 The shoot-em-up genre is like the horror movie genre for video games. Many people dismiss them as scene one, scene-em-all. They all follow the same formula, we know it's coming, blah blah blah. So to get people excited about a game like Makarov Scrambled Valkyrie, that's the first hurdle I have to get over. But luckily for a game this good, all I have to do is just tell you what this game does. There's no analysis, no mysticism, just here's what this game does. You have three fighters to choose from and each have three default weapons that you can power up as you progress. The first guy here has a standard laser, a weapon that bombs the top and the bottom of the screen, and a powerful missile weapon. The middle guy has a standard spread gun, a kind of homing machine gun, and this weird thing I'm not even sure what to call, it's not very good. The girl has what looks like the first weapon in X-Lay, this boomerang thing that has a wide range, and a very strong but really slow laser cannon. A neat little feature here that you probably noticed is that changing your weapon also changes your ship, and that in turn changes your speed, and that last weapon there is a good example of the balance this game has. This weapon is monstrously powerful, but it's risky to use, because you're so freaking slow. The machine gun is much weaker, but you're quick enough to dodge a lot more. You can also power up your weapon up to three times. So yeah, there's lots of replay value in just trying out each weapon for each stage. And uh, you'll really want to do that because this game is pretty hard. That life bar you see at the top is all you get, and if that's empty you start over at the beginning of the level, and life replenishment is tough to come by. Also for each hit you take, your weapon loses its power. So if you've collected three power-ups for that weapon, get hit and you're down to two. What's nice though is that it's only that weapon that downgrades, not all three of them, so you'd be wise to stash away a powered up weapon when you come to a tough section where you know you're going to get hit. Maybe my favorite part of Makarov Scrambled Valkyrie is that you can steal enemy ships and have them fight alongside you. All you have to do is just not fire your weapon for a couple seconds, and your ship will glow for a bit like that. Just get near the enemy ships and they'll turn around and switch sides fighting for your side. They don't just sit there and shoot in a straight line like in Star Fox either. Depending on what enemies you get, they could shoot at an angle or even add to your firepower. Now that is freaking awesome. So yeah, just the basic gameplay here is enough reason to play this game, and it obviously helps that they nail down the usual shoot-'em up aspects here like the balance of speed and pacing, and a variety of weapons to play around with. But there's enough even just on the surface to appeal to anyone. As a bonus, if you're a Makarovs fan, otherwise known as Robotech in the US, kinda sorta anyway, that's another story altogether. This game does a nice enough job representing that particular universe, especially how it nails down the main theme you hear at the beginning of the game. So yeah, if you're on the fence about shoot-'em ups, or if you're just of the opinion that the Super Nintendo or Super Famicom just doesn't have very many good shoot-'em up games, play Makarov Scrambled Valkyrie immediately, it's really well done, and a ton of fun with a lot of replay value to spare.