ULTIMATE GUIDE: Gemini wing

Power-ups have always been integral to arcade shoot-’em-ups. With your tiny craft coming under relentless attack, you couldn’t cut a swathe through the enemy waves using your peashooter-esque standard weapon could you? So developers introduced power-ups to readdress the balance and there have been some memorable examples. Moon Cresta and its docking system was an early pioneer, and this was quickly followed by Gradius’ selectable ‘Power Meter’ and of course the detachable ‘Force’ orb from R-Type.

With so many shooters hitting the market in the late Eighties, it was typically innovations in power-up mechanics that set them apart. And that was precisely Gemini