YMMV / Grind Stormer

• Spiritual Successor: It's Gradius BUT VERTICAL! More specifically, it features a very similar power meter mecahnic, with Speed Up in the first slot, Power Up in the second-to-last slot (Option in Gradius fulfills a similar purpose), and Shield in the last slot.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Despite the game's plot being more than just "humans vs aliens" and instead featuring a dangerous VR arcade game that the player character is sent to investigate, the details of that Framing Device are never revealed, not even after beating the game. You get a credit roll and a "mission complete" message and that's it.