M.U.S.H.A.

n/a

NTSC-U NTSC-J
M.U.S.H.A.
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Virtual Console, Nintendo Switch Online
Publisher: Toaplan (Japan), Seismic Software (US)
Developer: Compile M2
Peripherals supported: XE-1 AP
Genre: Shooting
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1990-12-21 ¥6,8006,800 T-35013 US 1991-02 35046 JP ▼ 2008-04-01 600pts600 US ▼ 2009-01-19 800pts800 EU ▼ 2009-07-17 900pts900 AU ▼ 2009-07 900pts900 JP ▼ 2021-10-26 US ▼ 2021-10-25 EU ▼ 2021-10-26 UK ▼ 2021-10-26 AU ▼ 2021-10-26

Musha Aleste: Fullmetal Fighter Ellinor (武者アレスタ), known in the US as M.U.S.H.A.: Metallic Uniframe Super Hybrid Armor, is a 1990 shoot-'em-up developed by Compile for the Sega Mega Drive. It was published in Japan by Toaplan and in the US by Seismic. There was no European release.

The game shares its basic mechanics with previous Aleste games but drastically reinvents the setting with the player piloting a large flying mecha in futuristic environments evoking feudal Japan. The word "musha" (武者) means "warrior" or "samurai" and signifies this aesthetic.

Story

Ellinor

Dire 51, a supercomputer crafted to control a space colony, goes rogue and sends its attack robots to destroy mankind. A team of fighters in giant mecha try to stop it, but all but one, Ellinor (Terri in the US version), are killed, leaving Ellinor to save humanity from destruction on her own.

Gameplay

The game is a vertically scrolling shooter. The player pilots the advanced flying mecha M.U.S.H.A., which is moved in any direction with the D-Pad. Its movement speed can be changed by pausing the game with  START  and pressing the D-Pad. The M.U.S.H.A. has a main gun that is fired with . It is initially a single stream of bullets but can be upgraded up to four streams by collecting Power Chips. The M.U.S.H.A. also has a secondary special weapon that is fired with . Picking up an item for the currently equipped special weapon upgrades the weapon, up to four levels. Picking up an item for a different special weapon changes to that weapon but keeps the same weapon level. Both weapons have rapid-fire and unlimited ammunition, and they can be fired simultaneously.

For every three Power Chips collected, the player obtains an option, a drone that provides additional support fire. Only two options can be equipped at any one moment; extras are stored and dispatched automatically when an option is destroyed. These options can be set to one of six attack formations with .

If the M.U.S.H.A. is hit while possessing a special weapon, the player loses the special weapon and the weapon level is downgraded by one level. Getting hit without a special weapon destroys the M.U.S.H.A. and costs the player a life. The M.U.S.H.A. respawns after a moment, but its weapon strength is reset to baseline. The game ends if the player runs out of lives, but the player has infinite continues. The player gains an extra life at 100,000, 1,000,000, 5,000,000, and 10,000,000 points and then every 10,000,000 points after that.

Formations

	Forward
	The options shoot forwards, parallel to the M.U.S.H.A.'s main gun.
	3-Way
	The options shoot at 45-degree angles forwards.
	Back
	The options shoot at 45-degree angles backwards.
	Reverse
	The options shoot in the opposite of the last direction that the M.U.S.H.A. was moved in.
	Roll
	The options revolve around the M.U.S.H.A. and shoot outwards.
	Free
	The options freely chase enemies.

Weapons

	Blazing Beam
	Fires a strong laser beam forward that pierces through targets. Splits into two beams and becomes wider when upgraded.
	Vanishing Buster
	Shoots bombs forward that explode for area damage. The bombs fan out in multiple directions when upgraded. When fully upgraded, the bombs explode into black holes.
	Defensive Detonator
	Surrounds the M.U.S.H.A. in a barrier that protects against enemy fire and damages enemies that it touches. When fully upgraded, it can also fire energy bolts.

Items

The M.U.S.H.A. is temporarily invincible after collecting an item.

