Gunbird

Your object is to collect four pieces of a magic mirror which will make one of your dreams come true! (You get a piece of the mirror by defeating an end-of-level boss.) But things get interesting as you have competitors who want their wish to come true.

You will run into an enemy (who wants the mirror) which sends bosses against you. Once the mirror is complete, if you play in two-player mode, you both may not want the same wish!

This is resolved in anime sequences between levels. And each character has their own agenda. For example, Tetsu, the old man in the helicopter, is gay (well, everyone, himself included, calls him a "faggot" -- so much for political correctness)! He'll either want to be reunited with his lover who died 40 years ago, or to become young and beautiful again.

Team him up with the second player, such as Ash (man with a jetpack), and you will see some interesting dialogue between scenes. The same is true for other characters.

Go from area to area, destroying minor enemies, minor bosses, and finally, some interesting major bosses. Each character has a different attack and bombing style of their own. Power-ups happen very quickly. Enemy shots are plentiful, and the environment is target-rich.

This game offers a nice selection of characters to choose from. You may play as a 13 year-old witch (with a rabbit sidekick) riding a broom stick, a man with a jetpack, a Russian robot, an elf like female, or an old man riding a pedal helicopter. You may hold down the fire button for a few seconds, after which, a low grade special attack will be released upon etting off of the button. Very nice anime-style artwork -- visually appealing. Nice attract mode!

There is a great deal of variety (tradeoffs) between characters. Marion (the young witch) has normal, but weak, forward shots, with homing stars, with a medium spread. Her bomb looks similar to sixteen boomeranges which move out at eight directions (45 degree angles). Her special attack is a concentrated magic blast that moves forward and causes damage until it runs out of energy or leaves the screen. (It is similar to Ash's special attack, except his will fragment upon hitting the first object.) A great 'defensive' player that you can let sit at the bottom of the screen, fire away, and dodge bullets. But she's not all that good against bosses. Valnus (the Russian robot) has powerful forward shots, and a laser that arcs to the sides of the shots. His bomb is lasers going out all four directions, or 90 degress, but has very poor maneuverability while using it. His special attack is a powerful extension of his hands, able to destroy minor bosses. Tetsu has a very concentrated (low spread) firepower which is excellent against bosses. His special attack is a wimpy missile barage. His bomb is a fire attack which does widespread damage. Finally, Yuan Nang (the Elf) seems to has a balance of concentrated shots, with two outside shots going forward. Her bomb is as good as the fire attack of Tetsu. But his special ability is also pretty weak -- a forward polearm that is nowhere near as powerful as Valnus' hands. Tetsu and Marion make a great two-player combination for their ability to deal with both a single large boss, and a large number of smaller enemies.

On the level (towards the end) where you are presented with three flying mechs (one above, and two below), quickly use two bombs to destroy them all! If you are a character like Valnus (the Russian robot) or Ash (the guy with the jetback), simply bomb the area between them. You'll save yourself a lot of grief!

Perhaps the first arcade game with an openly gay character (Tetsu), and a pedophile (Ash).

Fans of this game were in for an extremely weird suprise when XS Games decided to release this game for PSONE under a completely different name, Mobile Light Force, with completely different artwork that had nothing to do with the game Gunbird itself.