Ai Cho Aniki (愛・超兄貴, Super Big Brother of Love) is a horizontally-scrolling Shoot 'em Up released in 1995 for the PC-Engine CD by Masaya. This is the first game in the series to go for the camp humor the series is known for.
Story[]
Three years have passed since the defeat of Emperor Botei, and the universe is at peace. However, Botei's wife, Empress BodyConscious, have already planned her revenge. She revives Botei's Builder Army and kidnaps the hero Idaten, threatening the galaxy once again. Adon and Samson, with the help of Benten, take upon themselves to save the galaxy and rescue their friend.
Gameplay[]
Players take control over one of the two bodybuilders, Adon and Samson. Unlike other games where the character fly horizontally, here they are oriented vertically, which at principle makes them a huge target, though the game is balanced out by having a button for dodging, which makes them invincible for as long as the button is held.
Ai Cho Aniki features a very unconventional gameplay, starting for it's controls: by pressing the shot button, your character only fires a weak homing shot. In order to use more powerful moves, the player has to input button combinations similar to those of fighting games (like back-forward or quarter-circle motions). As you play through a stage, the character will build-up energy on his head hole in order to unleash the Men's Beam: a powerful beam which covers a good portion of the screen and causes massive damage to enemies and bosses.
Ai Cho Aniki is only four stages long, though each stage is divided into three lengthy substages which culminate into a boss fight. Instead of lives, the game runs on a timer: when the timer reaches zero the game is over. Your character has three hit points, and losing a life removes one unit of the timer. During the stages Benten will show up and deviler power-ups which replenishes the players life and the timer.