Shortly after Natsume finished work on Tokkyu Shirei Solbrain, an edited version of their masterpiece Shatterhand, they were contracted by Bandai subsidiary Angel (publisher of Solbrain) to create another game based upon the world of Toei's Japanese superheroes. This time intentionally. Unfortunately, Choujin Sentai (Birdman Squadron) Jetman is a far, far cry from the quality of Shatterhand, but still has enough merit to be reasonably entertaining, even if only for a few hours.

Much like Natsume's past Famicom titles Dragon Fighter, Kage, and Solbrain, Jetman is an arcade-inspired side-view action game where the player fights with a mixture of short-range and projectile attacks. Before each stage (which are selected manually as in Rockman) you'll have a choice of the five Jetmen with one of these two attack styles. At the end of each stage you're summoned by a giant robot to do battle with kaiju, replacing typical boss battles with one-on-one brawls in a manner reminiscent of many boxing games of the time.

By almost every measure, Choujin Sentai Jetman is the definition of no-frills. Unlike Shatterhand, Power Blade 2 (Captain Saver,) and similar late-generation Famicom action games, there are no distinguishing features to the control of your character. Depending on the Jetman picked, you'll get either a melee weapon or a gun, a kick, and a screen-clearing special attack. The gun characters are more fun to play as, since the kick move (done with up plus attack) has the same properties as the other characters' melee weapons and their lower stamina won't be an issue for most players given the low challenge. The special attack, while useful, is a poor replacement for an interesting sub-weapon or power-up system. At least it can be said that everything (running, jumping, crouching, attacking) controls exactly like it should.

In spite of the banality of the player actions there could still for hope for Jetman if the stage layouts were stimulating enough, but they are equally as mundane. Instead of the twisting structures filled with all kinds of obstacles like Shatterhand, Jetman has literally straightforward stages without any kind of real platforming. The layouts are comparable to Green Beret (Rush 'n Attack,) Spartan X (Kung Fu,) and The Ninja Warriors; just move right and hit things. The last potential saving grace is the enemy design, which is actually somewhat decent, but there's a definite want of either more variety or more numerous enemies by the third stage. Also, because of the straight stages, you can simply jump over or run under a majority of enemies in the game if you really wanted to.

During boss fights, you'll take command of the super robot Great Icarus and the game switches to something akin to a side-view Punchout. In this mode you have a punch combo, a block, a jump (useless,) and a special projectile move which changes depending on how full its gauge is. These fights look good and feel good, but every boss has essentially the same pattern, making every stage after the first anti-climactic. Yet another missed opportunity.

One area where the game manages to be sufficient is the presentation. The larger graphics used for the cutscenes and boss fights are top of the line 8-bit style. The other visuals, while no Shatterhand, are still appealing. Special mention goes to Iku Mizutani for creating yet another excellent soundtrack full of heroic anthems worthy of becoming opening themes for any number of Japanese superhero shows. The only thing missing is the Hironobu Kageyama vocal treatment.

Small development time or publisher interference; who knows what accounts for this uncharacteristically average effort from Natsume. But like I said, the fundamentals are all there, so it'll still be possible to derive some enjoyment from Choujin Sentai Jetman for a few hours. If you try out the unlockable difficulties (A + B + Start at Title screen) or are bent on beating the game without getting hit you might just be able to extend the longevity to a weekend. But nothing more.

SHOCK VALUE: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