Strikers 1945 II

Strikers 1945 II (ストライカーズ1945II) is a vertically-scrolling shoot 'em up game developed and originally published by Psikyo in 1997 for the arcades as a follow-up to Strikers 1945. This game was also ported by Kuusou Kagaku to the PlayStation and Sega Saturn for Psikyo and re-released by Success in 2000. Agetec released Strikers 1945 II for the PlayStation in North America under the title Strikers 1945 in 2001, and Midas Games released it in Europe as a budget title in 2003. The game was also included in Psikyo Shooting Collection Vol. 1: Strikers 1945 I&II by Taito for PlayStation 2, later was released as a downloadable title for PlayStation Network by GungHo Online Entertainment, and finally for Android and iOS by Mobirix (as STRIKERS 1945-2).

Gameplay
As in Strikers 1945, the player chooses one of six World War II-era fighter planes, then uses machine guns and bombs to fight through eight stages (the first four stages being in random order and the latter four stages in linear fashion). Once the game is beaten, a report showing how well the player did is displayed, and the game 'loops' with the difficulty much higher. Each game begins with three lives, and an extend is earned at 600,000. When all lives are lost, the option to continue is given but the score is reset.

In the console versions, from the fifth stage onwards, in addition to the score being reset, the player must also replay the stage where they lost all their lives from the beginning.

Plot
Continuing where the last game ended, the forces of C.A.N.Y. have been demolished by the Strikers. However, a faction known as the F.G.R. now has the C.A.N.Y. technology and plans to initiate global warfare with massive mecha technology. Once again, the Strikers are called into action to save the world.

Reception
Strikers 1945 II was mostly well received. Three reviewers from the Japanese Sega Saturn Magazine gave the version for this system the scores of 9-8-8/10, while French magazine Consoles + rated both the Saturn and PlayStation ports an 88%. Similarly, the original arcade version received a score of 88% from French magazine Player One.

On the other hand, Miguel Lopez from GameSpot gave the PlayStation release only a 5.8/10, recommending it just for the fans of the genre. IGN's David Smith voiced a similar opinion, but nevertheless gave it a "good" score of 7.3/10.