Battle Squadron

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Battle Squadron
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Innerprise Software
Genre: Shoot-'em-Up
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code US 1990-12 $49.9549.95 702701 EU 1991-01 E166SMXI UK 1990-12 £39.9939.99 E166SMXI AU 199x BR 1990
Non-Sega versions Amiga

Battle Squadron is a 1990 shoot-'em-up developed by Innerprise Software Inc and published by Electronic Arts exclusively in the US and Europe for the Sega Mega Drive and the Commodore Amiga.

Story

Mayers and Bergin

The alien Barrax Empire has been at war with Earth for centuries to gain control over the Universe. While returning from a mission to destroy all Barrax on Planet Terrainia while gathering information on the empire's fleets, Commander Barry D. Mayers and Commander Lori Bergin were taken hostage by a Barrax nova cruiser, their last transmission mentioning something about being able to turn invisible for a short period of time. The mission is to rescue them.

Gameplay

The game is a vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up played from the perspective of elite fighter pilots of the Earth Defense Fleet, known as the Battle Squadron. It can be played by two players simultaneously. The fighters are moved in any direction using the D-Pad. The playfield is wider than the viewable area, so the screen pans when a fighter is at the edge. The fighters fire their main weapons with or (either of which can be held for continuous fire, though it is slower than pressing the button repeatedly). The main weapon has unlimited ammunition. Weapons can be changed or upgraded by collecting power-ups. Fighters also have a finite number of Nova Smart Bombs, which are deployed with and destroy enemies and projectiles within a radius of the ship.

The fighters are destroyed if they are hit by enemy fire but respawn after a moment if the player has extra lives remaining. The player's weapon is downgraded two levels after losing a ship. The game ends if the player runs out of lives, but it can be continued if the player has credits remaining.

Players can choose the starting lives and credits. Instead of difficulty levels, players can set the maximum number of enemy bullets and the enemy bullet speed.

Weapons

	Red Magnetic Torps
	Fires a wide spreadshot in front of the fighter.
	Blue Anti-Matter Particle Beam
	Fires in a narrow area in the front and back of the fighter.
	Orange Magma Wave
	Fires in front of the fighter as well as towards the sides.
	Green Emerald Laser
	Fires lasers in front that spread out when upgraded.

Items

	Barraxian Artillery Gunship
	Destroy to release a weapon power-up.
	X Capsule
	Cycles through four colors (red, blue, orange, and green). Equips the corresponding weapon or upgrades the weapon (up to 5 levels) if already equipped.
	M Capsule
	Adds another Nova Smart Bomb to the player's arsenal.
	Barraxian Jewel Cache
	Worth 1,000 points at the end of the stage.

Stages

	Planet Terrainia
	Unusually for the genre, the game has an overworld with three lower sections that can be entered through craters. The overworld contains enemies, like a normal stage, with the large craters dividing it into segments. Players return to the surface after completing one of the lower stages. The final boss appears at the end of the overworld after clearing all of the other stages. Ignoring the craters makes the overworld loop over from the beginning, so players can stay in the overworld (which has fewer enemies than the lower sections) to obtain power-ups before attempting one of the crater stages.
	Inner Core 1
	Inner Core 2
	Inner Core 3

History

Legacy

The game was later ported to iOS devices in 2011, to Android in 2012, and to Windows, Mac OS X, AmigaOS 4, and MorphOS in 2013.

A Battle Squadron II is teased in the ending. It was in development but was never released.

Versions

The Sega Mega Drive version runs faster and is harder. It has certain layers right in front of the screen, making it harder to see certain objects. The Amiga version has a bit more varied background tiles and switches background colors more often. It has an extra space background for the final boss.

Production credits

• Game Design: Torbin Larsen, Martin Pedersen
• Game Graphics: Torbin Larsen
• Programming: Martin Pedersen
• Original Music and Sounds: Ron Klaren
• Music Driver: Steve Hayes
• Music Conversion: Rob Hubbard
• Producer: Christopher Erhardt
• Associate Producer: Roland Kippenhan
• Assistant Producer: Michael Lubuguin
• Product Management: Lesley Mansford, Barbara Windham
• Package Design: James Blair
• Package Art: Alan Okamoto
• Documentation: Andrea Smith
• Testing: Ed Gwynn

Source:

US manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Battle Squadron/Magazine articles.

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) 60 ACE (UK) 79 Console XS (UK) PAL 88 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 50 Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK) 85 Gamers (DE) 67 Génération 4 (FR) 83 Hobby Consolas (ES) 83 Joystick (FR) 77 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL 68 Mega Action (UK) 85 MegaTech (UK) 80 Micromanía (segunda época) (ES) 80 Mean Machines (UK) 85 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 80 Player One (FR) 72 Power Play (DE) 74 Raze (UK) PAL 84 Sega Power (UK) PAL 90 Sega Power (UK) PAL 75 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 87 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 87 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 85 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 56 VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) NTSC-U 80

	78
Based on 25 reviews

Battle Squadron

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, AU

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart

Technical information

Main article: Battle Squadron/Technical information.