As shmups go, Syder Arcade is mediocre at best. The good things about it are elements of every shmup ever, but the things that aren't so good are its own additions.

There are multiple ships, none of which can possibly hope to match the power of the forward-shooting laser gun ship. Each ship has its own special weapon, none of which can possibly hope to match the power of the same ship's big-ass laser. Level 3 has some very questionable design where part of the background is the exact same color as most enemy bullets, effectively making their shots invisible if they pass over it. The dialogue is so short, uninformative, cliched and referential that it actually detracts from the gameplay and would be better off being removed. There's a "hyperspeed" mechanic where if you keep going forward for a few seconds you get a speed boost, but it's not used very often - mostly on the last level, where you risk instant death from collision damage as a result. You can also turn around, unlike most shmups, but like the hyperspeed it's very under-utilized as 2/3rds of the levels go in one direction only and on the others you mostly just flip back and forth to face different waves.

It's not BAD, but it's not good either. Which brings me to the opening line: mediocre at best.

As shmups go, Syder Arcade is mediocre at best. The good things about it are elements of every shmup ever, but the things that aren't so good are its own additions. There are multiple ships, none of which can possibly hope to match the power of the forward-shooting laser gun ship. Each ship has its own special weapon, none of which can possibly hope to match the power of the same ship's big-ass laser. Level 3 has some very questionable design where part of the background is the exact same color as most enemy bullets, effectively making their shots invisible if they pass over it. The dialogue is so short, uninformative, cliched and referential that it actually detracts from the gameplay and would be better off being removed. There's a "hyperspeed" mechanic where if you keep going forward for a few seconds you get a speed boost, but it's not used very often - mostly on the last level, where you risk instant death from collision damage as a result. You can also turn around, unlike most shmups, but like the hyperspeed it's very under-utilized as 2/3rds of the levels go in one direction only and on the others you mostly just flip back and forth to face different waves. It's not BAD, but it's not good either. Which brings me to the opening line: mediocre at best.