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Once upon a time there was a bunny girl called Rami. Rami was a descendant of Noah, the highly-acclaimed creator of the Ark. She was also the guardian of a key to the secrets of the legendary Ark. Each day, Rami would dress up in her finest pair of fish-net stockings and floppy ears and ride around on her pet dragon Pochi. Often old men would pay her money to do this. Then one day, an evil super-genius raccoon called Dr Pon stole her key and escaped in the Ark. Using the key he intended to unlock the Ark's secrets and use them to take over the world. Only Rami had the power to stop him. Tightening the strap on her fluffy tail, she climbed aboard Pochi and set off in hot pursuit.

Would she reclaim the key? Would Dr Pan take over the world? Does Dr Pan get turned on by bunny girls? Could a raccoon and a bunny girl ever find true love? Will Rami ever star in another of those under-the-counter videos? Only you can decide in this bizarre Mega-CD shoot-'em-up from Victor.

A shoot-'em-up starring a bunny girl and Noah's Ark. Intriguing!

Fly through eight levels of action, shooting baddies and avoiding damage. The aim is to beat all eight end-of-level bosses.

Being a Mega-CD game, Keio Flying Squadron has the customary animated intro. Featuring the usual brand of Manga-style cartoon action, this intro not only tells the story of how Dr Pon stole the key and Rami transformed into a bunny girl but also includes a brief explanation of Japan's civil unrest during the time the game is supposed to be set. Unfortunately, as it's all in Japanese, it doesn't make the slightest sense.

Hidden in various places throughout the game are a number of extra lives. However, you're going to have to look in some of the strangest places to find these bonus credits. For instance, on level two there is a giant salmon swimming up a waterfall. The credit is inside the salmon! Fly over the big fish and voila, one instant credit is yours!

Should you find yourself with a bit of breathing space during the mass blasting-fest it's best to stop firing. This gives Pochi time to generate some miniature Pochi-Escorts. Two of these little fellas can be created at any one time and they fly around Rami letting off their own brand of mini fireball. What's more, if things start getting hairy, a quick tap of the C-button detonates one of the Pochi-Escorts blowing up everything on-screen.

Strip Keio Flying Squadron of all the cartoon festivities and it remains essential for any serious shoot-'em-up fanatic! Though the majority of the game seems quite possible with the Megadrive alone the clear voice of the Mega-CD allows the game's soundtracks to really shine. They are superb. The path followed by the gameplay is nothing new, but there are a few old dogs being taught new tricks, particularly where the bosses are concerned.

All characters encountered are certainly as far removed from being typical as Keio is from your average human being! This means that players are seldom bored by the action because there is nothing expected, only surprises. All except death which, not surprisingly, comes readily at first as this game is so unbelievably tough! As Tom states in his own special way, this could easily be a cartridge-based game but the fact is that it is still 90% excellent and 100% gotta-have!

Keio Flying Squadron might look like a complete rip-off of Parodius, but it soon becomes clear that this game has a lot of fresh ideas. The crazy boss contraptions are all made of bamboo, ships sport pagoda roofs and the soundtrack has been played on genuine Oriental instruments. There's so much attention to detail. Raccoons fiddle in their pockets before pulling out catapults, or perform breathing exercises before diving off a cliff. What's more, Keio Flying Squadron is a tough blasting challenge. The screen is always packed with baddies and it really takes time working out the bosses' weak spots. However, this game just doesn't scream "Mega-CD" at you.

Yes, it has a great musical score and animated intro, and granted it probably wouldn't have such a wide variety of sprites without the massive CD storage space, but you still can't help thinking it could have been a cartridge game.

Regardless though, this game would be a top-notch shoot-'em-up on any system. If you have a Mega-CD, get this...

Presentation 84%
P. A superb animated intro and some great intermission screens.
N. A wealth of options, but they're all in Japanese. D'oh!

Graphics 90%
P. Fabulous colourful backdrops and masses of superbly animated sprites.
N. There's a bit of sprite flicker when things get busy.

Sound 91%
P. Fantastic soundtracks, CD-quality and extremely catchy too!
N. Some of the spot-effects aren't so impressive.

Playability 90%
P. Highly responsive controls make it very playable and it's instantly fun and addictive.

Lastability 86%
P. Well-graded difficulty that allows you to get just a bit further with every go. And it's a tough challenge too.
N. Once you've seen it, you've seen it.

Overall 90%
Although it doesn't make great use of the Mega-CD hardware, this is still a brilliant shoot-'em-up. Thoroughly recommended.