Squadron 51 Brings 1950s Style Science Fiction to Nintendo Switch and Xbox One

Me and scrolling shooters go way back. Back to the days of Defender on the Atari 2600. In my youth my skills were much better than they are today. I still love to check out new titles in the scrolling shooter genre and let me tell you, I have never been this excited over a new shooter. At least not since I first saw Gaiares on the Sega Genesis in an old issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. Squadron 51 is available soon on Xbox One (who knew?) and is coming to the Nintendo Switch later this year.

Now, before you watch the trailer below, let me give you a bit of information on Squadron 51. This is a 2D side scrolling shooter. It is black and white. It is a homage to 1950’s style sci-fi movies and television shows. It looks like it rocks.

That is all.

Seriously though, this game looks awesome. This is what I want to see more of when I hear about a new indie game. Stuff that mainstream publishers would never touch. This makes my day.

From the graphics to the presentation (the bad visual effects explosions are hilarious), to the game itself, this is amazing. I mean, just look at the trailer above. Squadron 51 screams 1950’s sci-fi, just like the developers intended.

Squadron 51 is also a game that simply could not have been done justice till more recent hardware. Maybe Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 could have pulled this off but certainly the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 era can. Graphics mean everything in a homage title like Squadron 51 being able to do what it needs to do.

Squadron 51 features six levels, many environments to fly through and shoot enemies, four planes to use, and even local two-player co-op available. Launching later this year on Nintendo Switch.