Einhänder (アインハンダー?) is a scrolling shooter developed by Square for the PlayStation console. It was released in Japan on November 20, 1997 and in North America on April 30, 1998.
It was also re-released for the Japanese PlayStation Network on June 25, 2008. The name Einhänder is German for "single-handed", a reference to a sword, here used to refer to the single manipulator arm possessed by the player's spacecraft.
Story[]
In the distant future, in the year 2192, man has built and established a new colony on the south pole of the Moon. However, Earth challenged the forces of the young colony, and so the First Interplanetary War'' began. It was later changed to the "First Moon War". However, as the Moon's colony's forces shrunk vastly, the remaining Selene troops withdrew into dark silence.
Half a century later, the Moon's precious supply of nitrogen was growing dim; they needed some nitrogen, which was only found on Earth. So the war against the Earth was rekindled; this war was now called the "Second Moon War". Overtime, the moon's forces had grown, while Earthly supplies were slowly draining; while the Moon's supplies were rapidly being drained. After several Selene victories, Earth's forces were also being destroyed. It seemed that an Earth surrender was in order; but the rapid loss of the Moon's supplies has forced them back into withdrawl.
A new tactic, one which used pilots trained for suicide runs, codenamed "Einhänder", was launched. Earth did not see what was coming. Their supplies were draining rapidly, as the single capital of the Earth's one focus was the ships circling around the planet, in order to gain supplies from the Earth, before they're all gone.