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!

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.

Gamera 2000 (Playstation)

Rail shooter
Checkpoints OFF
3 Difficulty levels
8 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by TYO Productions / Digital Frontier
Published by Virgin Interactive in 1996

Gamera is a giant monster, or kaiju, originated from a series of Japanese films that started in the 1965 film Gamera - The Giant Monster. A legendary colossal turtle believed to have inhabited the lost continent of Atlantis, Gamera was created to compete with the success of Godzilla and appeared in a total of 12 films, and while it failed to garner the same fame of Toho's fire-breathing lizard it is still fondly remembered by kaiju fans all over the world. Given the obscure nature of Gamera 2000, however, I don't think the same statement applies to the world of video games.

Deeply hidden in the Japanese Playstation library, Gamera 2000 is a rail shooter that doesn't veer too far from the norm in terms of gameplay, which in many ways is very close to the likes of Sega's Panzer Dragoon. Polygon-based graphics set the tone for the action, while low-res cinemas with real actors complete the fan service with campy yet genuinely delightful results. Dubbed in English by default with Japanese subtitles, these can also be watched in Japanese, a feature that's rarely seen in the world of shmups even by today's standards.

Introduction and initial stages of Gamera 2000
(courtesy of YouTube user TGApuleius)

 

At the center of the game and the story is an elite member of the United Nations Science Academy called Jack Morton. He's the one piloting the jet fighter and interacting with several other characters and computer machinery in between levels. Gamera flies by his side, providing aerial support during most of the time. Tap button × or ○ to fire regular shots. Hold × to lock on to enemy targets and release it so that Gamera shoots its homing fireballs against them. Hold ○ and watch as Gamera charges its spinning attack according to a vertical gauge on the right side of the screen, and release it to see the giant monster wreak havoc against any on-screen enemy. The more you charge the longer the attack, but then it also takes longer for Gamera to recover from it in order to have another go.

As the stage progresses in four main locations (Tokyo, Hawaii, San Francisco and Hong Kong) an overhead radar shows the appearance of enemies as yellow dots. Since they can come from all directions, it's possible to turn the camera view 90º left or right by pressing L1 or R1. Pressing both buttons at the same time brings the camera back to the default forward view. At first moving around with the camera isn't that important, but eventually you'll find out that wiping out all threats and targeting boss parts as fast as you can is the best strategy to preserve health and survive. After all, each stage comes with only one full health bar with no recovery in sight. If the health bar is depleted the game is over.

A significant change in the gameplay appears in the forest of stage 3, which starts as if you were directly thrown into the hoverbike scenes from Star Wars Episode VI - The Return of Jedi. The effect is neat and you don't need to worry at all about hitting obstacles, focusing solely on the enemies coming from all sides. During these hoverbike phases Gamera is absent, so you can't rely on its attacks to help you out. The hoverbike sections continue inside an underground tunnel full of mutated dogs and laser-firing bats before you face a huge flying creature that represents the first big challenge of the game. That's where avoiding deadly lasers and destroying enemy bullets with your own firepower becomes absolutely necessary since dodging is nigh impossible.

Even though Gamera 2000 is pretty much a straightforward rail shooter where aiming is an important part of the gameplay, a few obstacles appear here and there, such as the debris thrown by the tentacle mid-bosses when they're about to die. Some levels have splitting paths that take you to different mid-bosses, but I found it's very confusing to figure out where the splits are in order to consciously choose the desired path. Fortunately it doesn't make much difference in the end.

Gamera and a two-headed flying friend

Getting used to the rhythm of boss attacks then becomes the main objective of Gamera 2000. Sure, abusing the spinning attack of the turtle monster whenever possible is an absolute must, just remember to unleash it during the most profitable parts of the battle. The 7th stage in particular is quite a challenge since you must get through three long phases of the Bionic Gyaos boss. A huge flying saucer mothership awaits in the final stage, but if continues are used you won't be able to fight it. The game ends right there and then and awards the player with a "bronze" medal.

More noble closures to the game will be achieved if you at least get to the last stage in one piece ("silver" ending) or complete the mission without using any continues ("gold" ending). The instruction manual also mentions that in order to get the best possible ending you need to gather as much information as possible from the movie screen system in between levels. I'm not really sure of the requirements, but suffice it to say I didn't fret over watching all the clips and still got the gold medal.

Since Gamera 2000 has no scoring system, there's no need to get out of your way to kill everything. Some enemies will vanish after they fly past you, so just move along, do your thing and watch Gamera's victory roar at the end of the levels. The journey isn't really an outstanding ride graphicwise, but it certainly gets the job done for kaiju and rail shooting fans. The overacted sappy movie intermissions are harmless, and if you're able to pay attention to it amidst the non-stop action you'll notice the music is rather decent with a few standout tracks.

As mentioned above, here's my golden badge for the ending of Gamera 2000 on the Playstation, playing in the Normal difficulty of the standard game mode. A special "family mode" is actually a cooperative option where one player controls the ship and the other controls Gamera.

