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 tentacle 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.