 In case you missed it, I just finished a big ass shoot-em-up video last week that briefly goes over every shoot-em-up available on the Super Nintendo and the Super Famicom, but one game in particular I wanted to go into a bit more detail is UN Squadron, one of the three or four best shoot-em-ups on the system. For starters, this game is another case of the head honchos in the US not having any confidence in Area 88, its original title, to sell very well. So they changed it to UN Squadron, because, you know, nothing screams sales, merchandising and fanboys like the United Nations. So yeah, it didn't sell much in the US either. As a kid, this title and artwork totally did not appeal to me, I thought the game was a flight simulator or something and totally ignored it, which is a total mistake because this game rocks. There's quite a few things that make this game stand out. First there are three pilots to choose from, and all have their strengths and weaknesses. Greg here, for example, can withstand the most damage, Shin is able to power up his weapon quicker, and Mickey can carry the most power-ups at once. You can also upgrade your own plane and buy whichever power-ups you'd like by using money you've made from destroying enemy ships. You can do this before every mission, so you can adjust what you need according to what's in the forthcoming level. It's this kind of variety that makes the game hold up so well today. As for the gameplay itself, it's well done. There's hardly any of the infamous Super Nintendo slowdown at all, and each level does a nice job of spacing and with the balance of speed between your ship, the enemies, and projectiles. Things are chaotic enough, but it's not overdone, so to make a novice feel overwhelmed immediately, and the later levels are definitely challenging to a shoot-em-up expert. The difficulty is very fair. None of this one-hit death and start with nothing crap, like in Gradius or R-type, and you went squadron, if you're hit, you're given a chance to recover. But if you get hit a few times in succession, you're toast, but you don't lose the power-ups you paid for. The visuals in this game are about what you'd expect for the era. The omnipresent face at the top of the screen might seem kind of hokey, but I like it. I think a lot of people perceive shoot-em-ups as kind of soulless, so it's a nice touch to put a face to the action. As a matter of fact, I dig all of the anime-style artwork here. As for flaws for the game, the music isn't the greatest, but it's serviceable. Also, you're playing only auto-fires for a few seconds, so you can't just hold the button down. That's kind of annoying. Also, there's no passwords to speak of either, so you can't just skip around between levels. Those are all very minor things, though, in my opinion. But you know what one of the best things about UN Squadron is? It's cheap. It can be easily found for less than $10 in the wild. UN Squadron serves as quality proof, along with Space Megaforce and X-Lade, that there are some great shoot-em-ups on the Super Nintendo.