Game:

Battle Squadron (1989)

Duration: 7:52

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Original Air Date: October 26th, 2009

Well folks, I like a good challenge every once in a while, but I think I've met my match with this one. Featuring one of the hardest games I've played (and I've played some pretty difficult games), I present to thee: Battle Squadron. It's an uncommon and obscure shooter that has many marks of excellence, but with one oversight; The game is tough on the lowest difficulty setting with two player co-op, and beating the game by yourself is almost an act against the great one even with max firepower (on single player).

You might be thinking: Just how difficult can it be? Well, when you consider that there are enemies who pop up randomly that are practically INVISIBLE (they cloak themselves) and try to ram you, one hit deaths, most enemies take at least two hits to kill, no rapidfire feature by default (I couldn't play much longer because I was mashing like crazy), many bullets can be on-screen at once, obstacles block your view and hide enemy fire, the levels were clearly designed for two-players or more (as you'll see in this video), your screen-obliterating bomb can't just destroy all enemies (some enemies or bullets can break through and kill you), levels can seem to go on forever at times... yeah. You get the idea. Even the damn power-up containers shoot at you.

Originally made for the Amiga (as the Genesis/MD seems to get a lot of Amiga titles), this game features cool music and excellent visuals. Despite its difficulty, I strangely find it fun, but that's probably because I don't know when enough is enough. I can say that whoever designed/programmed this game in particular (Martin Federsen) is probably a sadist. Cool game though. This is played on DEFAULT difficulty. Maximum bullets on screen, no continues (it says one, but I don't believe it counts), average bullet speed. Fuuuuuuun stuff. If you're hard-headed like me, give it a try.

About the game: It's more or less your typical shooter of the time with more weapons than the original Raiden and more enemies and bullets than you'll know what to do with. You have the powerful standard spread shot, a fairly weak wide shot, a powerful weapon to shoot in front or behind, and the really powerful green shot. You're on a mission to save Commander Berry D.Mayers and Lori Bergin (Berry looks creepy as hell) from Barrax Lifeforms on the Planet Urania and destroy all monsters.

Game starts at 2:15