S.C.A.T., Special Cybernetic Attack Team, is perhaps one of the better shooters the NES has to offer featuring excellent graphics, music and gameplay. Another noteworthy mention is the regional differences between the Japanese and international versions of the game. The Japanese version was the much more darker, harder version of the game while the international versions were much easier and cheesier of the bunch. The game was developed and published in Japan in June 1990, while the international version were released a year later in 1991. Two years prior, Capcom released their own shooting classic for the Arcade, Forgotten Worlds. S.C.A.T. is what you could call a Forgotten Worlds clone. That isn't such a bad thing because S.C.A.T. is still a very good game that's still semi-original despite being a clone.

The story of S.C.A.T. is very cheesy. Very cheesy in a bad 80s action movie way. The prologue details how an alien attack is underway and that it's up to members of the S.C.A.T. team to stop the invasion. The members just so happen to be named Arnold and Sigourney, a blantant nod to popular action stars from the 80s. The premise of the game is pretty similar to Forgotten Worlds, which is about a mysterious invading alien force which is being fought by two heroes, The Nameless Ones. While the plot isn't wholly original, it's more than just a coicidence between the two games.

Stylistically, S.C.A.T. is a Forgotten Worlds clone is that both games feature a free flying soldier holding a gun in a specific position.  Thematically, Forgotten Worlds features an invading mystical alien force that's like something out of ancient Egypt and S.C.A.T. places more emphasis on the robotic side of things. The simalarities are very easy to spot, but aside from some of the gameplay basics, both games end up being their own game.

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. The game also 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 graphics for the game are perhaps one of its best attributes featuring excellent designs and animations for an NES game. The apocalyptic/scifi theme is particularly well done with some great backgrounds and enemy designs. The fourth stage is arguably one of better examples of impressive animations on the NES. The stage is filled with laser cannons that fire laser beams at you that bounce off walls that you must navigate around. There are also moving columns that function like pincer claws and are like-wise impressively animated. Those are just some of the more notable examples, but S.C.A.T.'s use of graphics are one of the highlights of the game.

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 game feautures voice clips at the beginning of each stage and is among a handful of NES games to feature voice clips.

The Japanese version is quite a bit different from the English versions. Unlike S.C.A.T., 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 more 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 make use of various nicknames. 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. Gone, but not forgotten.