Arcade Archives Koutetsu Yousai Strahl

Genre: Shmup

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local), Online Leaderboards

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Review:

Koutetsu Yousai Strahl, which translates to Steel Fortress (in Japanese) Ray (in German), is a Shmup released in Arcades in 1992 and ported to PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in 2020. This game has players taking on the forces of a megalomaniacal mad scientist holding the world hostage.

Koutetsu Yousai Strahl doesn’t do anything truly original, but what it does works quite well. At the beginning of each game, players can “buy” their preferred loadout, enabling them to customize their play to suit their own personal style, choosing a shot type, sub-weapon, and a limited-supply bomb type. They’ll be taking their fighters through various terrestrial environments.

Despite the lack of originality, I found this game to be quite fun, with varied, nice-looking levels and some really creative enemy designs that give this game a sort of alternate reality retro feel. On the other hand, this game is pretty easy for a Shmup, and flickering and slowdown can get pretty annoying.

This release of the game includes a new “Hi-Score Mode” that challenges players to get as far as they can in one run. There is also a new “Caravan Mode” that does much the same, but with the limit being five minutes. There’s also a “Previous Version Original Mode” and “New Version Original Mode” of the main game, with the differences being pretty minimal (I think I heard a digitized voice at one point in the New Version). In addition, this release of the game gives players a decent array of options, including various display options, sound options, challenge modifiers, button mapping, and online leaderboards.

At $8, the Arcade Archives release of Koutetsu Yousai Strahl seems a bit pricey, but I think Shmup fans may want to give this one a shot. It’s not likely to be anyone’s all-time favorite and it has its fair share of flaws, but overall this is a pretty solid entry in the genre worth playing.

tl;dr – Koutetsu Yousai Strahl is a Shmup that doesn’t do anything truly original, but what it does works pretty well and makes for a fun, if a tad easy, entry in the genre. Shmup fans will definitely want to give this one a try.

Grade: B-

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