Namco's Japan-only 1991 first-person shooter arcade game of Starblade is divided into three missions; the first will see Geosword heading towards the mechanized planet "Red Eye", the second will see it heading towards and destroying the Power Stone inside the power reactor "Octopus", and the third will see it heading towards and destroying another Power Stone inside the enemy headquarters "Iceberg", before being drawn into a final battle with the enemy flagship "Commander". The player's score will be displayed at the top of the screen - and Geosword's energy will be displayed in that bottom-left corner of the screen. The amount of energy Geosword will lose when it depends on what the arcade operator has set the "SHIELD" option to (which can range from 1 to 8, with 8 being the highest and 1 being the lowest); therefore, if you're using MAME to play this game (which you almost certainly will be unless you are a native inhabitant of the "Land of the Rising Sun"), you may wish to set the "SHIELD" option onto 1 to increase your chances of survival. When Geosword is low on energy, a warning sound effect will start to be heard from the C140 - and once it has completely run out of energy, a map will appear on the screen indicating how far it had gotten. On the first and second missions the distances (in "skm") to Red Eye and Octopus (misspelled as "Octpus") will be displayed in the bottom-right corner of the screen; however, on the third mission the proximity of enemy ships will be displayed instead.