STTF #21
S.R.D. Mission (Kyugo/Taito, 1986)
http://youtu.be/3BrGxZq5dK0Not the most distinguished shmup in Taito's library; it's reasonably competent, but I don't think it'll wow anyone with its gameplay. Your ship is a bit on the slow side, while your hitbox is pretty large. On the other hand, there isn't usually too much happening on screen - at least in the early levels - to make it much of an issue.
The main reason I wanted to mention it was because of its scoring system. Now, you'll probably notice the little guys in blue jumpsuits, who are hostages that you need to rescue. There are also hostages in orange jumpsuits, who give you power-ups when you pick them up. You'll get a 1000 point bonus at the end of the level for every hostage rescued. So far so good. However, if you happen to accidently kill one of the hostages, a message appears on-screen, saying 'THOU SHALT NOT KILL', and your score
resets to zero.
The first time this happened, I thought 'Blimey, that's a bit hardcore' and decided to test it out, just in case it was a mere points deduction, say 2000 or 5000 points. I cleared the first level, had a score of something like 23,000, then killed a hostage at the start of Stage 2. My score still went back to zero! Brutal stuff.
In the clip, I did it once after 22 seconds, due to being a bit trigger-happy and firing two missiles into the prison. Things get trickier in Stage 2, (e.g. around the 6 minute mark) where hostages and enemies are mixed together more frequently, making it harder to actually try and kill stuff. You often end up just avoiding everything and not taking any risks. The whole risk/reward mechanic is a vital element of shmup scoring, but this is one game where the rewards are fairly minimal and the penalties are enormous. Now, who wants to recommend it for Racketboy STGT 2013?
