 Earth Defense Force was an arcade game ported to the Super Nintendo back in the early days of the system when they simply added Super to every single title. Despite the generic sounding name, Super Earth Defense Force is pretty good, it's easily one of the hardest shoot-em-ups on the Super Nintendo that's still playable, unlike say Super R-type. That game is ridiculously tough, but the crippling slowdown makes it practically unplayable. Super Earth Defense Force though is a worthwhile title, and in some ways, on the opposite end of the spectrum from a game I looked at a few weeks ago, Phalanx. That was a game that was forgiving to newcomers of the shoot-em-up genre, so it could serve as kind of a gateway to other shoot-em-ups. Super Earth Defense Force is not forgiving, and the only gateway it opens up to is to PAIN. This game is really fast paced, the enemies don't waste any time, and the background just zooms by at a million miles an hour. This is much different especially to games like Axelay and Gradius 3 where enemies come in increments and the scrolling is reasonably paced. In fact, Axelay especially has kind of a leisurely pace to it, and that allows you to really get into a zone as you play it and build some momentum. Super Earth Defense Force does not. You need to be on your game from the get-go, so if you've cranked through Axelay and Phalanx and stuff like that, and you'd like more of a challenge, here you go, good luck. And by the way, you're totally on your own here, no multiplayer, single player only. What makes this game especially hard is the lack of checkpoints. Die and start all the way back at the beginning of the level, brutal. You do get three hits, so at least there's no one hit death nonsense, but you only get three continues. So yeah, this game will still give you a chance, but it's not a great one. I sure as hell will never beat this game. Anyway to start with, you get eight weapons to choose from at the beginning of each level. Sounds like a lot, but you learn pretty quickly that some weapons just aren't useful at all, and are evidently just there for the sake of saying there's eight weapons to choose from. You're likely better off sticking with the classic weapons like homing or laser. Now what sets the gameplay apart and bumps it up past typical, or generic, are the two turrets that surround your ship. You can control them in a variety of ways. You can set them to stick to your ship, spin around you, or after you level up, you can have them set to chase enemies around. That's pretty cool. And yeah, there is a leveling system here, so you're actually rewarded for the stuff you blow up, instead of just being content to dodge everything and get the hell out of the way, just so you can move on. Hey, I wouldn't blame you if you tried that, but I'd rather level up and get more powerful stuff. So yeah, Super Earth Defense Force is a solid title, and it might just be the best Super Nintendo shoot-em-up-for-shoot-em-up veterans along with R-Type 3, in terms of challenge. People by and large know what to expect with R-Type 3, so I wanted to do a video on this game because it's got kind of a generic title and a stereotypical appearance, but this game is better than it seems, it's very, very challenging, but still fair. And it's a great looking game, especially for an early Super Nintendo release, better looking than phalanx for sure. Super Earth Defense Force is also still a reasonably priced cartridge, going for an average of $10 on eBay, so if you're looking for that next shoot-em-up challenge and you want something a little more affordable than R-Type 3, Super Earth Defense Force is what you're looking for.