is a vertically

scrolling shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character m ...

developed by

Tecmo was a Japanese video game company founded in 1967. It had its headquarters in the Kudankita district of Tokyo. Its subsidiary, Tecmo Inc, was located in Torrance, California. Prior to 1986, Tecmo was formerly known as Tehkan. Tecmo is known for ...

and published as an

arcade video game An arcade video game is an arcade game that takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. All arcade video games are coin-oper ...

by Tecmo in 1992. It is the third and final entry in its '' Star Force'' series, and retains many of the same mechanics as its predecessors. Players control the two space fighter ships Blue Nova and Red Nova. There are three different power-ups to choose from called "Pulsators". The power meter itself charges up automatically to increase their fighters' power. The game was released for

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

and

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

in January 2025 as part of the ''

Arcade Archives is a series of emulated arcade games from the late 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s developed and published by Hamster Corporation. A sub-series called focuses on re-releasing Neo Geo titles in their original arcade format, unlike many s ...

'' series.

Reception

''Game Machine'' listed ''Final Star Force'' as being Japan's eighteenth most popular arcade game of December 1992. Jay Carter of ''

Electronic Game An electronic game is a game that uses electronics to create an interactive system with which a player can play. Video games are the most common form today, and for this reason the two terms are often used interchangeably. There are other commo ...

'' magazine compared its gameplay to ''

Xevious is a 1983 vertically scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. It was released in Japan by Namco and in North America by Atari, Inc. Controlling the Solvalou starship, the player attacks Xevious forces befor ...

'', and liked the game's bright and detailed backdrops. The game's mostly negative reputation and poor sales, however, led to

pulling it from sale shortly after its release.

Legacy

''Final Star Force'' was released for the

and

as part of the ''

'' series in January 2025.

Notes

References

External links

* 1992 video games Arcade video games Arcade-only video games Cooperative video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Shoot 'em ups Tecmo games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Hiroshi Miyazaki {{shmup-videogame-stub