Sexy Parodius (Playstation)

Horizontal
Checkpoints ON or OFF
8 Difficulty levels
7 Stages (+1)
Ship speed by icons
- - - - - - -
Developed by Konami
Published by Konami in 1996

As long as you choose a completely different character, it's true that revisiting games that have multiple characters is almost like learning it all over over again. I wasn't expecting or anticipating to replay Sexy Parodius so soon after beating the Saturn version a while ago, but thanks to a few fine folks who also share this undying passion for shmups it was chosen as game of the week around here. So I dug out the Playstation disc and off I went in testing all those crazy characters to see which one would be a nice diversion for a few evenings of nonsensical fun.

Of course saying "nice diversion" is a relative statement when we speak about Sexy Parodius, the 5th chapter in the cute'em up series originally created as a spin-off of Gradius. By no means "diversion" is supposed to indicate that the game is an easy ride, because it certainly isn't. As the final arcade entry of the franchise, it actually takes dynamic difficulty to the limit while still allowing some degree of flexibility for all types of players. All things considered, the elusive nature of this game is definitely not to be taken for granted.

Wait, who's that doing some kata over that green roof?

Let's not get ahead of ourselves though. The very basics of Sexy Parodius are still based on the same old orange capsules that cycle the weapon array for the player to activate the desired upgrades, in an assortment that includes speed-up, missiles, two kinds of shot patterns, power-up, Oh! (all upgrades are gone) and shield (note that the blue/gray capsule clears the screen of enemies). And then there are the colored bells for you to collect. Yellow is used to get higher scores since it successively gives out 500, 1K, 2.5K, 5K and 10K points if no bells are lost and if you don't die. Other colors result in special powers: blue (screen clearing bomb), green (temporary inflate + invincibility + not possible to collect more bells), white (sidekick Alex appears to damage enemies + collect coins), brown (3 laser barriers) and purple (turns all enemies into items).

Bell juggling is the bane of scoring and the culprit of regret due to greed, simply because you need to keep shooting bells for colors to be cycled – hitting a yellow one five times makes it advance to the next different color in the queue. How many times have we ruined a great run because we went after that certain bell and got shot in the face? Besides upgrade capsules and bells, Sexy Parodius also adds a third element to the gameplay: specific missions for each stage, normally by destroying a predetermined amount of enemies or collecting a certain number of coins. Fulfill all missions and you'll have the right to play the special stage after the credits roll (previous chapter Gokujyou Parodius also had such a special stage, only with no unlocking criteria). There's a catch though. The more missions you fulfill the harder the game gets, to the point of becoming truly overwhelming in the final level. The ultimate carrot on a stick is the one million bonus for each remaining life in reserve if you manage to beat the special stage. I for one did not commit to that. At all.

For the selection you need to make after choosing the character, once again I went with Auto power-up mode. In Auto the game performs all the upgrades for you, with the advantage of fully eliminating checkpoints, granting a bell shower upon death and getting rid of the dangers related to the roulette capsule (a contaminated capsule that makes the weapon array cycle really fast and demands quick choices from the player). In Semi-auto the game automatically applies some upgrades but you can also make yours when desired, whereas in Manual the player has full control of how upgrades are activated. Semi-auto and Manual have mandatory checkpoints. Manual is the only mode that allows activating bell powers with a separate button, in the other two modes powers are triggered with the regular shot button. 

The only disadvantage of choosing Auto power-up mode is that the game will favor one of the two shot patterns of the chosen character, which means there are weapons you just won't see if you play in Auto. It's impossible to have Michael's wave shot when playing in full Auto, for example, as he'll always use the spread pattern no matter what. Likewise, Auto will always favor the laser charge shot for Shooting Star instead of the charged spread bomb, which is a much more useful resource for crowd control.

First stage of the Plastation port of Sexy Parodius with Koitsu
(courtesy of YouTube user The VideoGames Museum)

It's clear that flexibility is one of the strongest assets of the gameplay in Sexy Parodius, as is the risqué design that's more comical than actually daring. As mentioned above, it's possible to reduce rank by failing to complete your missions. Just note that by doing so in stages 2 and 3 you'll play alternate levels right after (3 and 4). Fortunately they are just as cool and detailed as the others, and I would even say their bosses are some of the most creative in the game. And then there's the random bonus stage that must appear between stages 2 and 6, which brings back a few bosses from previous chapters. By timing out this level you'll fail the mission, so take that in consideration if you want to avoid a certain stage when playing it after stages 2 and 3. There are only two extends in the game, granted with 200 and 700 thousand points.

