side scroll shooter

[mfutach]

I'm desperately looking for a game...
I played it (on a famicom; came on that little yellow catridge) when I was a kid and it started haunting me to find it last weeks, but I can't really remember the name, nor much of the gameplay.
Here's what I know:

it's science fiction, it starts in a ruined city or something like that...dealing in future/space but with many closed aereas in which you fly in

it's a horizontal side scroller shooter, but it mixes horizontal scrolling with vertical, often in the same stages (but you stil shoot in horizontal direction though - this is quite uncommon in NESgames so I think it might help)
you fly from left to right and you can also move up and down (also left and right) and shoot in both left and righ directions....

it had good graphics for a NES game and was more in a serious manner - music and gaming wise, not flowerly like twinbees; also had a story and an ending so it's not magmaxm: way better, but they do have similarities

it's also not abadox, but the games wear close resemblance: the one I'm talking about has a bit more advaced graphics, and when side scrolling changes to vertical it's usually UP, not down....there's a stage where you pass thoprugh a tube (like an escalator into space), and it accelerates more and more till it looks like the background's melting

the character was humanoid, and it even might had the ability to transform into a space ship, but I can't be sure about that...


I'd be grateful for any help, I'm really desperate to find this game.... I tried a nes forum and they sent me here saying it might be a tough game to figure out and that it might not had even been releas4ed worldwide...might be, but it really did seem quite good and definitely above average game you could play on NES/Famicom....

[ericj]

Abadox or maybe Life Force / Salamander?

[mfutach]

not abadox, as I've writtten in the first post, although they're pretty similar (this game is a bit more advanced with better graphics)

not slamander either

[crade]

Hmm..  Macross maybe?  Macross is pretty simple though, so probably not   Sorry, good luck!  Let me know if you find it.  Sounds like something I would liek to try.

[mfutach]

FOUND IT!

it's called S.C.A.T.

http://nesguide.com/games/scat/

thanx for the help, try out this great forgotten gem!

[ericj]

Of course! Glad you found it.
I've played the Famicom version, Final Mission, before.

[mfutach]

PS
actually I played Final Mission; it's basically the same game but for japanese market....has better intro and especially the music although I don't understand japanese....

edit:
didn't see your reply while I was writing mine

yeah, it seems we both played the same game, I thought it was SCAT but when I saw Final Mission the memories came back....they've ruined the story and the dark atmosphere for the american market....