User summary: A horisontal scrolling shooter game first released for the arcades, based on Kaoru Shintani's comic book "Area 88". The player controls either Shin, Mick or Greg, their crafts have different abilities and speeds. Between each stage, you can buy weapons from the old man, for the money you've earned on each stage. Usually, the player has a choice between two or more stages to approach, but sometimes home base is attacked and the player has no choice but to enter the attacking force's stage. The Super Famicon port features some changes to game play, and is by some considered to be superior to the arcade. Generally, Area 88 is considered to be one of the best shoot'em-ups for the SNES. The US/EU release was renamed "U.N. Squadron". The publishers also changed the backdrop (from the original comic book) from being a dark, gritty story of scarred mercenaries who had had no choice but to abandon human feelings, to being a story of freedom fighters for the United Nations.