Aerial Assault (Game Gear)

For the Sega Master System version, see Aerial Assault (Master System).

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Aerial Assault
System(s): Sega Game Gear
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sanritsu, Sega R&D 2
Peripherals supported: Gear-to-Gear Cable
Genre: Shooting
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code JP 1992-06-05 ¥3,5003,500 G-3219 US 1992-06 2320 EU 1992 2320 UK 1992 £24.9924.99 2320 BR 199x 015820

Aerial Assault (エアリアル アサルト) is a shoot-'em-up game developed by Sanritsu and published by Sega for the Sega Game Gear in 1992, respectively.

Story

A militaristic organization named N.A.C. (whose acronym is never explained) has developed a huge laser emitter called "EL," which is capable of gradually destroying the ozone layer. In the year 1999, the N.A.C. begins an all-out offensive against every country in the world. It is hinted that N.A.C. is actually an alien civilization.

The armies of the world are overwhelmed. The player controls the mysterious "Freedom Fighter," an aircraft with no official connection to any government, who flies off to stop the N.A.C.

Gameplay

The Game Gear version is, like its Master System counterpart, a side-scrolling shoot-'em'up. However, it differs substantially from its predecessor with different graphics, music and sound, levels, and items. Additionally, it features a 2-player mode for cooperative play over a Gear-to-Gear link cable (with player one's plane identified with blue afterburners and player two's plane having orange afterburners). It is also significantly less difficult and has simplified mechanics.

Both and fire the player's weapon, which has unlimited ammunition and can be held down for rapid-fire. Unlike the Master System version, the player only has one weapon and does not have access to bombs. The player's weapon is upgraded along a linear progression by collecting Power items rather than there being multiple distinct weapons as in the original game.

The player loses a life if the Freedom Fighter collides with an enemy or object. In 2-player games, each player has separate lives. There is a Shield item that provides the player's plane with a barrier that protects it from frontal damage and lasts until the player loses a life.

Levels

	Skyship Adelaide
	Lightning Attack
	Underground Peril
	Deadly Dybbuk

Items

	Speed
	Increases the movement speed of the Freedom Fighter.
	Shield
	Equips the Freedom Fighter with a barrier that protects indefinitely against attacks to the front of the plane.
	Power
	Upgrades the weapon to the next level.
	Star
	Awards the player with an extra life.

Weapons

	Initial Weapon
	The basic starting weapon.
	Homing Bullets
	Similar to the starting weapon but automatically seeks and targets enemies.
	Shock Waves
	A larger projectile with a taller area of effect.
	Missiles
	A longer projectile that does more damage.
	Phasers
	Similar to the missiles but does more damage.
	3-Way
	A conical spread shot that fires three projectiles.
	6-Way
	Similar to the 3-way but fires six projectiles to cover a larger area. Not available in 2-player mode.

Production credits

• Planner: All Members
• Designer: Tommy, Yukino
• Programmer: Nonchan, T.Hagiwara
• Sound: Ippo
• Test Player: Kou
• Special Thanks: O.B
• Presented by: Sega

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Aerial Assault (Game Gear)/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1992-07: "July 1992" (1992-06-08)

Print advert in Mega Force (ES) #11: "Marzo 1993" (1993-xx-xx)
also published in:

• Hobby Consolas (ES) #18: "Marzo 1993" (1993-xx-xx)
• Todo Sega (ES) #1: "Abril 1993" (1993-03-15)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 45 Consoles + (FR) 78 Computer & Video Games (UK) 73 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 48 Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK) 35 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 43 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 30 Hobby Consolas (ES) 85 Joypad (FR) 45 Joystick (FR) 45 Mega Byte (Teletext) (UK) 35 Mega Play (US) NTSC-U 48 Player One (FR) 39 Play Time (DE) 43 Score (CZ) 32 Sega Power (UK) PAL 24 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-U 42 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 42 Sega Force (UK) PAL 48 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 65 Supergame (BR) 79 Supersonic (FR) 44 Video Games (DE) 39

	48
Based on 23 reviews

Aerial Assault (Game Gear)

Game Gear, JP
Cover
Cart

Game Gear, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear, FR (Blister pack)
Cover

Game Gear, BR
Cover
Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 04fe6dde MD5 f1dee7875668c536f0434217a67ba2f4 SHA-1 2a91ab5817938dddf2724df2dfd95a3bc6f5156d	128kB		Cartridge (JP)
?	CRC32 3e549b7a MD5 b6fb54e60f8992daaa35e98a712ff2cb SHA-1 cbdbaaeb62a8483d9d5a8757b0f19233dfb9b416	128kB		Cartridge