Seirei Senshi Spriggan 1991

Is it still worth playing?

A scrolling shooter developed by Compile and published by Naxat Soft for the PC Engine CD-ROM² in 1991. Two pilots, Jega and Rikart, fly a giant mecha called the Spriggan to protect their floating island country from the Buraizubara empire. It was made for Naxat's Summer Carnival event by staff who had worked on the Aleste series, with a fantasy theme to set it apart from MUSHA, and it began as an Aleste game under another title. The stages start colorful and grow darker, through the inside of a tree, an insect hive and a lava filled castle, and the last ones turn to science fiction in space. Enemies drop orbs in four colors tied to fire, water, earth and wind, and you can hold three, so the mix decides your weapon. Sacrificing orbs triggers a bomb. A weapon system you can only half predict still gives each run its own surprises.