Thank you very much Nuno. Well, I'm not from the USA.. I wish I was. I am from Sweden where we have got very little arcade games. However because of that also a greater curiosity about them.
And yes, I think you can call me a fan of Starblade and Galaxian3. I always enjoy what is beautiful and well presented, on whatever system or media it may be.
Aha! So Zolgear has selectable routes? Very well. I understand it's not a random selection wether to fly right, down or left, but a player's choice what mission, or route to take. I would very much like to try a few rounds with Zolgear.
And aha! Starblade is harder than Galaxian3? That's news to me, but very pleasant news. I love the challenge that Starblade gives. You know, I can.. , or at least I could finish the game in one credit. But then I also used my special methods like fire-hammering with my right hand on a thumb-button while aiming the cannon with my left. Since you get only like three shots in one sequence, sort of "fof-fof-fof, .. fof-fof-fof.. . ", you never fire enough to do serious damage to the more durable enemies, nor can you eliminate enemies quickly enough when attacked by groups or enemy fire of various kind.
So what I learned pretty early playing the game, was that *every time you press the button a laser is fired*, no matter how quickly you alternate your fingers. The faster you are the more lasers you can fire. Infact, you should have an auto-fire circuit as cheat for this game... haha. This applies especially at the reactor with the power stone chamber. You don't really need to move the cannon alot, what's important here is that you fire as fast as you can at the power stone. I'm sure that you know what I mean. So, when you know the routes well, you know where to aim the cannon in advance. This is your advantage. Then you can focus on hammering the laser button and doing some damage.
The only thing I must admit is missing in Starblade is some type of sequence where I must avoid objects, or steer within some narrow trenches like in Star Wars. Starblade is a shooting gallery only game which offers limited control over the travel path, but I keep imagining that I'm the gunner in a starfighter operating the lasers, and there's a pilot with me steering the ship. Actually something which would make Starblade the ultimate space action adventure would be if there was a two player option where you can play as pilot *and* the other player *the gunner*. I know that Sega's Star Wars Arcade was exactly that, but somehow that game didn't make as great impression on me.