Power Gate

Power Gate is a 2D side-scrolling shooter with gameplay similar to U.N. Squadron / Area 88. You pilot a realistic jet against other realistic enemies, jets, tanks and so on.

For the power-up system you collect items dropped by certain enemies (the red ones like in Area 88) that consist of speed up or down or a regular power-up for the main shot. You can also collect several special weapons more powerful than the regular straight-forward bullets or ground-bombing shots. Special weapons include smart bombs, a time limited invulnerability, a sort of after-image effect, homing missiles and other kinds of attacks. When you use them your jet also backfires, attacking enemies coming from behind. You cannot cycle between the special weapons and you can only use them in the order you picked them.

Your airplane has several life segments. Simple bosses await at the end of each stage. They are quite small, except a huge ship in a bay or the last boss. The screen scrolls slowly. The game difficulty spikes a lot in the last two stages where you need to avoid a lot of obstacles. At the end of each stage you are rated not only on how you performed but also according to how many special weapons you used or kept in stock.