Star Hunter DX (Playstation 4)

Horizontal
Checkpoints OFF
3 Difficulty levels
6 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by 1CC Games
Published by Strictly Limited Games in 2022

First title developed by 1CC Games, Star Hunter DX originally came out in 2021 for all mainstream platforms, and was soon granted a physical edition in tandem with the second shmup from the same developer. Aptly titled Star Hunter DX & Space Moth Lunar Edition, the bundle came out for the Nintendo Switch and the Playstation 4, with the latter obviously being my console of choice in the case of this particular game.

Horizontal bullet hells aren't really frequent in the world of shmups, and Star Hunter DX helps to fill this void with honest, undeniable gusto. It makes excellent use of the widescreen format while completely focusing on gameplay rather than graphic excellence. Graphics are, in fact, the short end of the design here, and do not live up to the capability of a system like the Playstation 4. They get the job done, but the ship sprites are almost as hideous as the box art, for example. You won't see any fancy effects at all across increasingly difficult stages filled with lots of color and all sorts of bullet types and bullet patterns.

The heroine of the game is a lady called Luna Starr, a former space pirate turned bounty hunter. She's one of the three pilots the player can use, but in order to access the other ones you'll first need to reach stage 3 (unlock CAT-99) and stage 5 (unlock Edgar). They're featured prominently in the art design and their ships have quite unique characteristics. Inputs include rapid shot, laser shot, bomb and bullet time activation, fully customizable in the options as you so wish. In a nutshell, this is pretty much the same input configuration found in many Cave titles such as Espgaluda, which serves as the most obvious inspiration for the more straightforward gameplay of Star Hunter DX.

Behold some beautiful circular patterns of doom

 

Even though the screen seems too cluttered with information, it's actually not that hard to grasp how the game works. The act of hitting any enemy fills up the score multiplier meter located at the lower left of the screen up to a maximum of ×8, a number that drops slowly if you're not hitting anything. By grazing bullets you fill up the meter below the life stock display, and when the meter is full you recover one bomb, in a maximum of three bombs that can be carried at any given time (the three white dots below the ship also serve the purpose of displaying your current bomb stock). Finally, by killing enemies or nullifying bullets with the bomb you collect small blue crystals that fill up the "bullet time" round meter around the ship. When this meter is half full or more you can enter bullet time mode by pressing the dedicated button, slowing down all enemies and bullets. All bullets fired by destroyed enemies are then turned into gold crystals whose size and value are directly proportional to your current multiplier.

Bullet time is a resource that serves all kinds of players/pilots since it's useful both for survival (slower bullets) and for scoring (gold cubes get!). However, every time you come out from bullet time mode either by the expiration of the bullet time meter, by pressing the bullet time button again or by dying, the score multiplier is reset to 1. Therefore, the main challenge for score chasers is finding the best moments to activate bullet time and cash in your multiplier with the maximum amount of bullets on screen. Allowing enemies to live long enough while avoiding their bullet curtains is key, and the thrill of doing it is the basis of the game's underlying appeal.

In-game items include the power-up (P), maximum power-up (MAX), floating astronauts (which give you some points and fill up a good chunk up the bullet time meter) and extra lives (1UP). The extend checkpoint for the appearance of an extra life depends on the chosen difficulty level, and for Normal (Bounty Hunter) it stands at 6 million points. The gauge below the score display indicates how far you are from getting your next extend.

Star Hunter DX has arrived
(courtesy of digital publisher and YouTube user Chorus Worldwide Games)

With six levels of good length and variety, Star Hunter DX is a no-brainer for those who enjoy weaving through dense bullet clouds. Bullet density increases steadily as the game progresses, but there's a remarkable difficulty spike when you enter the quartz city in stage 4. This is the only level with obstacles, and to safely get through it a good strategy for crowd control is needed if you don't want to be overwhelmed. Astronauts in this level are also trapped inside walls, but can be rescued by touching them with the ship's canopy or downright bombing to safely get through solid matter. By the way, bomb behavior is a little different here: its effect is restricted to a close radius and not the whole screen, which means you need to get relatively close to the target if you want to inflict actual damage.

At its core, the game also has some intricacies that will only become clear with repeated plays. Using rapid shot is the best way to fill and maintain the multiplier maximized, so tapping rapid shot is sometimes really useful if you want to keep enemies alive, especially in bullet time mode. Another feature of bullet time is that it also makes health bars appear for every single enemy on screen. It's possible to prolong boss fights by triggering their espape pods, which is achieved by destroying all their initial armor (white color parts) while in bullet time mode. Not only does it provide more opportunities for scoring during the battle itself, but it also gives you better end-of-stage bonuses. Besides boss fight performance, these bonuses include extra points for average multiplier, gold collected, astronauts rescued, grazing effectiveness and life stock.

