Super Turrican is an enhanced conversion of the original Turrican, created by German developer Factor 5 and published by Seika/Hudson Soft in 1993.

Super Turrican features four different worlds to battle through and the general style of the game mixes platforming and run-and-gun shooting, with you playing the futuristic super-soldier Bren McGuire, and who wears a special suit of assault armour called Turrican armour. When he’s inside the armour he’s known simply as “The Turrican“. The armour allows Bren to turn into ball (known as ‘wheel mode’) and roll around. This makes him invulnerable to most attacks; allows him to lay mines, and also fit through small gaps, so is very useful during missions.

The Turrican can also use a variety of different weapons and these can be activated, and powered-up, by collecting coloured power-ups that float upwards when they’re spawned. There’s a ‘spread shot’ that spreads out as it moves away from The Turrican; there’s a focused laser beam; and there’s a ‘bounce’ shot that rebounds off walls and ceilings when fired. In Super Turrican you also have access to a freeze beam that can be swept around in a 360 degree arc and will temporarily freeze enemies when hit by it, or even reveal hidden power ups. The Turrican also has a limited-use destructive wave that sweeps out in two directions and will instantly destroy most low-level opponents.

A wide variety of enemies serve as Turrican‘s opponents as he runs and jumps through the various levels; some can be taken out with single shot, others take a more concerted effort to destroy. Elemental forces will affect The Turrican‘s progress too, such as wind that forces him in a certain direction, or lightning that will occasionally zap him. And of course at certain key points in the game The Turrican will face large bosses that must be beaten to continue on.

Super Turrican and Mega Turrican (the Megadrive version) play similarly, although this game is more of a suped-up remake of the original Turrican, rather than a mirror of Mega Turrican. They both feature different levels but were developed at the same time. The grapple arm, as seen in Mega Turrican, is absent from this game though. The later 1995 sequel, Super Turrican 2, finally introduced the grapple arm feature to the Super Nintendo, as well as adding vehicles.

More: Super Turrican on Wikipedia