Neo Kite

The Neo Kite is the name given to one of the four playable spacecrafts in the 1995 PC Engine shoot 'em up Galaxy Policewoman Legend Sapphire. Flown by pilot Helena Evangelin, it is sent alongside three other respective police crafts of the Time Travel Counter-Crime Investigation Unit to stop a terroristic smuggling operation across time.

History[]

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In the year 2092 A.D., a new anti-gravity agent known as NEMESIS is discovered by scientists. This new material becomes a major breakthrough, as it allows for mankind to be able to travel through time to both the past and the future, allowing them access to widespread resources and prosperity. However, fearing that NEMESIS could be exploited if it comes into the wrong hands, the agent is declared illegal for public use. This however does not stop an unnamed terrorist group from illegally obtaining the substance for use in a major smuggling operation of contraband across numerous time periods, causing crime rates involving time travel to skyrocket. In response to this growing threat, the Time Travel Counter-Crime Investigation Unit was established to quell this hostile operation. Because Helena is the oldest and the most serious member of the all-girl squadron, this makes Helena the leader of the team. The group consists of an all female team to track down and apprehend the most elusive of these operations. Each member has their own personal fighter built specifically to their specifications, allowing them to have different performances in combat.

The group first travels to the present in search of a cache full of missing mech weapons, their they encounter heavy resistance from a hostile terrorist group, but despite the difficulty Sapphire and her team manage to destroy their forces and recover the cache as a result. They then chase the enemy to 1136 A.D. to Medieval Europe where they encounter the terroristic forces held up inside a heavy fortified castle, after dealing with another one of their commanders, the police unit realizes that they are not dealing with an ordinary criminal, but rather a clever mastermind. Sapphire and her team then wrap to the year 625 A.D., and later 2982 B.C. where they battle more terroristic forces committing major time travel crimes in Ancient Japan and Egypt. Finally after catching up to the mastermind in the futuristic year of 2471 A.D., there they confront the crime lord nicknamed "DJ", in engages the team in a long, three-part battle. Despite their heavy arsenal, Sapphire and her team manages to destroy DJ's spacecraft, ending the terrorist raid for good.

During the epilogue, the Time Travel Counter-Crime Investigation Unit confronts a mortally wounded DJ, who reveals himself to be a Space-time investigator from the year 2482 A.D., he reveals he was forced to resort to terrorism following humanity's extinct in that particular year, but that he believes that time can be altered to avert this tragic fate. In his dying words, he tells Sapphire and her team to fight well against this future enemy to prevent humanity's downfall. With these words, he expires, having entrusted the team to his mission. Not long afterwards, the investigation unit gets word that a new threat is on the horizon, believing it to be more time-traveling terrorist, as Helena looks on at Sapphire's decision, the latter rushes to join her team...

Weapons[]

Neo Kite has the strongest firepower of all the playable crafts, allowing it to be the most effective when dealing with larger enemies and bosses. Despite this advantage however, its weakness is that it is also the slowest craft in the police unit, making it difficult when dealing with large hordes of enemies.

Neo Kite is armed with three main weapons as well as a limited use smart bomb. The main weapons can be switched by collecting differently-colored "P" power-ups that are occasionally dropped by certain enemies. In addition, these weapons can be upgraded twice by collecting the colored power-up that corresponds with the one currently equipped to the ship. Upon getting the first power-up, two options will be deployed to the sides of the craft, firing two rapid-fire shots at a 45 degree angle to the left and right of the craft respectively. When not firing, these options will charge up, which upon hitting the fire button will release the two options at the nearest enemy, dealing constant contact damage that's duration is determined by the length of the charge (indicated by how fast the options' charge is flashing).

Straight Cannon - the default weapon of Neo Kite, it fires a twin rapid-fire cannon that can destroy small enemies instantly whilst dealing high damage against larger ones. When upgraded, the number of shots fired increases up to a maximum of four shots in a horizontal spread. The shots will also become thinker when upgraded as well.

Triangle Spread - fires a twin, penetrating ray that deals high damage. When upgraded, the width of the twin rays increases, while an additional two triangular-shaped shots that also have penetrating properties will be fired at a 45 degree angle to the left and right of Neo Kite.

Homing Star - initially, it fires a single cannon shot forward that is weaker than the Straight Cannon, but when upgraded, this weapon's shots increase to a total of four in a horizontal spread similar to the Straight Cannon. In addition, two star-shaped shots will also be fired, which will track down the nearest enemies with high accuracy.

Smart Bomb - deploys a powerful bomb that destroys all enemies within the field of vision whilst causing heavy damage to bosses. The fighter only has a limited supply (1~2 per stage), so it must use them sparingly and replenish them by means of collecting "B" power-ups.