And then there's the matter of choosing the ideal character. Luna is naturally the most balanced of the three, with faster speed when using shot and lower speed when using laser. CAT-99 is the opposite, yet he comes with the most powerful rapid shot endowed with homing ability, an ideal choice for beginners. Too bad he flies too fast when using his weak laser. As for veteran pilot Edgar, he's got the strongest laser with very slow speed while being weak and too fast when using rapid shot. Playing with both CAT-99 and Edgar might be fun, but they certainly require much more knowledge to be properly used in the long term. Fortunately there's a practice mode that allows all sorts of predefined settings for proper training. There are no online features whatsoever.

Thanks to the solid scoring system, well-balanced gameplay and a relatively decent soundtrack, Star Hunter DX is definitely bound to please all sorts of audiences. Despite the somewhat cheap graphic design, it's an engaging game that makes you want to come back for more. I only came across one functional issue: if you get very far into the credit or use the practice mode for a long while, in your very next playthrough the performance of the game degrades considerably and everything moves a lot slower than usual. The only remedy I found for that is closing the game and booting it again from the main menu.

There were still lots of improvement gaps in my strategies for Star Hunter DX, but I'll take the 1CC score achieved below with Luna in the Normal difficulty (Bounty Hunter). I still don't know how the game compares to Space Moth Lunar Edition, the other title in the package, but I expect to find out soon.

Metal Stoker (PC Engine)

Arena
Checkpoints OFF
3 Difficulty levels
7 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Face
Published by Face in 1991

When done right, unscrolling arena shooters do have the potential to be engaging experiences. We've come a long way since T.A.N.K. and Commando, some of the most recognizable forefathers of this particular branch in the shooting genre. The glut of cheap imitations that followed and are still being made to this day unfortunately diluted and eventually killed the appeal of these types of video games. They're either too generic or too cluttered with influences from other genres, especially the ones of the pedestrian type. At least from my limited perspective, military tank-based games fare a little better though.

For home consoles Metal Stoker is a clear example of an honest and decent take in this subgenre. It's not outstanding in any way and it doesn't come off as crisp or energetic as Mega Drive's Granada, which came out a year earlier, but gets the job done and delivers a good level of variety in the stage design. It's also possible to glimpse both in the graphics and in the soundtrack some of the creative spark seen in Hani in the Sky, the only other shmup made/published by developer Face for the PC Engine. In my opinion the background music for stages 3 and 4 are definitely standouts. And just like the game of the flying haniwa, Metal Stoker is yet another example of a shmup that has no scoring system.

Without scoring and the consequent push for a killing spree and without any sort of timer to put pressure on players, this game is perfect for those who prefer to move about carefully and at their own pace, be it in tight maze-like environments or in open space areas.

Meet the boss of stage 6

Players take the role of a female pilot immersed in simulation combat across several areas connected together in individual stages. In each of these areas you must guide a tank and destroy a particular set of enemies to proceed, from simple static generators to specific enemy flocks or a series of mid-sized captains and bosses. It's nothing complicated, except for a few sections where you must navigate through corridors with fast moving drones or find your way out of an energy barrier maze. Shooting is accomplished with button II, whereas with button I you lock/unlock the shooting direction of the tank. By pausing it's possible to choose one of the five weapons available (once they're firstly acquired), and by pressing SELECT you trigger a special attack that consumes one power level of the weapon that's being currently used.

Each life comes with four energy/shield units shown at the top right corner of the screen. With every hit the energy goes from green to yellow, red, blinking red and then a life is lost (fortunately with no downgrade to the firepower). Item containers are scattered around the stages and reveal either energy/shield refills or power-ups for any of the five weapons in the game. Besides the default vulcan shot there's also laser, mines, sonic barrier and homing missile. All of them except for the vulcan need to be activated with the first power-up before being available for selection with the START button. Then all further power-ups upgrade the weapons individually up to five power levels.

It goes without saying, but handling the resources in Metal Stoker is easily done by avoiding to take damage. However, this is even more important for the extend mechanics because if you take an energy refill item with a full energy gauge (green) you'll get an extra life instead. Extra lives are also granted after completing stages 3 and 6, whereas the energy meter is fully refilled whenever a new stage begins. Apart from that, memorization is important in order to not get lost in the action during those levels with a large number of targets found through warp gateways. The number of mirrored sections is a bit excessive but in the end I guess it helps to understand the flow of the game faster. Most of the time indicating arrows show where you need to go, often accompanied by scratchy voice fragments that remind you of the early voices from Mega Drive games.

