Inspired by the legend of Icarus and Daedalus, the story is set in a distant future, where humanity has been evolving into an advanced civilization thanks to the help of an alien supercomputer known as "DARK". DARK, however, suddenly starts to malfunction and does the exact opposite: Kill All Humans. With humanity at the brink of extinction, the God of War (no, not that one) Ares then decides to interfere and grant two humans magical wings: Michelle Heart is given the Wings of Love, while Kevin Walker the Wings of Courage. Together they take to the skies to fight off DARK and his minions.
This game provides examples of the following tropes:
- Ancient Egypt: The bonus stages in the NES game are given an Egyptian-themed redesign. Specially notable with the collectibles, changed into Egyptian symbols and head masks.
- A Winner Is You: Beat the arcade version, and you get a message saying "Thanks to you the world is saved" and then you immediately return to the start of the game. Beat the game twice, and you get the same message and a game over.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Quite a few of the monsters in game, most notably the Super Suzy and the ship you have to fight immediately after encountering the Super Suzy for the first time (the ship that uses eyeballs as projectile weapons).
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: Especially the NES version, with lines such as "You have saved human race from its extinction".
- The Cameo: Michelle Heart appears as one of the many "guests" in Ken's Street Fighter Alpha 2 stage.
- Capcom vs.: Michelle Heart is best remembered as one of the Assist Characters in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of the Superheroes. She also appears in card form in the first two SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters and as part of Captain Commando's solo unit attack in Project × Zone.
- Michelle appears in a nose art-style illustration
on the back of Edward Falcon's flying jacket in Power Stone.
- Chest Monster: Some walls in the arcade game's bonus areas release enemies when shot.
- Color-Coded Multiplayer: Particularly in the original overseas version, where Michelle and Kevin were replaced by two palette-swapped angels with differently colored briefs (red for Player 1 and blue for Player 2).
- Cut and Paste Environments: The sidescrolling areas in the arcade game are pretty much the same, just with slightly different enemy placement.
- Energy Weapon: The Twin Laser powerup.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The Giant Head, which is, you guessed it, a giant head.
- Gender Flip: Michelle Heart (as well as Kevin Walker) were replaced by two palette-swapped generic male heroes for the original overseas version (the later overseas version brought back Michelle and Kevin).
- Inexplicable Treasure Chests: In the Bonus Stages (arcade version).
- Kill All Humans: What DARK shoots for.
- Master Computer: DARK, pretty much.
- No Name Given: The two main characters in the original overseas version of the arcade game, as well as in the NES version.
- The Phoenix: In the NES version, you turn into a firebird when powered-up all the way, allowing you to take a few extra shots before dying (you're a One-Hit-Point Wonder otherwise).
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Michelle Heart and Kevin Walker respectively. note
- Playing with Fire: The Flame Shots powerup.
- Precursors: Not seen per-se, but DARK is said to have been left by aliens.
- Recurring Boss: The end-of-level bosses are simply just variations on one another, with later ones having more cannons. Except for the NES's True Final Boss, which is a cybernetic Giant Eye of Doom.
- Sand Worm: Earwig from the NES game, though it doesn't move through sand.
- Schizo Tech: There's a notable mixture of technology with ancient Greek (or Egyptian) ruins, specially in the arcade game. Some pillars are even broken, revealing they are technological inside.
- Schrödinger's Player Character: When in single-player.
- Spell My Name With An S: The Japanese version of the arcade game spells Michelle's name as "Michel Heart" during the Attract Mode .
- Shout-Out: Sylphie cosplays as Michelle in her Namco × Capcom Hyper Combo.
- Steam Vent Obstacle: Giant head statues in the first level shoot out steam.
- Stripperific: Michelle is fighting in what seems to be a bikini, while Kevin is in briefs.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: The sidescrolling sections.
- Waddling Head: The "tentacle-helmet" enemies in the sidescrolling sections.
- Winged Humanoids
- Womb Level: The Minus Stage in the NES game are completely redesigned into this, including meat-like walls with mouths and hearts, and ribs serving as the ceiling and floor.