I really liked the revolving bullet sprites of Shooting Star. After a brief while it became my character of choice for the Playstation version. Speaking of which, this port just as good as the Saturn version, with absolutely no slowdown and extremely fast loading times. Shooting Star starts out with little in the way of firepower, but when maxed out its side cannons will chase everything even from behind the ship. As far as I could tell it's the only character that has a charge shot, hence the ability to actually use two buttons instead of only one in Auto mode (one for shot and another for rapid shot). I played in full defaults at difficulty 4 and got the 1CC result below, with the strategy to always fail the missions of the 3rd and 5th levels.

Now for the spiritual sequel Otomedius Gorgeous!

Pocky & Rocky (SNES)

Arena
Checkpoints OFF
3 Difficulty levels
6 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Natsume
Published by Natsume in 1993

Even if by dint of small talk or Internet lazy exploration, many people are certainly aware to some extent of the praise Pocky & Rocky on the Super Nintendo gets from all sorts of sources. What a few might not know, however, is that the game is also a rare example of a console-designed sequel that improved and surpassed its arcade original Kiki Kaikai in every single way, exception made to the difficulty of course. Pocky & Rocky is not a quarter-muncher by definition, but it does offer decent challenge on top of a sweet colorful setting that makes for a great relaxed shooting time.

One could say the game is a cute'em up, which makes sense I guess. Most stage themes are dark but carry a fluffly design, kinda like Twinkle Tale on the Mega Drive, another sweet contemporary title that behaves like and arena push-scrolling shooter almost all the time. Much of the embrionary formula created in the previous decade is kept here, including the fact that you can't lock shooting direction and strafe, which on a first glance would require lots of moving around to escape bullets and hazards. The good news is that you have not only one, but two ways of safely dealing with that. And that's one of the reasons why Pocky & Rocky is such a joy to play.

But who are Pocky and Rocky, by the way? Pocky is a shrine maiden (a young priestess who takes care of a Japanese religious shrine) and Rocky is a racoon dog who comes to her in search of help because his siblings - the Nopino Goblins - have gone insane. And there they go, either separate or in co-op play, to discover what happened to the poor goblins and fight the evil entity who's behind everything. If you're into storytelling, Pocky & Rocky will certainly entertain you with lots of dialogue and panels that flesh out this story as the stages unfold, all of them properly written in the English language.

Pocky ascends to the skies at the end of stage 2
(courtesy of YouTube user A_alla_quarta Retrogames)

The multidirectional gameplay allows both characters to shoot (button A and Y for autofire), to wiggle a close-range attack (button B - the stick for Pocky, the tail for Rocky), to detonate bombs if available (button L or R) and to slide (button X). All these inputs can be remapped in the options. Right off the bat it's clear that the game allows much more flexibility than the dire conditions of original Kiki Kaikai. As I mentioned above, the only thing missing is the ability to strafe, which would help immensely with the diagonals of the SNES controller, but alas!

Discovering what Pocky & Rocky has to offer is, simply put, a delight. The game is gorgeous, the music is soothing and what seems to be insurmountable at first, such as the raft section that leads to the second boss, soon becomes more and more manageable with continued practice. Winning is pretty much a matter of patience and a little routing. Each life has a health bar that gets expanded for every level you're able to beat in the same credit, to a maximum of 8 hearts instead of the initial 4. Lose all hearts and lose a life. Lose all lives and the game is over, as you ascend to heaven with angel wings.

Items are found either by destroying a full wave of a specific enemy or by hitting chests. There is some randomness as to the items you'll find, but not by a significant margin. Weapon upgrades are given by colored balls: blue powers up the starting shot type, which evolves to a spread attack once three consecutive items are taken; red activates a fire shot that splits to the sides when powered up. Other items include extra bombs, a 2-hit shield, a magic drink (partial life refill), a magic snack (full life refill) and the mad dog (you'll ride it as he jumps and makes you invincible).

Although both main weapons are effective, eventually you'll end up leaning towards a specific one. I settled with the fireball during the first half of the game, but from stage 4 onwards I preferred to use the spread shot due to the amount of enemies approaching from off center. By all means, don't underestimate the ability of the close range attack to deflect regular bullets. Most often than not that's just much better than attempting to evade and dodge. And of course the slide move is there to help you escape long range or ramming attacks from large enemies, such as bosses and mid-bosses. Beware from falling off cliffs though, since it will take away a larger chunk of your energy.

Do you want to play me?

Besides the great arsenal at the characters' disposal, what many people often take for granted in Pocky & Rocky is that the close range attack can be charged for a more powerful move: Pocky will spin around to damage enemies, Rocky will turn into an invincible stone statue for a few seconds. This is very handy, especially because you can still shoot while this attack is charging (I confess I only learned about this after I had beaten the game... duh!). Much easier to figure out were the places in each level that conceal the hidden lucky gods that, once freed, release three random items (hit their secret spots). Besides that, a single item for an extra life can be obtained by hitting the shell of the first boss with the close-range attack after he's defeated.

