As Ricki Sanada, you are mankinds last hope of survival. With genetically enhanced superhuman reactions, you are the only one who can pilot the Phalanx A-144, a prototype fighter equipped with the most advanced weaponry in existence. Your mission is to strike an alien settlement at its heart and ultimately stop them from reaching Earth. Fairly typical story then - it if matters.

Getting straight to the point: Phalanx is an accurate port of an early 90s Super Famicom / SNES / X68000 single-player horizontal space shooter. Opting not to unclude the typical 'Advance' suffix, the name remains the same - as does almost everything else - both the good and the bad. Its SNES predecessor, while competently 'slowdown free', was not particularly applauded for utilising the capabilities of the hardware available. At the time, Mode 7 scaling / rotation and a multitude of transparency and graphical effects were at the disposal of developers. Compared to the brilliance of Konami's Axelay, Gradius III and Compile's Super Aleste, the original Phalanx is perhaps best remembered for its bizarre North American boxart - rather than the contents of the cartridge itself.

While many games from the same era have fared well during their SNES to GBA transitions ( see: F-Zero, Mario World IV, Final Fight, Contra III and others ), Phalanx for the Game Boy Advance exposes its age now even more profoundly than it did to begin with. It's a shame the same developers ( Zoom Inc. ) didn't use the decade of hindsight to reflect on the original source material and correct its more prominent issues. But that isn't the say the game doesn't have any enhancements whatsoever. A well-deserved automatic save function now records the highscore table and quicksaves your progress at the beginning of each level so, in those on-the-go gaming sessions, you can safely power off and return to your mission at a later date with all statistics intact. These are worthy additions to the game and show some sincere thought has been put behind the conversion process. Even a friendlier interface, pseudo-FMV segments and several other small but noted 'updates' have been implemented. As for playing the game itself, that's a different story...

Possibly the biggest gripes players had with Phalanx on the SNES were with its fundamentally inferior gameplay / graphical foundations. The Game Boy Advance adaptaton being no different, shares these flaws, and, due to the new hardware's smaller screen size and resolution, even emphasizes them. These include an extremely crude 'frame-rate', sprite flicker, jerky movement responses, difficult to see enemy fire ( especially on the original GBA ) and an unforgivable collision detection system. These immediately noticable issues are more than enough to evaporate any preconceived hopes one may initially have for the game.

The visuals work both ways. The multiple layers of background scrolling and the sheer ammount of action taking place on the small screen is a sight to behold - but they can also distract you from the already difficult task of navigating the random bullets and crude cavern structures. What's more, there seems to be an abundance of reddish-browns and dull greys in the game's main colour pallette - reminiscent of early Commodore Amiga SHMUPs. Still, Phalanx looks impressive. The levels themselves present the usual suspects: clouds / cavern environments, including a mandatory underwater section and R-Type-esque mothership encounter. Meanwhile, the music is nondescript at best - falling into the hyper Japanese hairmetal generica so commonly found in early 90s arcade games. The music is unfortunately not of the memorable kind, as is the case with so many games in the genre.

The weapon power-up dynamics in Phalanx are reasonably advanced. The game features several different shot-types which are switchable during gameplay via a press of a button. You can also alter the movement speed of your craft and adding homing missles and 'drones' to your repoitre certainly increases your chances. Releasing lifesaving smartbombs are also crucial to survival, as is sacrificing your weapon's power for a short but intense super-blast. But even with a seemingly large selection available, most players will find what's comfortable for them and stick with it.

Although these criticisms seem insistent and perhaps even a little harsh, a decent shooter experience is hard to find on the Gameboy Advance - so, if the player is willing to assert some level of acceptance, or simply purchase the game at a bargain price, then there is definitely some solid value to be had in Phalanx. It's actually quite enjoyable for a quick blast or a lengthy run through, and may also pose a serious threat for patient score junkies and challenge seekers. It's just a shame the developers didn't invest more effort into truly refining the foundations laid out in the original. On one hand it is encouraging to see a small resurgence of 2D shooters on Nintendo's handheld, but on the other it is a crime to receive a solid yet derivative SNES shooter such as Phalanx, rather than a plethora of worth SNES remakes including Axelay, Cybernator or U.N. Squadron ( Area 88 ) to name but a few.

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