User:Namcokid47/Starblade

Starblade (スターブレード) is a 1991 rail shooter arcade game developed and released by Namco for its System 21 arcade board. Players assume control of a starfighter, the FX-01 GeoSword, in its mission to destroy a superweapon named Red Eye before it destroys Earth and the remains of mankind. Its gameplay revolves around shooting enemy starships while avoiding their projectiles and obstacles in each level.

Directed by Hajime Nakatani and designed by Kazunori Sawano, Starblade is a spiritual successor to Namco's previous 3D shooter, Galaxian3: Project Dragoon (1990). The game began development as a single-player version of Galaxian3, before becoming an original project. Nakatani was inspired by Star Wars: A New Hope and similar science-fiction Hollywood films, and wanted Starblade to mimic the same presentation and atmosphere. Development lasted around a year and a half; Namco's experience with designing 3D video games made development smooth and with little difficulty. The arcade cabinet uses a concave mirror to create the illusion of depth and a larger environment.

Starblade is considered important and influential for its early usage of 3D graphics. The game's 3D visuals, cinematic atmosphere, and arcade cabinet received praise from critics, and was a commercial success. It was ported to several home video game consoles, including the Sega CD and PlayStation; these versions received more mixed reviews for their short length and inferiority to the arcade original. Starblade inspired similar games such as Star Fox and Panzer Dragoon. A sequel was in development in 2001 but was cancelled due to financial constraints.

Gameplay
Starblade is a first-person rail shooter video game. The plot involves an organization named the United Galaxy Space Force deploying a fleet of starfighters to destroy Red Eye, a superweapon set to destroy Earth in several hours. The player controls one of these starships, the FX-01 GeoSword, throughout the game. The GeoSword moves along a pre-set flight path and cannot be directly controlled. Instead, the player utilizes a crosshair to destroy fleets of incoming enemies or obstacles that stand in the way. The GeoSword has a circular energy meter located at the bottom-left of the screen, which depletes if the ship is inflicted by enemy fire or is hit by an obstacle. If the energy meter fully depletes, the game ends. Energy cannot be refilled in any part of the game, requiring the player to quickly eliminate groups of enemies.

Starblade is split into two sections. In the first mission, the player travels to Red Eye and must destroy its central power reactor, codenamed Octopus. The second involves the player destroying Iceberg, an enemy fortress that ejected itself from Red Eye prior to its destruction. At the end of the second mission, the player faces off against a boss ship named the Commander, which stalks them throughout various parts of the game. The bottom-right of the screen indicates the distance left for each mission.