EGGCONSOLE Super Laydock Mission Striker MSX

Genre: Shmup

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Super Laydock Mission Striker (from here on referred to simply as Laydock) is a Shmup originally released on the Japan-only MSX computer platform in 1987, with this modern release in 2025 on Nintendo Switch as a part of the EGGCONSOLE series marking the game’s first release in the West.

Super Laydock is a pretty clunky Shmup by today’s standards, and in fact I believe it would have been seen as clunky by the standards of its time too, with shuddering movement, random enemy layout patterns, poor integration of features from other more popular Shmups like “Option” power-ups and air/ground-based attacks. And on top of all of this, this is one of those games where you only fire as fast as you can repeatedly tap on the fire button on your gamepad.

Being a part of the EGGCONSOLE series brings with it multiple extra options and features common within that series. This includes save states, a rewind feature, button reassignment, screen settings, adjustable game speed settings, and a virtual keyboard if you need it for any reason. And Laydock also includes scans of the original game’s Japanese-language instruction manual and box art.

Shmups are a dime a dozen on Nintendo Switch at this point, so it’s already difficult to recommend a sub-par entry in the genre. Laydock isn’t just sub-par though, it’s straight-up bad. In short, do not buy this game.

tl;dr – Laydock is a Shmup that was probably seen as horribly outdated even when it first released, and it’s even more hopelessly outdated now. Clunky, poorly-constructed, and simply not worth your time or money – don’t buy this.

Grade: D

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