Retro Game of the Day! Astro Warrior

Retro Game of the Day! Astro Warrior

Astro Warrior by Sega for the Master System, released in 1986. No diggity.

Astro Warrior, I salute you. For some reason, you rise out of a legion of a hundred thousand other like-minded shoot'em-ups. I guess I can say, at least, that I always liked your title screen, and your simplicity is elegant if unremarkable. Today is Your Day.

A relatively early entry into Sega's 8-bit cadre, Astro Warrior put you behind the controls of a chunky, slow-moving space battleship whose job it was to rid the galaxy of pesky mutant alien scum. Sadly, your cosmic clunker was a little rough in the handling and this made the game quite irksome had you neglected to pick up the prerequisite powerups.

Those who did manage to last long enough to power their craft up to suitable levels found themselves with an enjoyable, if brief little blaster. The game is short, but it's packed with stuff to destroy and a nice consistent pace in which to lose oneself. The game may not look terribly captivating compared to more graphical affairs, but for a nice little diversion it is okay.

The game is only three rounds, at the end of each you must crush a boss fighter - finish all levels and the game loops you to the beginning. constantly reminding you that there's an endless supply of boss creatures for you to destroy, each one rising from the ashes time and time again! Oh, is there no mercy in the universe? A simple little game, but pure in concept and execution. You could do a lot worse than spending some time out of your day to soar over bathroom-tile decorate levels and wasting some alien roadkill.