Now I'm not the oldest person in the world, but I am old enough to remember a golden time when arcades actually featured proper video games. When I was younger, I used to go to town with my pocket money to play the likes of Time Crisis 2, Virtua Cop 2, and even Tekken 4. Even my mum joined me in playing some shooting-style games.
Sadly, arcades these days are a far cry from what they were in the '80s, '90s and even the '00s. Arcades are now littered with machines aimed to scam kids out of their money. Don't get me started on how I feel about claw machines!
The only reason I'm talking about arcades is because I got to review a 20-year-old game called Under Defeat. The game originally came out in Japanese arcades in 2005 and is a scrolling vertical plane shooter similar to the old Raiden series from the '90s.
Some people may have played this game already because Under Defeat has been ported to lots of different systems over the years. Most people may have played it on PS3 and Xbox 360, but the game even got a port for the Sega Dreamcast too!
We are now in 2025, and the game is getting another remastered port for most modern systems. If you have not played Under Defeat before, you can now get it on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S and the Nintendo Switch which is the version I reviewed.
The new version of Under Defeat as expected has been remastered to make it look and play much better than the original ports. The original game was literally made for arcades, so the screen only had a small vertical window.
I usually play the Nintendo Switch like a portable device, and playing Under Defeat using its original aspect ratio is a big no for me. I'm sure the vertical window would have been better if I played on a TV screen, but on the Switch's own portable screen the graphics were too tiny for more to see what the heck was going on.
Thankfully, this new version of Under Defeat includes a widescreen presentation that fills out the whole TV screen. This was my preferred way to play the game mainly because Under Defeat features a ton of projectiles that your helicopter has to avoid. I thought the game was unplayable in its original aspect using the Nintendo Switch as a handheld device.
Graphically, Under Defeat still looks like a 3D-style PS2 game since it was released way back in 2005. The helicopter you control looks cool, and there are a lot of enemies that will appear on the screen at the same time. Not to mention, you will see many explosions as you fire on all of the enemies. The one thing I do like is the fact that the framerate is stable throughout the gameplay without any slowdown. The game also has the same HD textures that the PS3/Xbox 360 versions had too.
In terms of gameplay, Under Defeat lets you command a military helicopter, and you have unlimited machine gun ammo to shoot as many enemy vehicles as possible. You can choose to fire using the face buttons, although I preferred using the right stick to aim and fire instead. Using the analogue stick lengthened the helicopter's range since you could shoot at a wider angle.
At the beginning of the level, you have up to three bombs in your arsenal too. You can collect more bombs if you can find them when they pop up during the levels as well. The bombs are really cool because they pretty much explode every enemy on the screen, so they are useful to use if you're feeling overwhelmed.
At the end of a level, there is a mandatory boss fight you have to engage with. Usually, this consists of a huge vehicle with lots of guns shooting at you all of the time! I advise players to save some bombs until the end because bosses usually have a bigger lifebar. You will also have to try and avoid lots of gunfire because bosses love to throw multiple projectiles at your small helicopter.
Players will need to have quick reflexes mainly because Under Defeat only gives you limited lives and continues. If you lose too many continues, you may have to start the game from the beginning all over again. The game can be quite difficult for players who aren't used to this type of genre.
To make this re-release more worthwhile to returning players, this game also includes a gallery where you can view artwork and more. You will need to unlock artwork during gameplay, but this should give players have a good incentive to play the game many times if they want to get 100% completion.
While Under Defeat does not have many annoying flaws, the only negative thing I can say about the game is the aforementioned difficulty. It's one of the hardest arcade games I have played due to the number of projectiles that are needed to avoid at all times!
That being said, Under Defeat is still an arcade classic for gamers who miss type of genre. If you can overcome the game's punishing difficulty, there is a lot of fun to be had playing it.
Verdict: 8.0/10
