Overdriven Evolution (Nintendo Switch)

Vertical
Checkpoints OFF
1 Difficulty level
10 Stages
Ship speed fixed, selectable at start
- - - - - - -
Developed by TOMAGameStudio
Published by VGNYsoft in 2024

I just broke the seal of the family's recently acquired Nintendo Switch, after being able to snatch it from my daughter's hands for a couple of evenings. And the chosen title was Overdriven Evolution, a widescreen shmup designed to squeeze everything from a colorful set of assets across a handful of available game modes. As its name implies, the developer came a long way since the original Overdriven hit the gaming scene during the (not so) golden days of XBLIG. An intermediate iteration called Overdriven Reloaded also exists, albeit not in physical form.

A shiny venture dressed up as a classic sci-fi mission to destroy an evil empire, Overdriven Evolution attempts to cater to all audiences with introductory game modes such as Story, which comes with four difficulties that incrementally add more pressure to the basic gameplay. Each one of the three available ships (the third one is unlocked after a few hours playing) is able to shoot and to fire a laser focus shot that dramatically reduces the flying speed to allow some micro-dodging (yes, it's the same old style that's predominant in many shmups developed by Cave, especially those of the Dodonpachi series). A third button triggers a smart bomb (if available), and a fourth button switches the color of the ship and its firepower between blue, red, yellow and green for you to get past simple colored puzzle gates every now and then. 

Naturally, the three available ships differ in shot styles and speed. Prototype 1 has a straight shot and rotating satellites that also shoot straight ahead. Prototype 3 is similar, but its satellites will automatically target any enemy in the vicinity. Prototype 2 has a spread shot and equally functional satellites, but flies at a slower speed. Firepower is increased by taking stars left behind by destroyed enemies. 20 yellow stars give you a boost in power and add 1 option/satellite, whereas a single white star has this same effect except for the 1.000 points you normally get from each yellow star.

Release trailer for Overdriven Evolution
(courtesy of YouTube user and publisher VGNYsoft)

What's special about the gameplay here is the way it implements lives. An energy gauge measures the amount of hits you've taken in each current life. If you're only using the regular shot and the energy gauge stays above 50% it displays "Safe Mode". If the energy gets depleted to about 50% or below the gauge changes to "DANGER". However, regardless of the current energy status, whenever you're using laser the energy gauge shifts to around 15% and displays "OVERDRIVEN", and in this condition you're of course close to dying. I can't recall any other shmup that has a similar approach to risk and survival, that's why I believe this is by far the best idea implemented by Overdriven Evolution. 

Dying strips you off all upgrades, so keeping a safe and healthy energy gauge is of course one of the main objectives as you advance through the 10 stages of Story, Arcade or Manic modes. Easy and Normal difficulties of Story mode still allow you to take a few hits when using laser, but all other difficulties and Arcade mode work with 1-hit kills when in OVERDRIVEN status. Arcade and Manic get rid of the pre-stage story bits while behaving like the Hard difficulty of Story mode, with the only difference being the single 1-hit kill mechanic implemented in Manic (no energy gauge there). All of these modes use the same array of items, which include a red + for partial energy recovery, a green + for extra life, B for a single smart bomb (only one can be carried at any given time, if you die it's gone) and temporary enhancements in the form of W (an extremely effective wide shot) and 5 (five straight bullet streams). Hidden items consist of alien artifacts that look like golden keys (five per level) and a space cow (one per level). With the exception of these hidden icons, all items are automatically sucked into the ship if you're close enough to them.

While full of explosions, creative bosses, simple yet effective pseudo-3D eye candy and some nice tunes in the soundtrack, Overdriven Evolution is hindered by a few odd design decisions that rub me the wrong way. The first one is the random nature of item drops, which severely affects the performance of any given run. The balance between enemy bullets and ship movement is also prone to leaving players unsatisfied in the long run, meaning you're always a bit too fast when using shot and a tad too slow when using laser, which makes weaving through certain boss patterns an unnecessary chore. Finally, I can live with the fact that it's not possible to cover the entire screen with any of the ships, but Prototype 2 is just too slow to be of any actual use in solo play.