Even though the temptation is there for greedy people who might want to keep going back and forth to amass more points, this is nicely avoided by the timer. If the time runs out a life is lost. A bonus is given for remaining time when a boss is defeated (10 points per second left) and for remaining energy hearts (500 points for each heart left). This means that in order to maximize scoring the recipe would be to take your time exploiting enemies while avoiding all damage, especially during boss fights. Regardless of how you decide to approach the game, the fun factor of Pocky & Rocky is undeniable. It's got captivating characters, impressive diversity, a great rhythm and a steady difficulty progression. A few bouts of slowdown appear in stage 4 when you come across those clouds shooting lightning strikes and also during the fight against the last boss, but that's it.

My character of choice was Pocky. Both characters are well rounded, but Pocky's bomb is definitely more powerful. Stocking bombs is a good way to take care of bosses, so if you have difficulty with any of them the best tip is to just drop bombs during the trickiest parts of the battle. I played in the Normal difficulty and got the 1CC result below, beating evil lord Dark Mantle on my last life. I did not do any milking throughout the credit.

Next: Pocky & Rocky 2.

Jamestown+ (Playstation 4)

Vertical
Checkpoints OFF
5 Difficulty levels
7 Stages
Ship speed fixed, selectable st start
- - - - - - -
Developed by Final Form Games
Published by Limited Run Games in 2024

Culmination of a truly interesting labor of love in independent gaming, Jamestown+ or (Jamestown Plus) is the final iteration of a game developed four years earlier. While maintaining a firm grasp on pixel art and tried and true gameplay mechanics, it also encompasses several aspects of more modern functional design, namely a wide range of difficulties, single stage progression and unlockable side quests, as well as a special mode for those willing to play it as a true arcade-like experience. In essence, it has everyone covered in terms of how to have some shooting fun.

The game has a deep backstory that develops amidst a mix of ancient culture and advanced mechanical technology, in a steampunk setting that uses planet Mars as battle grounds. You take the role of a soldier who flees from a death sentence on Earth and goes on a quest to clean his name in the dangerous environments of Mars. It's all conveyed in quick panels between stages that can be regularly skipped, but you still get an idea of what's going on just by the stylish intro panels shown prior to each level. It all trickles down to the whole design, from floating islands to enemies and large bosses waiting at the end of every stage. Hint: enable Farce mode in the options for a more humorous take on the story. 

In the somewhat fractured structure of Jamestown +, everything starts with only one stage available for play in any of the four initial difficulties. By beating each consecutive stage you'll earn money (ducats) to purchase the access to ships and extra game modes/challenges. The game limits progression on purpose as things are unlocked and players have the possibility of trying out the different difficulty levels. As expected, ship selection is rather limited in the start, with only two of them available: Beam and Gunpowder. However, it doesn't take long to get the full armada, which consists of 10 different ships and two randomized choices.

Teaser trailer for Jamestown+ for the Playstation 4
(courtesy of YouTube user and digital publisher Playstation)

Each ship has three inputs available: shot, special and "vaunt". By default they're assigned to buttons ×, □ and ○, but prior to any gaming session you can easily rebind them at will. Styles vary a lot between ships with regards to firepower, special weapon and speed, so it's definitely recommended to try all of them and see which one works best for you. My favorite ones were Beam (for its DDP-style similarity), Charge (that big orb is extremely powerful) and Treason (fast + cool homing missiles). The Lazar ship is also very cool with its customizations, too bad the laser is weaker than Beam's. What's common to all of them is that there are no power-ups or enhancements of any kind. The only items you'll ever come across in Jamestown+ are those nut/gear-shaped gold tokens that provide extra points.

That's where the vaunt input comes into play. By collecting enough gold you fill up a meter that allows you to use it. Once activated, the meter starts to deplete while a multiplier of ×2 is applied to everything you score, destruction and new gold alike. The simple act of collecting more gold helps to refill and keep the meter full, with larger gold providing more recovery than small ones. Triggering vaunt has the added benefit of giving you a few seconds of invincibility while converting all bullets caught into its blast radius into points. Vaunt is lost either by allowing the meter to deplete or by pressing the vaunt button again, upon which you get blocked from activating it for a few seconds. No block is imposed if you let the meter deplete completely.

Even though vaunt is used primarily for scoring, it is naturally a very good resource for survival. After all, purposefully stopping vaunt mode also grants you another brief invincibility window, so going in and out of vaunt can be suitably timed to come out unscathed against some of the nastier enemy patterns in higher difficulties. That happens at the cost of some more points, considering that the longer you remain in vaunt mode the higher the bonus you'll collect is. From what I could check, the most points come from keeping long vaunt chains. Needless to say, keeping vaunt mode on for as long as you can requires some basic routing with timed destruction and smart item collection. When that's not possible it's of course always good to squeeze whatever you can from gold fountains, such as easily milking the first boss for example. Don't worry, all bosses time out after a while.

