Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth

Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth (スターソルジャー バニシングアース Sutā Sorujā Banishingu Āsu) is a 1998 shoot ’em up video game developed and published by Hudson Soft (Electro Brain for the North American release) for the Nintendo 64. It is a direct sequel to Soldier Blade and part of their Star Soldier series. A arcade version was released for the Seta’s Aleck64 Arcade board, which possessed hardware similar to the Nintendo 64.

Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth brings back most of the staple gameplay systems from previous titles back, with some changes and additions. Players can now pick up between three different ships, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. This games ditches the ability of swapping weapons during gameplay, as weapon types are now tied to each ship. Aside of the main weapon and smart bombs (here called Ex-Arms, of which each ship has two different ones), the ships also have a new Rolling maneuver, a defensive move which makes the ship briefly invincible and deflects enemy bullets.