Battle Squadron

Battle Squadron is a vertically scrolling shooter for the Amiga computer platform and the Sega Genesis console, for one or two players. It is a sequel to Hybris.

Taking place many years in the future in another star system, a century long war is waging between the Earth Defense Fleet and the Barrax Empire. Two Earth Defense Commanders, Lori Bergin and Barry Mayers, were returning from a research and destroy mission regarding the latest Barrax technologies on planet Urania, when suddenly a Barrax cruiser materialized behind them, brought their ship in and took the commanders hostage on planet Terrainia. The player's mission is to rescue the Commanders and eliminate all Barrax threats in the process.

Battle Squadron supports both mouse- and joystick-controlled styles of play. Players play the game from the perspective of elite fighter pilots of the Earth Defense Fleet, known as the Battle Squadron sent to rescue two human agents, Commanders Berry D. Mayers and Lori Bergin, from the clutches of the ruthless alien empire, known as the Barrax. The player's fighters carry unlimited projectile weaponry and a finite number of Nova Smart Bombs.

Notable features of the game are relatively big sprites (with Predator-esque cloaking effects applied to a few) and numerous weapon upgrades (supposedly 25 in total). Barraxian opponents consist of ground installations (generally gun turrets and launch platforms), ground vehicles, aircraft and numerous genetically-engineered living weapons.

• Cargo vehicles that drop weapon upgrades upon destruction.
• Four-craft squadrons of Barrax fighters that will release an extra, collectable Nova Bomb upon destruction of the entire squadron.
• Two different varieties of gigantic, apparently-robotic terror machines, functioning as the bosses of two separate levels.
• What appear to be several giant faces in the terrain, once again, serving as end-of-level bosses.
• The Barrax Nova Cruiser, the end-game boss.

Source: Wikipedia, "Battle Squadron", available under the CC-BY-SA License.