Air Gallet

Gameplay screenshot.

Air Gallet is a vertical-scrolling shooter game, with its gameplay being similar to titles like Raiden (1990).[1] Its plot involves a terrorist organization which, in addition to destroying major cities worldwide, forces news stations to brainwash the world's population with propaganda stories. The players, who are part of a rebelling organization, are sent out to stop them.

Players traverse through six automatically-scrolling stages, set in locations such as harbors, forests, and Tokyo Tower.[1][2] The objective is to make it to the end by destroying waves of enemies and avoiding projectiles.[2] Each level concludes in a boss fight against an enemy aircraft. Players can upgrade their fighter jet by collecting four matching power capsules. Weapons include a laser, a support drone, homing missiles, machine guns, and a spread shot.[2] Each weapon can be upgraded four times; should the player die, their weapon level reverts to zero.[2] Players can also pick up star-shaped medals that cycle through different point values, and two varieties of smart bombs that either clear the screen of enemies or provide a focused, narrow attack.[1][2]

Air Gallet was developed by Gazelle, a company established by former Toaplan employees after the latter's bankruptcy in 1994.[3][4] It was designed by Junya Inoue, who had worked on titles such as Batsugun (1993), and directed by Tatsuya Uemura.[3][4][5] It features the voice work of Lenne Hardt and Jeff Manning.[5] Inoue wanted Air Gallet to be different from his previous projects, with a more "loud" and boisterous presentation.[3] However, Gazelle's severe financial difficulties and strict deadlines prevented him from being able to design it exactly how he wanted.[3] Inoue himself created most of the game's backdrops, such as the Tokyo-themed area in the second level.[3] Development was hastily rushed to meet deadline, giving the team little time to finetune its difficulty balance and mechanics.[3]

Air Gallet was published by Banpresto, a subsidiary of Bandai that focused primarily on games with licensed anime characters. Banpresto had worked with Gazelle on an arcade adaptation of Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon a year prior, which gave the two companies a solid business relationship.[6] The game was released in February 1996, being titled Aku Gallet in Japan.[7] After launch, the title was showcased to attendees at the 1996 AOU Show.[8] After its release, Inoue and other employees left Gazelle to join Cave.[3][4]

A writer for Consoles Plus wrote that Air Gallet had little to offer in terms of innovation. Outside of its impressive graphics and backdrops, they felt its gameplay was nothing new compared to other shooters, but that the game itself was decent.[8] Inoue has expressed his disappointment in the game's quality, going as far as to say it bordered on being a kusoge.[3]

Retro Gamer's Ryan Lambie was quick to point out similarities between Air Gallet and Raiden, specifically its similar fighter craft designs and power-up system. Lambie complemented the game's detailed backdrops, sprite layering techniques, and humorous voice-overs. While Lambie noted its high difficulty level, he showed appreciation for its forgiveness towards newer players. Overall, Lambie described Air Gallet as being "an intense, excellently-crafted shooter".[1] Nick Zverloff of Hardcore Gaming 101 found the overall look of the game to be lacking compared to Toaplan's offerings, writing that aside from its voice-over clips it "looks like another faceless shooter". He enjoyed the game's level design for their obtuse-looking themes, and felt some of the backdrops possessed some impressive sprite layering techniques. Zverloff concluded that Air Gallet was an impressive game, but lacked the polish that similar shooters from Toaplan and Cave featured.[2]

• Air Gallet at Killer List of Videogames