gaiares

Gaiares (ガイアレス Gaiaresu) is a Japanese side-scrolling 2D space shooter video game released in 1990 by Telenet Japan for the Sega Mega Drive System and subsequently for its American counterpart, the Sega Mega Drive.

The name is supposedly a combination of "Gaia" (Mother Earth) and a shortened form/abbreviation of the word "rescue" (Res), which is the main objective of the battle taking place within the storyline.

The game is notable for its music, its graphics and its extremely high level of difficulty. Gaiares also featured one of the most original and unique weapon power-up systems in the shooters genre to date: The "TOZ System", a satellite device that can be fired out like the R-Type "Bit", except each time it comes into contact with an enemy, it inherits and learns its weapon configuration. In total there are 18 different weapons to be captured and each one varies depending on the strength meter and the type of enemy.