The spaceship Axelay races alternately over a planet's surface and straight down into the depths of dark space. And this very game managed something on a sixteen-bit console that long looked like science fiction: blazing planetary surfaces that undulate beneath you like a gigantic sphere, and immediately afterward classic side-scrolling against swarms of enemies. Axelay is Konami's technological pride and one of the most visual arguments for why the Super Nintendo took graphics seriously.
Konami released Axelay in 1992 and the alternation of two perspectives made it an unmistakable title. The horizontal levels used the so-called Mode 7, so the ground beneath the ship curved into a round shape and created the illusion of a giant planet underfoot. The vertical missions, on the other hand, returned to the traditional vertical shmup, but with splendidly animated parallax layers and enormous bosses who filled half the screen.
Mechanically Axelay is more accessible than the Japanese bullet-hell infernos tend to be. Instead of a single instant death you get a weapon arsenal that you choose before each mission, and a hit means the loss of your current weapon, not an immediate end. That gives room for learning and a comeback even for less hardened players. Taro Kudo's sound rounded out the atmosphere of a sinister machine enemy named Armada.
Culturally, Axelay fits into an era when Konami was among the most technical studios on the market and churned out one visual marvel after another. The game never became as much of a phenomenon as Gradius or Contra, but among connoisseurs it earned a reputation as a hidden gem that proved just what the SNES hardware could do when the right people got their hands on it.
To this day Axelay is a favorite title among collectors and emulator enthusiasts and often appears in rankings of the best shooters of its generation. Its transitions between 2D and pseudo-3D perspectives remain striking even after more than thirty years.
Why play: If you want to see how the SNES bent planets underfoot, Axelay is a technically dazzling shooter that still plays smoothly and looks great.
Game 83 of 154 for Super Nintendo
