Hmm, I wouldn't exactly call it a Psikyo game directly. Think of it kind of like the Toaplan -> CAVE/Takumi/Raizing relationship.
I think what makes Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings so damn hard is because of the vertizontal layout. Tiny, fast bullets and lots of space is really deceptive, especially since there's a lot of space for a bullet to come from behind, and being severely underpowered doesn't help. Psikyo continues Video System's little tradition of losing Maximum Power after a set amount of time for a few early games, then apparently they realized 'oh hey, this is fucking stupid' and took that out :V