Thunder Force V - Perfect System (Playstation)

Horizontal
Checkpoints OFF
4 Difficulty levels
7 Stages
Ship speed selectable
- - - - - - -
Developed by Technosoft
Published by Working Designs in 1998

I bet Playstation shmup fans were delighted to see the release of Thunder Force V - Perfect System approximately one year after the Japanese original came out for the Sega Saturn. I know I would've been. Well regarded ever since the 16-bit days, the franchise was perhaps bound to be seen in other home systems with time, as hinted by titles like Thunder Spirits. However, unlike the dreadful fate of the late entry for the SNES, Thunder Force V - Perfect System is a worthy port whose only real fault might have been the arrogant subtitle added by publisher Working Designs.

Long story short, for those who grew to love the series in Sega platforms, there's absolutely nothing in the Playstation version to be looked down upon. Console war orphans are keen to point out the absence of the subterranean city in the "Human Road" level, but aside from this visual compromise and the somewhat smaller sprites for bullets in this same stage, as well as very minor graphical differences throughout, both games play very well and offer colorful, fast-paced and intense action from start to finish.

Meet boss Deep Purple

If you're coming directly from Thunder Force IV you'll certainly feel there's something different about Thunder Force V, which in my eyes is a good thing even though the basic mechanics and inputs are almost the same. The story does give the Gauntlet ship a journey of its own against a supercomputer that went rogue, eventually endowing it with enhanced capabilities in one of the most awesome transition sections of the whole franchise. There are seven stages in total, and players are allowed to choose the order of the first three. Inputs consist of shot, arms switch left/right (cycles between the weapons available), speed switch (cycles between three settings of 50%, 705% and 100%, hold down to do it in steps of 1%) and overweapon. This last input is this chapter's claim to fame, as is the controversial free-range weapon. By defaut, button ∆ toggles the overhead display on and off during play, and if you fancy having all weapons mapped to specific buttons just go to the options for advanced control settings.

The only default weapons are the twin shot and the back shot, which are not lost if you die using them. All others are gone and must be regained by collecting its respective item: wave, free range and hunter. Items are released from harmless carriers that show up every now and then, or from specific enemies in special sections. The most common item is the "craw", the blue option that rotates around the ship increasing its firepower, blocking regular bullets and allowing the use of the so-called overweapon. By activating it you increase the ship's destructive power, draining craw energy until it depletes completely. To regain craw energy you need to take more craws or wait for them to recharge slowly. However, if a craw is hit when completely drained you'll lose it. It's possible to carry a maximum of three craws.

Another very important item is the shield, which gives you protection against three hits as it changes color from purple to green and then brown. Unlike in previous chapters, shields in Thunder Force V appear scarcely, with some stages having no shields at all to be taken. Finally, the 1UP gives you an extra life. Hint: when the ship descends into the tree leaves of the jungle area, use the hunter weapon to make sure you get the 1UP that's hidden in that spot. Besides 1UPs, score-based extends are granted as you reach 10, 50, 100 and 500 million points.

Choosing the best weapon to face each enemy wave or boss attack is half the fun in any Thunder Force game. In the case of Thunder Force V, eventually all players realize that free range is the best weapon in almost all situations, not only because of its versatility but also because its overweapon can obliterate larger enemies and boss phases in a snap if correctly placed. Since speed-killing everything is the key to obtaining higher scores, aggressive use of the free range is the best strategy any score chaser will adopt here. A multiplier of ×16 means you were able to get the fastest kill possible, and the longer any enemy lives the lower this multiplier gets. Of course there are the usual bonuses given at the end of the game for remaining lives, weapons and difficulty, as well as a huge no-miss reward if you manage to beat the game without losing a single life.

Animated intro of Thunder Force V - Perfect System
(courtesy of YouTube user Nox-Hardigan)

While most of the criticism on Thunder Force V is directed to the unbalance provided by the free range weapon, that doesn't detract anything from the game's pleasing design, which mixes natural environments with mechanical fortresses and enemies (stage 6 is borderline surreal). The soundtrack and the sound effects are top notch and reinforce the action with gusto. Those who care for the story side of things will certainly enjoy the extra movie sequences created for Thunder Force V - Perfect System, which also includes a Time Attack mode that's unlocked after the game is beaten. Time Attack is a boss rush mode that's actually a very nice resource for practicing.

Publisher Working Designs is known for altering key features in their porting jobs, but at least they did not screw up anything badly here as they did with Raystorm. Besides the extra content, the only aspect of the game they tinkered with is the scoring system. It's not possible to achieve a counterstop anymore, one of the known issues of the Saturn original. It's still possible to slowly milk projectiles from the 6th boss though, but leave it to those who have the time and the will to go after that.

Returning to the game was like meeting an old friend again. The final screen below is exclusive to this version, and appears just before you're prompted to input your initials once the game is beaten. As we can see, I played in the Normal difficulty and had 6 lives in reserve in the end (lost two lives aginst the last boss).

Thunder Force V / Perfect System was the last chapter designed by Technosoft. Thunder Force VI, released ten years later exclusively for the Playstation 2, came out under the development banner of Sega.

