Chō Jikū Yōsai Macross

The Good
I used to play this game a lot as a kid and now as an adult it's still one of my favorite pick-up and play type of games on the NES.

Story: I'm not familiar with the story but it never really mattered much to me. All I know is that bad guys need destroying and your the person for that job.

Gameplay: It reminds me of most of the old Atari 2600 games because it's just one level that repeats itself over and over with increasing difficulty. I quite enjoy this type of games if done right and this game does it perfectly. New enemies are introduced as the game goes on and it gets hard surprisingly fast. The spaceship which the player controls has three forms it can switch between which can affect gameplay differently(one is slower than the other but can shoot behind and so on) and over time the player's fuel runs out and he must collect power-ups in order to replenish it. Over all it's quite simple but done mighty fine.

Graphics: Actually I was surprised to learn that this game came out in 1985. It's very nice to look at, runs really smooth and it generally looks like a late NES game. I really like the tiny explosions in the background since they give the feeling of a space battle taking place around you. When I as a kid I thought they were fireworks.

Sound and Music: Pretty good I will say. The sound effects are nicely done, especially the explosions which are most satisfying. The music is very memorable and it's one of those NES songs that stay with you and become good sweet nostalgia.

The Bad
Very, very minor complaints.

Story: No complaints.

Gameplay: Multiplayer would have been nice but otherwise no complaints.

Graphics: Absolutely no complaints.

Sound and Music: A little more variety in the music department would have made things better. There is only one music track that plays endlessly in every stage and even though it's a descent track, it kind of gets repetitive overtime.

The Bottom Line
It's a solid space shooter with smooth gameplay, nice graphics and awesome explosions. It's a great time-waster and a very underrated game in my opinion. If you have the chance give it a go!