Shienryu

Story

Taking place in the distant future, Earth's people starts their search for new planets to colonize, specifically those similar to it. The colony ships, known as the Caravans, travel deep into space until Caravan 7861 discovers a suitable fourth planet from an alien sun. However, none of the other Caravans had followed. After 93 years of civilization on the new Mother Planet, the investigation of the missing Caravans finally leads to a horrible discovery: the previous Caravans had been attacked and conquered by a powerful regime of alien-humans. Commanded by the mysterious Shienryu, the alien space fleet invades the Mother Planet and constructs fortresses across the world, destroying and replacing any established human influence. In response, a defense team called "Burn Dragoon" is founded which calls for the best pilots and navigators to defend the new planet from the invading regime.

Game play

Players control either of two double-piloted ships going against the bases of the regime based both on the new mother planet and in space.

Survival is a great emphasis in gameplay as enemies will fire blankets of pulse shots across the screen, some larger than others and some taking on wide intricate patterns.

Extends are awarded to players who reach an indicated score (the score is changeable in the Saturn version) as well as 1Ups, though both 1Ups and even 2Ups are available after defeating minibosses in a certain amount of time.

Weapon System

When player starts a game, the initial fighter fires vulcan with slowest movement.

The selected weapon type determines the type of bomb being used.

Items

Items become available by destroying certain enemies.

Stages

There are 8 stages in each loop, for a total of 2 loops. In 2nd loop, enemy bullets are fired at faster speeds.

When a player loses a life, the game continues at the last reached pre-defined checkpoint with firepower collected by the last fighter at slowest speed. The checkpoint feature is inactive when a second player is present.

At the end of each stage, player gets 5000 points for each available bomb, 500 points for each red LED collected in the completed stage (blue LED counted as 10 red LEDs).

Bosses

Gekioh Shooting King

It is a PlayStation port of the original Shienryu. It adds following:

Changes to arcade mode

Shienryu Explosion/Steel Dragon Evolution

It is a sequel that uses 3D graphics.

Fighters

Pilots

There are 6 pilots in the game. Bomb type and weapon colour are changed depending on the pilot.

Weapon system

A fighter can fire strong but concentrated shots, or weak but widespread shots, depending on the button pressed. The fighter's shot strength changes depending on how heavily it is pressed, with 3 pre-defined shot strength settings available in the game. The fighter's moving speed decreases with increasing shot strength, and decreases otherwise.

Stages

There are 8 stages in the game. In addition, there are 2 extra stages that can be unlocked when certain conditions are met. The game's ending is changed depending on pilot.

Multiplier system

When an enemy is destroyed, its score is multiplied between 1 and 256, depending on the frequency the fighter was firing at the time of destruction.

Some enemies drop stars when destroyed by high power shots, and sometimes the enemy bullets are turned into stars. A star's multiplier is between 1 and 256 when the star is collected, but the multiplier value decreases when the fighter fires more heavily. Only when the fighter fires weak or no shots that the star's multiplier is at 256.

Steel Dragon EX

It is a compilation that includes Shienryu (Steel Dragon) and Shienryu Explosion (Steel Dragon Evolution).

Switching between games is achieved by pushing reset button.

Reception

SHUMPS! rated the Shienryu Explosion 7.

Gamerankings rated Steel Dragon EX 36.50% based on 2 reviews.

Trivia