Here's something kind of cool I found a few months ago!
A loose spinoff of the Möbius Link series of PC space simulation games (with one exception on the PlayStation) that were developed by I.MAGIC in the mid 1990s.
TARGET GEAR or ターゲット ギア, was released in the summer of 1997.
If you're familiar with those games or just the bit least curious the connection between the two. Not a whole lot! They take place in the same timeline, and that's about it. Not even the same area. But I think it's a good way to introduce this game!
In the story of TARGET GEAR. A political tension is brewing between a newly colonized planet's weak federation, and a rising group of extremists that fight for liberation of the new home; a planet free to govern itself without outer influence from neighboring planets. After measures were attempted to invoke peace between the two sides, negotiations fell through, and war broke out. In TARGET GEAR, you play as GEAR pilot Nagisa.
You and three other civilians are drafted into the Federation's Special Forces Unit, ALGA. Where you are to pilot the specialized combat mechs known as GEAR.
Unlike the aforementioned Möbius/Alpha games being tactical space war sims. In Target Gear, it's a standard 3D first person mech shooter with a focus on action and speed.
The missions in the game will have you doing the same things pretty much. You fly into enemy territory. Blow up robots and enemy bases, and you'll usually have one of three fellow ALGA members shooting with you, with occasional support from the Federation. Honestly, its not entirely a unique game on its own. There are plenty of mech shooters exactly like this that came out around the same time, one of my favorites being the Gundam Gaiden games released on the Sega Saturn.
The game really only features a small amount of content. Only about ten levels or so, as it often reuses maps and objectives in multiple levels. It could certainly be a bore to anyone, but I found lots of reasons to still enjoy it. The 3D visuals aren't really great even by 1997 standards, but they're certainly charming! (Besides maybe the CG Cutscenes) The artwork that is used on character portraits in the game are also really cool to look at.
AND UGH... The music is such a bop I can't stand IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The game actually caters seemingly well to it's short length. It's incredibly fast paced and jam packed with tons of enemies, where you may find yourself wanting to repeat levels to beat your own time, or you just want to shut your brain off and go jumping around! The gameplay is incredibly loose I must add. Sometimes it feels hard to hit targets at times, but it actually feels great. The lightweight jump of the mech reminds me a lot of Jumping Flash on the PlayStation actually ^^.
Enjoy crusty recorded footage if you want...
Overall, it's an incredibly basic mecha simulator from the Windows95 era. But I really love it!
DL I happened to find after writing this (that's probably safer than the DL I found) : Target Gear : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive