Mega SWIV is a top-down 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...

 released for the Mega Drive. It was released as Super SWIV on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...

 (Firepower 2000 in the US). It is the third game in the series, following 1988's Silkworm

Silkworm (video game)

Silkworm is a classic side scrolling shooter, developed by Tecmo and first released for arcade in 1988. In 1989 it was ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and NES systems by The Sales Curve and released by Virgin Mastertronic.Silkworm also spawned a sort-of...

and 1991's SWIV

SWIV

SWIV was a 2D vertically-scrolling Shoot 'em up game originally released in 1991 for the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC home computer formats....

for home computers. It was followed by SWIV 3D

SWIV 3D

SWIV 3D is a 3D video game remake of SWIV developed and published by SCi Games in 1996. It is the last game in the Silkworm/SWIV series and the only game of the series to use a voxel-based 3D engine....

in 1996.

Description

A secret underground race on an island in the Atlantic ocean has stolen top military vehicles and equipment from around the world and have rebuilt powerful war machines from them. They are even piloted by robots with one mission: to destroy. Military and intelligence officials of major countries have detected them, but they are afraid that they will be unable to prepare against an assault by this underground race. Their plan is to send you in to infiltrate their base and destroy them before they have a chance to unleash the war upon the rest of the world.

You can choose to control either the Helicopter or the Jeep, which have different advantages—for instance, the Helicopter is not stopped by obstacles but the Jeep can fire in any direction. There are nine weapons (five permanent, four short-lasting specials) you can pick up along the way to help you destroy the enemy.

Trivia

• The music used for boss battles and the entire final level of the SNES version is lifted from a scene in the film "The Terminator
  The Terminator
  The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, co-written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr., and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. The film was produced by Hemdale Film Corporation and distributed by Orion Pictures, and filmed in Los...
  
  " where Kyle Reese and a female fellow Tech-Com soldier engage an HK tank.

See also

• Silkworm
  Silkworm (video game)
  Silkworm is a classic side scrolling shooter, developed by Tecmo and first released for arcade in 1988. In 1989 it was ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and NES systems by The Sales Curve and released by Virgin Mastertronic.Silkworm also spawned a sort-of...
  
  , the original game in the series.
• SWIV
  SWIV
  SWIV was a 2D vertically-scrolling Shoot 'em up game originally released in 1991 for the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC home computer formats....
  
  , a very similar game on various home computer platforms

External links

• Firepower 2000 at MobyGames
  MobyGames
  -Platforms not yet included:- Further reading :* Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media; 2 edition , ISBN 0-07-223172-6...