DESCRIPTION

Some people have small, realistic goals. Others have large and difficult goals. Yours is huge: to defeat Xacalite, emperor of the universe. Before you can face him you must fight your way through 20 levels populated by his underlings and minions with nothing but superb piloting skills and your space combat fighter.

Silpheed is a 2D vertical scrolling shooter. Instead of a top down view, the game gives you the illusion of looking into 3D space since the 2D plane is tilted. Sprites of different sizes are used to simulate a scaling effect, making Silpheed's graphics look 3D even though the sprites are two-dimensional.

Your ship is initially armed with a pair of straight shot lasers, one in each of the ship's two weapon pods. After accumulating enough points, you're given the option to use other weapons such as the phalanx or "V" shot instead. Your ship's armaments can only be changed between levels and the two weapons pods can hold different weapons.

The ship is also armed with a force shield that can absorb a number of hits before going offline. If your shields are depleted and you take another hit, you can suffer systems damage, changing the ship's performance and handling attributes. Take enough hits without shields and it explodes. There are no retries or extra lives in Silpheed; once your ship explodes the game is over.

A variety of power-up icons can be uncovered in the game by destroying red asteroids. These include weapon power upgrades, shield recharges, points, invincibility and an asteroid shield power-up. The latter gives you three asteroids surrounding your ship that can absorb a certain amount of damage. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide