If it's one thing the Turbografx-16 system had a heaping helping of it was shooters. And truth be told, some of the best shooters ever made appeared on this console. Thankfully, Hudson has decided to release several of these great games for the Wii Virtual Console, and Soldier Blade is one of the best so far. The "soldier series" as it's sometimes referred to, consists of three game: Super Star Soldier, Final Soldier (the only one that was not released in the US), and Soldier Blade. Depending on who you ask, some say the series started off strong and went downhill from there and some claim that the series just got better with each new release. Regardless, this is one of the best vertical shooter series in history and Soldier Blade definitely does the series proud.

Since Soldier Blade is the final game in the series, it's obviously the one that's most refined and it's also a little faster-paced than the previous two games. The game is a vertical shooter and the stages are laid out like most other vertical shooters and involve you shooting your way through wave after wave of enemy fighters only to face off with a huge boss at the end of each level. Nothing terribly ground-breaking, but the game has everything you'd want out of a great shoot em' up.

As you destroy enemy fighters they will occasionally drop a power up item. Depending on the color of the item, you'll acquire newer and more potent firepower that ranges from spread fire to the extremely useful laser fire. There are several different strengths of firepower with each type and once you've powered up to the maximum, everytime you get a power up of the same color it acts as a type of smart bomb and destroys all of the enemies on the screen. You'll also acquire super smart bombs that differ depending on what type of firepower your using and each one has its own various pros and cons depending on what type of enemy you're using them on. One nice addition to Soldier Blade is the ability to switch between two speeds for your ship's movements. By pressing the SELECT button you can toggle between "LOW" and "HIGH" speeds. Sometimes it's better to have the smoother control of the "Low" setting whereas in later levels that are more intense, you'll really appreciate the "high" setting for quicker response.

It's worth noting that Soldier Blade isn't for the faint of heart as it features a fairly high level of difficulty, even on the normal setting. You can choose between two levels of difficulty on the menu screen, but the game only offers "normal" and "high." And when the game says "high" it's not kidding.  If you think the enemy fire bombardment is intense on the  normal setting, switch it over to high and let's see what you've got. As long as you stay powered up, you should be able to withstand the barrage pretty well, but the game becomes quite challenging if you lose your ship and have to start off mid-level with only the basic firepower. Take my word for it, you don't want to go head on with one of the game's bosses with only the basic firepower. Because trust me, you won't last long. But if you like your shooters challenging, this one's right up your alley.

Visually, Soldier Blade is the best of the series and one of the best looking hucard games available for the system. Some of the backgrounds look absolutely fantastic and everything always seems to scroll quite smoothly even when the action becomes intense. There's also very little slowdown in the game and at times the entire screen is filled with moving objects and pulsing fire with nary a hiccup. As with most Turbografx-16 games, Soldier Blade uses the full color palette and is plenty bright and vibrant throughout each level. There's also a great deal of variety in each of the game's different levels which will keep the visuals fresh throughout the entire game.

While the soundtrack in Soldier Blade is great, it's still not quite on par with some of the Turbografx-16's later shooters that featured CD-quality music. The game's music has a very synthesized sound and reminds me a lot of some of the soundtracks found in many of the 8-bit NES games. That's not to knock it, because there's honestly not a bad musical track in the bunch and the tempo of the music goes a long way in keeping with the intensity of the game's theme. Let's face it, we've all become a little spoiled with soundtracks in games like Lords of Thunder and Gate of Thunder but Soldier Blade has that old-school musical vibe to it that classic shooter fans will definitely appreciate.

As was stated earlier, the Turbografx-16 system had a ton of shooters released for it, some good and some not so good, but Soldier Blade is definitely one of the top shooters available for the system. It's just got that special something that makes it a game you just keep coming back to no matter how many times your ship gets blown to bits. I honestly didn't expect Hudson to release this game to the Wii Virtual Console after they had just released the first game in the series, Super Star Soldier, but I'm so glad they chose to. I'd still like to see Final Soldier released on the Virtual Console, especially since it never saw the light of day here in the US, but for now shooter fans can be happy with one of the better vertical shooters ever made and a very worthy addition to the Wii's Virtual Console.