Iridium

Iridium is a retro-styled, multidirectional 2D shoot ’em up. You pilot a ship through large stages, moving freely, changing speed and turning around rather than following a screen that scrolls at a fixed rate. A flashing star guide points toward the route through each level, while icons at the screen edges mark enemies and important structures that are currently off-screen.

Levels and enemies

The game has six levels, each with its own graphical theme and four large stages, for 24 maps to explore. Each stage features six enemy ship types as well as larger, multi-part ships, some up to five times the size of the screen. Enemy structures and attack patterns change dynamically as you progress, and checkpoints help you avoid replaying large parts of a stage.

Ships and ground structures can release coins, health pickups and weapon-upgrade credits when destroyed. Multiple layers of parallax add depth to the scrolling scenery.

Weapons and upgrades

You begin each game with basic weapons and can collect upgrade credits to improve your weapons and systems during a level. The available upgrades and your credits are displayed at the bottom of the screen, with progress bars showing upgrade levels. The available choices can change later in the game.

The ship has three main weapons, each with multiple power levels, along with different rockets and missiles and four types of external weapon systems. After completing a level, you can spend coins collected from enemies and structures in a shop to buy further ship upgrades. The shop also lets you save your progress and continue later.