Aero Blasters was one of the first Turbo Grafx-16 games I ever played. After the disappointment of Keith Courage it helped to give me a favorable impression of the system. It also helped that the game was awesome. Coming off of NES shooters that more or less made the system tap out it was nice to play a game that maintained a smooth frame rate at all times. On a system blessed with many excellent titles in the genre Aero Blasters holds its own and has held up well after all these years.
Aero Blasters was originally released in the arcade as Air Buster in 1990. Both the Turbo Grafx-16 and Genesis received home ports that were more or less accurate. There are some differences between the two versions; the Sega game looks better while NEC has the gameplay advantage. But for the most part you can’t go wrong with either game.
There are no shortage of weapons available and the game is fairly generous with its drops. Massive containers contain no less than six upgrades you can collect and sometimes they come in pairs of two. There’s a reverse shot, missiles, homing missiles, satellites, and the all-important boost to your Vulcan cannon. Unfortunately the majority are worthless. Aside from the homing missiles or satellites you are better off powering up the main gun since everything else lacks power. Eventually with enough P icons you can take out most warships in seconds. Surviving long enough to get to that point is another matter entirely. In the absence of a shield you have a chargeable smart bomb. It isn’t strong enough to destroy larger enemies but will clear the screen of all bullets and can be spammed after a two second recharge.
What I appreciate the most about Aero Blasters is its level variety. No two levels feel the same and that can be said of the entire journey. From the ruined city of stage 1 you emerge into a dark cavern that features two high speed sections along tight corridors. From there you take to the skies and eventually space as fighter jets emerge from cloud cover to take pot shots. Once in space zero g affects the controls, causing you to slide when moving. The final stages combine this slippery movement with a faster pace among narrow passages designed to wear you down before reaching the final boss.
The first half of Aero Blasters is moderate in difficulty. The game is not shy with its power-ups at this point so even if you die you can get back up to speed quickly. The bosses are simple bullet sponges and regular enemies aren’t too plentiful. Aside from the high speed sections of Act II you might even think the game is easy.
The second half of the game borders on the impossible without cheating. The sheer number of bullets is on the ridiculous side and there is no shield. The smart bomb takes too long to charge to keep up with the chaos which further leaves you vulnerable. It’s almost as though the game were designed for two-player coop but even then it doesn’t help much. I should know, I tried back in the day. This isn’t weekend rental material.
The difficulty goes beyond just raw numbers. Once you enter space in stage 4 the controls become slippery to simulate zero gravity. It’s a cool idea but in practice is frustrating. The final levels feature tight navigation through thin corridors and I doubt anyone will manage them without losing a few lives. You only have five continues and three lives each with no extras. You’ll burn through all of it before ever reaching the insane final boss. Normally I welcome a challenge but in this case it detracts from the game, much like Battletoads.
It’s a damn shame Aero Blasters is so hard since you won’t have time to appreciate the production values. The game looks fantastic, bright, vivid, and sporting a level of detail not common on the platform. There are multiple layers of scrolling present as well as foreground objects and it never slows down. Ever. While it doesn’t look as nice as the Genesis version this edition does have better music and smoother controls, making it the better option overall.
In Closing
Aero Blasters is an excellent port of the arcade game and a great game overall. The difficulty will turn away some but those that stick with it will be rewarded with a varied adventure that avoids many of the shooter tropes. It isn’t the first shmup I would recommend but that’s because it is up against some heavy competition.
