Keio Flying Squadron

Keio Flying Squadron is a horizontal shoot-'em-up that sets itself apart from most of the competition by not taking itself seriously at all. The heroine is a girl named Rami, heir to a line of guardians, who sets out in a rabbit costume on the back of a flying dragon to recover an ancient scroll stolen by a raccoon-dog villain. The whole thing is thoroughly Japanese, cute, and deliberately over the top, including anime cutscenes that tell the story between stages and are one of the main reasons the game ended up on disc in the first place. It emerged during a period when Japanese publishers were experimenting with how much animation could fit into a game, and this title is one of the ones where it actually blended well with the gameplay.

The gameplay itself is classic and highly readable. Rami shoots forward, collects power-ups that boost her attack, and is accompanied by a helper unit that can be positioned above or below the dragon. Enemy formations arrive in carefully designed waves, and the game relies more on a pleasant pace and inventive boss fights than on dense bullet curtains, making it accessible even to players who normally avoid the genre. The difficulty is well balanced and the game isn't very long, which only makes it more tempting to replay. Collected items also change the helper's behavior, so even subsequent playthroughs offer a slightly different style of play.

Graphically it's among the more colorful releases on the Mega-CD. The backgrounds are full of detail and amusing little touches, enemy animations have a cartoonish energy, and transitions between stages are accompanied by disc-based music with a strongly orchestral, at times almost folk-inflected feel. The anime cutscenes are fully voiced and at the time served as proof that CD could also be used to let a game tell its story with a sense of humor. In Europe the game was released in limited numbers and is now a sought-after collector's item. Anyone who gets their hands on it will find an undemanding, charming shooter with more personality than most far more famous titles. That personality is exactly what still keeps its value well above the genre average, even today.