67. Cybernator

(SNES/PS2/Wii Virtual, NCS Corporation, 1992, JPN title: "Assault Suits Valken")
I'm not really a mech suit guy, I like my fair share of Anime, but it's generally angry hitmen and sexy cartoon women that float my boat, whilst I'm aware of the popularity of giant robot suits, they're just not for me.

Back in the SNES days, I would play anything, regardless of it's content or quality, so I borrowed Cybernator from a schoolyard chum despite it's schmuppy, sci-fi, mech suit presentation, I also had a big Konami kick going on at the time as they rarely let me down when it came to the Super Nintendo. A sequel of sorts to 1990's Target Earth, Cybernator (or it's cooler Japanese name of Assault Suits Valken) is a sideways scrolling run and gun which follows the tour of duty of Jake, a young man piloting a huge mech battle suit. Working for "The Federation" Jake and his comrades in arms engage in combat against rival alliances in an intergalactic war over the few fossil fuels left in the universe. With many planets and cities already lying a smouldering mess, Jake must help prevent these fuels falling into the wrong hands whilst coming to terms with the violence he has been thrown into at such a young age

Yes. Yes it is.

The player controls Jake's mech suit which has eight directional fire and a selection of weaponry, as well as a shield and a dash attack. Good thing he's armed to the teeth, as Jake will be under constant attack from all directions by an onslaught of airborne weaponry, gun emplacements and a variety of opposing mechs. The levels are large in scale and there is usually several routes through to one of the game's mighty bosses. The controllers at The Federation radio Jake during play, updating him on his suit's status and offering advice to help him out in the warzone.

Cybernator is a great game, It's exciting, controls well, has great atmosphere and even squeezes in a story which has two endings depending on the player's actions on a certain mission. The sprites are all well detailed, despite their size and the game has some real smooth parallax scrolling. Top it off with cool explosive effects and a pumping soundtrack and Cybernator is very hard to dislike.
The game has both visuals and a style of gameplay that date well, making it as playable today as it was on it's release. With the huge amount of games pointlessly getting the HD remake overhaul at the moment, it seems a shame that games like Cybernator are unlikely to be picked up for the same treatment. It seems like one of the few games that would be well suited for it, especially seeing as the Western SNES release was censored and the PS2 remake was redundant. As such, it still feels like this game deserves a "Definitive" version.