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Arrow Flash (Genesis, 1990-91)

Mechs could do no right in 1990, apparently.

Yet another awesome (and deceiving) Japanese cover.
This is more like it. Generic action between a robot and a dragon.
arrowflasheu
Cindy Crawford: Now in Space!

PLAYERS: 1

PUBLISHER: Sega (JP, EU), Renovation (US)

DEVELOPER: I.T.L./Sega

GENRE: Shoot-em-up

RELEASE DATE: 10/20/90 – (JP), 01/91 – (US), 05/91 – (EU)

Arrow Flash has many faults, but its greatest might be the poor implementation of an otherwise solid concept. You play Zana Keene, a fighter pilot who has to save humankind from an alien threat. Rather than hop into a traditional ship and off she goes, Zana controls a ship that can transform into a mech at will. This sounds like a Ticket to Adventure, but the mech is a slow-moving waste of space, even when equipped with additional Speed power-ups.

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I used the mech a bit in the first stage, then never again. Sorry little chub, you just weren’t helpful.

Admittedly, a bulky mech would probably be slower than a sleek ship, but its size doesn’t account for the shooting lag. Even with the rapid-fire setting turned on, your mech can’t fire continuous streams. Your ship can, however. The ship can also move quickly when you need it to, and it takes up less space on screen, so there’s less opportunity for a lone projectile to take you out. Not even a contest: the ship wins, every time.

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“Yeah, I did that. No big deal…”

So the distinguishing characteristic of Arrow Flash – a mech/ship hybrid – is a bust. At least the power-ups are cool, right? There are three different types of weapons: an enhanced version of your default laser, an arrow-shaped pattern with a wide range, and a wave-form laser that’s incredibly slow. There’s also the titular special attack, Arrow Flash. When you’re a ship, this attack is a large burst of lasers. As a mech, Arrow Flash thrusts you forward, making you invincible for several seconds.

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A couple well-timed Arrow Flash attacks will take down any boss.

None of these weapons are that great, honestly, but they expand when you collect options known as Fire Claws. With two Fire Claws equipped on either side of your ship/mech, you can have a three-pronged attack that more or less fills the screen. Grab some Missile Upgrades for extra firepower and an Energy Shield which provides an additional three hits, and you’re practically invulnerable.

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The Great Worm Forest bows to no ship.

Indeed, if you’re fully equipped with power-ups, challenge is not an issue in Arrow Flash. When you’re firing like mad with two options by your side, enemies explode as soon as they enter the screen. I played through the entire game on Normal difficulty, and I didn’t die once until I fought the second boss. When I started the third level and got myself powered to the nines again, I didn’t die anymore until the fifth boss – which happened to be a recreation of the second boss. I consider myself pretty decent at shoot-em-ups, but this is ridiculous. Arrow Flash is just way too easy.

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These alien toilets are just weird.

In addition to being easy, Arrow Flash‘s first five stages are banal in execution and design. The sterile backgrounds range from a standard sunset to psychedelic lines to the vastness of space, with little change. Enemies charge in, are easily executed, and the cycle continues until the stage is over. The occasional meteor shower breaks up the monotonous enemy parades, and in the first part of the fourth level, you drop down vertically rather than coast horizontally. Otherwise, this is some flat, flavorless shooting.

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And they’re not even good psychedelic effects.

Arrow Flash‘s last stage is the most challenging and the best. It’s part warship onslaught, with large flying ships filling the screen and bombarding you with attacks, and part cavern infiltration, with you narrowly squeezing through tight corridors while mini dragons attack you from each corner. It’s scary and exciting and not at all like the rest of the game.

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Cue Super Mario Bros. 3 warship music

If the transforming ship/mech concept sounds familiar, that’s because it goes all the way back to the SG-1000 with Orguss. I suppose Orguss was pretty revolutionary for its day, but like Arrow Flash, the mech was much slower and larger than the ship. Throw in a short time limit, and the mech became a liability. The idea was again revived for the early Master System game, TransBot. The latter wisely removed the time limit, but you could only transform into a mech when you acquired a certain power-up. Also, the game only had two stages, which severely limited any replayability.

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It’s not your fault you were paired with a worthless contraption, Zana.

When compared to its ancient forebears, Arrow Flash is a masterful achievement. It’s a full-length game, for one thing. Six stages! No time limit! Mech whenever you want! When compared to its contemporaries – games like Hellfire and Thunder Force IIIArrow Flash is just boring. The Genesis has so many damn shoot-em-ups, and you need a great hook to compete with the best of them. A ship/mech combo could have been it, but the mech isn’t even worth using. Add in easy difficulty and a lack of substance, and Arrow Flash is a surprising contender for worst Genesis shoot-em-up.

D-

15 replies on “Arrow Flash (Genesis, 1990-91)”

I actually had fun with this one. But I’m a bit of a shooter virgin so probably a nice entry level game. I’m gonna have to go play Hellfire and Thunderforce III and see the standard for MegaDrive shooters (thus far).

I was never that good at shoot-em-ups, but I managed to beat this one on a rental. I think that speaks volumes about the difficulty.

The thing about Arrow Flash is, at least it’s solid. There are a number of worse shmups that are even more boring (Super Real Darwin), are downright ugly (Curse), or are functionally terrible (The Earth Defend, Divine Sealing), so Arrow Flash is at least in the upper echelon of lower-tier shmups. I’m not sure that’s a particularly great distinction, but it has decent music, decent graphics, and reasonably fun game play, despite the relatively low level of challenge. For the best transforming spaceship/mech game on the platform, you’ll need to check out Android Assault (aka Bari-Arm) on the Sega CD. Really nice graphics, tight game play with some challenge, a mech that doesn’t completely suck, and a rocking CD soundtrack that I often listen to in the car because it’s pretty good. Not quite on par with Lords of Thunder, mind you, but still some great tunes.

I just felt like Arrow Flash was a misfire on all counts. Poor use of mech, easy stages with very little going on visually. It had potential that was wasted, and that’s why I can’t abide.

That said, I have sooo many shooters left to go. Perhaps I will have to re-score this one in the future??

At least I have Android Assault to look forward to!

I really don’t disagree too much. I’d put it more in the C range because it is playable. And has some things going for it, but I’ve always thought it fairly unremarkable. Your breakdown really does point out the flaws of the game more than I had thought about. Was only a rental for me as well. I mean if you got this for Christmas it wouldn’t be a total catastrophe. Just something you’d play a bit and never go back to.

What are some of your favorite shmups on the Genesis? Looking to start a collection. Was thinking of getting this one but now I may pass after your review.

Out of the shmups I’ve played, I really recommend Thunder Force III and MUSHA. Those are two of my favorites. You can’t really go wrong with any shmup developed by Toaplan or TechnoSoft (except for Thunder Force II… stay away from that one).

Late to the party, but I think you missed the point of the mech because you never used it.
Ship:
Options follow the leader
Missiles shoot forward
Arrow flash fills the screen in a quick blast
All weapon types shoot straight forward

Mech:
Options lock in formation
Missiles home
Arrow flash is focused and longer lasting
With one option, there’s an extra backwards firing weapon
With II, weapon shoots in diagonals in addition to forward.

The slower speed is in exchange for more weapons coverage and accuracy. I did find the forms better suited to different levels. But I was so 8 back then.

I like this game, it’s pretty fun.

Will have to get this one out for another play, I think it is amusing
that TT2 and this game get panned when neither are broken and I
prefer TT2 over most shooters as I find them to be lazy as they do not
have those excellent overhead scenes that TT2 has got.

Funny how we all see things differently – the truth is usually somewhere in the middle 🙂

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