Detana!! TwinBee (Playstation)

Vertical
Checkpoints OFF
8 Difficulty levels
7 Stages (loopable)
Ship speed by icons
- - - - - - -
Developed by Konami
Published by Konami in 1995

Upon a brief research, I just found out that Detana!! TwinBee is actually the fifth chapter in the bell-juggling cute'em up series. Between TwinBee 3 for the Famicom and this one there's also TwinBee Da! for the Game Boy, a title I had completely forgotten about but that's also available in a revamped colored version for the Playstation Portable. Detana!! is the first real arcade entry since the original TwinBee, and represents a huge leap in graphics and audio quality from everything that came prior, in a massive overhaul that sort of kicked the series into a new era that spawned several products across a multitude of genres and styles.

Speaking of shmups only, Detana!! is the third to last TwinBee game ever released. During the 32-bit video game generation it was bundled with final chapter TwinBee Yahho! in the TwinBee Deluxe Pack disc that came out for the Sony Playstation and the Sega Saturn. Pop'n TwinBee, the Super Famicom game released between Detana!! and Yahho!, is out of this compilation for obvious reasons. These three games share the same high standards established by Konami at its creative peak, and in the case of Detana!! TwinBee, also known as Bells & Whistles out of Japan, I have nothing but praise for the sheer creativity, the exquisite use of colors and the incredibly catchy soundtrack.

And for a guy that always had some serious gripes with the bell mechanics, I admit the gameplay deserves some sort of positive endorsement. Most of the time it's at least less irksome than it was in TwinBee, and that's saying something. A cute backstory and quick character panels between levels are also there for those who fancy this sort of thing, which admittedly acquired a whole new dimension after this particular chapter.

Where have both my arms gone, TwinBee?

Even though the Playstation port of Detana!! TwinBee lacks a TATE mode, the horizontal stretching of the screen isn't that bad to cope with. From the practice rounds I had in MAME, I'd say the game is otherwise pretty much arcade perfect. I certainly missed the possibility to map autofire to the shoulder buttons of the Playstation controller though. The game only allows the configuration of face buttons, and in the default setting you get shot in button ×, rapid shot in button □, bomb in button ○ and rapid bomb in button ∆. Considering you must use a lot of the regular shot, I was fortunate for being able to play well with these default conditions. Holding shot is after all the best new resource the player has against some bosses and many of those cute enemies showering down from above in deadly flocks.

This new charge shot just doesn't work against ground enemies, which is naturally expected. To destroy them you need to use bombs dropped by the tiny hands of bumblebee android characters TwinBee (P1 side, blue) and WinBee (P2 side, pink), respectively controlled by pilots Light and Pastel. Their hands can get hit and lost, which then diminishes the ability to destroy ground targets. If both hands are gone an ambulance crosses the screen once per level to repair them (if you lose them again before the level is complete you won't be able to hit ground enemies anymore). Aerial firepower, on the other hand, can be upgraded in several different ways both by juggling bells coming out from clouds or by collecting specific ground items.

Bell are, as usual, the foundation of the gameplay in Detana!! TwinBee. The very first one is yellow, but it changes its color once it takes five hits. New to the series, the order of the color change is fixed and transfers to all subsequent bells you're able to hit, starting with white (twin shot), blue (speed-up), green (trailing options), red (barrier), purple (tail barrier, solidifies your options and makes them cancel bullets and damage enemies) and finally black (speed-down) before initiating a new cycle. Colors you've already activated are replaced with yellow bells, and you just can't have red and purple at the same time. Last but not least, all yellow bells taken without letting any fall down the screen increase their value in steps of 500, 1.000, 2.500, 5.000 and 10.000 points (max). If one bell is lost the chain value is reset.

Most ground items consist of fruit and vegetables for points, with a few extra ones appearing randomly. The ground bell gives you a 3-way shot and the star is a smart bomb that deals damage to all enemies on screen. GwinBee is special because when taken it hugs and flies alongside you while immensely boosting your firepower. The charge shot, for instance, gets wider and much more powerful. The downside is that the hitbox, which is already big for the regular character, gets even bigger. Much like your arms, GwinBee is instantly lost if hit by a bullet or an enemy.

Welcome to the Valley of the Wind on the Playstation
(courtesy of YouTube user The VideoGames Museum)

Despite the cute looks, the fluffy music and the deceivingly low bullet count, Detana!! TwinBee is a very cruel game for a series of reasons. The first couple of levels aren't exactly demanding, but soon enough all caveats of the gameplay start to show up. First of all, each and every power-up you take increases rank by a certain margin, which means that the more beefed up you get the harder the game becomes. It's naturally full of traps such as enemies materializing out of nowehere or quickly zapping into the screen as you're about to pick up a bell or just trying to get the best of an incoming cloud, an aspect that eventually beats you down to the point of completely discouraging excessive greed unless you have a solid route to score and survive at the same time. Getting back up after dying is extremely difficult, and since there are absolutely no extends this is another case where you'll absolutely end up aiming at a 1-life clear of the first loop. As for the second loop, it's probably one of the hardest things ever conceived even for the most hardcore of hardcore shmup players.

I believe that finding the balance between the use of charge shots and rapid shot is one of the keys to success in beating the first loop. Well placed charge shots do wonders, but in the second half of the game you can get easily overwhelmed if you let enemies live long enough. Some will turn back and ram into you if you let them go by. While a few bosses require charge shots and good timing to be properly beaten (that tentacle boss of the 4th stage is a serious offender), it's just better to fire away against others for a faster and cleaner fight. And regardless of your power-up strategy, the purple bell is simply mandatory no matter what. It's a life saver due to its ability to block even the most threatening enemy attacks, such as those V-shaped projectiles fired by a series of crab-like creatures in the final level.

