Sky Target

Sky Target is a 1995 Arcade game ported to the Saturn and released in 1997. It shares some similarities with Afterburner (it features planes and lock on missiles!) but it lacks the speed and kick ass soundtracks of the afterburner games.

Anyway, I play through ranked mode first. There are 12 levels each with a mission briefing although they are all the same really. Shoot everything!! After each mission you are awarded stars. If you manage to collect them all (or at least 58 of 60) you unlock the XF/A-49 White Sword!!. I take each of the initial 4 planes though the missions to show them all. I have no idea if there is a preferred/recommended plane for each of the 4 mission arcs. I then take the unlocked White Sword plane through arcade mode. Its Vulcan cannon is more like a laser and does mega damage and makes short work of anything in its path.

Arcade mode takes you through 6 missions, but there are branches to choose which dictate what missions you will see. You do get credits in this mode which allow you to continue from where you died. The difficulty is hard to explain in this game. Apart from some sections where homing missiles are coming at you, you don't have to move around much and in some levels you can not move at all and still get through without taking a hit. It can be really difficult to see the missiles coming at you and often look like they pass right through you without causing damage.

00:03:15 Ranked Mode Mission Set 1 with F14-D
00:13:55 Ranked Mode Mission Set 2 with Rafale M
00:24:30 Ranked Mode Mission Set 3 with F-16C
00:35:45 Ranked Mode Mission Set 4 with F-15 S/MTD
00:47:40 Arcade Mode with XF/A-49 White Sword