When you see the name “Hal,” you probably think of the deranged computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Unless you happen to be a Barney Miller fan. And when you think of 21, it’s probably related to blackjack or perhaps alcohol. So when you put them together in HAL 21, you might expect a video blackjack game, or possibly a computerized bartender.

But instead, in the minds of the people at SNK back in 1985, “HAL 21” was the perfect name for a scrolling vertical shooter that really, really looks and plays like Xevious, a popular arcade game by Namco. Seems kind of obvious, once you think about it. Well, no, it still doesn’t make much sense once you think about it. The only thing I could think of is that the 21 refers to the co-op in this game, which is about the only feature that differentiates it from Xevious (and alas, due to the limitations of the Minis platform, doesn’t work here).

In Xevious, you flew some sort of aircraft over a fairly lush green yet slightly mountainous region, with designs or patterns on the ground that looked like the Nazca Lines of Peru. Your ship had two basic weapons, a double cannon that could only shoot enemies in the air, and a bomb (complete with little bomb sight in front of you) to use on ground targets. Aerial attackers generally came in waves or formations, with ground targets generally coming in smaller numbers, but in definite layouts. Occasionally you were confronted by a large boss.

All of this is also true in HAL 21, except the lines on the ground appear to be Kabbalistic Sigils. Oh sure, the enemies are somewhat different, and somehow, despite coming two years later, the graphics and sound are worse, or at least more low key. The amount of detail seems to be higher, but it has a washed-out look, and the greens are more olive. Oh, and your ship is painted red. With black stripes!

There are two main differences that I can see. Firstly, the bosses in this are like transformer robots and are seemingly impossible to beat. At least, I can’t do it. Thankfully they go away when you die and continue a game. That’s the other difference I can see; once you run out of lives, you can continue from where you left off.

This is a pretty big difference, though. I like Xevious a lot, but at least the versions I own (haven’t played the actual arcade game in 25 years) don’t let you continue. So, I play to a certain point and that’s it. A big part of the fun of scrolling shooters is progressing through the game.

As in other G1M2 arcade-to-Mini ports, you have options to change the controls, the game settings (number of lives, if continues are on or off, and three levels of difficulty), and save the game state. So, you can play as far into the game as you want and not always start from the beginning.

While it might be a shameless clone of Xevious, Xevious is a pretty fun game to begin with. HAL 21 just isn’t as fun as Xevious, but it’s not at all bad, just a little bland. And while Xevious is available on the PSP (and at least PS1) on physical media, I don’t think any of the Namco retro collections are up on PSN. I also like the ability to continue, and the savestate functions. So, if you are looking for a cheap, non-frustrating vertical shooter, you can do worse than HAL 21.

7/10