Detana!! TwinBee might be too hard to actually be fun in the long run, but tough gameplay aside it never feels unfair. Sure, you can still feel royally screwed by taking an unwanted speed-down or dying stupidly while trying to get an item, but to the game's defense bullet count is never overwhelming in the first loop and the challenge level never spikes out of nowhere like in TwinBee. I played in the default difficulty (medium / 4) and got the top result below after dying horribly in stage 2-1 against that duo of materializing grape stems. I forced myself not to fret over lost bells and beat the first loop in a single life, as planned.

A port of Detana!! came out for the PC Engine shortly after the arcade release, and the beautiful pastel shades presented in this game would be put to a much milder experience two years later in Pop'n TwinBee for the Super Famicom, which in my opinion is the true highlight of the TwinBee series.

Nanotek Warrior (Playstation)

Tube shooter
Checkpoints OFF/ON
3 Difficulty levels
8 Stages
Ship speed variable
- - - - - - -
Developed by Tetragon
Published by Virgin Interactive in 1997

In the 23rd century nanotechnology is so advanced that starts to turn against the human kind, with nanorobots creating nanocolonies to dominate the galaxy. The player takes the role of the commander of a new class of remote-controllable nanowar machines, navigating through nanotubes in a desperate attempt to destroy eight mega nanobosses. Yes, there are lots of mentions to "nano" everywhere when you check out the instruction manual to this game but make no mistake, there's nothing "nano" about the gameplay of another unsuspectedly decent entry in the Playstation shmup library.

Not counting Tempest X3, which is in a league of its own in terms of gameplay, Nanotek Warrior is part of the tube shooter trifecta of the Playstation platform and is certainly recommended, as is iS - Internal Section. These games are often dismissed as old 3D novelties, but suffice it to say that all of them (including N2O - Nitrous Oxide, which I still haven't played) are more approachable than any rail shooter of the same era for a very simple reason: they behave just like fixed shooters set on a scrolling torus. Released in all main gaming regions, Nanotek Warrior is a great example of how to implement such a concept, providing solid fun, good hit detection and a difficulty slope that feels natural, even offering the ability to practice individual levels with a simple but efficient password feature (the existence of a password system obviously means that the game has no saving functionalities).

Checkpoints are determined by rings of light along the tube

Don't get frightened by the control settings of Nanotek Warrior, which offers no less than 14 variations of button layouts. Half of them are labeled "flight" and the other half "arcade". The only difference between them is that the vertical directions are normal for arcade and inverted for flight. Then you have inputs for shot, jump and special attack, as well as strafe and bank, which always work with the shoulder/trigger buttons. Strafe is a weird designation since you're actually always strafing while navigating the game tubes – what it does is actually fire one single diagonal shot towards the chosen direction. Bank makes the ship fly vertically on its wings for approximately one second. While strafing is quite useful throughout the whole game, banking is only needed in the final stages, and even so quite sparingly (you can do without it, honestly). Finally, by pressing up and down you can accelerate and slow down the speed of the ship.

As you slide both outside and inside the nanotubes (mostly outside), an energy bar allows the ship to take some damage, but if this bar is depleted a life is lost and you get sent back to a checkpoint. Enemies and obstacles will require the use of pretty much all basic inputs mentioned above. Sometimes it's just not enough to dodge, you will have to jump or even jump while accelerating or slowing down. Good timing is required to pass through giant fans, laser gates or horizontal barriers without getting hit, whereas tiny ramps are strategically positioned to help you jump even higher, in most cases with the purpose of allowing the collection of otherwise unreachable items.

Speaking of which, items come in three colors. Yellow ones recover lost energy. Red ones provide the ship with an assortment of special attacks, including scattering bombs, piercing wave shots, forward-clearing ground blasts and outward boomerang-like shards. Some of them will also endow the ship with a temporary 3-way shot (additionally, whenever a few selected enemies are destroyed the default single shot gets upgraded to a two-shot blast). Regardless of how you end a stage, the next one will start with a full energy bar and no special attacks. Finally, the green item gives you an extra life. Besides that, score-based extends are granted at every 100.000 points you're able to score.

An aspect that deviates from the rest of the game are the boss fights. They all take place inside a chamber instead of over a running tube, in what the game calls "orbit" mode. You need to fly around the boss, dodging its attacks and aiming at weak spots. While some bosses are easy, a few of them can be quite tricky due to the weird perspective of orbit mode. In order to circumvent that my strategy was to move a lot either hugging the top or the bottom of the screen, and always take out smaller satellites before targeting the boss itself. Besides making the battle easier, most satellites release either yellow or red items.

