Satazius is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up released on Steam on December 16, 2011. The game draws influence from classic shoot 'em ups, with Thunder Force being amongst one of them. A sequel titled Satazius NEXT was released on the Nintendo Switch in May 2020
Synopsis[]
In the year 2051, a cruiser called the Agano was patrolling an abandoned planet by the name of Satazius when it was attacked by a confederacy of space pirates. The pirates reason to do so is so that they could get their hands on a unique starfighter dubbed "Trafalgar", which was stored aboard the Agano. Despite managing to bring down the giant cruiser, the pirates failed to retrieve the Trafalgar, as the small starfighter managed to escape the attack just in time.
The crew of the Trafalgar calculated the probability of destroying the pirate's headquarters to be only a slim 1%, while configuring an even lower 0.2% chance of successfully escaping the planet. Deciding to go with higher probability escape plan, the crew of the Trafalgar began a mission to locate and destroy the heart of Satazius pirates.
Gameplay[]
The game features a total of 13 different weapons, which are categorize into three groups: primary, secondary, and special power weapons, of which the player can choose one of each with the exception of secondary weapons as a means to switch between them. Many of these weapons pay a homage to several classic shoot 'em ups, such as a laser similar to that from the Gradius series, or a homing device that bears an eerie appearance and performance to that of the Hunter from the Thunder Force series.
The Campaign consists of only four levels, a small number compared to the amount in many classic shoot 'em ups. Alongside a menagerie of various enemies, the game also features a number of environmental hazards. At the end of each level, there is boss, a common recurring feature to shoot 'em ups, many of these bosses bare resemblances to those from Gradius and have a weak spot located somewhere on their body where the Trafalgar must concentrate fire on in order to defeat them.