Life Force and Flak Attack, as his then-president at Konami liked the enemy's attack.[8]
Axelay was first released in Japan by Konami on 11 September 1992.[9][10][11] The game was originally intended to be a Japanese exclusive but was given an international release in response to numerous letters from consumers and critics.[12] Later in that month it was released in North America and the following year in Europe.[13][14] The North American cover art was illustrated by Tom Dubois.[15] The soundtrack was released on a single 22-song disc published by King Records on 21 October 1992, while the tracks "Unkai" and "Colony" were included on the Konami All Stars 1993 and the Perfect Selection Konami Shooting Battle II compilation discs respectively.[6][7][16][17] The title was re-released on the Wii's Virtual Console service in Australia and North America in 2007 and later in Japan in 2008.[18][19][citation needed] It has since been re-released for the Wii U's eShop service across all regions in 2015.