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Earth Defense Force for Super Nintendo SNES
Earth Defense Force for Super Nintendo SNES is a side-scrolling space shooter in which you pilot the XA-1. An alien army threatens Earth and you fly through six areas towards the attackers' headquarters. Enemy craft enter the screen in patterns, while large bosses guard the way forward. You choose one of eight weapons, including a wide-firing Vulcan, homing projectiles and a Photon shot that you can charge. That choice determines how you tackle opponents at different heights.
Two indestructible satellites accompany you. You change their formation to make them circle your craft or follow behind, for example. Shooting down enemies fills an experience gauge. Higher levels strengthen your weapon and unlock additional satellite formations. You therefore build firepower by fighting, rather than continually collecting new weapon capsules. You can also adjust your flying speed during combat.
The route takes you over a city at night, past an underwater base and towards the moon, among other places. Shields absorb damage, but your supply of continues is limited. You play alone with one standard SNES controller. The cartridge has no save function or passwords: after switching off, you start a new attempt from the beginning of the game. You therefore concentrate on learning attack waves and safe positions around each boss.
Region and language
Our Super Nintendo SNES games are PAL editions, unless stated otherwise. This product contains a loose cartridge for the European market. A box is only included if explicitly stated in the product details. We note any different region in the product details. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
With Earth Defense Force for Super Nintendo SNES, you receive a loose cartridge. A box and manual are not included unless we explicitly state otherwise in the product details. This is the standard way we supply this copy.
The history of Earth Defense Force
Jaleco developed Earth Defense Force from its own arcade shooter released in 1991. The Super Famicom adaptation arrived in Japan on 25 October that year as Super E.D.F. The European cartridge was called Earth Defense Force. The home version remained a horizontal shooter featuring the XA-1 and two accompanying satellites, but turned it into a single-player adventure. The simultaneous cooperation of the arcade release is absent here.
The SNES adaptation expanded the choice to eight weapons. This also changed the preparation for an attempt: you selected an attack type and had to learn to use its strengths and weaknesses. The experience gauge connected destroyed enemies to the growth of your craft. Increasingly powerful shots and new satellite formations gave the same six areas a changing rhythm. The battles themselves drove that development, without a shop or separate inventory.
The original release belongs to the early wave of shooters on Nintendo's sixteen-bit console. Its visuals alternate between skies, urban backgrounds, caves and space bases, while the rules continue to revolve around weapon selection and positioning. Jaleco's name also returned on later digital reissues. Their additional saving options do not change the original cartridge, which does not retain progress. This is also Jaleco's space shooter, not the later series of the same name in which soldiers on the ground fight giant insects.
Similar games for Super Nintendo SNES
Gradius III also lets you steer a spaceship with accompanying craft through horizontal levels on SNES. In both games, your weapons change where you can fly safely. Gradius III builds its equipment through collected capsules and a selection bar. Earth Defense Force lets you choose a weapon beforehand and increases its power through experience. Your attention here therefore rests less on the moment when you spend a capsule.
Super R-Type shares the sideways flight, large enemy machines and search for gaps between projectiles on SNES. Its attachable Force unit can provide protection and extra fire at the front or rear of your ship. Earth Defense Force uses two satellites with changing formations. Shields also let you absorb some hits here, whereas losing a craft in Super R-Type is punished by replaying a longer stretch of the level.
U.N. Squadron also combines flying action with a choice of weapons on SNES. You fly recognisable jets, choose missions and buy equipment with earned money. Earth Defense Force instead uses one futuristic craft and a fixed sequence of six areas. Your attack develops through the experience gauge. You therefore do not plan purchases between missions here, but try to hit as many enemies as possible during flight.
Like Earth Defense Force, Axelay offers different weapons and bosses that occupy much of the SNES screen. However, it alternates vertical sections with horizontal levels, making you view the playing space differently each time. Earth Defense Force sticks to side-scrolling action. Its satellites and experience levels provide the continuous foundation of your approach, whereas Axelay varies things primarily through the direction of flight and separate weapon functions.
Pop'n TwinBee also demands precise dodging while you clear the screen with shots on SNES. Flight is vertical there and its world consists of cheerfully drawn islands and machines. Bells play an important part in collecting upgrades. Earth Defense Force chooses military space imagery, horizontal attack waves and growth through experience. Jaleco's cartridge is also strictly single-player, without Pop'n TwinBee's simultaneous two-player action.
