As someone that doesn't play shmups, what makes this one of the best games?
Is it more complex than other games, better story, levels, etc?
It’s a simple to understand point system, not ape shit bullet patterns or color overloads, and then a lot of nuances for the genre I’ll get into a bit but the video is a lot better I think explaining them.
An example in the video is the bullets are discernible always, and that has to do with intentional color saturation use to mute the level and enemies a bit so you can focus on them. No “stray” bullet killing you.
The selection of ships is just two, and 3 characters. Each ship has different benefits like how many bombs you get, and character changes shooting pattern focus. Try the combo you like.
Bosses are not bonkers in design but cool. They fit a fun asthetic of this future cyberpunk ghost in the shell vibe, and ramp in scaling. What’s nice is if you’re having a good run you can save multiple game states to load up immediately and go again to fine tune perfect a run.
The game also offers new players save states it creates itself of when you die. You can load those all up as “challenges” to rework from a few seconds before you died to overcome that spot. Making you better at what you lost.
The different modes offer spins on gameplay like infinite hyper meter modes, or smaller bullet sprays for you to have to be more accurate and hit less enemies at once.
The story is in Japanese so I couldn’t tell you if it’s good or not. The art heavily carries these games.
It’s a pure focus on gameplay. An arcade game where you load it up for 20 minutes to see how well you can do.
The main “goal” to push yourself for is if you can 1 credit clear normal mode or even super easy mode. It’s a very bliss feeling if you ever achieve it in one of these games, and the super easy mode and normal aren’t wildly different to help you get there. Super easy uses bombs for you to prevent a death if you have one, and a bit less bullets shot at you.
It’s a very fine tuned game that focuses on the best parts of the genre without being bloated or complex.
