With SolarStriker, Nintendo, so revered for its creativity and innovation in videogame development, ironically created a textbook shooter by numbers. Unique because it is the first and only shmup developed by Nintendo, yet so derivative in nature, SolarStriker is perhaps the result of a simple genre-blanketing business equation. With the Game Boy system so early in its infancy and neither a Star Soldier nor Raiden port in the software pipeline, Nintendo took it upon itself to fill the arcade space blaster void with practically every cliché available at the time. It's of no surprise then, that the game inititally resembles a Space Invaders clone on wheels. However, though utterly generic it may be, what SolarStriker does achieve - it achieves with careful and remarkable precision.

Like many of its early brethren - Tetris, Golf, Tennis, Alleyway and so on - although SolarStriker lacks in plot depth and sheer graphical power, it's rock solid playability more than suffices. So it stands as a true testament to its creators ( including the late Gunpei Yokoi himself, inventor of the Game Boy and later the Virtual Boy ) that the game remains feasably playable to this day. SolarStriker's greatest strength stems directly from its fluent control and simple, second nature premise. You move. You shoot. It's the epitomal mold of the traditional shoot 'em up. Other essential base elements: challenge, movement speed and collision detection; are efficiency alligned.

You begin with a primary single-shot weapon, which, by collecting the floating powerups at well placed intervals, can be upgraded three times. While the first powerup icon will increase the ship's firepower, two more are required for each additional upgrade. Losing a life thankfully results in an immediate respawn, knocking one level off your shot power. As smartbombs and continues are not included, extra lives are generously awarded for every 50,000 points. In all, there are more than a dozen different enemy types each with their own varied movements and attack patterns. Usually attacking in group formations from the top of the screen in overlapping wave sets - five from the top left, then five from the top right and so on. There are also a few level-specific enemies, particularly in the later areas, providing a welcomed ( if limited ) variety. For example, stage three pits you against an assortment speed buggies, laser equiped trucks, steadfast gun-turrets and zigzagging jet fighters.

There's very little to discuss about SolarStriker's stark visuals. Straight away, the main craft takes on an applealing, if overly familiar form. Enemy and boss sprites are scarcely relegated even a single frame of animation ( save for their explosions ) - and the absence of shading give them a flat appearance. The scrolling backgrounds are bleak and monotonous, yet thoughtfully muted to counteract the Game Boy's forbidding screen blur and not obstruct game play. The bullets are also inflated to a rather modest size, no doubt to increase their visibility on the small screen. Some of the larger non-moving bosses occupy a considerable ammount of screen real estate. To ease the space restrictions incurred, the screen can be scrolled slighly to the left or right, allowing a greater movement freedom. On the aural side of things the music and sound effects are certainly of a satisfactory standard. Nothing particularly hummable, though.

SolarStriker was created for nearly anyone to play, and Nintendo have fixed the difficulty to provide a fairly decent challenge for all. Skilled players who breeze through the game's initial six stages and beat the final boss will gain access to the difficult second loop, where enemies are far more frequent and agressive. Combined with moments of highscore opportunity, the inclusion of the loop adds a small element of replayability to an otherwise linear blaster.

In todays world of flashy visuals and shameless scoring gimmicks, SolarStriker is an uncluttered slice of instant gaming pleasure for the minimalist in all of us.

.