The Sega CD is one of my favorite systems to collect for. This is mostly because the hardware was so niche and therefore most of the releases are now hidden gems. I lucked out because as I began collecting before the price on many of these titles skyrocketed. Keio Flying Squadron was one of these such games. It’s interesting to note that it uses an anime style (even on the boxart) at a time before the medium was even particularly popular outside of Japan. Shoot ’em ups were all the rage in the early and mid 90s. As you may have guessed it; Keio Flying Squadron is one of these. It’s also very rare and expensive. That doesn’t always mean that it’s amazing however. In this case it’s sort of a middle of the road title. It’s good, but in small doses. Let’s take a look.
Keio Flying Squadron is one of those wacky Japanese games from the early 90s. You know, the kind that that were seldom released to English audiences back then. You play as a young girl named Rami who is, for some reason or another, dressed in a one piece with bunny ears. The story begins as a magical key long protected by her family has been stolen. It’s up to her to find and return it. Oh, and did I mention that the setting is during the Keio period in Japan? I’m only pretending to know when that was, to be honest. It’s not important to the story because I’m sure at no point in the country’s history were tanooki’s riding on flying canoes while monkeys threw bananas at a girl riding on the back of a dragon.
The opening cut scene is fully voiced which was a pleasant surprise, but it takes itself too seriously. I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s like they tried to do it documentary style. From there things quickly become crazy as we’re introduced to the characters and our typical anime tropes that come with them. It’s a rather simple story and I didn’t care for it. Narrative isn’t really the point with games like this and I haven’t really given it a second thought since playing to be honest. Gameplay in Keio’s Flying Squadron is completely two dimensional. You view the action from the side as the backgrounds scroll and enemies approach from off-screen. Rami rides on the back of a dragon and your basic attack is a simple fireball. As per genre convention you can collect power-ups which allow different style of shots from rapid fire to a spread.
Gameplay is very average to put it bluntly. The enemy patterns are pretty predictable. It lacks the required memorization of something like Gradius and is a bit more twitchy than other shooters of this era. It’s also not a difficult game. Unfortunately Keio Flying Squadron simply doesn’t have a lot to set itself apart from other shooters. Some levels feature sequences that do however scroll vertically. These are far and few, and your firing angle doesn’t change so it isn’t as refreshing as you might initially expect. Keio is easy, and brings no new mechanics all its own to the table. By and large this game is best described as a by the books horizontal shooter. That’s fine and dandy but we had much better options even back then. That’s not to say it’s bad, because it isn’t, but Keio Flying Squadron fails to re-invent or even refine the wheel.
The only real advantage this game has is from the CD format. This is where all of the game’s polish comes in to play. From the dazzling soundtrack to the surprisingly good (and quite charming, I might add) animated sequences. Other games of this sort came out on the CD format back then, and most aren’t nearly as expensive or hard to track down as Keio Flying Squadron. It’s not a very compelling addition to your collection at the price of an arm and a leg. Keio Flying Squadron does bring it’s own brand of fun to the party, so prepare yourself for a goofy and hilarious ride.
The game doesn’t even take significant advantage of the expanded hardware. At least not when it comes to the basic graphics. Sure, it’s colorful and pleasant, but it’s clearly not a step up from what we saw on the Sega Genesis back then. The only real upgrade is in the color palette. Even then it doesn’t look significantly better than that of the Super Nintendo. Where Keio really aims to please is in its wacky art style. The enemies as well as Rami herself are drawn in typically comedic anime style. You’ll be left in stitches at the variety of enemies you’ll wacky enemies you’ll be be blasting out of the sky.
What’s even better is the fact that the game runs at a constant and smooth framerate. No matter how many enemies are thrown at you Keio still chugs on without a hitch. The screen is rarely busy, but it’s still an impressive feat given how large some of the moving parts and enemies are. I also really liked some of the parallax scrolling elements. I found them to be a little distracting at times, but maybe that’s what the developers were going for. Keio Flying Squadron is a decent looking game overall.
Keio Flying Squadron benefits from the CD format with a purely redbook soundtrack. Everything sounds exceptionally clean here, but I’m personally not a big fan of the music. It’s extremely poppy and bouncy with some traditional Japanese instrumentation. The music is very well done, but unfortunately it just isn’t very catchy. The sound effects are also very clear, but these also lack memorability. The voice acting from the FMV sequences is a little lacking. It’s laughable by modern standards. It’s also kind of bland to be honest. What’s interesting is the fact that some of the bosses have brief voice samples that serve as audio cues on where/when to strike. In one of these such encounters the enemy is hiding within an airship, and can only be hit when he pops his head out of the entrances as he shouts. It’s a neat idea.
