Developer - Aisystem Tokyo / UPL   Catalogue No. - T-42023

Type - Horizontal Shooter

Originally released in the arcades in 1990 by game maker UPL and a year later on the Mega Drive, Uchuu Senkan Gomora or Space Battleship Gomora to give the game an English translation was UPL's only Mega Drive release before they went bankrupt.  Although many of UPL's other arcade games were ported to the Mega Drive by Treco and Taito such as Atomic Robo Kid, Fire Mustang and Taskforce Harrier EX, Uchuu Senkan Gomora was the only game ported by UPL themselves in conjunction with Aisystem Tokyo who also ported many games for Taito including Ninja Warriors and Night Striker on the Mega CD and Darius Gaiden on the Saturn.

Anyway, back to the game in question.  The original arcade version of Uchuu Senkan Gomora was released in the west under the name of Bio-Ship Paladin however the Mega Drive version was only released in Japan.  The odd thing is though, if you play this game in a PAL Mega Drive or US Genesis, the western title screen of Bio-Ship Paladin is displayed.  It makes you wonder if UPL were planning on releasing this in the west before they went bankrupt.

From the screen shots on the back of the box, this game looks to be a graphical masterpiece.  Looks can be deceiving though.  The biggest issue is that the backgrounds aren't really animated so while they do look nice in screen shots, they don't really offer much in motion.  Still, the overall graphical presentation is nice enough for a game from 1991.

Trying not to blend in with the crowded scene of shooting games in the early 90's, UPL have given Uchuu Senkan Gomora quite a unique and some would say bloody stupid control system.  The A button shoots your main weapons as well as charging them by holding down the A button.  The B button fires off a sub weapon.  Now the C button allows you to move a target around the screen while using the A button to fire of lasers in the direction of the target.  This is listed as "PAD MODE".  Unfortunately, while in "PAD MODE" you can't move your ship leaving it open to enemy assault.  The 2 player mode is quite interesting though.  You can either play a standard 2 player game with two ships on screen blasting away at the enemy OR player 1 can control the main ship while player 2 controls the target. Quite a unique system for it's time and one that works quite well.

While Uchuu Senkan Gomora is no Thunder Force 4 or Element Down, it's still quirky enough to warrant a try at least.