An ambitious project that is over way too quickly.
I felt a little guilty giving it this score. Afterall, it was the last game the great company Toaplan (makers of the Truxton series) ever made. It also was the first manic shooter ever. It first graced the arcades back in 1993. It was the inspiration for DonPachi and ultimately the DoDonPachi series. It has several great elements to it as well. You can choose from 3 fighters and their alter egos. Each, of course, varies in firepower and speed. And let me tell you about the firepower: it literally blankets the screen. Best of all, you can power up your gun with experience points, much like in Radiant Silvergun. Max Level is 3, unfortunately. There is still old shmup conventions like power-ups, options and screen clearing bombs. The bosses are large and powerful and have no problem decimating you. You can also choose from two sound arrangements.
Now for the bad stuff. First off, it's only five levels long and these levels are really short. The game can be beat in 15-20 minutes. Secondly, there's no ending; it just loops around at a harder difficulty. All you get are a few cutscenes, not even an intro video. The graphics are OK, but seeing as it was released on the Sega Saturn in 1996, the graphics seem dated. The difficulty is also tough, but not frustrating. The game starts out slow, but really picks up by the third level. By the fourth level it is beating you down unrelentingly. The enemies are pretty generic, too. I can forgive all these flaws if the game had more extras like galleries or video cutscenes, but the game is bare bones in it's presentation.
Bottom Line: A great time waster if you have 15-20 minutes to spare. It has the white knuckle intensity as is common with manic shooters. Its sparse five levels and lack of options hinder it. It's pretty expensive online too ($80+). For my money, I'd get the superior and comparatively priced Battle Garegga or Soukyugurentai for about half the price.