Imperium (SNES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthrough on Vic Tokai's 1992 shoot 'em up for the Super Nintendo, Imperium.

Played through on the hard difficulty level.

Imperium is an excellent shoot 'em up that, though not the best one on the SNES, deserved much more fanfare than it ever received. It sold poorly and got very little coverage in magazines, and it ended up becoming one of those games that most people probably haven't ever even heard of, let alone played. The prices skyrocketed on the cart once it caught the eye of collectors and price-gouging eBayers, but if you ever get the opportunity to try it out, I highly recommend it.

Imperium might not be much to look at in screenshots, but man is it pretty when it's in motion! The detail of the sprite design in some places - wow! And those bosses! That scrolling cityscape in stage one always impressed me quite a bit, too - it's quite the memorable way to kick off the game.

The music, on the other hand, is unfortunately a bit of a mixed bag. Some of the compositions are truly extraordinary, and they do shine through at times, but the samples are awful and badly undermine the music's potential. It's all written as rock and metal, but half the time it sounds like a wonky calliope.

One thing that really stands out in this game is its power-up system. There aren't any weapon power icons to grab, but rather, as your score serves as an experience gauge, and you have to gain levels to upgrade the four guns you are armed with. Each can grow to a level 3 weapon, but your current gun loses a level if you are hit. While it sounds obnoxious, since each gun level shields your ship against damage, this nicely extends the amount of punishment you can absorb before going down.

And Imperium is happy to dish out the punishment. It's not a challenge on the same level as Super R-Type, but it is certainly no slouch. The normal mode is pretty reasonably paced, but I really had to practice to finish it on hard without getting a game over. I certainly enjoyed the test of skill, though.

It surprised me to learn that it was developed by Jorudan, as well. You might know them from their work developing Musya and Xardion (yeah, those mechs look familiar, don't they?), but if you know those games, dont worry. Even though this was made before either of those games, it is far superior to both of them. Musya and Xardion both suffered from huge ambitions and a lamentable lack of programming skill. Imperium realizes its potential in ways that those two games really should have.

If you enjoy the old classic 16-bit shoot 'em ups, Imperium is about as obscure and as niche of a title as you're going to find, but despite its complete lack of popularity, there is a lot to appreciate here.

*This video is a brand new recording to replace an older, far lower quality playthrough I had of the game in my SNES playlist. Make sure to watch it at 60fps!
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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