Air Buster: Trouble Specialty Raid Unit

Air Buster: Trouble Specialty Raid Unit (AKA Aero Blasters) is a shoot'em up developed by Kaneko and licensed by Namco for World and Japan regions while Sharp Image Electronics licensed the game in US and Mexico.

Plot
In 2030, an organization known as the MLM (Mecha Load Master) is harming the Earth with their army. Now, the Blaster Fighters must take down the MLM before it's too late.

Gameplay
There's only one button in the entire game (however there's two buttons in some versions). Mainly you shoot bullets to take down enemies. By holding it and releasing the meter at the top will trigger a "Buster Flash". This helps to destroy bullets and one-hit enemies. An item carrier called a "Gun-Diche" in the Mega Drive manual will release powerup letters in a curved formation.

Items

 * P (Increases Power and Bullet count)
 * M (Large blue missile that shoots straight forward)
 * M' (Green homing missile that seeks an enemy)
 * R (Rear missiles that shoot from two diagonal directions behind)
 * S (Side cannon that can shoot missiles)
 * 6 (Six bullets omitted from a Blaster Fighter)
 * H (Cannon that turns clockwise and shoots yellow bullets)
 * B (Two side barriers that protect you from enemy fire, also makes you bounce)
 * $ (Dollar sign that gives you points)
 * 1UP (Earns you an extra life)

Release
Air Buster was originally released for Arcades in 1990 (however the in-game loading says it's in 1989, it could be the build date). Some time later, Air Buster was ported to the Turbografx-16 and Sega Mega Drive by their consumer subsidiary, Inter State. A Sharp X68000 port was in the works but never released, despite being in the Oh!X magazine of the upcoming software section. There's a sample version that still exists showing stage one only and it seems it's impossible to be beaten because the hitbox for City Stalker hasn't been implemented.

Arcade

 * Flyer (Japan)
 * Flyer (US)

PC-Engine

 * Advertisement

Mega Drive

 * Advertisement

Trivia

 * Air Buster was Kaneko's second and last horizontal scrolling shooter, alongside with Heavy Unit.

Arcade Version

 * Japanese: エアバスター (Eabasutā)
 * Korean: 에어 버스터 (eeo beoseuteo)

PCE Version

 * Japanese: エアロブラスター (Earo Burasutā)
 * Korean: 에어로 블래스터 (eeolo beullaeseuteo)

Sub Pages

 * Air Buster: Hidden Content
 * Air Buster: List Of Enemies
 * Air Buster: Regional Differences
 * Air Buster: Staff
 * Air Buster: Technical Information
 * Air Buster: Version Differences