Used to be a time when shooters graced the arcades, and companies like Irem sat at the top of their craft, producing one solid space-faring saga after another. You don’t have to look beyond their beloved R-Type series to see what I mean. That was a franchise built out of love, yet conveyed with loathing. Methodical, precise, difficult – the series still conjures memories of challenging episodes and unmitigated ardor. But perhaps you’d be surprised to learn that Irem didn’t limit itsel...

Image Fight on the NES is absolutely horrible. Or at least that’s what you’re going to believe. This review won’t convince you otherwise. It’s not that my writing won’t move you to think the opposite, but the screenshots will strive to keep you in the dark. The pictures tell the real story, not the words. Please don’t like this game.

More than two years after its initial release, Image Fight stood defiant on the PC Engine as one of the finest shooters the system had to offer. It had graced the arcades, sold its soul to the devil to appear on the NES, and even graced the likes of a couple of obscure Japanese computers. But now it was on the PC Engine where it deserved to be. A hardcore shooter on a system known for its hardcore shooters. This is how things should have been from the start.