Forests and bullet-spewing spores in stage 3

It took me a little while to warm up to Jamestown+. It's an enjoyable game, but I guess I needed some time to cope with the painfully slow speed of my ship of choice (Beam). The game is very nice to look at, visually original, full of detail and quite varied from beginning to end with a superbly fitting soundtrack. It draws inspiration from many sources but mostly Cave, Konami and Compile, while successfully building a character of its own. The mission-based core game is a no-brainer for most people in terms of fun, with the added possibility of climbing the difficulty ladder at your own pace and having four players joining forces in local co-op. However, if you fancy a more "arcadey" experience the advice is to just head into Gauntlet mode as soon as you can.

Gauntlet makes players go through all levels in sequence in customary arcade style, with just one single extend granted with 2 million points. Gauntlet mode is comprised of five stages, while Super Gauntlet adds two extra levels which were developed after the initial Jamestown title came out (these extra levels and the complete ship set are the reason for the Plus in the title). A slight catch is that in order to go through all stages of Gauntlet or Super Gauntlet you need to at least play it in the Legendary difficulty, which is two levels above Normal. Legendary is sort of the expected standard of a manic / bullet hell hybrid, with Divine and Judgement reserved for those who feel comfortable with something that might resemble harder 2nd loops of famous arcade titles.

My main goal in Jamestown+ was to beat Super Gauntlet mode in the Legendary difficulty with the Beam ship. I pulled it off without losing lives, which seems to give you a substantial completion bonus as seen in the screen below. I just didn't get to know the exact rules to this bonus. I didn't care for the "challenge" modes, but they're there for those who have plenty of time to try everything this excellent independent shmup has to offer.

Space Elite Force II (Playstation 4)

Horizontal
Checkpoints OFF
2 Difficulty levels
14 Stages (loopable)
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Rising Moon Games
Published by QUByte Game Studio / Red Art Games in 2023

Space Elite Force II is the second half of the Space Elite Force 2 in 1 bundle, and direct sequel to a sympathetic little title called ~ duh ~ Space Elite Force. And by following the same style of its predecessor, the second game is just as easygoing and fun to be enjoyed by anyone, diehard gamer/shmupper or not. Okay, those who seek steeper challenges might want to look away, but everyone else might still get something out of it at least for a little while.

On the surface Space Elite Force II looks a lot like the first game, which is natural because they were developed from the very same mold. Given the similarities, one could even say it's an arrange version of sorts. The distinctions are related to a slightly improved HUD, an increased number of levels and the way special weapons are implemented. Everything else feels pretty much the same, down to the mechanics involving score multipliers and dot collection for upgrade purchases. The second chapter is also a loopable game, unlike the first. Unfortunately that's not really a bonus, given the fact that there's no difficulty increase whatsoever when a new round starts.

 

Where do I go from here?

Button × shoots the main weapon, button □ fires the secondary weapon and button ∆ triggers an extra weapon, provided you have the ability to use it. Buttons R1 and ○ reduce the flying speed so that you can micro-dodge when necessary. Both main weapons come with autofire, but note that you can't use them at the same time. The secondary weapon takes precedence, so under normal conditions a balance needs to be achieved between shooting the main weapon and tapping the secondary weapon when needed, after all it's more powerful but has a much lower firing rate.

As you destroy the enemy armada tiny green dots are left behind and get automatically sucked into the ship when you get close enough to them. This is the money that you'll be able to spend in between levels to purchase upgrades to both weapons and the ship itself. Expected upgrades exist for the starting pea shooter and the auxiliary missile, such as double, triple and spread shots or more powerful, versatile heat-seeking missiles as well as mines and piercing shots. Note that you can only choose one of each prior to starting the next stage. Ship enhancements include reduction of enemy bullet speed, increased resistance to damage, more health and higher ratio of item drops. Since you'll only die if the energy bar is depleted within the level, all upgrades are permanent. This energy bar gets refilled every time a new stage starts.

When you begin the game you get 10 health cells on Normal (Recruit), whereas on Hardcore (Elite) you get 5. Lost health can be recovered within the level if you happen to come by the + item that appears from destroyed power-up carriers. These carriers might also release temporary power-ups in the form of a rotating shield, firepower boosters, temporary auxiliary drones, money magnets (attracts money dots from all over the screen) or extra multipliers of ×2 for score and ×2 for money dots. The regular multiplier is shown below the score counter and increases as you kill enemies in succession, decreasing slowly whenever nothing is being destroyed and faster when you get hit.

Trailer for the Space Elite Force 2 in 1 combo for the Playstation 4
(courtesy of YouTube user and publisher RED ART GAMES)

While still very simple graphically and with no build-up to any epic ending, Space Elite Force II at least has a few stages where you must enter an enemy fortress, which deviates a little from the single background screen of all other levels. It's just a bit disappointing that these areas lack enemies enough so that you can sustain your multiplier at a high level up until the boss fight.

