''Solar Striker'' is a

vertically scrolling shooter A vertically scrolling video game or vertical scroller is a video game in which the Player (game), player views the field of play principally from a top-down perspective, while the background Scrolling, scrolls from the top of the screen to the b ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

and

Minakuchi Engineering was a Japanese video game developer based in Kōka District, Shiga, Kōka, Shiga Prefecture, Shiga. Founded in May 1984, it had worked on approximately 40 titles for arcade game, arcade, computer and home consoles, a large number of which went un ...

and published by Nintendo for the

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

. It was first published in Japan in January 1990, then released later in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

in February 1990 and in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

in September 1990.

Plot

Gameplay

The player controls the advanced space fighter, code-named ''Solar Striker''. There are six levels of play against enemies known as the forces of Reticulon. These enemies appear from the top of the screen. The player can amass power-ups by shooting special ships. One power-up doubles the player's firepower, three power-ups triples the player's firepower, and five power-ups causes shots to explode on impact with enemies, greatly aiding combat against tough enemies and bosses that take many hits to destroy. There are a variety of enemies as well as sub-bosses in later levels. When the player completes all six levels for the first time and after the credits roll, the player will be able to play Hard Mode by pressing Select instead of Start from the title screen.

Development

''Solar Striker'' was designed by Gunpei Yokoi and Keisuke Terasaki, and developed by Nintendo in co-operation with the external company Minakuchi Engineering. It was first published in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

on January 26, 1990, then released later in

in February, and in

on September 28. As such, it is one of the few scrolling shooters developed by Nintendo.

Reception

''Solar Striker'' has been met with generally favorable reviews. It earned an overall score of 75% at ''

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

''. ''

Mean Machines ''Mean Machines'' was a multi-format video game journalism, video game magazine published between 1990 and 1992 in the United Kingdom. History In the late 1980s ''Computer and Video Games'' (''CVG'') was largely covering the outgoing generatio ...

'' described ''Solar Striker'' as "adequate", but noted there was a lack of material to keep players interested, giving the game a score of 69%.

Allgame RhythmOne , a subsidiary of Nexxen, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went public on the Alternative Investment Market, ...

rated it 2.5/5, describing it as a "decent shooter but nothing great", and citing its difficulty as a deterrent to enjoying it. ''Games Are Fun'' gave it a 7 out of 10. German magazine ''Power Play'' praised the title for its variety in terms of enemies and levels, though noted the underlying simplicity of the game as well, giving it a score of 70%. Author

Jeff Rovin Jeff Rovin is an American magazine editor, freelance writer, columnist, and author, who has appeared on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list. Biography Jeff Rovin has been editor-in-chief of ''Weekly World News'', an assistant editor and w ...

in the book ''How to Win at Game Boy Games'' described the title as "one of the oldest kinds of Nintendo games", comparing it to

SNK is a Japanese video gaming and interactive entertainment company. It was founded in 1978 as by Eikichi Kawasaki and began by developing arcade games. SNK is known for its Neo Geo arcade system on which the company established many franchises ...

's '' Alpha Mission'' but added there were too few instances of innovation or surprises, and the powerups were "unsatisfying".

Legacy

The

background music Background music (British English: piped music) is a mode of musical performance in which the music is not intended to be a primary focus of potential listeners, but its content, character, and volume level are deliberately chosen to affect behav ...

for Level 1 and Level 2 was used in the beginning of the '' Captain N: The Game Master'' episode, "The Trouble With Tetris", in a slightly altered form. A space craft seen in the same part of the episode resembles the Solar Striker on the Japanese box art of the game. The Level 1 background music was also used in later season 2 episodes of ''Captain N: The Game Master''.

Notes

References

External links

Official Japanese website

Official Japanese instructions in PDF format
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a
NinDB
{{Authority control 1990 video games Game Boy games Game Boy-only games Minakuchi Engineering games Nintendo Research & Development 1 games Science fiction video games Shoot 'em ups Single-player video games Vertically scrolling shooters Video games developed in Japan Video games directed by Satoru Okada Video games produced by Gunpei Yokoi Video games set in the 22nd century Nintendo games