Silpheed: The Lost Planet
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| File:Silpheed The Lost Planet.png | |
| Developer(s) | Game Arts Treasure Co. Ltd |
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| Designer(s) | Masaki Ukyo |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Silpheed: The Lost Planet is a direct sequel to the Silpheed on the Sega Mega-CD. It was developed by Treasure Co. Ltd and Game Arts, and was published in North America by Working Designs. The game is a vertical scrolling shooter in which the player controls 019, a Silpheed of the planet Solont's SA-77 Squadron, as it takes on countless alien enemies.
Story
More than five centuries have passed since mankind first ventured into space. Although there has been suffering from occasional civil wars and unrest, mankind now prizes its peace and prosperity. The planet Solont, located near the center of the galaxy, is the 11th world to be colonized by man, and it is about to be visited by a new and unknown lifeform. 31 years after the Xacalite Civil War, mankind is about to confront a new threat—a threat from the darkest corner of the universe. The future of mankind now rests in the weary hands of the Silpheed Squadron, made up of the most skilled fighter pilots in the Federation of Planetary Spaces Forces (FPSF). Every pilot in this group of space aces flies the Silpheed Type J, which boasts a defensive shield and two huge weapon racks for an incomparable combination of flexibility and power.
Gameplay
The player is allowed to equip two weapons to his Silpheed at once; one for the right side, and one for the left (used with the Circle and Square buttons, respectively, though both can be fired simultaneously with the X button). Additional weapons are granted at the end of each level depending on your point score.
One unique aspect of the game is its proximity combo system. The game measures the player's closeness to the enemy at the time of its death, and multiplies the points earned anywhere from 2 to 16 times. If the player has a collision with an enemy or the environment, no multipliers are awarded for several seconds.
As expected from a Treasure game, there are many bosses in Silpheed: The Lost Planet. About half the time spent playing the game consists of bosses big and small.
Enhancements in the Western version
Working Designs enhanced the game before publishing it outside Japan, as it tended to. For one, support for analog control and vibration functionality was added. The slowdown from the Japanese version is almost completely eliminated as well. The game's Western packaging also features a foil-embossed, reflective cover.