A full credit of Nanotek Warrior
(courtesy of YouTube user Completionator)

With eight very distinctly themed stages, Nanotek Warrior leans towards a dark design that takes advantage of varied textures and lighting effects. It feels a little gritty overall, but everything moves along nicely with no hiccups whatsoever. The game might feel longer than it actually is due to the duration of checkpoints and the presence of two bonus levels after stages 3 and 6 that play a lot like the bonus areas of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (!). Some checkpoints are very short while others, such as the starting checkpoint of the final stage, can be excruciatingly long. Another source of dynamic halts can be mid-bosses, which show up twice in each level and reappear once in the last stage. All of them can be safely taken out with well-established strategies and some practice. Practicing is in fact very much needed from stage 6 onwards due to a noticeable leap in difficulty.

Decent gameplay aside, it's just a little disappointing that Nanotek Warrior can't be played for score. All extra lives keep reappearing in the same place if you die, which means players can exploit checkpoints indefinitely to achieve higher scores. Since you do get lots of extra lives just by regular game progression, the impression is that final success is always around the corner the closest you get to the finish line. On a final note, since the techno music often seems engulfed by sound effects, it might be good to tinker with the sound balance in the options.

 

Without any checkpoint milking I barely surpassed one million points in my successful attempt to the 1CC the game in the Normal difficulty, as seen in the picture below (I used the "flight B" control setup). It was a fun and fulfilling ride nonetheless. The ending shows a nice animation where the blue ship is upgraded to a red ship, and if you use the bonus password the game gives you the credit will then start with this new ship. It comes with a brand new 3-way pattern instead of the default single shot, as well as infinite special attacks that cycle through all types endlessly (red items are all replaced by the point tokens of the bonus levels). For quite a satisfying spectacle of destruction one might as well have the special attack button set to permanent turbofire! Just for reference, the bonus password I got for the Normal difficulty was ×□×□□○×∆×.

Gekioh - Shooting King (Playstation)

Vertical
Checkpoints ON/OFF
3 Difficulty levels
8 Stages
Ship speed by icons
- - - - - - -
Developed by Warashi
Published by Natsume in 2002

The best and most desired shmups come from Japan. It’s been a historical fact ever since the genre gained worldwide recognition back in the 80s. That’s why Western ports of these games are always so celebrated by the shmup Community. However, regardless of their actual quality every once in a while the companies responsible for the porting jobs make weird decisions that can be detrimental to the game’s visibility. Gekioh - Shooting King is one such example, since a lot of people aren’t aware that this is actually a port of Warashi’s Shienryu. Of course one could argue that not many people know Shienryu, but I’m quite sure you get my drift.

On the always controversial subject of ports, the Playstation wasn’t graced with a good conversion of this game, unlike the Sega Saturn. Both Japanese and North American releases have no save functionality and lack an option for TATE orientation, on top of suffering uneven slowdown and making minor cutbacks in graphics/music. It’s not an unplayable game, in fact it’s just as fun as you’d expect a tough and decent mix of Raiden and Truxton to be, however it falls short of exhibiting the level of performance of a true arcade title being played at home.

Once you get tired of watching the animated intro of Gekioh - Shooting King, press start and you’ll access a menu with several game modes. The default arcade experience is in Geki mode, in between Easy and Hard modes (more on the contents of the Bonus menu later). Once the credit is started, just pause if you want to turn off that annoying vibration function.

Ahoy, a giant Polypus boss is approaching fast!

The basic gameplay of Gekioh/Shienryu consists of a shot button (□ or ×) and bomb button (△ or ○). There are three shot types defined by colored items: spread vulcan (red), forward + missiles (yellow) and homing lightning (blue). The weapon is upgraded by taking power-ups (P), faster movement is achieved with speed-ups (S) and extra bombs are stocked by taking the appropriate icon (B). Bombs behave according to the current shot type, so for the vulcan you get an energy blast that closes in and fades at the ship’s centerline, for the forward yellow shot you get a localized blast and for the lightning you get a series of vertical laser beams that materialize over the ship’s current position.

Half the game takes place on Earth and half in outer space. There’s lots of diversity in the game design, both in terrains and enemy variety, with the ocasional flair for intense destruction amidst waves of vessels of all sizes and firepower capability. It feels quite satisfying to go on an all-out spectacle of devastation, collecting all those red/blue LEDs, icons/power-ups in excess for extra 5.000 points each and the slew of extra bombs such as the ones available throughout most of the fight against the first boss. There is a catch though.

Just like its spiritual predecessor Daioh, Shienryu/Gekioh gets increasingly angry the more extra bonuses you get within the game. If you keep on taking those shiny 5.000 point badges and racking up extra bombs there comes a point where enemy bullet speed becomes unmanageable, quickly sending your survival chances down the drain. Rank progression is extremely cruel, so do your best to avoid collecting more than what you need to be at full power, which means 9 power-ups, 3 speed-ups and no more than 3 bombs in stock at any time. The only bonuses that don’t affect rank are the ground LEDs (they look like candles), which result in varying extra points at the end of each level.

Score-based extends come with 1,5 million and for every 2 million points afterwards. A single 1UP is sure to get released by the crab midboss in stage 6, but you can also randomly come across other 1UPs (or a very rare 2UP). A very special pink power-up maxes out your firepower and adds a 1-hit shield to the ship’s beak, but note that the game instantly becomes harder if you take it. For a safe rank management you’d better avoid it at all times. Picking it up was only an alternative for me after dying in the final levels or prior to the fight against the last boss. An interesting detail from my experience with Gekioh - Shooting King is that I never came across the alternate version of the pink power-up, which explodes in a multitude or items when collected. I assume I wasn't able to meet the requirements for it or it's just absent from this particular port.

