Uch� Senkan Gomora Shrine

http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/arcade/b/biopa-3.pnghttp://www.vgmuseum.com/end/arcade/b/biopa-4.png
http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/arcade/b/biopa-6.pnghttp://s.emuparadise.org/MAME/titles/sbsgomo.png
http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/arcade/b/biopa-8.pnghttp://www.vgmuseum.com/end/arcade/b/biopa-9.png

Welcome to the Uch� Senkan Gomora Shrine! Known outside of Japan as Bio-Ship Paladin (and commonly romanized as Uchuu Senkan Gomora), this horizontally-scrolling arcade shmup doesn’t have the best reputation among gamers nowadays. It’s pacing is grindingly slow, and combined with the massive size of your player ship and an "interesting" stop-and-crosshair mechanic, it’s not difficult to see why this concept didn’t exactly take off. Look past the awkwardness of some of these design decisions and you’ll find the definition of a hidden gem. Maybe a bit misshapen, but a gem nonetheless. The promotional artwork alone is some of the most stunning mech-space-sci-fi covers I’ve seen in a long time, and I always found the overall marketing fairly tasteful for the era. The graphics are dense and detailed with large sprite sizes, and were a decent showing for their time; it’s just unfortunate the gameplay doesn’t age as well as the presentation.

But the music. Some of the hardest-hitting bass you’ll ever hear accompanying FM rock; the synth guitar and metallic grit come at you so heavily, and it all just works so well. The composition can come off as lacking in some parts, but this is absolutely made up-for in the excellent sound programming. Uch� Senkan Gomora’s drums are INCREDIBLY strong and does a lot in lifting what would be average FM arcade music to something much more compelling. They might be a touch strong for some listeners, though personally I’ve always found their high volume to still be very listenable, and it certainly creates a unique style of music and sound only really found in select games in a select era. Maybe it doesn’t seem like much, but these drums alone really do add such a timeless charm to the game. They help me imagine Yoshio Nagashima as some gritty punk kid playing these songs out of a Japanese garage somewhere, the same kind of feeling I get listening to something like Battle Mania Daiginjō… something between traditional game music and garage rock. A very odd and interesting something, but something worth remembering.

Review (Japanese) (http://www.ne.jp/asahi/cc-sakura/akkun/bekkan/gomora.html)
SHMUPS Forum Post (https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=53189)

Uch� Senkan Gomora (PCCB-00050)
Yoshio Nagashima
Shared by Myrkul in 2009
VGMdb (http://vgmdb.net/album/647)
Share Thread (Thread 40557)

Megaupload (Original) (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1ZI61R7M)
MEGA (Shrine) (https://mega.nz/#!c15RwBzZ!EYn6Wy9I_HCvKC1QSB15Ni9pEUtvkiC2Cv7PSqgJNN4)
Uch� Senkan Gomora (Arcade)
Yoshio Nagashima
Ripped by nx666 in 2016

Release Thread (Thread 194543)
MEGA (Original) (http://mega.nz/#!mMwggaJY!62DbTWqwz1pPWL0iC99Kl2fVm02TUVLUCEWaPwyV51I)
MEGA (Shrine) (https://mega.nz/#!cpozGYRT!hfmzjFLbyGNcEi4S7Qk3bujkFCtpd4O-0kgxtN129zM)
Uch� Senkan Gomora (Sega Mega Drive)
Yoshio Nagashima
Ripped by ruiner9 in 2016

Release Thread (Thread 138495)
MEGA (Original) (https://mega.nz/#F!N4VzRQjR!-hbnaqL5jESr_X-rvfe9tw)
MEGA (Shrine) (https://mega.nz/#!IhAWULBJ!l543mp6ci4GoeX1phfjDuYfXyymWky9FlFecKHmx714)
Vandyke (Arcade)
Yoshio Nagashima
Ripped by nx666 in 2015

Release Thread (Thread 194543)
MEGA (Original) (http://mega.nz/#!7NYGzAqR!XuMeJkJR9D5RG_uALRP_uqL0rIEliPcmIw4kBW6xMZQ)
MEGA (Shrine) (https://mega.nz/#!R9ZTxAgB!ZaywpKDwEvszflJoJFJ5CRMgY2jJrwlf5_MsxbOE40k)