268. Max Warrior: Wakusei Kaigenrei (KID, Famicom, 1991)

Max Warrior: Wakusei Kaigenrei ("planet of martial law"; titled Isolated Warrior for its western version) released on the NES the same month as Super Mario Bros. 3. From developer KID, who had an excellent Famicom pedigree, Max Warrior is a scrolling shooter that features an interesting isometric angle and a story about a non-Earth planet taken over by hostile aliens.

You control a human dude named Max Maverick as he journeys across various busted cities and alien hellscapes, shooting any creatures that get in his way.  In addition to shooting, you can also jump to cross over chasm that appear or to dodge enemy fire. The jump in Max Warrior is very floaty, which is actually nice in this case, because it means that the limited platforming in the game is not a huge challenge. You have two shot types (a wide shot and a powerful straight shot that also covers behind you) that you can switch between at any time with select, and each are alternatively useful depending on your situation. If you hit the jump button while in the air, you will use a grenade, which feels cool and is a great control idea.

While Max Warrior allows you to upgrade your weapons to make them way more destructive, it also suffers from the Gradius problem, where you lose all of your powerups upon death. More often than not, dying places you in a more hostile situation with handicapped firepower and really puts the brakes on the fun. There are at least passwords and unlimited continues per level, but the de-powering really takes the life out of the game.

In addition to shot and bomb powerups, enemies also frequently drop health, extra grenades or upgrades for your 2 shot types. By far the most useful drop is a shield that protects you form getting hit 5 times. Max Warrior does at least give you a health bar, but the constant onslaught of enemies means that it is not as much of a merciful gesture as it would be in other titles. Levels are long and bosses have way too much health, and are a slog for how little their attack patterns change.

4/5, a fast frantic shooter that has some cool controls but can also be very tedious