Animated intro and two runs in Geki and Comical modes
(courtesy of YouTube user ShiryuGL)

One important detail about Gekioh is that the game implements checkpoints during the levels and does away with them during boss confrontations (the only exception is the final boss since it’s the whole stage itself). While an interesting approach for people who dread checkpoint-based shmups, special attention must be given for deaths when fighting bosses. Even though you start the game with the vulcan shot, the ship is always respawned with the weapon you were using before dying. The worst thing that can happen, at least for me, is dying against the 6th or the 7th bosses when using lightning. Lightning is great for scoring during stages but downright awful on bosses. Another tip for survival in the long run is to point blank whenever possible. All ground enemies will also not shoot if you stay above or very close to them.

In an effort to provide more content than the bare bones TATE-less port, the Playstation disc includes a bonus menu that has six alternate versions to the base game. Some of them are quite amusing, such as Pocket mode (a heavily downgraded version modeled after Pocketstation/VMU specs) and Ancient mode (the game is presented with an antiquated graphic filter). No Mercy mode is just stupid, but Comical, Stingy, and Slow mode should be tried at least once each, especially the latter since it's got a weird pseudo-danmaku vibe. Unfortunately not much thought was put into these extra modes, which inexplicably share the same high score table of the main game. Another minor complaint about the interface is that to start a new credit from scratch you need to let the continue countdown finish to return to the main menu.

My best 1CC result in Geki mode (normal) is the one below. Beating the game with lives in stock is the best way to score higher in the end, given that spare lives are worth a lot upon game completion (bombs seem to add some points as well). An odd note about the high score table is that even though Gekioh - Shooting King has 8 levels and doesn't loop the stage indication for the 1CC is 10-1 (the second number refers to the area within the stage).

Next in the series is Shienryu Explosion, sequel to Shienryu/Gekioh released exclusively for the Japanese Playstation 2 along with yet another port of Shienryu in a disc titled The Shooting - Double Shienryu.

Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius - Forever with Me (Playstation)

Horizontal
Checkpoints ON
8 Difficulty levels
8 Stages (loopable)
Ship speed by icons
- - - - - - -
Developed by Konami
Published by Konami in 1996

After its debut on the Super Famicom, it wasn't expected but it was certainly nice to see the fourth chapter of the Parodius franchise finding its way to both 32-bit platforms. Also unofficially known as "Chatting Parodius", 16-bit Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius introduced a few new features while considerably increasing the character roster. Both 32-bit ports were released only in Japan but received the ~Forever with Me~ subtitle while applying graphical, audio and performance improvements with minor extras on the side. The constant chatting of the narrator is of course kept in all its comical (or annoying) nature, yet you can still shut him off with a specific switch in the options menu. 

This is the third version if this game that I play, having previously looped the SNES original with Soitsu and the Saturn port with Upa. This time I had the idea of just pressing START from the opening screen until entering the game, which naturally made me begin the adventure using the classic Vic Viper ship from Gradius, the primordial mold upon which the Parodius series is actually built. The level of parody and wack with Gradius and other Konami games has obviously gone a long way ever since the franchise started, so players can obviously expect all sorts of bizarre enemies and situations here.

The menu in Japanese is a bit intimidating, but as I mentioned above it's actually quite simple if you just want to dive directly into the game. Choosing the first option will lead you straight to the single player character selection (the second option activates 2-player mode, which now works in co-op as opposed to the alternate turns of the 16-bit original). By default there are 16 selectable characters, but you can also choose secret players Dracura (sic!) or Kid-D(racura) with the aid of a special button code to be inserted at the main Japanese menu (←, →, ←, →, □, ○, ↑, ↑, ↓, ↓, L2, R1, L1, R2, ○, □, ←, →). You could also do it the hard way, but that's just stupid and doesn't make any practical sense (keep reading).

Memim against Penkuro, the second boss in the nonsensical Boss Rush of stage 7

 

Once the character is chosen you must select between auto or manual power-up mode. In manual players are supposed to activate the desired upgrade in the weapon array just like in any Gradius game, thus having full control on how the character is supposed to evolve. Auto power-up mode, on the other hand, gives the game almost full control of the power-up process, leaving little to the player to decide. In a nutshell, it will activate only one speed-up (or two in the high speed stage) and prioritize laser over double, so if you want to have an extra speed-up or use the equivalent to the double shot just activate the power-up as usual. As always, upgrades in the weapon array are shifted by collecting orange capsules, while inputs consist of shot/missile (mapped to the same button by default), power-up and bell power.

What's mostly interesting in Parodius titles, and particularly in this chapter, is the fact that the chosen character can have a huge influence over the difficulty and the scoring potential of any run. This gap is somehow shortened with practice, but it's undeniable that characters like Soitsu and Dracura have the primary edge both for survival and for scoring. When they are maxed out in power bosses become less troublesome and hidden fairies can be found and collected more easily. Fairies are after all a great source of scoring since each one is worth 10.000 points. The same conclusion about the scoring aspect of the game sort of applies to the other main source of extra points: yellow bells.

