is a shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...

 video game developed and manufactured by Sega

Sega

, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...

 for the Master System in 1986.

Game description

The game is a basic top down shooter that was common at the time, similar to Zanac

Zanac

is an arcade-style shoot 'em up video game designed by Compile and published in Japan by Pony Canyon and in North America by FCI.It was released for the MSX computer, the Family Computer Disk System, the Nintendo Entertainment System, and for the Virtual Console. It was reworked for the MSX2...

for the NES

Nes

-Localities:In Norway:* Nes, Akershus, a municipality in the county of Akershus in Norway* Nes, Buskerud, a municipality in the county of Buskerud in Norway* Nes, Hedmark, a former municipality in the county of Hedmark in Norway...

. The game plays through three levels with a boss at the end of each. Astro Warrior's three levels each have many different kinds of enemies that attack in various patterns. The stages themselves have no obstacles. Like most shooters, learning the enemies' patterns and how best to deal with them is the key to success in Astro Warrior. The player can also collect helpful power-ups by shooting at targets on the ground. These include ship speed increase, a stronger laser weapon, and two Gradius

Gradius

The Gradius games, first introduced in 1985, make up a series of scrolling shooter video games published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper...

-style options.

Bosses

At the end of each stage is one of three large bosses, whose names are Zanoni, Nebiros, and Belzebul.

Differences in versions

The game was released as a stand-alone game, as a combo cartridge with Hang-On

Hang-On

Hang-On is an arcade game released by Sega in 1985. It is the world's first full-body-experience video game. In the game, the player controls a motorcycle against time and other computer-controlled bikes. It was one of the first arcade games to use 16-bit graphics and Sega's "Super Scaler"...

and a combo cartridge with Pit Pot

Pit Pot

Pit Pot is a video game developed and manufactured by Sega for the Master System. The Japanese version was released in 1985 and the export version in 1986...

. There are no differences in gameplay between them except the game ends after you beat Belzebul the third time on the Hang-On/Astro Warrior double cart. The other versions cycle infinitely. The programmers almost taunt the player with the strange phrase "Surely Revive (boss name)" after each boss is defeated.

In Brazil, Tec Toy

Tec Toy

Tectoy is a Brazilian videogame and electronics company. They are best known for publishing and distributing Sega's consoles and video games in that country. The company stock is also traded at Bovespa...

released the game as Sapo Xulé: S.O.S. Lagoa Poluida (translated as "Smeely Feet Frog: S.O.S. Poisoned Lagoon"), where the player's ship was altered to look like a cartoony ship piloted by Sapo Xulé (a Brazilian comic/cartoon frog character), and the background was recolored green so that the levels resemble a swamp. This version of the game was released in 1995.