Blazing Lazers

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This article is about a video game. For the 1989 film, see Gunhed (film).

Blazing Lazers

Developer(s)	Hudson Soft, Compile
Publisher(s)	NEC
Release date(s)	US 1989 JP July 7, 1989
Genre(s)	Shoot' em up
Mode(s)	Single player
Platform(s)	TurboGrafx-16
Input	8-way joystick, 2 buttons

Blazing Lazers (Gunhed in Japan) is a space shooter video game created in 1989 by Hudson Soft and developed by Compile. In its Japanese version, it is based on the film of the same name.

1 Story
2 Gameplay
3 Reaction
4 Trivia
5 Screenshots
6 External links

[edit] Story

Blazing Lazers is about a ship set out to destroy the enemy space-fleets armada.

[edit] Gameplay

The game features 9 levels of non-stop space shooting action. There are 4 main weapon types such as bullets, waves, rings and lasers. Each type can be upgraded to 5 different levels for maximized visual effects and damage. On top of the main weapons there are additional powerups such as twin options, shields, modules and side missiles.

[edit] Reaction

What distinguishes this game from other shooters is the frequency of the powerups. On average a player can pick up a new weapon upgrade every 5 to 10 seconds. The missions are challenging, but the ship has more than enough firepower at all times to keep the battles balanced. The concept of frequent upgrading was extremely rare among home console games at the time. This type of action was generally more reserved for arcade titles. Despite being released in the late 80s, the intense gameplay allowed it to compete well into the next decade. The music was also quite modern and industrial compared to shooters of the same time frame. Many fans praised the music as being well ahead of its time. Perhaps the only flaw is that the title was not ported over to more popular consoles when the genre was at its peak.

In 1989, several magazines gave Blazing Lazers very high ratings. It was generally considered by critics to be the best shooter released on any console system that year.