Thexder (Japan) (March 1986)

Haha, reviews?  WHAT?  So this thing, too, exists...

Can't be replied to, though.  So here's my not-a-review reply, straight from Wikipedia.

Quote

 

Thexder quickly became a best-selling hit, selling over 500,000 copies in Japan by 1987.^[2][3] The PC-8801 platform was only popular in Japan and, despite home market success, Thexder garnered little attention abroad initially. With the conversion for the MSX (the best-selling platform in Brazil and many Eastern European countries), it became an international hit. It became the company's best-selling title of 1987. By 1990, the game had sold over one million copies worldwide.^[4]

Compute! praised the Apple IIGS version of Thexder as the computer's "first true arcade game" with "excellent play value for your dollar".^[5] In 1988, The Games Machine gave the Amiga version a 74% score.^[1] In 1991, Dragon gave the Macintosh and PC/MS-DOS versions of the game each 4 out of 5 stars.^[6] The game went on to sell over one million copies worldwide, becoming Game Arts' biggest-selling title of 1987.^[4] Thexder is considered an important breakthrough title for the run-and-gun shooter game genre, paving the way for titles such as Contra and Metal Slug.^[7]

 

I remember the port Sierra did for PCs.  The Famicom port was done by pre-nothing-but-FF-Square.  I doubt it would be any fun today, but I guess there was less to choose from in 1987.

Issue 148 of Computer Gaming World put Thexder at #23 on their list of the 'Worst Games of All Time', claiming it was a universally bad game no matter what platform it was released on. Given it was ported to so many different systems, I have to assume that some people somewhere must have liked it. Maybe in Japan...?