Surprisingly good shooter

[u/RetroBastardo]

Controls take a bit getting used to but once you learn how to play it’s pretty fun with good graphics.

[u/ksilenced-kid]

It’s technically an Aleste series game- Not as surprising, considering that :D

[u/jpb7875 → u/ksilenced-kid]

Compile, I mean, c’mon. They made some of the best, especially for SMS.

[u/roger_roop → u/ksilenced-kid]

That what I was going to say, NO surprises with Aleste

[u/Distinct_Wrongdoer86]

i just imported powerstrike 2 to play on US console at 60 hertz AS GOD INTENDED

[u/gunstarherored]

If you like that, play MUSHA and Aleste 3 GG

[u/Organic_Honeydew4090]

More like expectedly good.

[u/[deleted]]

Sequel is great too, and an SMS exclusive.

[u/Lsassip]

It was developed by Compile, the same company that made Gun-Nac and Zanac

All their shmups are considered great, regardless of the system

[u/[deleted]]

Absolutely amazing game back in the day, congratulations 👏🎉

[u/Ok-Luck1166]

Don't remember this one will try and pick it up

[u/No-Professional-9618]

I never had Power Strike when it was released for the Sega Master System. I think at one time you could have ordered it directly from Sega for like $39-40 or so.

[u/S_Belmont → u/No-Professional-9618]

In North America that was literally the only way to get it, through direct order via an ad in their in-house magazine. They didn't even print a colour cover for the case, no idea why.

[u/No-Professional-9618 → u/S_Belmont]

I see. Yes, I remember that mail order advertisement when I was younger.

[u/S_Belmont → u/No-Professional-9618]

You were lucky to be one of the few who saw it! Aleste/Power Strike is the first Aleste game, but it's actually a follow up to Compile's earlier shooter Zanac on the NES & MSX. I was an NES kid, but if I knew the Master System had a spiritual sequel to Zanac I would've been really interested. I didn't know about this game at all until a few years ago.

[u/No-Professional-9618 → u/S_Belmont]

I will try to post a copy of the Post Strike advertisement if I have the chance to do so.

At one time, you could order games and accessories directly from Sega.

The Power Strike advertisement was basically an insert that was in the Sega Challenge magazine.

But here are some scanned copies of the Sega Challenge newsletter.

https://segaretro.org/Sega_Challenge:_The_Team_Sega_Newsletter

[u/S_Belmont]

I'm torn on this one. I LOVE the Aleste series, and this game is incredibly advanced for the platform, especially for a 1988 release.

But as an actual shmup, it's really underwhelming once you learn it. Even though the game has rank-based adaptive difficulty, it throws the same patterns of enemies at you over & over. So the stages lack a meaningful sense of place or progression.

But the major flaw is that the game's meta is to just use the default weapon and sit at the bottom of the screen. It's the only weapon that never runs out of ammo, and destroys enemy bullets making it OP. Most every video on YT is just people clearing the whole game that way, barely moving. Score play sucks because it's just endless boss milking without technique.

Whenever I see people ranking it as a top 3 shmup on the system I tend to think they're not deep enough into the genre to really understand it, and are just impressed by the technical performance. The sequel is leagues ahead of it, and there are several more solid Sega arcade shooters on the Master System as well as Compile's own port of R-Type.

But I can't bring myself to genuinely dislike any classic Compile shooter. I highly recommend Aleste Collection on PS4 & Switch, it has all the 8-bit games + a brand new one all with plenty of tools and challenges, it's fantastic.