Your assignment begins now
(courtesy of YouTube user The VideoGames Museum)

While I did get through Metal Stoker without recurring to special attacks, the ones related to the mine dropper and the sonic barrier are actually quite useful, unlike the weapons themselves which are pretty much useless. The special attack for the mines make you hover in place so that you can avoid enemy fire and pummel away whatever lies below. As for the sonic barrier, it makes the tank invincible for a good while, hence allowing you to ram into enemies and make them have a taste of their own medicine. More than the 4-hit shield special of the vulcan, they're certainly a great way to deal with bosses that tend to corner you.

All in all, the joy of playing Metal Stoker might be a feeble one, but the game is a valid diversion within the shmup library of the PC Engine. It's just a pity that players don't have any sort of metrics to measure their mighty performances. However, should you fancy a tougher challenge there's always the possibility of getting access to a hidden menu with a special code that allows you to change the default difficulty: during the start screen with the buzzing effect press I, I, II, II, ←, →, ↑, ↓ and SELECT four times, then press I + II at the same time.

For posterity, below is a photo of the moment of revelation in the game's story. During the end credits you get to know that you were not in a simulation environment after all. It was all real, as is our neverending thirst for more shmupping adventures, which I must now quench by moving on to my next assignment. Cheers!

 

Radirgy (Xbox 360)

Vertical
Checkpoints OFF
3 Difficulty levels
5 Stages
Ship speed fixed, selectable at start
- - - - - - -
Developed by Milestone
Published by Klon in 2014

When most people thought the definitive set of Milestone shmups was restricted to the Nintendo Wii and its Milestone Shooting Collection 2, a short-lived company named Klon got the rights to the games and released them all for the Japanese Xbox 360 in a compilation named Sakura Flaming Archives. It's got HD ports of Chaos Field, Radirgy, Karous, Illmatic Envelope and Radirgy Noa (not to be confused with the standalone Radirgy Noa Massive release), and just like its Wii counterpart represents a great way to get to know the works of Milestone in a single hub of shooting fun.

Even though Sakura Flamingo Archives gets lots of online criticism due to some reported instances of slowdown and a disappointing set of extras with poor interface screens and very few options, of which the lack of TATE for the vertical titles is always mentioned, my feeling is that this widespread disapproval is highly unjustified. The games look gorgeous on an HD screen, so TATE isn't really a thing if you can afford a large TV set. Sure, save functions are basic and don't allow replay recording, but that's perfectly fine for five straightforward arcade ports, which can be accessed from the main screen menu by selecting Revision mode. All inputs are configurable and extra game variants such as Mixture mode and Death mode add a little more flair for Milestone fans.

 

So on to Radirgy, the shmup with colorful cell-shaded graphics, second Milestone game and also the first one to present a series of gameplay elements that would be reused or reworked in their later releases. Having played the Dreamcast and the Playstation 2 versions a long time ago, I obviously had an idea of what to expect, yet I did come across something that made the experience a little harder: the absolute lack of slowdown. And this, my friends, is a much more legitimate criticism than the ones outlined in the paragraph above.

Ukiha shopping mall ahead

Radirgy comes with three basic ship/mecha configurations at the player's disposal, generally named after the shots they're able to fire: wide shot, 123 laser and bubble shot. Once the shot type is selected you can press left and right to choose between three fixed flying speeds (2 stars for slow, 3 starts for medium and 5 stars for fast), thus having nine fixed combinations of shot + speed. A skippable tutorial is shown and then you take off from an exploding building in a mission to rescue your kidnapped father with the aid of a friend who communicates by email messages at key points in the levels. By the way, Radirgy is actually a short for "radio allergy", a health condition of the female protagonist who is allergic to radio waves. 

The game requires the use of three buttons to be played: shot, sword and ABSnet activation. A fourth resource, the shield, appears automatically at the tip of the ship if you refrain from shooting, deflecting all shots that touch it except for lasers and flames. Shot and sword can be used at the same time, but then shot power and reach are reduced. By hitting and destroying enemies you get blue pills that refill the ABSnet gauge at the bottom of the screen, but doing it with the sword fills it faster. If the gauge is full you're entitled to use the ABSnet attack, a force field that surrounds the mecha and makes it temporarily invincible while automatically sucking all nearby items. On the other hand, green pills fill up the multiplier gauge at the top of the screen by cancelling bullets with the ABSnet and damaging enemies or deflecting bullets with the shield.

