Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth
Released on December 15, 1998 in North America by Electro Brain Corp., after development by Hudson Soft Company, Ltd., Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth is a scrolling overhead shooter.for the Nintendo 64.
Any discussion about scrolling overhead shooters for the Nintendo 64 will be relatively short. There's only one scrolling overhead shooter for the Nintendo 64: Star Solider: Vanishing Earth.
In Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth, the Earth is under attack, or...you know what, there are fights in space. There are some short cutscenes showing spaceships fighting that are probably in service of the plot, but really you're just flying around in a spaceship shooting stuff. In this particular genre, the screen moves constantly from bottom to top, and you shoot upward (and sometimes backward) at constant waves of enemy spaceships and cannons.
Look, it's a unicorn!
In Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth, you get your choice of three different spaceships. One fires a concentrated stream of fire and can zip around. One fires a wide stream of fire, but moves like chilled molasses. The third is balanced between both speed and firing spread. You'll quickly find out which ship best suits your play style--the lumbering, wide-spraying ship was not for me. You'll also be able to collect weapon-enhancers throughout the stages, making them more powerful, and often expanding the firing spray coverage, as well.
Don't use this ship.
Your ship is also equipped with two super attacks, one concentrated, and the other filling the entire screen. You start the stages with a few, but you can pick up more as you go along. Die with zero, and you get a freebie. You'll lose some of your weapon's enhancement, though. You also get, standard, a very cool reflector shield that protects you for about a full second, reflecting your enemies' attacks back at them, then taking about a second to recharge. You also build up points for hitting enough enemies in a row with your fire...and points lead to extra lives. Die, and you wink out, then pop back up on the screen. Lose all your lives, and you've got to start the level from the beginning.
You want bullet hell, you got it!
I've played a lot of scrolling overhead shooters, and I enjoyed Star Solider: Vanishing Earth. The controls are smooth, and zipping around in your ship (provided you don't pick the slow, zip-less one) and blowing enemy fleets to smithereens is a blast. Exacting complete annihilation with the super attacks is incredibly fun, and the reflector shield is very well-implemented. The stages go on just long enough, and the bosses at the end of each are imminently blastable. Unfortunately, though, there are only six of them. Of course, on the hardest difficulty, six stages might as well be a million, but I'm not one for torture. The "Beginner" difficulty, despite the ease, is still fun, but you'll beat it in 40 minutes. The "Normal" mode, though, is just right. It tests your mettle, but the game has continues AND passwords, so it's workable in a couple hours. Still...that's not a whole lot of game.
Thankfully, there are some extras to beef up the experience. Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth features three secret levels, with photographic hints on how to reach them found between the non-secret stages. They're fun to find and fun to play.
I'm a simple man. I like secret levels and I like big blue beam super attacks.
There's also a "2 Minute" and "5 Minute" mode, featuring a special stage where you have to survive in the given amount of time. Once you beat the game, you also get access to a level select, as well as "Enemy Ship" mode where you get to look at the enemy ship models and their stats. As for those models...
Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth isn't a visual marvel. It's unique in that the ship models and level elements are all 3D, but the 3D models are extremely simple. There's most definitely a blocky, simple, Nintendo 64 charm to them--fitting in that this is the system's only scrolling overhead shooter--but the Nintendo 64 is capable of processing far more polygons than this. Thankfully, the game runs smoothly, even with a ton of enemies and your and your enemies' fire on screen. All the fast-paced insanity you want from a scrolling overhead shooter is present in Vanishing Earth. All together, though, the graphics most definitely have a budget feel. Ditto for the soundtrack, which is complete wallpaper, a dancey-nothing with nothing that stands out. Explosions and lasers sound fine, though.
There's no sound in space, anyway, right?
So Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth, despite being the only existent member of its species, is not a classic. Still, despite the short play-time and low production value, the Nintendo 64's lone scrolling overhead shooter is a fun time while it lasts.
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