Alpha Mission

Alpha Mission (ASO: Armored Scrum Object in Japan) is a vertical scrolling shooter arcade game created by SNK in 1985. It was later ported to the NES/Famicom in 1987. The game spawned a more successful sequel in 1991, Alpha Mission II for the Neo Geo arcade and console platform.

Story
In the galaxy of Tetranova, a fierce war between seven stars has laid waste to their planets. Having destroyed each other's homes, the seven stars have formed an alliance to seek a new home, where they can rebuild and regain their strength to go to war once again. The planet they have chosen is Earth!

You must pilot the fighter SYD against the deadly fleet of the Seven Star Alliance. The fate of the Earth rests in your hands!

Gameplay
Alpha Mission is a one-player scrolling shooter game, similar to Xevious in its segregation of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons. Missiles are used to destroy ground enemies, while laser-like weapons are used for aerial opponents. Throughout each of the levels, the player must fight off waves of enemies that threaten several space stations and a boss must be defeated at the end of each. Like most early games in this genre, when the player dies, all weapons are lost and the player is moved to a point slightly before the point of death. The player's craft can also be upgraded to have more powerful weapons by picking up various power-ups throughout the level.

Reception
In Japan, Game Machine listed ASO on their December 1, 1985 issue as being the second most-successful table arcade cabinet of the month. It was later listed by Game Machine as Japan's fifth highest-grossing table arcade game during the first half of 1986, and it was the seventh overall highest-grossing table arcade game of 1986.

Trivia

 * One music theme track of this game, "SYD's Theme", was included in Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (in which Terry Bogard appears playable as a DLC character) as one of the fifty SNK music theme tracks.