Played some Axelay tonight.
A very underwhelming performance from me, to be fair, but I did have fun. It's just a gorgeous game throughout. The second level with the city in the background is still stunning. The fourth level in the half-submerged cave is even better, with one of the most hauntingly beautiful tracks I've ever heard come from a SNES. On the other hand, Konami's eyes were bigger than their stomachs when they forced the SNES to a flickery crawl during the Lava Man boss. Sill worth it IMO.
Although I played pretty terribly and used up all my continues, the game did end with a really nice "last life, no continues left" climax that gave me a bit of a rush. Skip to about an hour in for the second-last form of the last boss.