Psyvariar: Complete Edition (PlayStation 2)

Two games in one pack (Psyvariar Medium Unit together with revision), Psyvariar is a vertical-scrolling sci-fi shooter.

In the game, the human race has been exiled out of the solar system, and now live a peaceful existence under the watchful eye of the GUIS AI. Unfortunately a recent super nova has caused the AI to go out of control, and threatens to use the same weapons and defensive capabilities that kept humanity alive in outer space to completely destroy them.

You star as a lone pilot who must fly his mecha deep into the core of GUIS and destroy it before its too late, shooting your way through several enemy-infested stages (6 in the original, 8 in the arranged version) with the next stage being decided by the rank you get in the previous one. The game doesn’t feature much in the way of power-ups or upgradeable weapons, but instead features the unique “Buzz” system, which increases your rate of fire and power in relation to horizontal rolling and movement, encouraging the player to move all over the screen. Also, your mecha has a unique power-bar that can only be filled by “buzzing” enemy bullets, which involves getting close to said bullets so that they scrape the edges of your mecha and charge it up. When max power is reached you can become invulnerable for a short time, which you can use to continue buzzing and extend your invulnerability to survive the intricate attack patterns.

The game uses polygonal graphics and features both the original arcade Psyvariar Medium Unit and a Revision mode, which upgrades the graphics and adds a few stages.