★★★★☆ — a collector review of Shadow Squadron (Sega 32X) by @HollowOwl (verified collector) on 2026-07-05
Visually impressive AND fun!
Shadow Squadron feels like a bunch of things mixed together into one package.
Take the visuals of StarFox [SNES], the all range mode from StarFox 64, and the giant green battle cruisers from Macross [Robotech], and you get Shadow Squadron.
The missions take place in deep space where the player can freely control the ship and head in any direction. This includes rolling, boosting and braking. Most missions are pretty simple, just shoot down all the enemy ships or large battle cruisers. Sometimes there are other objectives such as destroying large satellites or communication dishes on asteroids, but the missions can start to feel a bit repetitive. Luckily the gameplay is fun enough that this does not really matter. There is a pre-flight mission briefing similar to games like Ace Combat that will explain the current objective.
The game feels great to play. It offers both first and third person views, and two different ships to choose from. Because you can fly in any direction through open space you can approach your target from **any **angle. Once you start getting close to the larger battleships they will start firing homing missiles which can be shot down. This leads to some fun interactions where you must decide if you will push through to keep firing at the battleship, or fall back and swing back around for another pass. The large cruisers actually blow up piece by piece, so choosing where you place your shots is fairly important. The ship also has access to a boost by double tapping the accelerate button, and a charge shot that will use up some of your shields.
A 6 button control pad is highly recommended. With the 6 button pad you will have easy access to fire, boost, brake, and roll left/right. The MODE button is used to switch between first and third person views.
Visually the game is pretty great. Think StarFox on SNES but at 30FPS. There's also some nice looking explosions and boost effects. My favorite thing is probably the Sun in the distance that constantly flashes between multiple different colors. It just looks great on a CRT. Sadly if you decide to play the game in third person you will lose some HUD elements like the acceleration gauge, but health and shields are still shown at the top of the screen.
The sound design is also quite good. Everything has appropriate sound effects like ships whizzing by or shots hitting the target with a satisfying thump. All the status screen have various beeps and alerts sounds that really make it feel like you are looking at a real control interface. My only complaint is while the music sounds nice on a technical level, it is not especially memorable.
All in all this is a **must buy **for 32X owners. As of writing this the game can be found for $20 - $30 loose.