A multitude of items is released by destroying carriers, turrets and enemies. The aerial ones consist of shot power-up (a green square, get 6 for max power), instant ABSnet recharge (a purple diamond), point tokens (small and larger blue triangles), 25% multiplier boost (yellow upside down triangle), a bullet changer (pink upside down triangle) that converts all on-screen bullets into point tokens, and extra lives (bright green squares that drop down from the top of the screen when you score 8 and 20 million points). With the exception of the extra lives, all of them can be juggled with the sword, an action that might change them into other item types. Ground items appear from destroyed turrets and only give you a few points, but they're also part of a great secret that very people know of. I didn't until now, so go read this outstanding strategy page if you want to know more about this and many other deeper aspects of the game.

With a fixed scrolling pace and a steady increase in the number of enemies and bullets fired, Radirgy is finely balanced for survivalists and scorers alike. You can either save the ABSnet for the busiest parts of the stages or abuse it to boost the multiplier from ×2 (default) to ×4, ×8 and ×16 (max). The multiplier gauge self-drains if you're not able to generate a continuous stream of green pills.

A very important feature here is that you can't be hurt by any enemy (ground or airborne), only by their bullets. Speaking of which, refraining from shooting to use the shield is mostly advantageous against bosses and mid-bosses that spam thick, almost undodgeable bullet clouds. That said, crowd control is the single most important strategy for survival since the more enemies you have at a single moment the more bullets you'll need to dodge (and the more pills you'll get when using the ABSnet). Soon enough you'll also notice that every enemy type or wave will only spawn after the previous one has been destroyed or left the screen.

A flower splash on your Xbox 360
(courtesy of YouTube user Chinopolis)

Radirgy starts slow, but by the time you get to the last couple of levels things get so hectic that you'll be pretty much forced to optimize enemy wave kills and spam the ABSnet attack in order to survive real bullet hell. Finding the rhythm to the game's enemy spawning routine is the key, as well as watching out for those stray bullets that tend to catch you off guard and drain your life meter (or battery, as some put it). Panic and lack of attention to the ABSnet gauge is often the worst enemy against bosses and bulkier enemies. Every time you get hit, for example, a series of items including a purple diamond will bounce off the ship, so the best action is to instantly stop using the sword so that you can collect the diamond to recharge and activate the ABSnet. I lost count of how many times I was fried by the last boss because I didn't stop slashing. At least you're not powered down after being hit.

I consider Radirgy to be a fun game, yet I reckon it's a slow burner for most people. And while it lacks the drive and energy of Chaos Field's music, I'm very fond of the laid back techno soundtrack. Bumping up the volume does wonders! As I mentioned above, this port is completely devoid of slowdown, that's why I think it's the hardest version out there. Enemies and bullets will engulf you if you're not on top of your game. Other than that, there are very brief stuttering moments when some of those mail messages pop up on the screen, but they do not affect the gameplay at all. Finally, there are no special game modes for Radirgy here, such as those seen in the Playstation 2 or the Gamecube ports. 

Once I got reacquainted with the game I went with the combo of 123 shot + medium speed, which I still feel is more natural for my play style. However, I'll concede that in order to get the most out of the game you really need to select the fastest speed. I played in the Normal difficulty and got the final result below, having collected only 85% of the ground tokens.

The sequels – or pseudo-sequels – developed for Radirgy over the years are a real mess. The list includes Radirgy Noa, Radirgy de Gojaru!, Radirgy Swag and Radirgy 2, and I expect to tackle at least one of them in the near future.

Cotton 100% (Playstation 4)

Horizontal
Checkpoints OFF
4 Difficulty levels
7 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Success
Published by Strictly Limited Games in 2022

Let's be honest here. The worldwide re-release of this charming Super Famicom original for newer consoles was never meant to be anything but a cash-in and part of the ongoing attempt at surfing the Cottonmania wave rekindled by titles like Cotton Reboot! and Cotton Rock'n'Roll / Fantasy. I did have reservations prior to getting the physical editions of both Panorama Cotton and Cotton 100% (also known as Märchen Adventure Cotton 100%) for the Playstation 4, but having played the latter extensively for a few days did make me realize why it still makes sense to play these games again after all these years.

The retail disc for Cotton 100% is a welcome bonus for a couple of reasons of course. The first one of the instruction manual written in English, which finally clarifies some of the most obscure aspects of the gameplay (both the Super Famicom original and the Playstation port were all in Japanese). The second reason goes hand in hand with collector's vanity, after all the packaging is beautiful, looks great on the shelf and houses a game that puts to shame a whole bunch of new-gen titles that don't hold a candle to it in terms of game design and univeral allure.

Each stage in Cotton 100% is a full-fledged exercise in ultra-colorful compositions of increasingly intricate terrain layouts and cute and crazy enemies, as well as an array of wildly creative mid- and main bosses from beginning to end. The challenge is rather tame, with hazards mostly related to environmental traps and enemy ramming. The actual bullet count is rather low, you're not harmed by touching walls and magic represents an important part of your arsenal. 

