The DOS version has a special place in my heart. I memorized the opening text and thought it was an eerie and cool bit of original poetry, before learning much later that it was a quote from Shakespeare's _Julius Caesar_. I still remember my preferred weapon loadout.

Yeah, it doesn't hold up by today's standards, but it was stunning in its day.

Somewhat enjoyed the (less-visually-impressive) PC version way back in the day, there weren't many good shoot-em-ups on a 286 PC that could barely scroll the screen, but Silpheed played fairly well on it, and IIRC it was one of the few games that supported the non-standard sound card on my parents IBM PS/1. Actually think it might have been bundled with that PS/1

I've replayed it hundreds of times. It's pretty fun. I got to the final boss but didn't win.

Sounds like a great candidate to watch a LongPlay instead!

I mean, the gameplay isn't amazing. But I wouldn't call it awful. I've played games that are a lot worse... many of which are less fun while also being much less visually appealing. IIRC the sound design for silpheed is good too?

Agreed, the original is awful too.