Xardion

While possessing the typical qualities of action platformers at the time it was made (jump, duck, shoot etc.), Xardion made use of a few novel elements. Additionally, the game had a role-playing element where experience points could be accrued by defeating enemies and bosses, and each level up increased the player's maximum life and special ability points.

During the game, the player takes control of one of three available robot forms. Each form represents one of the three inhabited worlds in the system: Alcedes, from Fiera; Triton, from Oceansphere, and Panthera, from Hollowsphere.

The inhabitants of the three worlds in the Alpha 1 Solar System have been at war for seven months before hostilities upon the threat of invaders from the artificial world NGC-1611. The Alpha 1 Federation has gathered together the system's best defenses in an effort to repel the invasion. Two mechas and a self-aware robot are dispatched to NGC-1611, charged with the task of destroying the invaders' power source and, if possible, locate the legendary weapon, Xardion, in the process.

Planet NGC-1611 is a typical world in all ways, omitting that it was constructed from raw materials by an unnamed scientist. His desire was to create a planet which could not die. His work was dubbed "Project New Frontier." The project was a failure, and violent monsters rapidly evolved, making NGC-1611 uninhabitable by humans.

The game's main mecha designs were designed by Moriki Yasuhiro, who also worked on designing Zeorymer for the OAV Hades Project Zeorymer and Hajime Katoki, who created major designs of the Mobile Suits from the Gundam franchise. Animation studio Gainax also provided input on the game.

The game was released in Japan on March 20, 1992. It was released in North America in April 1992. The English script was written by Robert Woodhead, who had previously worked on the Wizardry series.

Xardion received a 20.46/30 score in a 1993 readers' poll conducted by Super Famicom Magazine, ranking among Super Famicom titles at the number 165 spot. The game received mixed reception from critics.