Star Soldier (series)

Star Soldier (スターソルジャー, Sutā Sorujā) is a series of shoot 'em up video games mainly developed by Hudson Soft. Konami has owned the rights to the series since their absorption of Hudson Soft in 2012.

The first game, named Star Soldier, appeared on the MSX and NES in 1986, and the series has continued on various gaming systems. Star Soldier itself has received enhanced remakes for both the GameCube and PlayStation 2 in 2003, and a different remake for the PlayStation Portable in 2005, while the latest installment of the series was released on the Wii as a WiiWare game in 2008. In addition, Super Star Soldier, Final Soldier, Soldier Blade and Star Parodier have been re-released on the Wii's Virtual Console and on the Japanese PC Engine's Best Collection lineup for the PSP.

Konami began releasing Star Soldier games in 2012 with the release of Star Soldier for GREE as a Japan-only release for iOS. In addition to new titles in the series, Konami has re-released other games in the series for the Wii U Virtual Console.

The Star Soldier games are best known for their distinctive music, unique weapon power-ups, and a special time attack high score mode called "Caravan Mode".

Star Soldier was developed as a spiritual successor to Tecmo's Star Force, from which it borrows most of its gameplay elements. The Star Force series, along with Hudson's Star Soldier, was often featured in the popular Japanese gaming tournament known as "Hudson All-Japan Caravan Festival". Home ports of Star Soldier games would sometimes feature "Caravan" modes in which the player would race through timed stages while trying to accumulate a high score.

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