Iridion II is a shooter reminiscent of the arcade classics. For starters, it’s pretty simple to control: you move back and forth, avoiding and destroying aliens and their ships as you work your way to the boss in each of the game’s 15 levels. Secondly, it features 200 enemies and 30 bosses, which is more than sufficient for a game of the shooter genre. Thirdly, each boss is unique in both its design and fighting style, which keeps you constantly on your toes. And fourth, it mixes full-color 2D and 3D gameplay.

The gameplay, while relatively simplistic, is wholly enjoyable as you navigate ever-tighter levels and blast your way through wave after wave of enemies. Power-ups provide greater firepower to help you deal with the bosses, and there are six stages of upgradeable weapons.

Just like R-Type and its ilk, you can double tap the fire button to charge your cannon to the max and release a furious power blast upon your opponents. The bosses and aliens are constantly varied, with plenty of unique attacks, though limited intelligence. As with any other old-school shooter, the alien hoards come at you in waves, with little concern for their own safety. They just want to squash the life out of you!

Iridion II is a fine looking game, which, while played on a 2D plane, exudes a 3D feel thanks to the environments. The environments are really what make the game shine, with bright colors, smooth scrolling and plenty of detail. While it’s obvious the developers simply stitched together small video segments to create one giant level, you’ll still enjoy playing through the levels. The alien ships also have plenty of visual appeal, as they’ll thrust, flip, spin, jump and flap their way around the screen.

Sound

While the game sounds are nothing unique, the soundtrack for Iridion II is nothing short of amazing for a GBA title. While other developers skimp on the musical score, the team at Shinen spared no expense to make their little game sound great. The music is a sort of techno-pop, which sounds very 80’s and helps to immerse you in what is obviously an homage to classic arcade titles.

Being a shooter, Iridion II is always changing, with ever-larger waves of aliens and increasingly nasty bosses. So I’m sure you’ll spend hours playing it, then return for another round. The online leaderboard, which lets you compare your scores to other players around the world, is just one more reason to return to this game for another round of alien-blasting joy. Since the GBA isn’t online-enabled, you enter your scores at www.Iridion2.com  to see how you compare to other players. It’s not unlike Ikaruga's online leaderboard system.

For fans of unlockable content, Iridion II offers a few bonuses. The first bonus is the Arcade mode, which is unlocked by beating a level. For every level you complete in story mode, its arcade version becomes available. Like a true arcade game, this version of each level introduces point bonuses and secret zones. If you complete the entire story mode, you’ll unlock an audio jukebox and the Challenge mode. Challenge mode allows you to play against all the game’s bosses in sequence, while the audio jukebox lets you listen to the game sounds and audio tracks at your leisure.

Overall

If you’re a fan of the old-school space shooter, Iridion II is just what you’re looking for. I’ve lost hours to it and still come back for more. It’s great to try to play all the way through it, and it’s equally good as a pick-up game. Just fire it up and blast through a few levels to relieve some stress. I’d recommend this game to anyone looking for a fun GBA shooter that looks surprisingly good.