The music is mostly fitting and energetic, and even though the gameplay is simple and easy to grasp, a few aspects rubbed me the wrong way. After a while I stopped taking the icons for auxiliary drones because they're more of a hindrance than an actual aid. Since they're always shooting autonomously all over the place, I was always confusing their shots as enemy attacks. And some boss lasers caught me by surprise because of their 1-hit kill nature, so whenever possible it's a good idea to purchase more health and enemy/laser resilience.

A good hint to drain boss health quickly, and even kill some of them in a single blow, is to purchase and maximize the power of the laser special weapon. It's a devastating attack, but note that it takes a long time to recharge. Don't expect to have it available for the boss fight if you use it prior to getting there. Recharge times of other attacks vary, so it's good to try them all if you'd like to see their effects. I didn't tinker with them, especially once I noticed that there was no increase in difficulty when the game looped. I abandoned the credit in the first stage of the third loop with the score below, playing in the Elite difficulty of Campaign (main) mode. There's also a Boss Rush and an Arcade mode that's actually an endless random campaign, as far as I could tell.

Vacuum Kids (Playstation)

Horizontal
Checkpoints ON
2 Difficulty levels
7 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Media Entertainment
Published by Media Enterntainment in 1996

It's easy to poke fun at some games, especially if they're old, obscure and relegated to Japan. Unless you have the chance to actually try them, the superficial debate leaves plenty of food for thought as to why some developers come up with the wildest ideas, such as the one presented in Vacuum Kids, mostly known by its Japanese spelling Kyuin, Kyuiin, Kuinn or Cuin (Google translator came up with this last one). Clearly inspired by the likes of Parodius, the game is a cute'em that also includes a few throwbacks to several older titles and unique mechanics that are actually quite amusing. 

There is a foolish backstory to the game shown in the low-res animated intro: two siblings who love reading and cleaning (!) are challenged by a magical fairy to defeat an evil wizard from one of their books, choosing as vehicle their vacuum cleaners. And off they go mounted in their apparatus, flying across all sorts of environments taken directly from fairy tales while freeing well known characters that have fallen to the ominous spells of the evil wizard. This pretty much defines the colorful visuals and the whole enemy gallery, in a remarkably long adventure (for shmup standards that is) that spans seven stages.

Shooting down all sorts of creatures and weird flying objects is possible by pressing button ×, while powerful bombs can be triggered with button ○. There is a third type of attack activated with button □, where the power cord of the vacuum cleaner is used to attack enemies coming from behind. Unfortunately the reach of this cord attack is so short that it's honestly not recommend at all. By far the nicest feature of your flying gear is the cleaner frontal hose, which is always wavering slowly and sucks regular bullets and specific enemies on contact. On top of shielding you against harm, this results in lots of extra points and also refills your bomb stock, which can be stored up to three. When maxed out (level 3) the bomb is at its most powerful, whereas at level 1 it's at its weakest. Bombs are great to get you out of hairy situations, just don't count on them to protect you against enemy lasers.

Colorful vibes of Castle of Illusion in stage 3

The default weapon has decent power, but it can be enhanced by collecting any of the weapon items the game might randomly send your way: rapid shot (R), laser (L), homing (H) and 3-way vulcan spread (V). Most of the time these items appear at fixed, specific spots, but every once in a while an extra item might cross the screen. Recovery aids (+) will either appear in the place of a regular item or show up at random if you happen to get hit, a situation that takes away the cleaner hose and leaves you at the brink of death. Any extra damage while in this condition costs a life and sends you back to a checkpoint. The recovery token restores the vacuum cleaner hose and the default shot, and only then weapon items will start appearing again.

Getting used to the weapons is half the battle of conquering Vacuum Kids. Some of them are of course more adequate than others in certain areas. Homing is great for the 3rd stage (forest) and the 6th stage (village), but absolutely dreadful in the 4th stage (snow). The laser is devastating at point blank distance, as is vulcan to a lesser extent. And even though it lacks lateral coverage, rapid tears down enemies pretty fast and is definitely the best choice for any boss fight.

One valid concern in the game is the hitbox. After all, the characters (the game allows co-op, boy as player 1 and girl as player 2) look larger than your usual avatar in any horizontal shooter. Of course dodging is the bread and butter of any shmup and it's absolutely no different here, but the ability to suck bullets with the cleaner hose is what ultimately allows players to deal with enemy spreads that seem impossible to evade. However, if you do reach the halfway point in stage 4 you'll come to a section where the game explicitly shows your hitbox so you can weave through a series of moving snowflakes with more confidence. That's quite educational for the whole game, I must say, too bad it's so far into it that some people might not see this part at all. The third level represents quite a leap in difficulty already, requiring a good amount of memorization to be properly mastered.

