Play Superior Soldiers Online

Summary

When I first saw Superior Soldiers in the arcade, the vibe was unmistakably 90s fighting‑game fever, a direct sibling to the Street Fighter II craze that was still echoing through the cabinets. The game’s premise is oddly grim: a mysterious energy dubbed "Force" has wiped out most of humanity, and the survivors respond by engineering themselves into a new breed of combatants. The Japanese original, Perfect Soldiers, even throws in an over‑the‑top announcer who shouts the title and the match‑ups in a charmingly broken Engrish, giving the whole thing a campy, almost comic‑book feel. By the time the North American version landed, those quirks were swapped for the familiar "Winners Don't Use Drugs" splash screen and a fresh color palette, making it feel more polished but also a bit sanitized. It’s also a footnote in gaming history that several of Irem’s graphic artists later jumped to Nazca, where they helped craft the iconic visuals of SNK’s Metal Slug series.

Storyline

In August 1999, a mysterious energy called the Force fell to Earth, wiping out most of humanity. The survivors renamed the phenomenon “Force” and began augmenting their bodies to fight it, creating a new generation of engineered humans.

The arcade title Star Savior—known abroad as Starsaber and even printed as Star Sabor on the North American flyer—follows the enhanced hero Star Savior as he battles the alien menace. His main foe is Seleous, called Skull Reaper in the North American version.

When Seleous is finally defeated, a strange entity emerges from his corpse, identifying itself as Bydo, a nod to the antagonist from Irem’s classic R‑Type series.