Play Axelay Online
Pilot a lone fighter through shifting alien onslaughts—one minute you're blasting upwards through twisting canyons, the next you're weaving sideways through bullet hell, swapping weapons on the fly. That Mode 7 distortion still messes with your depth perception in the best way.
Axelay is one of those SNES shooters that still feels special decades later. You're piloting the last prototype fighter left after aliens wrecked your planet, which is about as classic a setup as it gets. What makes it stand out is how it switches between vertical and horizontal shooting levels—just when you get used to one perspective, it throws you into the other.
The Mode 7 effects are wild for a 16-bit game, especially in the vertical stages where the background warps and twists like you're diving through some alien canyon. Your ship has three weapon types you can swap between, and figuring out which one works best against certain enemies is half the fun (I always defaulted to the spread shot, but the homing missiles saved me more times than I'd like to admit).
It's tough but fair, with some genuinely creative boss designs that still look great. That final run to the alien homeworld feels properly epic for a game from 1992. If you like shmups with personality, this one's aged way better than most.
Download Axelay ROM
You can download this ROM to play Axelay offline using an Super Nintendo (SNES) emulator (Top Emulators).
*This ROM is provided for backup and educational purposes only.
