Acrobat Mission

Description

Years ago, humanity decided to start over on Mars because the Earth had become too polluted to support life. Now, without prior warning, a mechanical moon has materialised in the skies above Mars, and it is wreaking havoc on the colony settlements below. A hasty plan to destroy the moon and its fleet of spacecraft is put into action as soon as it can be. The mission has been given the code name "Acrobat Mission" because surviving a direct assault is an impossible task.

In Acrobat Mission, the only shot that can be fired in a forward direction comes from your spaceship. When the Wide upgrade is purchased, additional shots are added that are fired off at an angle, and the shot itself can be charged up to release a cone of continuous short-range energy. Purchasing the Hurricane upgrade will cause the bullets to go around you in a defensive circle before firing forward, and charging will cause a full round of bullets to be stored up so that they can be fired all at once in the direction you are charging. If an enemy bullet hits a bomb, the bomb will detonate, protecting your ship from the damage it would have otherwise sustained. You can hold up to two bombs at once. However, if your ship is hit, you will have a few seconds to ram it into whatever it was that shot at you and take them down with you. In contrast to the vast majority of scrolling shooter games, colliding with an enemy ship will not result in instant death; however, it will still put you in danger of being shot at.

The game is broken up into five different levels, beginning with your launch on Mars, continuing on to your approach to the moon, and culminating with your infiltration of the base in order to destroy its core. Every level culminates in a fight against a unique boss, with the exception of stage 4, which features a three-way showdown.