Dragon Spirit is a shameless vertical scrolling shooter - so for lovers of this genre, this is a pretty good download as
Control of the dragon itself is fairly fluid, although I have issues with the diagonal directions (they just seem hard to find on the Wiimote), and dodging the enemy fire is usually difficult, but not impossible - this is no Raiden. The power-up system is a little strange at first, but makes it's own strange sense in the end. A nice touch was the inclusion of power-downs - not that I've seen one on screen yet...
To gain more fire-power (the shoot-em-ups must-have), you simply pick up floating tokens (jewels?) that allow you grow another head. This conveniently doubles your firepower. Pick another up, and you've grown another head and tripled your firepower. You now fire three scorching lines of fireballs, as well as three synchronised air-to-ground bomblets. Not bad.
The level design is a little bland - the enemies take up the usual patterns, and some just seem to be plopped in a spot randomly. Most of the stages have a dis-ordered feel to them, and it's not unusual to find strange clumps of enemies, or even long gaps between them. I guess the animal kingdom is less ordered than what we're used to in space-shooters.
What makes this game difficult is the lack of continues. This was a disappointment for me. Neither can you enter a name for your high score. It just remembers the value, with no name attached. It seems so cold and impersonal.
Oh, and once you're fully powered-up, you are suddenly a much bigger target, and avoiding enemy fire is much harder. And you will die much easier. Repeat - you WILL die. You feel like you're maneuvering Donkey-Kong through an antique store.
What this game lacks in gameplay, it compensates with art direction. So, although there are other TurboGrafx games that are probably a better shooter ("Gate of Thunder" for one), this one stands out a bit more because of it's strange setting. It is more than just a curiosity though, as the game itself requires a lot of skill. The inclusion of air AND ground enemies makes for some tricky focus-swapping. Dodging a bullet while bombing the ground uses two parts of your brain - apparently.