In my early years as a gamer I was not into SHMUPs at all, its not that I did not like them, its just they did not interest me. The only ones I can remember playing was Xenon II on Game Boy (more on that later), Apadyia on my Nan's Amiga (awesome little SHMUP btw) & Parodius on the SNES and that was god damn awesome (I heart Parodius). It wasn't really until this gen that I started getting into them when I decided to get myself a Hori stick for my Wii. I don't know why I got myself a Hori stick for my Wii, at the time I didn't have any fighters unlike now where I've got heaps thanks to the Virtual Console and Tatsunoko vs Capcom, Anyway so I have this thing and I think well I had better use it and for some reason it just seems right in my mind to be playing SHMUPs with a stick so I got a few off the VC and from there my interest was piqued. I stumbled across SHMUPS.com while I was looking for new SHMUPs to check out. Had a look in their review section and found a little game called Aerostar for the Game Boy. I was in an ebaying Game Boy games mode so I tracked it down and picked it up.




Aerostar is an interesting little SHMUP, quiet unlike any I’ve played before. As in many SHMUPs you play a little ship taking on the whole might of whomever you are fighting against, nothing ground breaking there. What it does that’s different is in the way you move around the screen. See with most aircraft in SHMUPs you have full movement of the screen, not in Aerostarr. No in Aerostarr it seems when they built your little star fighter they forgot to make it actually you know fly. It seems you can only move along the road, maybe your trying to build up speed to take off but just can’t get enough, I dunno. You can “Jump” your little ship up so you can land on other parts of the road, its also good for dodging oncoming ships but other then that your limited to the road.



I guess being stuck on a certain path in a SHMUP is not a big deal, I mean Dino Riki did it on the NES, the main difference is that it made sense in that game, you’re a little caveman dude hurling bones at oncoming enemies. But in Aerostar, you’re a Starship it makes no sense at all for you to be stuck on the road. Still as stupid as that game mechanic is, it does make for a rather fun little game that sets it out from the pack. It means you have less room to move in and can get yourself in trouble rather easily if you dodge in the wrong direction. Also in some of the later levels jump from platform to platform becomes tricky as the road becomes smaller and you have stuff flying at your from all sides. Other then that little twist most of the game plays out as you would expect a SHMUP to play, one little ship vs hordes of oncoming foes, a range of power up of which the spread is the most useful (when is it not) screen filling end of level bosses, bullets flying everywhere what more could you want in a SHMUP.



Overall, this isn't a bad little game. It controls well, the graphics are what you would expect of a 1991 Game Boy game, there is a little slow down when too much is going on, but I wouldn't have a SHMUP any other way, the music is awesome (I'm really starting to love these Game Boy tunes as of late) I wish I had of played this when I was younger, its a good little game, nothing overly special about it, but its not like it does anything wrong and I certainly got a kick out of playing it now. Since I got this I've gotten a lot more into SHMUPs with stuff like Ikaruga, more Parodius games (Gokujyou Parodius is like my fav SHMUP of all time right now), Space Invaders Extreme and so on. I wouldn't say I'm a SHMUP nut but its a genre I've come to enjoy and if you enjoy good SHMUPs, I say check this little gem out, you won't be disappointed. Next week its time to have a look at one of the worlds largest gaming franchises making its Game Boy debut, see you then.