gaiares

Gaiares (Gaiaresu) is a Japanese side-scrolling 2D space shooter video game released in 1990 by Telenet Japan for the Sega Mega Drive System and subsequently for its American counterpart, the Sega Genesis.

The name is supposedly a combination of "Gaia" and a shortened form/abbreviation of the word "rescue" (Res), which is the main objective of the battle taking place within the storyline.

The game is notable for its epic music, its "anime style" long cinemas and video game graphics, as well as its extremely high level of difficulty.

Gaiares also featured one of the most original and unique weapon power-up systems in the shooters genre to date: The "TOZ System", a satellite device that can be fired out like the R-Type "Bit", except each time it comes into contact with an enemy, it inherits and learns its weapon configuration. In total there are 18 different weapons to be captured and each one varies depending on the strength meter and the type of enemy.

The "T-Braster", the most powerful weapon in the game (and completely necessary to finish it), can be obtained by launching the TOZ System towards the vacuum of space 6 times without hitting anything, and then capturing a weapon from the nearest enemy.