History VideoGame / Phalanx

* NintendoHard: Don't let the power bars fool you. This game is still comparably hard, even on Easy.

''Phalanx'' is a 1991 ShootEmUp developed by Creator/ZoomInc, and was originally released for the Japan-only UsefulNotes/SharpX68000. It was later ported to the Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem; the English release of the SNES version is best known for its intentionally bizarre and idiosyncratic cover art featuring an old man playing a banjo (see CoversAlwaysLie).

''Phalanx'' is a 1991 ShootEmUp developed by Creator/ZoomInc, and was originally released for the Japan-only UsefulNotes/SharpX68000. It was later ported to the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem; the English release of the SNES version is best known for its intentionally bizarre and idiosyncratic cover art featuring an old man playing a banjo (see CoversAlwaysLie).

A sequel was in development for the UsefulNotes/{{Playstation}} but Zoom decided to cancel it, ruling that releasing an horizontal 2D shmup on the system would've been commercial suicide. Zoom did not completely scrap their work on it however, making the levels that had been completed an hidden minigame under the title ''Tiny Phalanx'' in ''VideoGame/ZeroDivide''. In a nod to this, the Phalanx ship is featured in a controller check minigame for ''Zero Divide: The Final Conflict'' on the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn. It received a UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance port with a different, more traditional cover. A UsefulNotes/WiiWare port released in Japan in 2009, though it never got released internationally.