Phelios | SEGA Genesis | Free Retro Games

GAME INFO

Phelios is a 1989 vertical scrolling shooter video game released for the Namco System 2 arcade platform in Japan by Namco. A Sega Genesis port was released in 1990. The game features a plot loosely based on Greek mythology.

The player takes control of Apollo, who is mounted upon the back of his winged horse Pegasus; pressing the firing button makes his sword fire a tiny shot, while holding it down charges the sword up, and upon releasing the button the sword shoots a bigger fireball. Even the smallest enemies take multiple hits, so the standard shot is of little use - and each of the game's seven stages is divided into between two and four sections (the transition from one to another is indicated by a block of Japanese text appearing at the bottom of the screen and a change in music).

At the end of every stage, Apollo must also defeat a boss character from Greek myth: Medusa, the Graeae, the Siren, Antaeus, Scylla (who has taken on the form of the "Crystal Brain" from the aforementioned Bakutotsu Kijūtei), Cerberus, and Typhon himself; once he has done so, he will proceed to the enchanted mirror at the back of the boss character temple, before the game segues into the next stage.

Apollo can take up to four hits before dying (indicated by the "playing-cards" hearts at the bottom of the screen, and determined by how the cabinet is set), but will die instantly if he flies into a wall or touches a boss's head - and this game also features voice samples (in Japanese for the original arcade and Japanese Mega Drive versions, but in English for the North American Genesis and European Mega Drive versions).

And if the "rank select" option in the arcade version's option menu has been set to "on", players will also be able to select an "easy" or "hard" game mode, once they have inserted their coin; however, the "easy" mode only features the first four stages and does not feature the game's complete ending sequence as a result of it.