Even with the Super Famicom/Super NES/SNES being my favorite video game console, I have to concede that are a lot of mediocre-to-bad shoot ‘em ups on the platform. The big issue is that several of these games suffer from terrible slowdown (like Super R-Type) or are bad conversations of arcade titles (such as Gradius III). A few, a very select few, like the Parodius games maintain a sense of high speed and energy, but these are very few and far between.

A major exception to this rule was Konami’s Axelay, a shooter that they churned out in the fall of 1992 before a major staff shake-up led to the formation of Treasure. I learned of this game because one of my middle school buddies nabbed it on a whim at a rummage sale. By the end of that night, he had a new favorite SNES game.

So, like most games of the genre, it’s you-versus-a-million. You’re the space fighter Axelay and you’re up against the Armada of Annihilation which intends to conquer the universe. They’ve caused a bunch of destruction and obviously we can’t let that pass. Along the way you fight a giant spider, ED-209 and a Lava Man.

On the main screen, you can map the action buttons to any face or shoulder button you desire and even adjust the trigger speed of Axelay’s shots and brightness of the game!

When you start off a level, you assign weapons to Axelay’s Pod, Side, and Bay. As you progress through the game, you gradually accumulate extra weapons for those parts of the ship. The Pod weapon is Axelay’s primary weapon, Side is the Side gun, and Bay are your missiles. (You cycle through your weapons using the L and R weapons by default.)

The Side gun that you’ll have throughout most of the game is the Round Vulcan. The Round Vulcan swings from the back to the front of the ship when you press the fire button down, and gradually swings from the front to the back when you let go. This is ideal for knocking out swarms of enemies or ships facing diagonally from you. If you tap lightly, you can use it as a tail gun. A large part of this game’s strategy is mastering the Round Vulcan.

For each life, Axelay (the ship) can take a maximum of 4 projectile hits and on collision hit. Getting shot while a Pod/Side/Bay weapon is active, disables it for that life. For instance, if you got shot when your Pod laser was on, you lose it and the ship defaults your primary weapon to a dinky little pea shooter. Take 3 projectile hits and you’re left with a crippled ship that can hardly shoot for beans. But if you crash into a wall or other physical hit, you instantly lose a life. So fly and shoot carefully!

Axelay (the game) is not quite the vertical shooter that Raiden is, and it’s not the horizontal shooter that R-Type or Gradius are… it’s both! With no save and only six stages in total, this is a short game intended to completed in one sitting. Level 1 plays on a vertical perspective, Stage 2 is horizontal. The odd-numbered stages are vertical, the even-numbered ones are. This humble little design strategy makes each level feel diverse.

As do the graphics! Every level has a sense of speed and all kinds of crazy effects going on! With the first level on the cloudy planet, the 4th stage in the underwater cavern, level 5 and it’s lava… Axelay is both a joy to watch and play!

Konami spent the mid to late ‘80s refining the shoot ‘em game (Gradius, Salamander, Thunder Cross, Space Manbow, Xexex, and others!) and Axelay applies that knowledge to the Super Nintendo hardware. As a result, you got a game that is optimized for the hardware rather than feeling a downgraded or compromised version of the game. The graphics and sound are amazing; the sound in particular sounds close to CD-quality. Very impressive for 1992! The only major technical issue I’ve witnessed from this game is some sprite-flicker in Stage 5.

Want a great example of show-don’t-tell storytelling? stage 6, Axelay avenge’s it’s home planet by destroying the armada of ships that wiped out the pilot’s homeworld.

Axelay may not be a revolutionary shooter, but it’s arguably the best shooter for the SNES and might just be the best original Konami game for the hardware. Everyone should check out!

(You can see a review I did with my friends a few years ago below)