Other details are also confusing. The escorting of Terry's spaceship in the end of stage 3 is a weird passage, because if she dies the credit is instantly over. Sometimes the scrolling speed picks up and returns to normal for no reason at all, which makes no sense and breaks the pace, such as in that cool insect-based level. And I'm not one to normally comment on endings, but the ending here is really a downer and keeps you guessing if there's anything you could've done to not incur in such a dreadful fate. Well, there just isn't.

Lighting blue beams of destruction

All things considered, it's easy to see why Overdriven Evolution falls short in providing clean, satisfying shooting fun. The basic elements are all there, but the design is all over the place and lacks fine tuning. For example, it's unclear how the hit counter that goes up with the timely destruction of successive enemies works into the scoring system. It seems to be mostly irrelevant, especially when you realize that the main source of extra points is the collection of yellow stars, which appear in greater numbers when destroying those mine blocks. The bad news is that all ships are too underpowered to satisfactorily take advantage of this, often leading to frustration because it's impossible to destroy the majority of those precious mines. And since hidden items aren't worth any points whatsoever, there's no incentive to get out of your way to collect them in any serious credit.  

Besides the game modes mentioned above, Overdriven Evolution also comes with a few extra modes such as Boss Rush and 10 challenge "minigames" aimed at fulfilling achievement tags. All these modes allow up to 4 people to play together, which is neat. Two single-player extra modes complete the package: The Line (keep enemies away for as long as you can) and Color Reflex (which heavily uses the color switching mechanic). All these additional modes are pretty much aimed at beefing up the achievement section, of course. Tweaks such as screen shake, invincibilty and scanlines are also included.

I don't think I should feel bad for not beating the default top scores in the local leaderboards, since I didn't really feel the need to push myself into learning how to circumvent the shortcomings in the gameplay. I noticed the score seems to be shared between all ships in co-op play, so perhaps that's the secret to reaching those high figures? I wonder! Anyway, below is my best 1CC result in Arcade mode playing with Prototype 3, after beating Story mode in the Normal difficulty.

 

Cho Aniki Zero (PSP)

Horizontal
Checkpoints OFF
3 Difficulty levels
5 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Extreme
Published by GungHo Works in 2009

Even though Masaya wasn't really behind the design of Cho Aniki Zero (also known as Rei Cho Aniki), it's interesting to see how new copyright holders Extreme and GungHo tried to reuse and merge some of the assets from recent chapters of the franchise, with an approach that harkens back to the very first game released for the PC Engine CD in 1992. It sort of makes sense, after all this is a prequel to the whole series. In terms of gameplay, however, it certainly tries to offer a little more than the straightforward shooting with bizarre graphical elements, as was the case with prior entry Cho Aniki - Seinaru Protein Densetsu, previously released for the Playstation 2.

While Cho Aniki Zero preserves the wacky visuals with homossexual undertones, it doesn't really push the boldness envelope, at least not as the 32-bit entries did. With the exception of the animated introduction and a few panels here and there, there's not much in the way of creepy designs. Infamous bodybuilders Adon and Samson are all over the place here, but they take the back seat and serve as sidekicks to warrior Idaten, lady Benten and a third new character called Shoten, a contender for the best bodybuilder of the galaxy. Initially Shoten cannot be selected though, there are certain criteria that must be met.

Cho Aniki Zero is remarkable for being the first game in the series released out of the Japan, in a digital version with full English translation for the Playstation Store named Cho Aniki Zero - Muscle Brothers. The Japanese language in the PSP retail release isn't much of a problem though. Upon selecting the difficulty/course, you'll then choose the main character. In the case of Idaten, you can also select between secondary characters Adon and Samson. Benten is stuck with cherubs Mika & El, whereas Shoten is accompanied by Balan, a green version of Adon/Samson who's actually their older brother. Note that the Easy course only allows you to play three stages, so if you want to experience the whole game you'd better go straight to the Normal route.