By all means, don't let the cute graphics trick you into thinking Vacuum Kids is a walk in the park, because it definitely isn't. Not only does it lack any sort of extends, but it's also completely devoid of slowdown and cleverly places several treacherous segments designed to take players by surprise, particularly when they get greedy. The more you advance the more mid-bosses you'll encounter, each one as creative as the main bosses themselves, with random attacks that will keep players on their toes at all times. The good news is that their health is always visible so you know how long it will take to defeat them. Each encounter is unique and original, and I can definitely say that these moments – boss and mid-boss fights – are the true highlights of the game. With 27.000 health points and a plethora of different randomized attacks, the evil wizard final boss certainly provides an epic battle for those brave enough to get there and have a chance at the 1CC.

1st stage demonstration of Kyuiin / Vacuum Kids
(courtesy of YouTube user and PSN publisher monkeypawgames)

While memorization is certainly the best strategy both for survival and scoring (by proactively using the cleaner hose to suck waves and waves of enemies and bullets), I did come across odd situations against the second and the third bosses where their health would suddenly spike out of nowhere once or even twice, unexpectedly prolonging the fight beyond its regular duration. At first I thought this was some sort of rank mechanic triggered if you played well enough up to that point, but then it also happened when I was having a lousy run so go figure. I must also comment, of course, that this happened in the Hard setting, which was my exclusive choice when playing and is the basis for this whole blog essay (there's only "Easy" and "Hard" here). Easy mode is, well, relatively easier since recovery items almost always come right after you get hit. That definitely isn't the case in Hard mode.

A few hints about scoring higher: after destroying the two walls in the second stage get close to their debris without shooting to collect lots of points with the cleaner hose; even though it can be risky, destroying snowflakes at point blank distance in stage 4 is better than just sucking them because they release a ton of bullets; the snoozing signs of the sleeping bears are worth a lot of points in stage 4, as well as the coconuts fired by the floating guns halfway into stage 5; finally, most weapon items are worth 5.000 extra points, so try to collect them all if your strategy allows it.

If I had to point negative aspects about Vacuum Kids, I could say that a few dead spaces break the flow of the action, but fortunately this only happens in the 1st level and in a part of the 4th to a lesser extent. Some people could say that the soundtrack is a mixed bag, but I think both the OST and the sound effects fit the game well and are totally in line with the exquisite variety at display. Each stage is unique in tone, design and required approach to be beaten, and truth be told: not every shmup is capable of delivering this as well as Vacuum Kids does. Granted, it's a tad long and punishing at times, but it's also quite fun and rewarding.

Below is my 1CC result in Hard mode. Every text in the game is in Japanese, but the main screen descriptions can be easily figured out. The lower choice is always Options. In the first screen the upper left choice is solo play and the upper right is co-op play. In the second screen the upper left choice is Easy mode and the upper right is Hard mode. Continues are unlimited and a secret code allows stage select for practicing (highlight Options, hold L1+R1 and press Start). Unfortunately it's not possible to select the final stage. High score saving is included.

Note: the game saw a worldwide re-release for the Playstation Network circa 2011, I just don't know if it's actually playable in the most recent generations of Sony consoles.

Fast Striker (Neo Geo)

Vertical
Checkpoints OFF
1 Difficulty level
6 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by NG:DEV.TEAM
Published by NG:DEV.TEAM in 2013

A sci-fi themed shmup designed with a vertizontal orientation (vertical scrolling occupying the whole 4:3 screen area), Fast Striker biggest claim to fame is its crisp prerendered backgrounds, a graphical achievement that also extends to the animation of bosses. Allegedly developed alongside HuCast's DUX for six years soon after NG:DEV.TEAM delivered its first game Last Hope, Fast Striker was released for the Neo Geo MVS in 2010 and received a few updates before landing on the Neo Geo AES in 2013. For this reason I guess it's safe to assume the AES version is the final iteration of the game, even though it would eventually reappear years later for other platforms.

If we exclude Last Hope - Pink Pullets, then Fast Striker is in fact NG:DEV.TEAM's second shooter. While completely different at a conceptual level, the company did strive for something that wouldn't be considered as hard to beginners, hence the presence of not only one, but four distinct game modes that sort of emulate the approach kickstarted by Cave in Mushihimesama Futari. Cave is indeed a major influence in the gameplay of some of these modes, even though the implementation is far from reaching the same standard of intensity and/or execution.

Fast Striker - Original mode demonstration
(courtesy of YouTube user ghegs)

 

Basic controls allow players to fire a frontal shot with button A and a rear shot with button B while activating a temporary invincibility shield (if available) with button C. It's possible to swap the functions of button B and C in prior to the actual start of the game. Even though it's not stated anywhere, button D gives you a frontal shot with autofire, which is very handy because by holding either the frontal or the rear shot the ship's speed is reduced, and in the case of the frontal shot the pattern is also altered. This "focus shot" is of course reminiscent of the gameplay from Cave games, and has a particular purpose depending on the chosen game mode.

