Soldier Blade

There are shooters that grab you within the first ten seconds and do not let go until you finish — and Soldier Blade is exactly such a case. This vertical shmup from Hudson, on which the genre masters from Compile collaborated, represents the culmination of the famous Soldier series on the PC Engine and to this day counts as one of the most playable titles of its kind on the console.

At the heart of the game is a weapons and power-up system so intuitive you will learn it in a moment, yet so deep you will keep polishing it for hours. You collect three types of main fire, each of which gradually upgrades, and on top of that you have stashed „bombs“ at your disposal in the form of a temporary mighty attack that pulls you out of the worst situations. The pace is fast and clean, the game runs smoothly even in the moments when the screen is flooded with dozens of enemies and shots.

What sets Soldier Blade apart from the competition is its perfect balance. The game does not punish the player excessively, but neither does it rest on its laurels — the difficulty curve rises exactly as it should, and each level brings new visual motifs and enemy formations. The bosses are inventive and the fights against them have the right momentum.

An entirely separate chapter is the so-called caravan modes — time-limited challenges for the highest score, typically two or five minutes. This tradition carried enormous cultural weight in Japan: Hudson held competitions where players fought for the best possible result in a limited time, and Soldier Blade is designed directly for these contests. For lovers of the score chase it is a little treasure that offers endless replayability.

Within the Soldier line it is the title fans remember with the greatest love — it combines the technical maturity of the platform's later years with that unmistakable Compile touch for playability. If you ever wanted to understand why the PC Engine was a paradise for shooter fans, here you have the answer in concentrated form.

Why play: A superbly tuned shooter with an addictive weapons system and caravan modes for the score chase — a mandatory stop for every fan of the genre.