Down Load (TurboGrafx-16)

The title screen's not giving much away, but it's called Down Load (or maybe Download) so I'm expecting cyberpunk action.

People are going to look back on this game in the next century and laugh at how wrong they got everything.

This is another game mostly in Japanese, so I have no idea what's going on. But it all looks very dramatic.

This is Syd I guess.

He's called Syd 2091?

Is this the guy who is spying on Syd, or is he warning Syd through the internet?

I'm guessing Ohala is the name of the guy talking to Syd. If there were exclamation marks after his name I'd be sure of it.

Whoa, surprise bubblegum attack. That looks nasty.

Ah yeah, Ohala is definitely the other guy's name.

Another mysterious caller. The plot thickens... probably.

Finally something I can read. This seems like it's leading into an interesting adventure game or rpg, but I don't know enough Japanese to stand a chance of understanding it.

Oh, it's a just a horizontal shoot 'em up.

It's not actually that bad. The hover bike controls well, enemies explode nicely.

Okay it's getting a little busier now, and I've taken a few hits to my shield.

It's not my fault, I was... uh... distracted by that tiny dog helicopter thing flying in the background.

Oh, it was a giant helicopter insect mech thing! Well that makes more sense then.

Well my main gun power has been knocked down to level 1, and my shields are at 'PANIC!' Fortunately I was saving 94 missiles for just such an occasion.

Ha, you're not so tough without your tail! I hope. Because otherwise I'm screwed.

MISSION COMPLETE! And the boss is toast.

Oh... INCOMPLETE.

As beginnings go, I admit I have had better.

It's nice that all the important information is in English. I went with beam valcan for my main weapon last time, but maybe I'll have more luck with the laser cannon. It seems to have less spread so I assume it has more powerful shots.

Yeah I think it's fair to say laser cannon gets the job done.

MISSION ACTUALLY COMPLETE THIS TIME.

Damn, now they're firing homing missiles at me? It's a shame I haven't got some kind of three way spread weapon right now.

Damn, they broke my laser cannon!

Damn, I'm even worse at shooting down missiles with my level 1 piece of crap laser cannon.

Well... shit.

Well you did fuck up. And by 'you', I mean me.

This actually seems pretty decent for what it is. I don't really feel the need to continue playing it, so it doesn't get the gold star, but what I played worked fine.