Space Firebird

• Title — Space Firebird • Developer — * Nintendo R&D1 • Ikegami Tsushinki • Designer — Genyo Takeda • Artist — Shigeru Miyamoto • Composer — Hirokazu Tanaka • Platforms — Arcade game • Genre — Action, Shooter • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer

Players guide a ship through deep space while encountering spherical objects that appear to look like a bunch of comets or shooting stars. They suddenly shapeshift into large creatures called Firebirds as the player gets closer to them and start attacking the ship in ever more complex looping formations. As a Space Ship Commander, players must seek out and destroy three kinds of Firebirds in three missions. The names of the Firebirds are Gulls, Eagles and the Mighty Emperor (or simply "Emperor"). The Emperor is destroyed by four hits, the Eagle with two hits and the Gull with one hit. The Eagles drop bombs that are aimed at sabotaging the ship controlled by players. When hit, the bomb scatters deadly shrapnel. To avoid this from happening, players must destroy the bomb from directly beneath it before it crashes. Besides shooting missiles, the main ship also uses the warp mode that can only be used once in every level to escape impending danger and/or to strike out at a flock of birdlike creatures. When activated, the ship thrusts into space with a protective shield that deflects enemy fire and makes the ship invincible. Players also use this for close range combat. Shooting every Firebird in a wave awards 1000 points and displays a "Perfect!" message.