Arcade Flyer
Plus Alpha stars two girls, Selia and Rumy, in round ships that kind of resemble TwinBee, but it doesn’t do much with the cute -em-up aesthetic beyond that. As the heroines attempt to liberate seven countries from the villains, you’ll encounter some things that fit the subgenre like bright flower fields, little bees and a group of cute fiery wisps, but many of the enemies are just generic looking vehicles and most of the environments are plain choices like deserts and valleys. It’s an uneven game, offering glimmers of potential while just as often making the attainment of said potential more trouble than it’s worth. There’s even a sign that says “Kusoge” that the player is respawned in front of whenever they lose to the final boss! This was likely put in by Jaleco for a laugh – some self-deprecating humor that’s “cute” in its own way – but a frustrated player could uncharitably read it as a lack of confidence in the game.
Plus Alpha’s inconsistencies bleed into its mechanics. The main hook here is that you can get three different power-ups that transform your ship, your main weapon, and also changes the effect of your bombs, which are replenished after each stage. The three ships are the Poopera biplane, the Jitter jet, and the Helipo helicopter. The standard spread shot feels like the clear winner in most situations and its bomb hits a wide range hard, but the other shots are interesting, with one being a sine wave and the other moving behind you before it launches forward. There’s also a very uncommon laser that’ll decimate foes if you can find and keep it. All shots become powerful after many upgrades, but getting to that point can take a large portion of a loop and a single mistake will send you back to a (sometimes questionably chosen) checkpoint with nothing to your name.
Unfortunately, Plus Alpha just doesn’t feel great to play. Your ship moves too slowly and erratic bouts of slowdown can make reacting to attacks difficult. Power-ups are uncommon and their movement patterns make them tricky to get at times. Boss fights are volatile and they’ll either beat you in a blink or you’ll win easily with a few bombs. This dynamic was at least taken into consideration, though, because any unused bombs will go towards a post-stage minigame that can grant power-ups and points if you’re lucky. Experienced players can opt to save their bombs for this, whereas newer players can go as wild as they please without feeling like they’re missing out. Hidden bombs also exist, which make taking advantage of this system and clearing the game quite a bit easier.
Plus Alpha was not a particularly impactful game in its time – though it’s still one of the more recognizable Jaleco shoot-em-ups – but Selia did find her way into Game Tengoku as a playable character. There was also a sequel in the form of Plus Beta in 2007, but it was limited to Japanese Yahoo cell phones, making it even more obscure.
