Iridion 3D is a quasi-3D rail shooter game for the Game Boy Advance developed by Shin'en. A launch title for the Game Boy Advance, it was released in North America on May 29, 2001, and in Europe on September 21 of the same year. Influenced by the Commodore 64 game Uridium, Iridion features a single starship waging war against the alien Iridion that have attacked Earth. The game spans seven levels from Earth to the alien's home planet, each with a fixed linear path that ends with a boss. Iridion began development as a shooter for the Game Boy Color; when Shin'en decided to drop development and shift their focus to the Game Boy Advance, Iridion was the first game by the developer to appear on the system. Though billed as a 3D game, Shin'en used realtime encoding and resizing to manipulate the size of 2D sprites instead of creating a true 3D environment. More room on the game cartridge was available for graphics due to the game's use of the GAX Sound Engine, which allowed real-time decoding of song data in a small file size. On release Iridion garnered generally poor reviews. The graphics and sound were generally praised; even a year after its release, critics at TechTV considered it the best-looking game on the platform. In contrast, critics derided the game's repetitive and frustrating gameplay. Despite lukewarm reception to the title upon release, Iridion 3D influenced future Shin'en shooters such as Iridion II and Nanostray.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1461:

Yorkist troops defeated Lancastrian forces at the Battle of Towton in Yorkshire, England, the largest battle in the Wars of the Roses up until that time with approximately 20,000 casualties. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Towton

1638:

Swedish settlers founded New Sweden near Delaware Bay, the first Swedish colony in America. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Sweden

1807:

German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovered 4 Vesta, the brightest asteroid and the second-most massive body in the asteroid belt. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_Vesta

1871:

The Royal Albert Hall in Albertopolis, London, was officially opened by Queen Victoria. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Albert_Hall

1911:

The M1911 single-action, semi-automatic pistol developed by American firearms designer John Browning became the standard-issue side arm in the United States Army. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1911_pistol

1981:

Over 6,000 athletes took part in the first running of the London Marathon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Marathon

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

one fell swoop (n): (idiomatic) One stroke; one action or event with many results http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/one_fell_swoop

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

On seeing his shadow fall on such ancient rocks, he had to question himself in a different context and ask the same old question as before, "Who am I?", and the answer now came more emphatically than ever before, "No-one."

But a no-one with a crown of light about his head. He would remember a verse from Pindar: "Man is a dream about a shadow. But when some splendour falls upon him from God, a glory comes to him and his life is sweet." --R. S. Thomas http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._S._Thomas