Phalanx

Phalanx is a shmup developed by ZOOM, and was originally released for the Japan-only Sharp X 68000. It was later ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System; that release is best known for having an old man playing a banjo on the cover (see Covers Always Lie).

This game is also playable through an easter egg bonus in the Virtua Fighter/ Virtual On mashup/clone Zero Divide, for the Playstation and Sega Saturn, via a code. It received a Game Boy Advance port with a different, more traditional cover. A Wii Ware port was announced for Japan, though no international release has been announced.

This game provides examples of:

 * Action Bomb: Some enemies in the game are like these, they explode into lots of bullets.
 * Attack Drone: Some of the weapon power-ups give your ship these.
 * Attack Its Weak Point: Most, if not all of the bosses are like this.
 * Battleship Raid: One level has you roaming around giant spaceships finding the core.
 * Bonus Level: Every stage has a Bonus Level. They're inconspicuous and incredibly hard to find, though.
 * Bullet Hell: On "Funny" difficulty.
 * Charged Attack: The "E" Power Up allows for this when shooting.
 * Chest Monster: A hidden stage accessible from the second stage is filled with power-up icons...that suddenly grow spikes and start shooting at you. You can tell them apart from real powerups if you notice that your shots don't pass through them.
 * Combat Tentacles: Many enemies and bosses use this on you.
 * Combining Mecha: When you use your "R" Smart Bomb, the Attack Drones will merge together into a robot which proceeds to move into the enemy for massive damage.
 * The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Enemies are exempt to Deadly Walls, and their shots can pass through walls and floor. As for you... no such luck.
 * Covers Always Lie: This one is the king of that trope. The developers admitted many years later that they chose such a bizarre image in order to make the game stand out amongst the glut of similar space shmups on the market at the time.
 * Dual Boss: The Mini Boss of the Asteroid Thicket stage is an asteroid that splits into two organic halves, which you have to defeat separately.
 * Easy Mode Mockery: If you beat the game on easy, the game mocks you to try Normal Difficulty instead of giving you the ending.
 * Excuse Plot: There's aliens. Shoot them.
 * Explosive Breeder: In the third stage, you have to fight a Segmented Serpent. When defeated, its brain comes out, and that brain sure knows how to multiply quickly...
 * Everything Is Even Worse With Sharks: One of the Mini Bosses in the second stage is a shark-like machine.
 * Flunky Boss: The second-to-last boss sends out mini Spider Tanks that fire at the player. It gets very annoying.
 * Frickin Laser Beams: The L weapon, which gives you Attack Drones fires out piercing lasers. It can also fire behind the player character too!
 * Harder Than Hard: "Funny" Difficulty.
 * High Speed Battle: The cover art says "The Hyper-Speed Shoot-Out IN SPACE". Actually, that one does make sense in the seventh stage "Hyper Space", where you character is going through space really fast while shooting down multiple enemies.
 * Homing Projectile: The "A" missile powerup, as well as the H weapon.
 * Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: The hardest difficulty is called "Funny"
 * Mercy Invincibility: Present in this game, thankfully. You also get a few seconds when you use some of the Smart Bombs
 * Nintendo Hard: Don't let the power bars fool you. This game is still comparably hard, even on Easy.
 * Our Dragons Are Different: The boss of the "Advertize Zone" could be a dragon of sorts.
 * Outrun the Fireball: Once you beat the Final Boss.
 * Ramming Always Works: One of your Smart Bombs will merge your Attack Drones into a robot that tries to touch the enemy. It's one the the strongest attacks you have, capable of downing a boss!
 * Segmented Serpent: The Mini Boss of the third stage, and one of the organic enemies in the final stage.
 * Smart Bomb: Depending on what weapon you have equipped, you Smart Bomb will be different. You then lose the equipped weapon too, so plan wisely!
 * E: You unleash a devastating blast that hits the whole screen (like a typical Smart Bomb)
 * H: You create a temporary orange shield around yourself. While gaining invincibility. It's best you ram your opponents when having this.
 * L: Your Attack Drones attach to you and spin around, firing shots in every direction. Unfortunately, it's quite weak.
 * R: Your Attack Drones combine together into a small mech, which then tries to constantly touch the enemy for massive damage.
 * Spread Shot: The "R" weapon, when fully powered up.
 * Taking You With Me: On "Funny" Difficulty, most regular Mooks will explode into no less than 3-4 suicide bullets!
 * Underwater Boss Battle: The second stage.
 * Womb Level: The last level is implied to be this. It's not given an actual name, but it's entirely organic.