75. Syvalion (Taito, Arcade (PS2), 1988)

Syvalion is almost a super generic space shooter. You fly around shooting a bunch of boring futuristic robotic vehicles over 5 stages. But Syvalion is not a super generic space shooter because you are controlling a giant golden metal dragon-snake that can fly in any direction and breathe fire.

Your dragon moves across the screen very quickly, so a lot of the game is you bumbling around through the space mazes that make up each level, though thankfully the correct direction is always indicated on screen. There are a lot of obstacles, but most of them are avoidable by racing through an area as quickly as possible, which makes the game feel like it was designed to be speedrun.

The bosses are a real highlight, in that they feel easy to learn but hard to master. Generally they have relatively simple patterns and you can neutralize their shots with your fire, so if you are good enough at predicting and positioning, as well as rationing your fire (which recharges when not used), most bosses can be beaten without taking damage. It's some really interesting action game design, even if the game is pretty hard and often really cramped-feeling.

4/5, I love controlling the giant golden dragon snake