Pulstar (video game)
Pulstar is a horizontally scrolling shooter released for arcades by SNK in 1995. Players control a starship in its mission to eradicate the Solar System of a hostile race of aliens that threaten mankind. Its gameplay has been compared to the R-Type series for its similar premise and mechanics; players must complete each of the game's eight stages by destroying constantly-moving formations of enemies and avoiding their projectiles. There are power-ups that can be collected that provide additional abilities for the player. It runs on the Neo Geo MVS arcade system board.
| Pulstar | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Aicom |
| Publisher(s) | SNK |
| Composer(s) | Harumi Fujita Yasuaki Fujita |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Windows, Neo Geo AES, Neo Geo CD |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Arcade system | Neo Geo MVS |
Developed by Aicom, Pulstar is the first Neo Geo game to incorporate 3D pre-rendered visuals. Its music was composed by Harumi Fujita and Yasuaki Fujita, both of whom previously worked for Capcom on the Ghosts'n Goblins series. Pulstar has been ported and re-released several times, seeing conversions for systems like the Neo Geo CD and digital storefronts such as the Wii Virtual Console. The game and its re-releases have received mixed reviews from critics, who felt its gameplay and graphics were good but its difficulty was too high and it lacked originality. A sequel named Blazing Star was released in 1998, which aimed to correct the flaws present in the original.