Try A Thing: Shootmans Style
Another ambiguous span of time, another glut of games tackled and messed with. Only one out of the lot was beaten, but I'll definitely come back to them.
But I'm bad at shmups, you guys.
The Hurricane of the Varstray -Collateral hazard-
A bullet hell of CAVE-esque leanings, with by far the most wonderfully mangled translation imaginable. Interesting scoring mechanic/bomb mechanic where you can use your special gauge to either use a bomb (which generally clears the screen and sometimes gives you an invincibility mode afterward based on how many score tokens you can grab) or to soak up a lethal hit.
Music is just sort of there and even when the script isn't hilariously mangled, people obsess over the most surreal things, like coats.
DARIUSBURST Chronicle Saviours
This sure is a Darius game. I was never at all good at Darius, but I enjoy the series for what it is. Have to admit, I didn't expect a four-player mode in there, but that's apparently how the Another Chronicle machines in the arcades were really set up.
Playing in the arcade mode is a bit claustrophobic though, as it was seriously intended for dual-screens (and the startup options even have a dual-screen setup) so single-screen gets letterboxed to all hell and back. The new mode works just fine, though, even if I suck at it.
Jet Buster
Very much in the pre-CAVE (or at least Early CAVE - getting some major ESP Ra.De vibes here) bullet hell mindset, this is very clearly an earnest, heartfelt attempt at grasping both the aesthetic of Truxton and a scoring mechanic that feels more similar to Dangun Feveron.
Also there's furries.
It's really rough around the edges and you can tell the budget wasn't very high, plus it's the first game of the set that's actively made continues finite (until you buy the option for infinite continues... with the money you've been using for your continues). I'll probably come back to this one, but it's in that weird valley where it's too unpolished for hardcore fans of the genre and too rough for casual newcomers.
LUFTRAUSERS
I'm... not 100% sure what to think about this. On one hand, it starts with a brief cinematic featuring a face that looks entirely too much like certain fucksticks, and the name suggests German fighter pilots dogfighting. Am I a nazi now? I hope not.
Aside from that, it's a bite-size casual game where the idea is to get a game in, die, and then go on with your life, slowly racking up score and mini-cheevos to get new parts and abilities. The music (all one song of it) is decent, the aesthetic works, but honestly my biggest problem was dealing with the Time Pilot controls. I walked away from that series as a kid for a reason and it was because aerial tank controls and me don't get along.
Steam and Metal
Very Jamestown. Heavy on the Steampunk As A Force Of Good, one of those rare shmups where you can actually take several hits before you die. Unfortunately, that means contact damage is suddenly a million times more lethal than scraping a bullet. I'm... not very good at this one either, but it's absolutely good for what it is.
I'd recommend sticking with the keyboard, though, since it doesn't offer rebinding and doesn't tell you what buttons on a controller you need to press to do things.
Crossposted from Dreamwidth. Original at https://swordianmaster.dreamwidth.org/115147.html
But I'm bad at shmups, you guys.
The Hurricane of the Varstray -Collateral hazard-
A bullet hell of CAVE-esque leanings, with by far the most wonderfully mangled translation imaginable. Interesting scoring mechanic/bomb mechanic where you can use your special gauge to either use a bomb (which generally clears the screen and sometimes gives you an invincibility mode afterward based on how many score tokens you can grab) or to soak up a lethal hit.
Music is just sort of there and even when the script isn't hilariously mangled, people obsess over the most surreal things, like coats.
DARIUSBURST Chronicle Saviours
This sure is a Darius game. I was never at all good at Darius, but I enjoy the series for what it is. Have to admit, I didn't expect a four-player mode in there, but that's apparently how the Another Chronicle machines in the arcades were really set up.
Playing in the arcade mode is a bit claustrophobic though, as it was seriously intended for dual-screens (and the startup options even have a dual-screen setup) so single-screen gets letterboxed to all hell and back. The new mode works just fine, though, even if I suck at it.
Jet Buster
Very much in the pre-CAVE (or at least Early CAVE - getting some major ESP Ra.De vibes here) bullet hell mindset, this is very clearly an earnest, heartfelt attempt at grasping both the aesthetic of Truxton and a scoring mechanic that feels more similar to Dangun Feveron.
Also there's furries.
It's really rough around the edges and you can tell the budget wasn't very high, plus it's the first game of the set that's actively made continues finite (until you buy the option for infinite continues... with the money you've been using for your continues). I'll probably come back to this one, but it's in that weird valley where it's too unpolished for hardcore fans of the genre and too rough for casual newcomers.
LUFTRAUSERS
I'm... not 100% sure what to think about this. On one hand, it starts with a brief cinematic featuring a face that looks entirely too much like certain fucksticks, and the name suggests German fighter pilots dogfighting. Am I a nazi now? I hope not.
Aside from that, it's a bite-size casual game where the idea is to get a game in, die, and then go on with your life, slowly racking up score and mini-cheevos to get new parts and abilities. The music (all one song of it) is decent, the aesthetic works, but honestly my biggest problem was dealing with the Time Pilot controls. I walked away from that series as a kid for a reason and it was because aerial tank controls and me don't get along.
Steam and Metal
Very Jamestown. Heavy on the Steampunk As A Force Of Good, one of those rare shmups where you can actually take several hits before you die. Unfortunately, that means contact damage is suddenly a million times more lethal than scraping a bullet. I'm... not very good at this one either, but it's absolutely good for what it is.
I'd recommend sticking with the keyboard, though, since it doesn't offer rebinding and doesn't tell you what buttons on a controller you need to press to do things.
Crossposted from Dreamwidth. Original at https://swordianmaster.dreamwidth.org/115147.html