Reminiscent of the TwinBee series, bells are released regularly in between power-up capsules and are mostly generated in the yellow color. However, at every four shots taken they will switch to a different color that endows the character with a special power: green (inflate+invincibility), white (bullet-cancelling kanji messages), brown (three bullet-blocking barriers), purple (turns all small enemies into power-up capsules or bells) and blue (screen-clearing bomb). Special notes: green forbids you to fire or collect any bells; green and white are instantly activated when collected and cancel all defensive upgrades; brown and blue bells are stored for later use and need to be triggered with the bell power button; whenever brown and blue are in stock you're forbidden from using the character's shield or force field.

Together with hidden fairies, yellow bells are the bread and butter of the scoring system. Don't let any bell fall of the screen and see the value from yellow bells quickly increase from 500 to 1.000, 2.500, 5.000 and then 10.000 points each. If one of them is lost this value is reset to 500. Juggling bells is obviously easier said than done, especially when you destroy those mid-sized enemies that often appear right after the pre-stage and explode into lots of bells of different colors, or during the whole high speed level themed after Lethal Enforcers. The total number of fairies collected can be tracked in a special option in the menu, and one of its purposes is probably to see how close you are to finding 140 fairies in order to naturally unlock secret characters Dracura and Kid-D. Damn it, Konami, at least we can thank you for the button code, huh?

Soitsu on auto power-up mode
(courtesy of YouTube user Tiza)

When compared with the 16-bit original, 32-bit Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius (often abbreviated as JOP) is certainly a completely different beast. The complete elimination of slowdown is the obvious highlight, but the extend routine that goes beyond the million points is another important change since now you can amass many more extra lives as your score goes up (first extend comes with 20.000, then you get a new one after every 100.000 points). Since the game is much more easygoing than any chapter originated in the arcade platform and has a considerably mild rank progression, JOP is also the choice to go if you're new to the series and you'd like a more approachable starting point with many characters to choose from.

Just like with the other versions of the game, this port has a built-in checkpoint-based save function. Three save/load slots are available at the press of the SELECT button. In the title screen you also have the choice of two new special game modes: Omake 1 is a completely new single stage where you're supposed to get high scores, whereas Omake 2 works as a racing mini-game where the objective is to get to the end of the area as fast as possible. Even though both 32-bit ports appear to be very similar, there is a specific switch in the options screen that alters the gameplay significantly in each version. In the case of the Playstation this tweak is called "Accident", and its function is to add polygonal-based bonus areas to the end of each level. On the Sega Saturn this is replaced by "Extra", which changes enemy formations completely. Besides these interesting tweaks to the base game, both ports allow the OH! bogus power-up to be replaced by a slot machine for bells if you turn "Slot!" on. As for "Duet", "Ikari" and "Nage", they are specific tweaks for co-op play.

Click for the main menu translation for the Normal game in Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius - Forever with Me on the Playstation

Despite the comical aspect of the ship, playing with this version of Vic Viper is actually very much like going back to the first Gradius. On the other hand I never thought much of its weapon set-up for a Parodius game prior to now, but it was interesting to notice after all these years how good it actually is against some of the bosses. I played on full defaults (difficulty 4, Roulette ON, Slot!/Accident/Revival OFF, Oshaberi ON) with auto power-up mode and reached stage 3-2 with the result shown below. Note: while you're playing you can always see your difficulty level and loop below the indication for the hi-score at the top of the screen.

Next in line is definitely Sexy Parodius.

G Darius (Playstation)

Horizontal
Checkpoints OFF
8 Difficulty levels
5 stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Taito
Published by THQ in 1998

Three years after Darius Gaiden, the famous shmup series where you blast fish and sea monsters in outer space returned to the spotlight with G Darius (or G-Darius, as some prefer). A huge change in style and one of the biggest shmup efforts from Taito before the company slowed down its activities, G Darius is the fourth installment in the arcade series but also the sixth completely new entry in the franchise if you consider console outputs Darius Twin and Darius Force / Super Nova. The first port came out for the Playstation one year after the arcade release, with the new 3D polygon-based graphic design as the main selling point of the game.

Apart from the remarkable shift towards 3D, something that was expected during that time especially after Taito delivered Raystorm, G Darius keeps the trademark gameplay that combines enemy waves and environmental hazards with gigantic bosses preceded by the famous WARNING message. However, this time around the splitting path mechanic adopts letters from the Greek alphabet to determine the stages, with a total of only five stages instead of the customary seven. Each level has two sections though, with the second one being selected by standing above or below a green centerline that appears halfway the level. The designation for each played area comprises both the Greek letter and the corresponding Roman character of the splitting path, such as αA or αB, δG or δH, etc.

The game harks back to the roots of the series in its upgrade system based on colored orbs, with red for main shot, green for bombs and blue for shield. When the specific gauge for each ability is filled a major upgrade is granted, and every time you die the ship is respawned with this basic upgraded level instead of going back to its default state. There are also purple orbs which add to the stock of capture balls, expanding on an idea previously seen in Darius Gaiden to provide the foundation of the game's intricate scoring system. Finally, hitting certain fixed spots in the terrain uncovers extra yellow orbs (wipe out the screen), silver orbs (random point bonuses) or a single extra life in the 4th stage. 

