U.N. Squadron (Review)

Summary: U.N. Squadron is a highly engaging side-scrolling shooter, featuring an impressive array of weaponry, military themed skirmishes and strategic gameplay. The game’s approachable difficulty, simple design, and funky bass-slapping synth-pop soundtrack make it accessible to newbies and experienced players alike.


U.N. Squadron is loosely based on a manga called Area 88, in which a group of mercenary pilots are fighting a civil war in a Middle Eastern kingdom. The game skimps out on the drama of the book, in favour of the dogfight element, which is represented as a side-scrolling shooter.

Ready your jet rookie; it’s time to thwart Project 4!

There are three pilots to choose from: Shin Kazama, Mickey Scymon, and Greg Gates. Each of the characters has strengths and weaknesses that carry over into the battlefield in form of hit points, armour strength and speed of weapon upgrades.

Do you go for more resilient armour or more firepower?

Only one plane is available at the start, and the funding you have only nets you a couple of basic weapons. This can quickly be remedied by selecting numerous missions, which upon completion net you necessary funds for further armament.

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Most of the levels are available from the start via a tactical map. Knowing which mission to undertake, and when, is key to progressing through this battle. Not all of the levels are static. Enemy squadrons advance hastily onto your base when uncontested, adding a strategic element to the game. Between the core missions you can raid supply convoys to make extra money for new planes or weapons.

What's your favourite convoy-busting strategy? 

Each of the six planes is designed for specific tasks, such as dogfights, ground assaults or gunship battles. All the jets feel unique, and each one is capable of different armament. The weapons are an eclectic mix, adding another layer to the strategy: you have standard bombs, missiles, lasers, upward-firing gun pods, armour-piercing magma drills, and even a rancid acid rain bomb.

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You’ll skirmish within thunderous skies, assault jungle strongholds, face oceanic battles, engage an atomic class submarine, and infiltrate a subterranean fortress. These multilayered backdrops are painted with a generous amount of detail [interjected] with FX such as glimmering lightning, scrolling clouds and radiant heatwaves. The sprites are clear well detailed and smoothly animated.

The bosses stand impressively large, are very imaginative and challenging. Some later boss battles require multiple fly-through attacks in which your plane gets turned around – a neat tactical trick. You’ll need to stay focused while assaulting mobile plane transports, squadrons of ace pilots in prototype stealth machines, long-range sea destroyers, and ceiling crawling mountain breakers.

The 16-bit era has been very kind to shooter fanatics, because of the numerous and well refined titles such as this one. U.N. Squadron is an instant classic filled with juggernaut war machines, solid graphics, engaging and memorable musical score, and a slew of cool realistic planes loaded with earth-shattering Sci-fi armament.

There’s no filler in this squadron, it’s all explosive material. Handle it well pilot.

Developer:   Capcom
Publisher:    Capcom
Platform:     SNES
Released:    1991
Genre:         Scrolling shooter