Phalanx Super Nintendo

Phalanx is a side-scrolling shoot-'em-up originally developed and published by ZOOM in 1991 for Japanese-only Sharp X68000 home computers. As with most entries in the shooter genre, the story is minimal: players pilot a lone space-faring fighter craft, the eponymous A-144/R "Phalanx," in a one-man assault against a mysterious fleet of alien "bio-ships" that have attacked a human colony on planet Delia IV. Along with a unique power-up system, the game also incorporates adjustable ship speeds and a health meter for the player's ship, both of which were uncommon features among shooters at the time.

Phalanx was later ported to the Super Famicom and SNES by Kemco in 1992 for the game's first North American and European releases. The SNES version removed most of the anime-style cutscenes present in the X68000 version and featured new music. The SNES release of Phalanx in North America is notable for its unusual box art depicting an elderly banjo player and a distant spaceship streaking across the background, a scene that is never referenced in the game itself.