	Power Chip Carrier
	Attack to release Power Chips.
	Power Chip
	Upgrades the attack speed and power of the standard weapon, which can grow up to four parallel beams. Every three Power Chips collected gains an option. The Power Chip is marked with the kanji 力, meaning "power."
	Blazing Beam
	Equips the M.U.S.H.A. with the Blazing Beam special weapon or upgrades it if already equipped.
	Vanishing Buster
	Equips the M.U.S.H.A. with the Vanishing Buster special weapon or upgrades it if already equipped.
	Defensive Detonator
	Equips the M.U.S.H.A. with the Defensive Detonator special weapon or upgrades it if already equipped.

Rounds

	Round 1
	Round 2
	Round 3
	Round 4
	Round 5
	Round 6
	Round 7

History

Legacy

It is the first game in Compile's Aleste series of shoot-'em-ups to be released on the Mega Drive, followed almost two years later by Robo Aleste on its CD add-on, the Sega Mega-CD, and it is the first released-overseas game in the series to not use the Power Strike name.

It has since been released on at least the Japanese Virtual Console; according to Sega of Japan the game is licensed from naxat soft, who are thus presumed to have bought the rights from either Compile or D4Entertainment after Compile's bankruptcy.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English	M.U.S.H.A.	M.U.S.H.A.
Japanese	武者アレスタ	Musha Aleste

Production credits

• Game Design: Compile
• Supervisor: Jemini Hirono
• Programmer
  • 68000 Side: Yu-Ichi Toyama
  • Z80 Side: Kyo-Ra Yumi
• Art Director: Kazuyuki Nakashima
• Visual Cooperator: Janus Teramoto, Hiroshi Satou, Sho-Ji Yamada, Mashira FX-3
• Music Composer: Mr. Sakoda (NOTE: Credited as Washija in the US version)
• Sound Effect: Mats
• Special Thanks: Kouji Mizuta
• Test Player: Bobmitsu, Mikeo, Zenchi, Yasunari Watanabe, 平 (NOTE: Kanji overwritten with an apostrophe in the US version)
• Produced by: Moo Niitani
• Presented by: Compile 1990

Source:

In-game credits

Digital manuals

• Musha MD JP digital manual.pdf

  Mega Drive Mini JP manual

Magazine articles

Main article: M.U.S.H.A./Magazine articles.

Promotional material

US print advert

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 50 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 60 Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 80 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 78 Complete Guide to Consoles (UK) 71 The Complete Guide to Sega (UK) 71 Console Mania (IT) 90 Console XS (UK) NTSC-J 80 Computer & Video Games (UK) 70 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU) 60 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 68 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 92 Games-X (UK) 92 Génération 4 (FR) 84 Joystick (FR) NTSC-J 90 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC-J 52 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 84 Mega Play (US) NTSC-U 85 MegaTech (UK) 71 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 71 Power Play (DE) 84 Raze (UK) NTSC-J 80 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-J 50 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J 83 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J 80 Sega Force (UK) NTSC-U 70 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 84 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 65 VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) 70 Video Games (DE) 85

	75
Based on 30 reviews

M.U.S.H.A.

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Genesis, US
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 58a7f7b4 MD5 d5ced66ba18ec2b8eb69b8b1a6baf0d0 SHA-1 821eea5d357f26710a4e2430a2f349a80df5f2f6	512kB	1990-09	Cartridge (US)
✔	CRC32 8fde18ab MD5 8e147874de78d95634a807f917b270c5 SHA-1 71d363186b9ee023fd2ae1fb9f518c59bf7b8bee	512kB	1990-09	Cartridge (JP)

External links

• Sega of Japan Virtual Console pages: Mega Drive
• Nintendo catalogue pages: US, AU

References

Aleste/Power Strike games for Sega systems/published by Sega
	Power Strike (1988) | Power Strike II (1993)
	M.U.S.H.A. (1990)
	GG Aleste (1991) | Power Strike II (1993) | GG Aleste 3 (2020)
	Robo Aleste (1992)
	M.U.S.H.A. (2008)
	Aleste Collection (2020)
Aleste-related media
	Aleste Collection: Music Album (2022)