The Hot Shooting Pedigree!
- JP release: 10th July 2003
- EU release: N/A
- NA release: N/A
- Developer: Red Entertainment
- Publisher: Hudson Soft
- NGC Magazine Score: N/A
- Mods Used: None
The second Hudson Selection game, and more of a direct remake of the original game, this time being Star Soldier. This recreates the original level designs and enemies of the classic Star Soldier and adds some new features.
In terms of gameplay, it plays just like the original. It’s a vertical scrolling shooter where you blast your way through countless enemies, encountering a large boss at the end. You can power up your weapons to shoot more projectiles in more directions (getting an additional power up when you’re at max triggers a bomb), collect shield tokens to protect yourself and avoid bullets at all costs. There is one new gameplay addition, a powerful short range blast that can even take out bullets, but needs to recharge.
The stages are recreations of the original stages with 3D graphics, and have been given lots of background detail and layers, which is a nice touch. I wasn’t actually that bad at the game for a few stages, then the stage 3 boss utterly destroyed me, but I’m dreadful at this type of game. It also features 2 minute and 5 minute versions for quick high score runs. It seems to be a really nice version of the classic game.
Fun
Compared to Ikaruga, Star Soldier’s learning curve is much shorter, and since the only variety on the maps are the enemies (more or less), it is much less difficult overall than Ikaruga. This may be a good or bad thing depending on your taste in shooting games, but I would still recommend Ikaruga over Star Soldier.
Desmond Gaban, Nintendo World Report
Remake or remaster?
These remakes would be fun in a collection or as downloadable titles.
Official Ways to get the game
There is no official way to get Star Soldier on GameCube.
Europe
Japan
North America
GameCube Games by Date
2002: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2003: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2004: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2005: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2006: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