Trailer for the new release of Märchen Adventure Cotton 100%
(courtesy of YouTube user and publisher Strictly Limited Games)

As the central character of the game, a cute little witch named Cotton is dragged into a quest to find out who is stealing the so-called "willows", candy-like fruit whose trees have been taken away by an unknown entity. Short panels with humorous touches develop this lighthearted story, with English subtitles that for the first time ever make it understandable for those not familiar with Japanese or not keen to seek out translations. There's not much of a fairy tale (märchen) side to it in the classic sense of the expression, yet everything is so cute and fluffly that Cotton 100% is irresistible for those who enjoy cute'em designs in their video games. I've definitely come to appreciate it more over the years, but I need to confess that my favorite part of the package is the amazing soundtrack.

Controlling Cotton the witch requires four buttons that are fully configurable in the options. Shot, bomb, magic and magic select. Even though you can map shot and bomb to the same button, the bomb input is also used to charge a special move that sends all your available fairies in a forward and very useful attack. The simple act of killing enemies increases the EXP gauge slowly, upgrading your shot power in 10 levels (bombs are upgraded at every 2 levels). Increasing the EXP gauge is accomplished faster by collecting yellow and pink crystals. Pink crystals yield more EXP but are rarer to come by. Shooting crystals makes them change colors, but if they're shot at for too long they might disintegrate.

Besides crystals, other items to get are (?) spheres that add one spell to the magic stock, fairies freed when you destroy a dragon-looking enemy and extra lives located in specific spots that must be shot at to be revealed. It's possible to have a maximum of three fairies escorting Cotton, whose formation depend on the magic spell that's currently selected. An assortment of three types of magic (out of 6) is available depending on your choice when starting the game. Fire dragon and Fire fairy are the hard-hitters, whereas Thunder and Twincle Star (sic!) are best used for crowd control. Bubble and Barrior (sic!), on the other hand, are more suited to defensive play styles.  

Using Magic is definitely one of the best ways to deal with some of the most intricate passages and boss attack patterns. Since they're independent of life stock and are always preserved when you die, conserving magic for the fight against the hardest bosses is certainly a valid strategy. The only consequence of dying is that your firepower is reduced by a certain amount, so watch out. Dying once is okay in the short term, but dying several times in a row can leave you severely underpowered later on. Speaking of the use of magic for survival, score chasers will certtainly think about it twice since each magic in stock is worth 1.000 bonus points at the end of the level (a max of 9 magic spells can be carried).

Jack-O-Rangutan at your shooting service

The bulk of the scoring system, however, is related to a non-intuitive little secret that makes a huge difference in your final result. During the "tea time" interlude after every boss is beaten (except for the last one), a shower of teacups will fall for a brief while. Normally people take them for bonus points, but if you dodge them all you'll receive a secret bonus of 37.500 points. And if you're able to perform this stunt during all six showers a huge extra teacup worth 375.000 points will appear. This is easier said than done, of course. Not only tea time showers get faster with each level, but you also need to count on a little bit of luck. The third one is made even more difficult by a huge boulder that's left on the screen after the boss is killed.  

Seeing and playing such a fascinating game again is of course a joy, even though there's absolutely no graphical improvements whatsoever in this port. It does include a few visual tweaks to make it more like an old school experience (not my cup of tea though). Other than that it's an extremely bare bones release that doesn't even offer simple stuff such as wallpapers or special leaderboards. Standard mode allows players to rewind, apply cheats and save/load states, whereas Challenge mode offers the game in its original form without any of these resources.

My time with Cotton 100% on the Playstation 4 (Normal difficulty) ended with the following high score. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get all secret bonuses to boost the final 1CC result. For those wondering, input lag wasn't a problem at all, and the game plays great on all accounts that matter.

Haradius Zero (NES)

Horizontal
Checkpoints OFF
1 Difficulty level
6 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Impact Soft
Published by Neodolphino Productions in 2020

The homebrew scene for the NES has always been fertile ground for all sorts of experiments and new games from independent developers all over the world. Speaking of shmups only, from the depths of inane offerings such as those from Sachen and Mega Soft, fortunately the scene evolved over time to the point of delivering more professional games such as Haradius Zero. It's the first in a series of shooters developed by Impact Soft, a small Japanese company that has been made known to shmup enthusiasts in the West due to the efforts of publisher Neodolphino Productions.

