| Soldier Blade | |
|---|---|
 North American TurboGrafx-16 cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Hudson Soft |
| Publisher(s) | Hudson Soft |
| Designer(s) | Uriko Uribo |
| Series | Star Soldier |
| Platform(s) | TurboGrafx-16 |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Soldier Blade[a] is a 1992 vertically scrolling shooter developed and published by Hudson Soft for the TurboGrafx-16. Controlling the titular starship, the player is tasked with completing each of the game's seven stages in order to wipe out the Zeograd Army, an alien race bent on conquering Earth. The game is the fourth entry in the Star Soldier series and shares many similarities with its predecessor Super Star Soldier, with Soldier Blade having a heavy emphasis on speed.
The initial idea for Soldier Blade came from Hudson designer Uriko Uribo's conversations with other employees over which game to use for the company's upcoming Caravan video game tournament. With the event only six months away, Uribo was hesitant to begin production, however executives from Hudson pushed for him to go forward with the idea. Miscommunication between Uribo and staff lead to several mechanics being altered or changed by mistake, such as several stronger enemies instead being easy to kill.
Although the game was rushed to meet its deadline, critics liked its gameplay, visuals and power-up system, though some thought it lacked originality and felt inferior to Hudson's previous shooters for the system: Blazing Lazers and Final Soldier. Retrospective reviews were much more positive, with some labeling it one of the TurboGrafx-16's definitive shooter games for its fast-paced gameplay and easy learning curve.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).