Fire Shark (SEGA Genesis)

The flame thrower weapon is rendered each 60 FPS frame alternating between left and right side. On the TV, this just looks semi-transparent, but any emulator screenshot will show half the firing pattern.

When you start failing in this game, it just gets worse and worse. First, you lose your upgraded weapon. Then, it starts spawning you further and further back in the stage. It's very demotivating.

One thing I don't like about this and many other games of its genre, is that weapon type pickups of the type of weapon you don't like ends up being as important to avoid as enemy bullets. In this game, the fire weapon seems overpowered, and I want to hang on to it for dear life, even though the screen is full of green and blue weapon pickups, bouncing around.

I reached STAGE-10 and the final boss on EASY difficulty, but failed.

Another failed attempt. I don't think I'm improving much.