Gleylancer

Released in Japan in the same month as Thunder Force IV, when magazines felt fatigued with an overabundance of Mega Drive shmups, Gleylancer became hidden behind the likes of Gaiares, Gynoug, Hellfire, and Zero Wing as competition. Yet, it could attract attention today, since using the Rewind feature to complete 11 stages in less than an hour snags easy Platinum Trophies on both PS4 and PS5. Once precious trinkets have been grabbed it's most fun to practice each stage using save states to improve your skills, and see how far you can legitimately progress. Gleylancer deserves better than to become lost again, as just another Ratalaika Games easy Platinum release.

Whatever the mode, there’s no doubt Gleylancer’s a brilliant 16-bit shmup. The game’s fantastic use of parallax scrolling adds not only speed but excitement to its varied eleven stages; taking you down through icy depths, weaving between small gaps in tight tunnels, slowly looping around a gigantic battleship, or hurtling through an asteroid field. The ways your Movers — the floating gun turrets that follow your ship — can behave are so different from one another they have a direct impact on how you tackle everything from “popcorn” enemies to end of level bosses, and the newfound flexibility of Modern Mode feels like the perfect twist on an already brilliant idea. Gleylancer is as fresh and thrilling as it’s ever been, only now it’s as authentic — or accessible — as you want it to be too.

This idiosyncrasy aside — it’s something you’ll just have to adjust to — Gley Lancer is a fantastic shoot ’em up, and Ratalaika Games have done an exemplary job with this port. Not only is it a fantastic, authentic-feeling way to enjoy a Mega Drive classic, but it’s also a thoroughly accessible means to do so, with its optional modernisations feeling fresh and well-implemented, but remaining optional for those who prefer to enjoy it how they knew it back in the day.

Games such as Gleylancer deserve to be brought back into the limelight. This revised version, for the lack of other alternatives outside of importing the original or taking the illegal route of acquiring a ROM, is an excellent way of legally discovering a true gem that time forgot.

Gleylancer is a fantastic shoot-em-up that holds up to today's standards. It also puts the vast majority of classic shoot-em-up ports to shame. The game has no noticeable input delay, it has loads of options for play, it adds in quality of life features, and it even throws in a modern control scheme for kicks. Sure the scoring system is a bit naff, but everything else here is golden.

Gleylancer is a 2D side-advance shoot 'em up that was originally released in 1992. Launched by Masaya on Mega Drive, it did not cross the Japanese borders, being relegated to the Japanese market, and after passing through the Wii Virtual Console, now It comes to us with a modernized version that gives the game a new dimension and greater packaging. Gleylancer can finally prove her worth in the shoot 'em up genre.

At its budget price ($6.99 at the time of writing), this game is an absolute no-brainer for shmup fans. I would argue that it’s a great option for genre newcomers as well, with its relatively easy opening levels before the difficulty really ramps up. As I continue my exploration of retro shmups, I’m glad this one fell into my hands.

A great retro style shoot 'em up with beautiful visuals and a large selection of weapons and a bunch of replayability. I just wish the game was longer as it felt like it was over in no time!

Gleylancer is one of those few classics that even those who never played should have heard of. Though it is only a port among many that exist nowadays, one advantage of it is that it follows the Ratalaika standard — that is, a fun game at low cost compared to other similar titles and at the same time offers an easy platinum for trophy hunters, beyond being one of the gems from the golden age of the Mega Drive system.

Gley Lancer is one of those obscure shoot 'em ups that has aged impressively well despite its occasional annoying moment. Plus, the fact that it's been modernized in clever ways and you can even play it as a twin-stick shooter is just radical, dude.