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Simply put, Battle Garegga
is one of the finest Shooters available on Saturn.
Reminiscent of the Strikers
series, Garegga takes this formula to it’s ultimate
conclusion. Essentially it is a “top down” vert-shmup
with an initial selection of 4 World War II type
fighters and four more available as a bonus featuring
classic Raizing/8ing characters.
The bosses are JP futuristic
style affairs with massive gun turreted Jets and
tentacled balls exuding various forms of 'bullet hell'.
With more sprites on screen than virtually any other
Saturn release the action is frantic with plenty of
bonus multipliers and weapons power-ups to be had, with
no apparent slowdown.
The game is best played in
TATE mode to give as much room to maneuver and avoid the
minute flack, this can be changed via the options menu
to a larger red ball type bullet, which is more visible
and makes the game easier to get into, much better and
harder with the red ball off though, it’s really fun
nipping between masses of bullets and flack to grab a
multiplier or weapons upgrade.
Battle Garegga is pretty
much a 100% perfect port of the arcade version released
on Sega's ST-V hardware, in short, a tour de force of
programming.
The graphics are, on first view, nothing out of the
ordinary for a Saturn shmup, but as you immerse yourself
in the game the attention to detail is all to apparent,
as you master the game you have more time to take in the
view, but only for a millisecond.
The backgrounds are
perfectly rendered space/desert/city/jungle landscapes
and chock-a- block with tanks, silos and buildings to
bomb for bonus bombs and points.
The soundtrack is also top quality and really suits the
atmosphere with a techno/break-beat feel, spot effects
and lasers/missiles/explosions are really clear and well
done, really getting your adrenaline going.
Geregga can be had for as
little as £50 but expect to pay more than £70 as this
game is becoming more popular as a genre defining
title..... Garegga spawned an arcade exclusive sequel
called Battle Bakraid which is also a heady experience,
shame it never made it to Saturn.
To sum up...
If you own either a Jp Saturn or can play imports via a
cart or mod this game should be in your collection.
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