Speaking of which, these are the main differences between them:

• Novice mode - rapid shot is narrow, focus shot is a wide 3-way spread, the shield activates automatically if you're hit by a bullet but this depletes the whole shield stock (doesn't work on collisions); game ends after stage 5.
• Original mode - rapid shot is wide, focus shot is narrow with straight nuke missiles.
• Maniac mode - rapid shot and focus shot are narrow, with focus changing into a Dodonpachi-esque laser; the shield does not damage bosses and might increase their health (similar to bomb usage in Espgaluda);
• Omake mode - behaves like Maniac mode, but with a lot more enemy bullets and even slowdown; shields are now released from special enemies; there are no medals to be claimed.

While all modes differ from each other with relation to ship firepower and scoring mechanics, there are aspects that are common to all of them. The astronaut enemy, for example, appears in all modes, but only gives out extra shields in Novice and Original modes. Extra shields in Maniac are obtained by collecting medals without dying, while in Omake they come by destroying specific enemies. Speaking of medals, they are obviously very important for scoring in all modes except for Omake, where they're totally absent. In Novice mode medals take the form of yellow stars. To get medals automatically sucked into the ship all you have to do is avoid using the focus shot. 

A defining feature of the game's difficulty that's common to all modes is rank, which fluctuates between 1, 2, 3 and devil (max). The longer you survive and the more enemies you destroy the quicker you raise rank, increasing the number of enemy bullets and making the game overall harder. The only way to lower rank is by dying. It's not possible to reach devil rank in Novice mode, which makes sense because it would be odd to have suicide bullets in a mode that's supposed to be tailored to beginners.

One final detail common to all modes is related to "secrets", as seen in the screen at the end of a stage showing the bonuses you get from items collected, shields remaining, no-missing the level and technical bonus (triggered by destroying specific parts of bosses). Besides indicating the max chain, this screen also tells you how many secrets were found. Secrets actually correspond to the act of uncovering the big NGDEV mascot, which converts all on-screen bullets to medals and temporarily changes medals to NGDEV items that are worth more than regular medals. In a nutshell, almost all secrets are related to destroying one or more of the larger enemies in a row. Sometimes this is followed by a "devilsplosion" tag that appears close to the score counter, but I wasn't able to figure out if this has any extra purpose other than trying to sound cool.

Where have I seen this laser before?

The formula for scoring higher is the ability to get the highest possible chain prior to the boss fight, whereby the chain count is frozen and works as a final multiplier for some end-of-level bonuses. In Novice and Original chains are simply the amount of medals collected, so the challenge is to kill everything and time the destruction of enemies that trigger the NGDEV mascot to get even more medals. In Maniac and Omake chains are increased by killing enemies in pure Dodonpachi fashion, decreasing very fast if for any reason the chain gauge is reset. In Maniac mode medals work as an extra means to score and also to regain shields (if you're able to sustain max rank all medals will appear as NGDEV items). Omake on the other hand doesn't have medals. In these modes point-blanking creates large colored balls that boost the chain counter, an effect that corresponds to the nuke missiles from the focus shot hitting large enemies in Original mode.

It's interesting to note that deaths don't have any impact at all in the chain counter, and this is valid for all game modes. Score-based extends are granted with 300 and 600 million poins in Novice mode, 800 and 1.600 million points in Original mode, and 2 and 4 billion points in Maniac mode. I wasn't able to check the extend routine for Omake. A single 1UP also appears in stage 4 in all modes if you play well enough there.

While the game is visually pleasing and all modes are quite diverse and relatively fun with their own specific little rules, my impression is that Fast Striker lacks the finesse needed to make it stand out. The techno soundtrack is nothing to write home about, common place and generic. The rear shot has an odd delay when used, with a very short pause after the first stream is fired. There are also a few baffling functional oversights, such as "broken chain" being heard all the time in Original mode even though chains can't be broken there. The shield gauge is present in Novice mode but of course it has absolutely no purpose there. Finally, there seems to be a luck-based autoshield in non-Novice modes, which definitely sounds weird but is actually good in any given situation.

My focus on this first experience with the game was to get the 1CC in Original mode, which I was able to do after a little practice with the score below. I missed several secrets and did not squeeze the game to the max, something I'll leave for the ports in other platforms, as well as future attempts in Maniac mode. Maniac and Omake have the distinction of allowing players to fight a True Last Boss if they're capable of beating the last boss on a single credit.

