Over Horizon x Steel Empire from ININ Games and Ratalaika Games brings us two classic shoot ‘em ups in a mini collection. Check our Over Horizon x Steel Empire review!

 

Over Horizon x Steel Empire from ININ Games and Ratalaika Games brings us two classic shoot ‘em ups in a mini collection. First up is the 1991 shoot ‘em up Over Horizon from Hot B, which launched for the Nintendo Entertainment System – a.k.a. the NES. Your mission will be to take control of the spaceship Michael as you take on the evil Gamma organization in order to stop them from using the alien creature Kassandra to take over the Alpharos star system. It’s a game that will remind you of games like Gradius and R-Type.

Once you jump into action, you’ll control your ship with the left analog stick or the D-Pad, shooting left with the Y button and shooting right with the B button. You can change weapons with the A button. You can rotate your ship’s options with the ZR button. The ship’s speed can be changed as needed by pressing the ZL button to help you take on the different enemies ready to destroy.

 

An interesting element is that you’ll be able to edit your weapon and your options. For weapon edits, you will have up to 5 points to distribute between the homing, laser, and bomber stats. For your options, you can select where the 1A, 1B, 2A, and 2B options will be placed when they’re added to your spaceship once you have collected them. After you’ve made your choices, be sure to give them a go in the test mode to see if they’re what you need.

And now, let’s talk about Steel Empire! This shoot ‘em up gem was originally released for the Sega Genesis/Megadrive back in 1992 in Japan, North America, and Europe. Just know that in Europe, this one was called Empire of Steel. It’s a shoot ‘em up from developer HOT B in a steampunk-inspired world. It was later ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2004, and it then landed on the Nintendo 3DS a decade later. For this collection, we’re getting the first two versions of the game, and we’re able to choose between the NA/EU or Japanese variants.

You’ll be controlling the flying vehicle of your choice with the left analog stick or the D-Pad, shooting left with the Y button and shooting right with the B button. You’ll also have a mighty super bomb that can destroy all bullets and damage all enemies on the screen, which you can launch with the ZL button. As you defeat enemies and collect items, you’ll be able to improve your ship’s attack power to be able to deal with some of the tougher enemies.

You can take advantage of the rewind feature for both games in case you end up making a mistake and must go back a bit. The games offer display options for 4:3, 1:1 PAR, Perfect, or Perfect 1x. You can also change the colors displayed on the screen, even having the option of displaying in black and white. You can also add a shader style, such as CRT, Vengeful CRT, Arcade Glow, or Sameboy LCD. There’s also a scale filter you can apply by choosing between none, Soft, or Crispy.

Each of the games will also allow you to activate cheat codes for an easier experience. For Over Horizon, the cheat codes that you can activate are for infinite lives, invincibility, and for having the max weapon level right from the start. For Steel Empire, you can activate invincibility, infinite lives, infinite bombs, starting with max weapon level, and having infinite credits for the Sega Genesis/Megadrive version.

Over Horizon x Steel Empire brings us two classic shoot ‘em ups in a mini collection. You’ll get to play Over Horizon, which launched on the NES back in 1991, as well as Steel Empire in two versions, the 1992 Sega Genesis/Megadrive version, and the 2004 Game Boy Advance version, with each one offering a different look and feel. Over Horizon x Steel Empire is out on Nintendo Switch with a $14.99 price tag.

Disclaimer
This Over Horizon x Steel Empire is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided ININ Games.