The game had a lot more in common with Gradius when originally released for the MSX as Haradius, down to the weapon array and the use of options. Inspiration for the title was simple since the main person behind development was a guy named Harada. For the NES it was then rebaptized as Haradius Zero to serve as a fresh new start in the company's doujin activities on Nintendo's 8-bit platform. However, even though it retained pretty much all of the original graphic assets, the gameplay completely ditched the traditional Gradius style in favor of a more straightforward approach imbued with aspects of caravan shooters.

Stage 2 of Haradius Zero
(courtesy of main programmer and YouTube user Ichikawa Ejiro)

Of course with 6 stages and a proper ending, Haradius Zero is far from being a caravan shmup. Yet it encourages players to pursue better performances and higher scores by granting a life stock of 10 lives at every stage no matter how you ended up in the previous one – with more than 10 or down to your last life. Each extra life is worth 1.000 points once the level is completed, and given how limited the stage scores actually are the best way to regularly achieve higher scores is simply avoiding to receive damage and collecting these reserve life bonuses.

After you see the ship take off from the base in an up-close animation, you'll notice that it's always firing its weapon automatically, without the need for the player to press any button. It's certainly off-putting for those used to pushing buttons to shoot (at least for me), but fortunately the tendency is that you'll soon get used to it. Both controller buttons have the same purpose, which is toggling the position of your orbs between two predefined settings: close to the ship and far apart, allowing for some diversity in how you want to deal with enemy waves and boss fights. There are no power-ups of any kind, so that's all you can count on in order to advance through a series of enemy bases until reaching the last war vessel in the final level.

While definitely pleasing under a strict gameplay standpoint with some unpretentious but varied layouts in the foreground, Haradius Zero doesn't offer anything of note in the way of background designs. From beginning to end you're flying in outer space against a dark backdrop filled with a few scrolling dots. A compromise for the fluid and clean gameplay, perhaps? Drones arriving at different speeds, turrets of all shapes and sizes, maze-like obstacles, flying rocks, androids, robots and battleships appear throughout simple yet effective terrains with no slowdown or flicker of any kind. Bullet count is manageable but does require lots of macro and eventually micrododging, with some rather intense action in the 4th stage. And I might be wrong here, but I can also see some minor influence from Hellfire in stage 5. 

Captain: take off every Zi.... Ooops!!

Besides the basic gameplay, there are also few secrets to be uncovered in Haradius Zero. A diamond-like item gives you an extra life, but you'll eventually see blinking spots where perhaps there might be another one of these shiny diamonds. In order to make them appear you'll have to hit and destroy a specific part of the scenery (watch out for the sign of inflicted damage). Not only you get extra lives by taking these special diamonds, but you'll also trigger a few additional hazards and alternate versions of the stage bosses. These hidden bosses are more aggressive and resilient, allowing for some more points since most of them release drone waves in between new attack patterns. It's a nice way to add difficulty  and more scoring devices to a base game that won't give much trouble to any medium-skilled shmupper.

Milking bosses is possible for a while, but if you take too long to kill them indestructible vertical energy bars will start sweeping the screen to tell you it's impossible to break the scoring system.

Although not stellar by any means, the mix of soundtrack and sound effects does its intended job of matching the action. One weird detail here is that the game doesn't allow pausing, so if you want to grab a beer while playing all you'll have are slightly longer stage transitions. Regardless of this minor quirk, for a homebrew product the Western version of Haradius Zero is definitely a winner. Surely you can run the game in any decent emulator, but the love and care dedicated to the packaging, cartridge and manual is well worth the praise for those who value the neverending appeal of physical media.

My final 1CC result for Haradius Zero is below. The high score shown at the main start screen is saved, but can be deleted in the options if you so wish.

Next in this interesting doujin series is Haratyler.

Heavy Weapon (Xbox 360)

Vertical fixed
Checkpoints OFF
1 Difficulty level
19 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by PopCap Games
Published by PopCap Games in 2009

PopCap Arcade Vol. 2 seems like a product out of its time. Second Xbox 360 compilation release of the company that rose to the spotlight with the Plants vs. Zombies franchise, it includes three admittedly casual titles that are believed to have made at least mild success at the time. Peggle is certainly the most famous of the bunch, while Feeding Frenzy 2 and Heavy Weapon will probably ring a bell only for those who dared to look away from the mainstream. It's definitely a charming disc for lovers of underground games, as was PopCap Arcade Vol. 1 (this one with no shmup included though).

Once the disc is booted you're bumped to the single game selection screen, where you'll then be able to choose any of the three games available in the compilation. A unique approach to the Space Invaders formula, Heavy Weapon has the distinction of being a fixed vertical shooter with twin stick controls. If you ever wondered how such a game would play, look no further. With 19 stages of increasingly higher stakes, widescreen over-the-top action and a playthrough that lasts well over an hour, it unites light-hearted humor, fun and challenge in a package that will definitely require some endurance from players to be properly beaten.