Rambo III (Mega Drive)

Arena
Checkpoints OFF
4 Difficulty levels
6 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Sega
Published by Sega in 1989

Rambo III - the movie - wasn’t the sequel that we were expecting. And even though it was a step down from the explosive action of the second film, which was definitely huge around here, at least it served as basis for a series of video games. In slightly borrowing its main storyline and tone, the Mega Drive version pays homage to the iconic character in a pedestrian shooter that doesn’t push the envelope yet fulfills its modest purpose with an old-fashioned sense of simplicity and difficulty. I guess that’s more than okay for an early licensed title developed by Sega itself.

If you’re a Sylvester Stallone and a 16-bit gaming fan you're well served with titles like Judge Dredd, Cliffhanger, Demolition Man and, of course, Rambo III. Speaking of the latter, for obvious reasons it's the only one of this bunch that's exclusive for the Mega Drive. The game is a natural evolution from the classic overhead mold presented by Capcom in Commando, only quite average and if not for the movie association also kinda forgettable. It's far from the great standard of Mercs and just a little more accomplished than Crossfire / Super Airwolf, with the benefit of a welcome push in the scoring system.

Anyway, fancy being a one-man army against hordes of enemy commandos? John Rambo himself fires up the title screen with an arrow and invites you to the adventure, where you must guide him into Afghan territory to rescue his friend and mentor colonel Trautman.

Attract mode for Rambo III
(courtesy of YouTube user Classic Old Games (Lucas Costa))

Besides firing a machinegun with button C, you can also choose from three types of special weapons with button A. Button B is then used to deploy them: a knife, chargeable arrows and timed bombs. There's no limit to how many times you can stab your enemies, of course, but arrows and bombs are limited. To add more to their stock you need to collect items left behind by enemies killed with the knife or the timed bombs. "A" adds more arrows, "B" adds more bombs (note that extra arrows will only be given when the knife is used). Apart from As and Bs appearing when using the knife, you might also come across an extra life in the form of a smiley face.

Even though there are only six stages in Rambo III, the game tries to offer a little variety with different mission types. Odd levels will merely require you to get to the end and destroy bunkers before facing a short boss confrontation. During boss fights you'll see Rambo from behind armed with a bow and arrow with explosive capabilities. The objective is position the crosshair, charge the bow with any button and release it to target Soviet helicopters and tanks. Just remember to move out of the incoming fire and hide behind the obstacles in front of you if necessary. In the 2nd level you need to rescue prisoners and escape before time runs out, whereas on the 4th the mission is to destroy the enemy arsenal inside a huge facility. And in the final level just find Trautman and proceed to the final challenge.

An interesting feature here is the large bonus you get from finishing the stages as fast as you can, which naturally punishes the scores of those who like to procrastinate. Even though it's theoretically possible to break the game in stages 4, 5 and 6 due to enemies spawning non-stop, I didn't try to find any spots where I could safely apply infinite milking and break the scoring system. There's another trick to scoring higher, which is using the knife successively for increasing bonuses of 200, 400, 600, 800 and a maximum of 1.000 points. The problem with this approach is that it's too risky in the long run. John Rambo isn't that sturdy a soldier as he is in the movies, and he will lose a life when taking a hit. You don't get damaged by touching enemy soldiers at ground level, but it's very easy to get shot in the face when you get too close to some of them.

Stage 4: Blow up all the enemy weapons!

Upon a first contact Rambo III feels sort of underwhelming, with graphics that look brownish, drab and uninspired. Songs repeat after a few levels, but the BGM for the second stage is pleasantly suspenseful, as if lifted directly from the movie. Nevertheless with time the game tends to grow on you due to the emphasis on speed-killing things to get the best possible high score. Though disorienting due to their sizes and the lack of any map feature, the maze-like stages are perfectly manageable once you get them memorized. The 5th level can be tricky because of soldiers catching you off guard with grenades, so watch out for them when destroying ammo crates and such. All other levels can be played as if you were on a speed run, provided of course you know what's coming ahead. The enemy spawning routine is always the same, which definitely helps with that. Never mind the crazy slowdown that takes over when there are too many enemies on screen. 

Despite its simplicity and average challenge level, Rambo III has a few weird gameplay quirks. Although unlimited, continues are downright absent in the final level, so if the credit ends there you'll need to start the game from scratch. When playing on a Japanese console, beating the game in a single credit awards players with a special ending where Rambo runs after the jeep and destroys it with an arrow. It can't be ascertained if that's Trautman in the jeep, but it's quite an unusual twist. One valuable tip in the beginning is to stab the enemies coming from the very first truck as the game starts, and also the enemies in the 2nd stage in the rightmost part where you get to release one of the hostages. By doing that you're guaranteed to find an extra life. 

At the end of the day Rambo III is just simple, modest fun. It doesn't stand out but it doesn't insult players in any way. My best 1CC result in the Normal difficulty is below. I was able to get the best time bonus in all levels, which of course means absolutely no milking whatsoever.