Cruising through the Giant Plant area of the β zone

As soon as you start playing it you'll notice that the initial atmosphere of G Darius is quite different from the previous games in the series. The α stage takes place in open space against a greeny landscape with a futuristic city and harmless structures that collapse every now and then, ending in a fight against new boss Eclipse Eye. It sets the tone perfectly for what's to come but I must admit I didn't like the pacing or the new style up front, most probably because it took me some time to adapt to the 3D textures and also the fact that the game seems to run slower than usual due to the natural slowdown of this particular port. There are tons of variety and the action can get quite intense though, yet sometimes the color contrast just makes it a little tough to distinguish bullets from flying debris or even backgrounds.

Playing the game requires three inputs: shot (○ or R2), rapid fire (□) and capture ball (×). As usual, destroying full enemy waves and all boss parts is still the basic source of points in G Darius. However, what gives the game its special flair and helps determine its staying power is the mechanic around capture balls. With the obvious exception of stage bosses, the main rule is that any flying enemy can be captured by hitting them with a capture ball (don't worry if you miss, lost balls aren't deducted from the stock). Each enemy captured flies beside you and adds to your firepower in a specific way, a feature that gives the game a very strategic feel not only for survival but also for scoring. It goes without saying that experimentation is key to finding out the best enemies to capture in any given level.

Besides their default attacks, captured enemies can also be used in two different ways. The first one is by exploding them: just tap the capture ball button to trigger a powerful localized blast that also protects you from incoming bullets. The second one is firing an alpha beam: hold the shot button to absorb the captured enemy and charge, then release it for an ultra powerful blue laser that lasts 5 seconds. While lasering can be used at any time, it's often good to save a few balls and deploy the attack to counter beams fired by bosses. Then just keep the rapid fire button pressed to win the laser battle. These can turn in a real spectable if you're able to counter more than a single enemy beam, either two at a time or one after the other, with your own beam increasing in size for every counterattack achieved (the 5 second duration resets whenever two enemy lasers meet).

Everything you do with a captured enemy gives you more points in the form of multipliers, which is the bread and butter to score higher in G Darius. Multipliers vary in a wide range, from the basic act of destroying the last enemy in a wave with the attack of a captured enemy (×2) to the glorious dispatching of a boss with a quadruple counter beam (×12). Finding the best ways to inflict damage during the several boss patterns is essential in the long run, as well as figuring out where a beam might be useful for both survival and some more points during the levels themselves. Just remember not to use beams against enemies or obstacles covered with "solidnite", a golden substance that also deflects capture balls and emits a metallic sound when hit. You must always destroy solidnite shields before trying to capture a mid-boss, for example.

Besides using captured enemies to achieve score multiplers, getting to the end of the game can still provide a huge chunk of your final score. Each remaining life is worth one million points, with captured mid-bosses  (a.k.a. captains) and boss kills with counter beams giving you meaty bonuses as well (a quadruple counter boss kill is also worth one million points). A treat regarding captured captains is that they can also fire special attacks, which are triggered with combinations of directionals + shot as if you were in a fighting game. Try performing a hadouken with the first captain, for example.

One of the animated intros of G Darius on the Playstation
(courtesy of YouTube user RetroGameTV)

The way I see it, G Darius only achieves its full glory as a shmup once you've got acquainted with the enemy capturing aspect of the gameplay. It provides an extremely layered and deep scoring system that's great fun and is always making players come back for more, even though the game isn't visually on par with other polygon-based PS1 shmups like R-Type Delta and Einhänder. My biggest personal complaint as a fan is the tiny sprites of the Silver Hawk and the shield, an aspect that always struck me as one of the coolest in the franchise. Still G Darius has its share of special moments, such as the neat animations during boss transitions, which give a great cinematic feel but can still be skipped if you so wish (just press START). Special transitions might also appear during the levels themselves, sometimes making you briefly fly in diagonal directions.

The US Playstation release is really nice since one of the fully animated low-res intros serves to detail the story behind the game, actually a prequel that tells the origin of the Silver Hawk saga. Unlike the arcade original, the port separates both modes (Arcade and Beginner) right at the start screen while adding an extra Boss Rush mode. Configurable controls and a save feature complete the package, but I advise all players who like to enjoy a nice sound balance to reduce the volume of the sound effects in the options. Then you can properly listen to the sometimes weird, sometimes awesome soundtrack by Taito's in-house composers Zuntata.

 

I tested a handful of routes in Arcade mode to find a nice survival path with a little scoring potential on the side, settling with αA-γE-εI-θO-νY. At least for me the idea that the upper route is the easiest one isn't true at all, Fire Fossil is absolutely no joke at the end of zone η. I beat the game in the abovementioned route on Normal difficulty with the final score below and was ranked Gold Condor, a special classification based on several aspects of your performance during the run. I didn't try any credit in co-op, but I doubt it would thrill anyone given the potential slowdown that could be experienced.

Note: G Darius would later come out for the Playstation 2; it also got a recent HD makeover as G Darius HD for the Nintendo Switch and the Playstation 4.