Waging war with a partner tank in the Geiger County (mission 4)

Controls are as simples as it gets. Move the atomic tank with the d-pad or the left analog stick, fire with the right analog stick over a 180° area above ground and detonate nuclear bombs if you have them with the RT button. The screen scrolls from left to right as enemies cruise the sky above and approach from the sides at ground level. A meter on the top of the screen shows your progression until the end of the stage, where you'll then have to defeat a large boss. With each stage completed you'll earn the right to assign an upgrade point in each of the upgrade categories, which include defense orbs, homing missiles, laser, rockets (straight missiles), flak cannon and thunderstrike (seeking lightning bolts). It takes three upgrade points to max out each one, and you can redistribute all earned points whenever you're in the upgrade screen.

As the levels unfold you'll be able to collect other upgrades, most of them released by a white friendly carrier. The spread shot is the most valuable permanent upgrade, maxing out at five streams by the time you reach stage 7. Rapid fire, gun power-up and one single speed-up appear in every level, supposedly enhancing the tank even though these improvements aren't really noticeable. There are also shield icons that help protect the tank from damage: the more shields you have the greener the aura around the tank, with a maximum of three possible shields and the automatic refilling of one single shield if you haven't got any left in between levels. These shields only protect you from regular bullets thpough, so enemy lasers and certain bombs are still fatal regardless of your shield standings. Finally, you'll also come across extra bombs (nukes) and a temporary megalaser that's automatically deployed once you have collected four megalaser items.

Heavy Weapon is particularly interesting for hiding a vicious long term challenge under a thick layer of casual graphic design. It all starts on an easy gear, especially when you notice that you can lose up to two lives in every level with no consequence in the long run other than the bonus you'd get for the no-miss (every stage starts with three lives). However, levels start to get longer after a while and always introduce a new enemy to spice things up in the way the game overlaps patterns. It comes to a point where it's necessary to plan ahead to reliably get through certain attacks, some of them unavoidable if you don't take quick action. Bomb stock and shields in excess are always carried over to the next stage.

Even though you can select the country to invade prior to starting the level, it isn't a good idea to deviate from the default path because enemy resistance is totally dependent on the chosen stage. By the time you get to stage 9 the game will already have reached full throttle in terms of difficulty, starting  anew after you're informed that the real battle is about to start. And only when the 9 stages are beaten one more time you'll have the chance to finally destroy the enemy headquarters in the 19th and final level.

Prepare for battle!
(courtesy of YouTube user entexman)

Although you can notice some degree of randomness to enemy behavior in the second loop, it's really not something to worry about. Things are so hectic by then that you'd better focus on the types of enemy waves bombarding the screen in order to exert a minimum level of crowd control. Don't ever stop shooting or else you lose some precious head start against the neverending flocks of jets and missiles. Brute force is very important early on, that's why I chose to favor certain weapons as soon as possible, such as the homing missiles, the laser and the flak cannon. During debriefing at the end of the level you get a few bonuses related to your performance in the combat field. It's a very straightforward scoring system, but note that every single enemy bullet, missile or bomb you're able to destroy also gives out a few extra points.

The military soundtrack isn't bad, but it's certainly not as engaging as the rocking tunes of the versions made for the Playstation 2 or the Playstation Network (PS3). Sound effects and gritty voice snippets are present from start to finish, heightening the foreground action while cosmetic backgrounds scroll by at the same continuous pace throughout. The game's long duration might be a turn-off for some people, but on the other hand the experience can be quite addictive once you're sucked into the rhythm of the destruction mayhem.

Heavy Weapon is also a great choice for a party game since you can play it locally and online with up to four players. Besides the main game mode (Mission), there's also a Survival mode (where the stakes increase exponentially at every minute) and a boss rush (Boss Blitz). The upgrades are the same in these extra modes but the rules for getting them are naturally different.

My 1CC result in Mission mode is the one from the final debriefing screen below, shown after you beat the final boss. Note that this is the last time you'll see your score if you're not online to have it uploaded to the online leaderboards.

Void Gore (Playstation 4)

Vertical
Checkpoints OFF
1 Difficulty level
1 Stage (loopable)
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Panda Indie Studio / eastasiasoft
Published by Red Art Games in 2021

Void Gore is a game I've had on my shelf for a while, one that I toyed with every now and then in between the long spells of my daughter building houses and castles in Minecraft. One of the the early cheap physical releases for the Playstation 4, the game is as straightforward and simple as it gets, with an extremely humble interface that goes hand in hand with the minimalistic gameplay for a mindless shooting experience that shouldn't surprise anyone, let alone those who're fond of ultra realistic graphics.

