## Description
_Betamax_ is a side-scrolling shoot-’em-up that sees the player at the helm
of a fighter ship in hostile space, fighting for survival against wave after
wave of attacking aliens. The premise? – take them down, pick up the energy
balls they leave behind, and exchange them for ship upgrades.
These upgrades are handled by a power-up system similar to Gradius: collecting
an energy ball advances the upgrade meter, and the player may choose to
activate the currently highlighted upgrade at any time. Each game begins with
three lives; active ship upgrades stay in effect when a life is lost, although
they do wear off after a while. On the other hand, some of them have
additional levels which improve the power-up’s effect if applied more than
once.
Betamax