The Earth is under attack by alien forces and it's up to Arnold and Sigourney to stop them. That's the premise of S.C.A.T., Special Cybernetic Attack Team, a bizarre little SHMUP developed by Natsume. The whole thing is really quite hoky given the combination of the title and back story. It doesn't take itself seriously and in a way it kind of takes a page from the game it was clearly inspired by, Forgotten Worlds, the classic Arcade SHMUP released by Capcom.

The main giveaway that the game is a Forgotten Worlds clone is that both games feature a free flying soldier holding a gun in a specific position. They're nearly identical and easily identifiable. But while SCAT borrows that and other gameplay features like similar power ups and the robotic orbs that aid you, it's not really the same game thematically. Forgotten Worlds has you going up against a mystical, god-like alien force that is reminiscent of Stargate and SCAT has more of a robotic theme going on. Essentially it's a more robotic and watered-down version of the two given differences in hardware capability.

The game consists of five stages that alternate between horizontal and vertical scrolling much like Forgotten Worlds. The gameplay is also fairly standard except for a few twists. Two tiny robotic orbs assist you in your battle by rotating around you and firing when you fire. By pressing A, you can also fix their position. There are also various powerups spread through each level. They are B, L, R, S, W standing for Bomb, Laser, Recovery, Speed and Wave. The Wave upgrade is arguably the best weapon given it has the largest blast radius and once you get it, there's really no reason to use any of the other weapon powerups. Most of the powerups in each stage consist of weapons, so the game can be unforgiving to sloppy players and as such there is a glut of weapon powerups you don't really need. Also the game has an auto-fire function when you hold B which really helps reduce the difficulty. What makes the game unique is its approach to strategy with its use of the two robotic orbs. Positioning of the orbs is vital to your success and if they're not in the right spot, you can get torn up by the enemies pretty easily. The game is definitely challenging, but not impossibly so with a little practice and strategy.

The game also has some pretty good graphics and animations for an NES game. The apocalyptic/scifi theme is pretty well done with some great backgrounds and enemy designs, but the highlight is the 4th stage. It features laser cannons that constantly fire laser beams at you with some cool graphics and animation. You also have to contend with these moving columns that try grab you with their pincer claws. Really cool stuff to see on the NES.

The game also happens to be noteworthy for its music/sound and is one of the handful of NES games to feature voice clips and the soundtrack's not half bad either. The composer for the game is Kiyohiro Sado, who was a regular at Natsume and considers this game to be a personal favorite of his. He went on to form his own company called Pure Sound Inc.

The Japanese version is quite a bit different from the English versions. Unlike SCAT, Final Mission takes its story very seriously at least for the intro and features a great music track not present in the English releases. The intro's depressingly bleak and was probably the kind of thing Nintendo would've deemed unsuitable for children. It details the downfall of human civilization by invading alien forces and is heavy stuff. You can also see more of the Forgotten Worlds influence with the Japanese artwork for the game.

There are also quite a few differences in gameplay. In what is an exception to the norm, the Japanese version of the game is much harder than the American version. The two orbs don't automatically rotate, but instead move as you move, which can get frustrating at times moving back and forth to change their position. There is no auto-fire function and powerups go away when you're hit. This actually solves the issue of useless powerups while also increasing the difficulty at the same time. The last difference is that you have less health in the Japanese version. These changes make for a much more unforgiving game and arguably the gameplay differences makes the English version of the game much better.

There are also minor differences in the ending graphics and each stage has a voice clip in Japanese preceding it. Lastly, the credits sequence is a bit different. The Japanese version has a section dedicated for the bosses and the credits are in typical silly Japanese fashion. All said they're both still more or less the same game, but the Japanese version is much more serious and difficult. There is a fan translation patch of the Japanese game for the curious.

This might be a bit of a stretch, but the Japanese version of the game has an unused piece of text that translates to "But they were never heard from again..." Despite it sounding like a game over message, this was most likely meant to be part of the ending and a homage to Forgotten Worlds in which the game ends with "THEREAFTER, NO ONE EVER SAW TWO HEROES AGAIN..." in all its Engrish glory.

For whatever reason, the game seemed to have stuck with Natsume as they released another shooter called Omega Five on the Xbox 360 that bore some stylistic similarities as SCAT.