As part of the secondary branch of shmups developed by Panda Indie Studio, Void Gore is a no-frills romp with a limited gallery of enemies. Sure it has similarities with the Project Starship series, but while Null Drifter and Red Death suffer from excessively primitive or contrived design, Void Gore hides a surprisingly engaging apex once you've maxed out the in-game collectibles. For a while I thought of it as an endless game, which it actually is at its core, but after some time I realized it can be considered a loopable little diversion. At the end of the day this might be a stretch, although a justifiable one for a couple of reasons.

The interface here is designed as a rudimentary directory structure. From the upper level you can access the game, the online leaderboard, general options for controller vibration and audio/video tweaks, including the selection of up to 8 fixed backgrounds (if you have unlocked them). After you start the game and have a Game Over, two new directories open up: Store and Restart. In Store you're then able to purchase upgrades with the coins collected during the game, which stack up as you play successive credits and fail. Yes, fail. That's what will inevitably happen simply because the ship starts out in an unbelievably slow and underpowered condition.

Release trailer for the retail version of Void Gore on the Playstation 4
(courtesy of YouTube user and publisher RED ART GAMES)

 

Basic controls work with shot (×) and a "clear attack" (□ or ○). By holding shot the speed of the ship is reduced, and by activating the clear attack button all bullets inside the radius displayed around the ship are nullified. The clear radius is regenerated automatically and at its maximum size starts blinking red, which means that all enemies caught inside the next clear attack will also be destroyed. Every enemy killed fills up a bar in the upper corner of the screen, and if the next enemy is killed before this bar gets empty the score multiplier is increased up to ×8. It's basically the same mechanics of the Dodonpachi series, albeit much less strict and only possible to be sustained within each wave. As for the generated coins, they're all sucked into the ship automatically.

With an enemy spawning routine that's completely random, every credit plays out slightly different. Since the enemy gallery is rather small, there shouldn't be much trouble once you get used to them. It all comes down to drones, eyes, mouths and mangled structures that look like brains, sometimes in multiple arrangements connected by nerves/veins. What varies when waves progress is the amount and the size of the bullets they fire, as well as the items left behind also in a random fashion. The item list includes upgrades for fire rate (R), bullets (B), damage (D), clear area (A), clear speed (S), missiles (M) and HP/life (H).

Upgrades in the Store section include several ship and firepower enchancements such as extra HP, more speed and more bullets fired, as well as higher firing rates and damage levels. Missiles can be activated and upgraded in the same fashion, and you can also get double coins and larger/faster recovery for the clear attack radius. Unlike the improvements you get from in-game items the upgrades from the Store are permanent, giving you a much needed head start in your next credits. It takes a while to max out all these upgrades though, but once you've done it – or you're close to doing it – Void Gore suddenly starts to become... fun.

Hell freezing over in a hellish ravine

Every single enemy attack is preceded by swift visual hints, so nothing feels cheap at all despite the random enemy spawning routines. That's probably the main reason why Void Gore is able to make the most out of its meager assets. And then there's the non-stop action once you're a few waves into the game, especially once you have to start using the clear attack defensively against those skulls that quickly flood the screen with bullets. It kinda requires players to be "in the zone" to advance further than wave 20, and all it takes to deplete your complete health stock is a few seconds of distraction. Speaking of which, the maximum number of hearts you can keep is 9. On the other hand, an interesting bonus for being down to your last life is that the maximum multiplier gets bumped up from ×8 to ×12. 

One final and important note about Void Gore is related to an option from the "On next match" submenu, the same one where you purchase double coins. If you spend $500 on $@†4n LVL 10 you'll face the game's boss at wave 10 in your next credit. This boss is actually the fiendish creature from the box art. It only appears in wave 10 and the right to fight him must be purchased every time before a new credit is started (I don't think I've ever seen this in any shmup). Of course you can play a credit without "purchasing" the boss, but then you'd be losing out on a set of five extra items given out when he bites the dust.

Regardless of the unexpectedly engaging nature of the gameplay when all upgrades are active, the method of powering up the ship with cumulated coins is of course a cheap cop-out for the game's lack of substance. Enforcing mandatory restraints disguised as upgrades just to fake the impression of having more meat on the bone is a strategy that sounds absolutely dumb particularly in a shmup, for lack of a better expression. Once all upgrades are maxed out coins are useless, and even become a visual distraction when the screen starts to get really busy.

At any rate, I did enjoy my time when blasting through Void Gore. In the high score below I reached wave 36, which corresponds to the 4th loop if we consider the boss wave to be the final one in the first loop (10 waves per loop). A weird bug makes the high score below appear slightly lower when it gets uploaded to the online leaderboard.