Sqoon

Sqoon

Overview & History

Developed by Irem and released for the Famicom in 1986 before making its North American NES debut in 1987 via Tradewest, Sqoon is a delightfully bizarre side-scrolling aquatic shooter. The storyline casts players as Nemo—not the clownfish, but a pilot navigating a specially designed, transforming hovercraft-submarine hybrid called the Sqoon. Earth has been overrun by the alien Neals, who have caused a catastrophic global flood and captured human children imprisoned within floating bubbles deep beneath the oceans. It is up to you to traverse treacherous underwater caverns, rescue the helpless kids, and wipe out the mutant marine menace across distinct vertical and horizontal scrolling stages.

Gameplay Features & Mechanics

Sqoon distinguishes itself from standard bullet-hell shooters by incorporating dual-phase gameplay and a rescue mechanic. The screen constantly scrolls from right to left, forcing players to manage both surface-level hazards and deep-sea threats simultaneously. Your craft can fire forward-facing torpedoes to obliterate mutated jellyfish, sea horses, and alien submarines, while also deploying downward-firing bombs to clear subterranean obstacles. To clear a stage, you must dive to the ocean floor, scoop up captured children into your cargo hold, and surface before your oxygen or hull integrity depletes. Holding too many children increases your ship's weight and slows movement, adding a layer of strategic risk management. Once your hold is full, you must fly to the surface and launch the kids into a waiting rescue helicopter. The game cycles between standard underwater levels and intense bonus shooting stages where you rack up high scores against swarms of alien craft.

Keyboard Controls

• Arrow Keys / D-Pad: Steer the Sqoon hovercraft/sub
• Action Keys: Fire torpedoes and drop depth bombs
• Enter: Start / Pause