Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
Staff who had worked on the company's R-TYPE (1987) took part in development, and the music was by Masahiko Ishida, who had worked on the company's Mr. Heli no Daibouken (1987) and Saigo no Nindou (1988).
The NES version was the only version that was released in North America.
The arcade game was also ported for the Nintendo Entertainment System as well as becoming a Japan-only game for the PC Engine, X68000, and FM Towns in 1990.
The PC Engine version was later re-released for the Wii Virtual Console only in Japan.
In 1998, Image Fight, along with another arcade game by Irem, X-Multiply, was released only in Japan as a one-disc double-bill for the PlayStation and the Sega Saturn, titled AG Arcade Gears Image Fight & X-Multiply.
Like the PC Engine version of the first game, Image Fight II was re-released for the Wii U's Virtual Console in Japan in 2015 and for the first time in the United States in February 2018 for both games.
Image Fight II and its PC Engine predecessor also made their European debut in February 2018.
In the "3rd Gamest Awards" (1989) run by the magazine Gamest, it placed 9th in the grand prize category by reader vote.
In the Gamest Mook The Best Game, published in 1991, it placed 25th in a reader poll covering every arcade game up to that point. The book placed it as "an uncompromising shooter for enthusiasts", noted the precise construction of its enemy placement and gameplay, and praised it, saying "it may well have been the finest game for firing up an enthusiast's will to take on a challenge".
In the "Cross Review" feature of the magazine Famitsu,the game scored a total of 23 out of 40. In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by Family Computer Magazine,it scored 18.24 out of 30, as shown below.
This score also placed it 146th among all PC Engine titles (485 titles in total, as of 1993).
The latest orbital fighter developed by the Western bloc to deal with the runaway mother computer "MARIKO" at the lunar Moon Base.
In the Gamest Mook The Best Game 2, based on a reader poll by Gamest covering every arcade game released up to 1998, it was chosen as one of "The Best Games", recognised as a classic, outstanding, brilliant title. The book noted that the creators of R-TYPE were involved, and praised it as "a work packed with original ideas".
Image Fight is also said to be the favorite shooter game of Granzella's Kujo Kazuma.
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