Watermelon boss

By default, basic inputs in the gameplay consist of shot (□), bomb (×), fixed/free movement of the auxiliary character (○), special attack (∆), turn left (L) and turn right (R). All of them can be reamapped in the options and are self explanatory, expect for the special attack. Once ∆ is pressed, the screen freezes so that you can select which attack level you'll unleash, based on the meter on the top of the screen. This special attack depends on the secondary character you have chosen, and varies between two (Samsom) or three power levels (Adon, Balan, Mika & El). In order to replenish the special attack gauge it's necessary to collect blue pills labeled as M (men's protein) that are left behind by defeated enemies.

Besides the blue M, items released by enemies can also be a yellow P (protein, power-up for the regular shot), a red B (extra bomb) or a pink L (extra life). It takes many Ps to get through all five upgrade levels of the main shot, and for each death you're downgraded by one level. Finally, tiny men, labeled in the instruction booklet as 'machos', also appear in four different colors and point values. Releasing the shot button briefly makes them get sucked into the character automatically. All items are also automatically sucked into the character when the last form of a boss is defeated. In every other occasion the player needs to be wary where to move since some items will randomly drift to the right.

Beneath the seemingly straightforward gameplay lies a series of intricacies that are very important for survival and scoring. It all starts with the choice of characters. Idaten's shot is stronger but lacks coverage, which is the opposite of Benten's. Shoten incorporates the strengths of both of them though. All secondary characters are able to absorb and protect the player from small bullets, but you need to position them well in order to not let any stray bullets get by. This is why Benten's cherubs are the best choices for frontal protection. On the other hand, Benten's special attack is the weakest. Also of note is the fact that no special attack makes you invulnerable, so you can never rely on them to get out of hairy situations. Only the bomb can save you! There's no real impact of dying with bombs and special attacks in stock though, after all they're independent from the number of lives. 

The single most important element of the scoring system is the amount of times you're able to 'guard' or absorb bullets. It doesn't appear anywhere during the level itself, but after the boss is beaten it will be used as a multiplier for the stage score. Deaths do not interfere with this guard count. On a final note, collecting as many tiny machos as possible is also important because they're worth much more than regular enemies.

Idaten is lost in the first stage already!
(courtesy of YouTube user Tio Jugon)

Despite being fully devoid of obstacles, which is unusual for a methodical horizontal shmup, the bidirectional nature of Cho Aniki Zero is refreshing, as are the great amount of bosses. Each stage has at least three sections and three bosses. The only exception to this is the final level, which makes you fight all previous bosses prior to facing the final enemy. The challenge slope is reasonably steady and it's possible to exploit a good number of safe spots against bosses, at least prior to the ones you fight on the 4th level, which serves as a great homage to the creepy design of 16-bit shmup classic Wings of Wor / Gynoug. There are a few problems with the use of color in the game though. At certain points it incurs in bad bullet visibility, as in the garden area of the 3rd level. The confusing background makes those black bees really hard to see.

Option menu translation for Cho Aniki Zero on the Japanese PSP

Cho Aniki Zero is engaging and fun for most of the run, and not overly hard if you're able to manage the extra life offerings given out during boss encounters. I think it preserves the legacy of the series with decent results, on top of offering good variety in the scoring system. It's a much better job than what was done in Sengoku Cannon, for example, which continued another famous franchise in a similar fashion on the PSP.

The requirements to unlock a few extra features, such as extra character Shoten and a sound test, seem to be related to at least reaching the last form of the final boss (as denoted by a golden badge shown in the high score table). However, only when I beat the game I unlocked the Hard mode/difficulty. My final 1CC result in the Normal course playing with Benten is below. Somehow I suspect this inflated score can be broken if the final boss is properly milked for bullet guarding, but I'll leave this check for a future opportunity.